All things Digital

Tasked to evaluate the options for Internet for flat in France.
Currently using cable service provider, with the following vital statistics:



Note: this was via VPN connection to work, and running a number of applications - so does not represent maximum rate for either upload nor download.

Must admit, the ADSL dependency on a telephone line does make the cable option seem more attractive - from a financial perspective. Being slightly tech-driven this is not the only issue at stake; a chat with a sales person from Numericable informed me that we should be getting an upgrade to fibre-optic shortly, and that from late November there is a new modem on offer (with deposit) that will solve our WiFi needs too.

The Cable option costs less, offers greater speed, and potentially will grant us wireless facility. It is not rocket science... but poor customer service - the charged an extra month when service was not available, have previously lied about contract details (3 month offer reduced price package, with option to change down to cheaper tariff at end of 3 months), costly customer service who speak with North African accent... etc - now less clear

related link: numericable.fr

And for those people in Belgium, take a look at the telecom comparison site of speed.be. With offers for reductions for subscribers.


In who do we trust? UK government IT projects don't have a particularly healthy track record, so it will be of great interest to follow the Stork Project, a proposal to validate the compatibility of different EU ID papers.

Odd-ball link: A website that serves to publicise new web-site launches. launchfeed.com. Certainly offers mild entertainment to see what people are creating...