h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Incidentally, I do not have free web access: I pay 20 dollah
every month and get unlimited access, plus I maintain an
emergency backup ISP for 10 dollah (I pay for access after
the first 10 hours), in case my main provider
goes down, which occasionally happens.

Unlimited feels like free, I grant you.

Considering your addictions, those of you not bankrolled
by university, what are your phone bills like?

Phil's staying. We better order in more pizza.

Lil

A subtle hint in anglo-american relationships - Don't ask us about our phone bills! We don't really have much choice of service provider, though this is changing slowly. There was a good one last year, but they went bang (ionica). I seem to be paying around 50squids (75-80 USD) a month a the moment!! I'm sure it will be worse next time!

British smellicom (BT) have an almost complete monoply in the UK, and they know it. They DO NOT give a flying f**k about their customers, ever. No matter who you are, individual or company, how much you spend, they don't give a s**t. You can't take your business elsewhere, and if you could, it wouldn't hurt them one bit!

But, yeah, we're all still addicted to h2g2!

I'm certainly addicted. This is my third time logging on today.

So I don't have to pay phone bills while at university, but it can be a real pain trying to satisfy your habit when all the computers in the library are being used. It takes ten minutes just to check them once and then you have to check all the floors again before moping off, unhappy. At least the place is open 24 hours a day, so I can always come back in the middle of the night to check up on things. Sometimes I just don't want to wait that long, and I do need sleep occasionally too not to mention food, which I have to go back home for, no eating in this library (apart from the odd pizza or sandwich picked up at these little get-togethers).

Having a connection at home does have its perks even if you have to pay for them.

Hello , My names Waxer and I'm an H2 addict....there I said it !! oh I feel so much better now, Hey ! actually I'm completely cured!! runs off into sunset and is never seen again!

Hey! Who's that emerging from sunset.....?!

'sus

Stole a gun but he didn't get far !!

Please accept my apologies for offending your customs. Will you accept this pizza coupon as a token of recompense?

How come Whitehall doesn't tumble to the potentially vast
profits to be reaped by creating an ISP with a fixed monthly
rate. Call it UKOL. What would you pay? Jeez, England is
the country where you actually need a license to own an
appliance (telly).

I wish I could ask how much the colour tv license is these
days but I'm afraid the natives will revolt

Lil

I thought all Brits were revolting...!

*ahem*

'sus

I pay 10squids for my ISP as well! For unlimited time online, it would be worth a few bob.

Sadly, you don't have to pass a test to get your license. That would be most amusing thing. We used to have to a a license to own a dog, not so many years ago. It's a tax, really.

The natives are mostly revolting anyway (the old jokes are the best) but its about 100odd squids. - 130 or so dollars. Now that would cause a riot over there yesno?

H&K
Z

Tv Taxes, Well I don't have to pay them myself - advantages of not having a moving picture box in the corner
A freind of mine was most displeased recently, he was taking part in the BT trials of ADSL technology, then they decided it worked and so could charge almost what they liked to roll out nationwide.
As for cable companies there are only three these days and from what I've heard they're not much better than BT.
Thanks for the pizza though, most enjoyable.

BTs ASDL \trials/ are like railtracks ATP \trials/ - they know bloody well it works, but they can't be bothered to actually put the money into rolling it out. But if they said that, the regulators would come down on them like a ton of rectangular building things, so they both sit there and say - 'look, we're trialling it, it needs work, have to do more trials' and both have been procrastinating that way for over TEN YEARS.

Which gets up my nose as you can tell. Railtrack kill people that way, BT just bankrupt us, and hold back UK ecommerce and society for as long as possible.

H&K&Death to coporate scum
Z

Hello, my name's Chris I have a friend who thinks they may be an addict. Can anyone offer some advice to him/her.

Thanks

CH

I think I've heard this one before. Your *friend* as you put it, not only has a problem with addiction to this site (who can blame him for that, it's a great site), but also in admitting it to other people, even other addicts.

I have decided that there is little anyone can do to stop me being an addict. As a result I am just having a go at everyone who makes my habit at all expensive. Why not just invite your *friend* along anyway to participate in the discussion. Help with conquering the addiction is likely to be minimal (from me anyway) but we can help *him/her* live with it by giving *him/her* a place to vent the addiction safely.

If it really is your friend, forgive me, but it is used so often as a euphemism for talking about oneself. I kinda assumed that things are otherwise.

BTW I also have problems believing anybody, I'm working on it.

R97644

mmmm maybe, just maybe I may have a problem as well as my *friend* as it was me that has found this site, it is me that has been on three time today, even through I pay for it (my first phone bill since getiing home PC came on Friday 72 hours of internet use only found H2G2 5 weeks ago)

So OK I may have a problem, but I'm here now, but I do have a *friend* in need at:

http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=24989&thread=24716

See I have friends, some of who I actually know there surnames of, a few I actually can recoginise in the streets, usually those with red eyes, aching hands, and some sort of nervous twitch

.....is there any piza left?

Chris

hey you've friends? If you're willing to share, we'll order some more pizza!

Can one of the US people order one? We want the sort of pizza thats so big they have to bring it round with an artic (18wheel rig to you), and then you have to wait for the crane to arrive.

With extra topping, please.

H&K
Z

Woo! If my on-line friend Jupita's research is anything to go by the food may well be a key factor here. We shall see if we manage to "reach" them by the end of the day.

CH

Lots of mushrooms on my pizza PLEASE! There's something about mushrooms and cheese I just can't put my finger on...

Yeah, I have a *potential* problem - just back at college with free access (alt & tab come in v. useful) - and then I log in at home & pay too.

So can any of you guys help me before it's too late? What do I need to do to satisfy my craving whilst maintaining some sense of 'reality' in the world I used to inhabit?

Mmmm, nice pizza.

J

I'm not sure I can help, I've just made three postings to this forum on three different occcasions in the last 24 hours. Only thing I can suggest is to stay on-line at college for as long as possible which should at least keep the bills down.

Anyway, this is the real world isn't it?

The real world? IRL? Not round here my friend, it upsets the clients, if you would be so kind...

H&K
Z

Pizza options are as follows: mushrooms, onions, green peppers, pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, anchovies, spinach, or extra cheese.
I have a 2-for-1 coupon from Li'l Caesars, so we can mix toppings.
They do buffalo wings too.

I love virtual food.

Back on subject, I have another question about the British situation. What's the condition of the telephony infrastructure? Is BT makig any effort to upgrade from copper to fiberop, to increase bandwidth?

Lil