Enta.net

I decided to stay with Enta.net, my current ISP since I could not find anyone else that could offer a reasonable amount of bandwidth under £20 a month. I use the internet during peak times, working at home on my writing and promoting websites on commission. I don’t have allot of need for out of hours bandwidth and I never download many big files, with the exception of the occasional Linux distribution!

There are some cheaper deals available on paper, but their reviews are appalling and customer support is dreadful. Any ISP that has support outside the UK or use non-geographic number are rejected automatically on principle. For an ISP you expect the support to be at least on the same sector of the globe, or at least I do any way.

I have noticed some additional slow downs with Enta.net especially when watching Youtube clips and the BBC Iplayer. I went through a period of watching Doctor Who repeats on the Iplayer, but I had to give up in the end as connection wasn’t stable enough during those peak times.

Another factor is that I just didn’t want to have the hassle of having to change things. Its easier to just to keep things as they are, even if they are not as perfect as they used to be. Enta is more stable now than it was, but not as fast in my opinion. If you are a heavy downloader than I would avoid them for certain!

Enta.Net in Decline

Enta.net is a wholesale broadband provider that does not directly sell to the public, instead they use resellers to promote their services and provide basic support. Some reseller of Enta services include; Aquiss, ADSL24
UKFSN , Freeola, Titan, Valiant Internet, Norfolk Internet, Seriously Internet, Vivaciti Broadband, Blue Shift Internet, CHC Solutions and lots of others too.

I’ve been suffering from a lot of down time since my Internet provider Enta.net connections has been having serious issues since “upgrading” to a cheaper platform called IP Stream that BT owns. There has been prolonged outages once a week for the past 3 weeks. Each outage has been in excess of 12 hours per incident. Prior to changing to IP Stream Enta.net hardly saw any outages at all and those that occurred were mainly less than 2-3 hours tops.

The main problem Enta currently is that they have not put any back-up links in places and thus theres a single connection linking everything to together. This means if there’s a single optical cable cut then thousands of Internet customers lose their entire service for half a day at a time. The whole purpose of the Internet is that it should be able to adapt and not be tied to vulnerable to a single cut in a line. This means that Enta can be brought to its knees currently with a single cable break, 92,000 customers can lose their connection because Enta is too cheap to install the back up systems.

You cannot blame BT for the problem since its BT that recommend back-ups are put into to place before moving active customers on to IP Stream. I am staggered by my ISP’s complete incompetence and mismanagement since moving to the new platform.

I did something that I not done for along time. I rang up to complain because 3 times in 3 weeks and it being the same cable is just unacceptable. Its not the resellers fault, but for the fact they were able to supply any further information is concerning. It appears Enta are not being very forthcoming to their own suppliers.

What happened to once a great ISP? Enta is making a very bad name for itself and are flushing away all the good will they have built up over the past 3 years. I currently cannot recommend any Enta supplied ISP and I am myself looking into an alternative supplier.

I don’t download a great deal, though I enjoy to watch TV on-line sometimes, but sometimes I do work in the evenings on line. Without a reliable net connection I’m pretty much stranded.

I feel that the poor service of Enta has forced my hand into requesting a MAC code, though I currently have no idea what other ISP to move to in the same price range. I am looking for 20-30gig per month for less than £20 per month with UK based support. I’ve had my fair share of talking to pointless foreign call center and its just not worth the stress!

Its a shame Enta.net has chosen to abandom its customers like this. Its very disappointing.

RSI Update

I have to say that I do still suffer from repetitive strain type symptoms though its not an every day occurrence. I’m still doing daily exercises, taking my supplements and resting more. I have to rigidly stick to not using the computer more than 30 hours per week, which in some way has been good for me. It certainly makes you waste less time and concentrate the mind in being more productive.

I do still suffer from numb hands, pains and weakness in the arms. Strength has improved though some to my surprise last week I was able to lift half a kettle of water with only minimal discomfort. It was a really great feeling to be able to do just that.

I think the majority of my problem appear to come from the area of the spine between the shoulder blades. I believe its related to allowing my shoulders to roll forward which over a longer period of time is putting excess tension and pain. I do think that because that area is inflamed that this might be pinching on some nerves causing the numbness. In fact I am going to have to stop typing now because of it… I’m sorry to say, there’s no such thing as being cured.. you only can hope to learn to manage it and avoid discomfort.

Waltons Restaurant

Last night we went for a meal at the Waltons Hotel, Bar and Restaurant located in the Park in Nottingham.  The lifts arrived late which meant we got to the hotel dead on the dot, meaning that there wasn’t any time to spend any money in the bar area. Hotels tend to like you to arrive earlier or to keep you waiting so that you buy drinks at the bar first; naturally such extra drinks are more expensive than most other places.

The interior of the hotel was very well done with nice wood panelling and neutrally decorated. The restaurant itself is a proper white table cloth one, dimly lit but not too dark where you cannot see the food. The light can be a problem if you intend to take any photographs with a compact camera as the batteries took forever to charge between shots.

For starters I had a Bacon and Chicken salad, followed by Lamb Shank and finally for desert a very delicious Vanilla crème brulee with raspberry sorbet. The speed that we were served was quick, though we were finding that we weren’t all receiving our food at the same time. There were a dozen of us and I think this may had caused an issue in the kitchens. The food delivery from  the waiters were fault bar a couple of items, which was soon put right.

The quality of the food was superb as was the wine which went perfectly with the meal. The Waltons is not a budget location and so expect big plates and little portions in the middle. Still after 3 courses, you are filling very full. I could had not eaten a single thing. The prices are very reasonable.

The only real negative thing I’d have to say is that I felt a little rushed because their car park closed at 11pm meaning that the drivers were constantly clock watching.  The road-ways around the hotel where you can park were full of cars and you needed a permit to park there from hotel reception.  I would recommended getting a Taxi if you want to have a non-rushed evening.

I would had liked to spent longer in the bar after the meal, but by the time we have finished eating it was 10:40pm and we were heading out of the car park at 10:50pm, just ten minutes before curfew. It would be far better if the hotel if the car parking closure time were more flexible and so I would be able to comment further on the bars.

Over all I highly recommend the Hotel and I will be certainly be returning again.

Recovery Lessons

I think one of the most difficult lessons to learn during recovery is to pace yourself. Sometimes you feel like you are getting REALLY better and almost feeling normal again, and so then you slip back into old routines and those bad habits that injured you in the first place – This happens to me quite abit!

So instead of sticking to my usual routine of using my weights every other day, I let it slip slightly and type more than I should because I feel like I am getting back to normal, the trouble is when you let the activities slip that are counter-balancing those repetitive ones then you just take a few steps backwards.

So yes I’ve taken a few steps backwards and have weak arms again because I failed to stick to my workout routine. I suppose the moral of the story is to not to get too over confident and push yourself too hard. Even if you feel better, stick to the same routines rather than returning to those old ways.

I will take 2-4 weeks to get back to the point of where I was last Thursday. I recognise the reasons why and will over come it. Its better to be positive rather than too down. Set backs can so easily make you down beat, but thats another battle you have to fight with yourself and win.

186K, Tiscali Fall Out

I had an interesting comment on my previous EFH Update post from Fiona about her experiences with my previous ISP. I find it fascinating that despite the huge customer feedback some companies appear to never learn. Tiscali who supplies the network to 186K companies have had a fall out and hundreds of 186K customers have been cut off without warning:
(Ref:  Consumer Action Group)

The rumour is that 186K has gone into administration and since they failed to settle payments with Tiscali then they had little choice but to terminate connections. 186K have already set up another company but using a BT platform and are trying to move customers over to it.

I am quite old fashioned in the respect I wouldn’t dream of selling a product to a customer that I didn’t believe it was not good. Some UK Broadband providers know though they are selling rubbish and you really can’t blame BT either for the platform as its the ISP’s that are responsible for its management. So pick your next ISP with care. Pick an ISP that admits sometimes they have faults!

I hear allot of complaints about Tiscali which ISP’s like 186K use because the wholesale price is cheaper to them. Tiscali  use their own core network rather than the platform supplied by BT;  “IP Stream” which  allows them to individually control how much resources are available down to city level. In theory in terms of management of resources it should give customers improved stability since and the fact that most ISP’s suffer from slowness on Tiscali is purely down their network.

IP Stream in itself does generate more complaints to ISP’s because it requires more hands on management from the ISP rather than just leaving it. So, if you ISP says stuff like its BT’s fault, its their IP Stream network then it might be instead they just don’t know how to manage it properly.

I would change ISP’s if their didn’t know how to managed their own product. If I am paying a company for their product, I would had thought the very least you should be able to expect is for them to actually know about their own product?

As for 186K, I have moved on though for historical reasons its sometimes interesting to report the latest going on’s, especially something juicey like this. The Battle between Tiscali and 186K is beginning. I wonder who will be the victor, certainly not any of the customers. I’m so glad I got away from these companies when I did. Phew!

186K does have multiple companies and brand names associated with it, though I don’t have the motivation to research all this again. If you want to find out more I would contact companies house and do a search, plus also use credit agency data which you can pay for access to. All this information is available to the enterprising researcher or writer. Good Luck.

Mud in Ilkeston

Today the weather was good enough to go for a little walk out in Ilkeston in Derbyshire. It was cold out and was wrapped up in a scarf, hat and gloves as well as the usual walking gear. I sweat far less now I’m thinner and fitter than I would had done with this amount warm clothing on.

As per usual we parked next to the canal and up the footpath. The Canal itself was covered with this red algae and the local youths/idiots have been throwing bottles, cans and other items into the canal which stick out like a sore thumb. I wonder what would happen if grown-ups took the same attitude and emptied the contents of their bins into the teenagers bedroom. Would they go running to mummy? Or would they notice since people who drop litter probably live like pigs already.

I did take my instant camera with me, but I think it might be faulty since its started to report battery failures even a few hours after they were replaced. I took a few initial shots, in poor or washed lighting condition and then the red battery warning was flashing. Its very odd as as of tonight I have not changed the batteries and its connected to the pc, uploading the picture above.

The ground was really soft under foot and in places muddy as hell. We passed many walkers though despite it being a bitterly cold and wet day. There was the usual bunch of horse riders on an afternoon amble, dog walkers, cyclists and the odd group of proper walkers. You know the sort, the people that carry maps with them and a compass! I’m not a proper walker, I just like to walk sometimes just because its a nice thing to do of an afternoon and it gets me away from the dreaded computer.

The footing next to the canal was passable, but the trouble started when we decided to take a new path to the left in hope it would cut off the muddy path up ahead. The new path was extremely muddy indeed and only looped back to the path we were actually trying to avoid. It was really slippery not too dis-similar to being on ice. I did need a hand over a particularly section as it was very wet and the trees over hanging the pathway really did not help with a guy carrying a little backpack.

I always carry a mobile phone and camera with me, some weather gear after once upon a time I was caught in the mother of all storms and torrential rain.  I still only go light because its not like I’m on safari and I’ve got lions to worry about. Still, at very least take a mobile phone for emergencies. Like slipping over in the mud and breaking some bones for example! lol

My trousers and boots are in terrible condition and once they dry sometime next week I will be brushing them for hours. There’s no point washing my walking trousers every week as they just get muddy again. Though, looking at them now, the mud may be the sunk in mud rather than the surface stuff, which means I’ll spend a couple of hours scrubbing them and then deciding to put them into the laundry any how.  I’m not even going to begin to describe the condition of my boots. Just appalling..

The walk started from ilkeston to Cossall in Nottinghamshire and then back again, just a very scenic muddy as hell way.  The ground conditions made it a tough walk, challenging balance wise and you had to think about foot placement or slide over on your backside.  Nice!

I got home safe and suitable exhausted, which is good. Walking really helps my arms as a swing them and I get significant pain relief afterwards. Obviously it doesn’t work if you walk with your hands in your pockets. Something I used to do but not any more.