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Mazan

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Everything posted by Mazan

  1. we signed up for it with skybynet ..... we run our business off the net so i can't wait (not to mention the downloads i miss!!). I suppose that you mean NetBySky rather than SkyByNet? What are you intending to do about the return path? This satellite offer is unidirectional. For running a business (depending on the kind of business) I would look more at ISDN and a decent unlimited daytime forfait. You seem to be hoping to use this to download files also. Somehow I can't see the bandwidth keeping up with user numbers at 256k/20€, let alone at higher speeds. Satellite transponders just aren't suitable for such use.
  2. They are all useless for anything other than webpages and don't work particularly well for that. I disagree strongly, at least with respect to ISDN users. I've seen some of these systems working on regular dial-up and ISDN. I've tested some of them myself on ISDN and they certainly had no effect on emails or file transfers. They are probably worth the money when they are free but I would never pay for them. I'm not surprised that Wanadoo now give the service away. Maybe the system you use is better than the ones I've seen.
  3. I wonder why the local bakers I have spoken to have huge sacks of it? For sale by the kilo to the hordes of local Brits with breadmakers, I suppose.
  4. All bread sold by French bakers is made with flour from soft wheat. The French bakers I've spoken to around here all seem to know exactly what hard wheat flour is and most will sell it by the kilo if asked. They get it in big bags that must contain 40kg or more. I doubt that they would stock it if they didn't use it. They certainly don't make pasta so they can't stock it for that purpose. Your area may be different.
  5. I've made bread with both the 30c a kilo white Type 55 and regular complet flour, and with the bread flours. Not much difference in the result. I'm very surprised that anyone should say this. I find soft wheat flour to be totally different to hard wheat flour. It doesn't rise the same way and the taste is also very different: more like cake than bread. You can make bread with regular French supermarket flour but it isn't real bread, any more than pasta made with the same flour is real pasta. Pasta and bread both require hard wheat flour to have the right texture and taste. If you're happy with it then it's fine, of course.
  6. All these dial-up boosters work (if I dare use the word) pretty much the same way. They reduce the resolution of web images before transmitting them and use other caching techniques. They are all useless for anything other than webpages and don't work particularly well for that. Free is about the right price to pay. One of the big drawbacks is the increased likelihood of 404-not found errors.
  7. I hope that you didn't use the Wanadoo CDRom. The French Wanadoo software is most invasive (far worse than AOL) and should never be used under any circumstances. when i try to send e-mails I get an error message saying that the Wanadoo server cannot be found You have probably spelt the name of the server wrongly. It should be smtp.wanadoo.fr (for Wanadoo France).
  8.  I have purchased computer parts from dabs.fr and had excellent service (UK firm) That's because dabs.fr isn't French at all. Dabs is 100% UK owned and most of the goods are despatched direct from the UK. I could tell you two tales of woe that are very illuminating. 1) A 120€ order from a 100% French mail-order PC parts company using a French debit card. The (supposedly new) item was used, incomplete and faulty on arrival. The only way to contact the vendor was via a premium rate phone number which cut off after 30 minutes of music (cost 10€) and was never answered by any living being. Emails were ignored. Registered letters were ignored. Complaints made to an online insurance agency that guaranteed the vendor were ineffective. The card issuing bank disclaimed all responsibility and would hear nothing about it at all. A full and free exchange was finally obtained from the (American) manufacturer of the goods via a FreePhone number. The mail-order vendor is still in business. 2) A £400+ order from a UK company for delivery to France using a UK credit card. The goods failed to arrive in spite of many promises from the vendor over 2 months. The local UK Trading Standards office was contacted by phone. They visited the vendor within 48 hours, in person. They obtained a promise of a full refund. As the refund didn't materialise the card issuing bank was contacted. They arranged a full chargeback within 14 days. All at no cost to the buyer at all.
  9. I've always found the nuts and bolts of the Home and Pro Editions to be pretty much the same. Pro has extended user accounts, encryption, networking and sharing, and the controls that go with all that, but the basic parts aren't really different. For business use in a server or multi-user environment, or when security is important, the Home version isn't much good due to the lack of those extended features, however there is nothing unstable about Home and there is no reason why a one-man/very small company shouldn't do all its work on it. I'm sure that XP Home won't object much to running "foreign" apps.
  10. Mazan - Windows XP is the only version of Windows that can deal with multiple version DLL's. Yes. This was the basis of my comment that WinXP won't complain about software in other languages being installed. Older versions of Windows might be less happy but as we were talking about a new machine that question shoudn't arise.
  11. We are just under 3,000 metres from the local exchange but some of the village where the exchange is has broadband from another exchange so I think it may be some time till they get to us. Is 3,000 metres feasable? 3000m is fine but the measurement is always from the DSLAM, not from your local exchange. Use the link I gave to find your distance from the DSLAM. FT are unlikely to put DSLAMs in very small villages any time soon. You may be close enough to the DSLAM but on the wrong loop as I previously mentioned.
  12. Although FT are supposed to install ISDN if asked, asking and getting are two different things. They come up with all sorts of reasons why not or simply do not ever turn up.  You may need to argue with them but the provision of Numeris (Duo, not Itoo) is a legal requirement out of which they cannot wriggle. In fact you want Itoo not Duo but even so if you stand your ground you will get it.  If the difference is only 30% then I will stick to Onspeed. Sorry, but Onspeed is just a joke. It doesn't increase your download speed at all and in many cases it actually slows things up. It may be perceived to be effective for webpages, but it certainly isn't for anything else. Most people who use the internet a great deal don't use it for web browsing but for file transfers and email, and Onspeed is useless for these. I did have an ISDN line in the UK and was actually turfed off more frequently than we are in France on Tiscali You were unlucky. When I had ISDN, connections of 12 hours or more were the norm. and the speed of 44.0 Kbps is as regular as clockwork each time we log on. That is the negotiated modem speed at the time of connection. If will vary considerably during the connection with many drop-outs due to renegotiation. ISDN is rock-solid 64k with no drop-outs and no renegotiations.
  13. I expect to be using my 2 phone lines (one for phone and one for fax/Internet) and DUN (modem dial up networking) for a little while yet. Anyone with two lines and no ADSL in sight would be well advised to go for ISDN instead. Allow about 150€ for one-off installation/modem costs. Monthly rental is identical to what you pay now and for about 40€ per month you can have a good unlimited use internet package. You will retain your two numbers and will still be able to phone and be on the internet at the same time. With ISDN your connection speed will increase by about 30%, the connection will be made in about 1 second rather than 30 and the connection will become extremely robust.
  14. What's this? A flat above the local exchange? I can't see how you could get better distance figures than these however it looks as though the exchange you are on may not actually have a DSLAM. What does rest of the page say about service availability?
  15. I have never had any trouble installing stand-alone software in English onto a French version of Windows XP.  Nor the other way round. AOL and some others will ask if you really want to do it but I have never known one to actually refuse to install. On occasions it may change button text from "oui/non" to "yes/no" but this doesn't affect the functioning of the programme at all. Maybe you use some very specific software that I haven't come across? The above doesn't apply to official MS service packs, patches and upgrades, of course. For these you must have the right language version. Also for upgrades/patches to existing programmes that aren't from Microsoft.
  16. As long as you don't care about the operating system being in French (this doesn't alter the language of software that you may install yourself later) then a PC bought in a local Hypermarket may be a real bargain. I've seen really good ones go for under half the price a similar machine from Dell would cost, even when not opting for Dell's expensive 3 year warranty. Big brands like Acer sell through Hypermarkets. That said, Dell machines are very well made and are ideal if you are in France but want to buy a machine with UK software installed and with French cables. Don't upgrade your machine. It's too old. You may be able to donate it via a charity to a school in the third world and they would be glad to have it.
  17. The VAT office is right. Smaller companies and large ones who don't trade much abroad can charge local VAT rates. Ones who make many exports to other EU countries must charge the rate of the other country. Amazon fall into this category. This anomaly was introduced by the EU following pressure from protectionist countries like France. The French TVA people will try and pretend that all postal imports to France are subject to this rule, but it isn't true at all. If it was true then all personal posted imports would also be subject to French TVA rates, which of course they aren't.
  18. There can be no extra VAT or import duty payable in one EU country on any item bought VAT paid in another EU country and personally imported. It wouldn't be legal. Nor can you be billed for a Customs presentation charge. It makes no difference whether the items are new or used or yours or not. Posting a parcel counts as a personal import. The only exception is for items carrying special taxes like fuel or alcohol or tobacco where local Customs may try and make you pay that special tax if they think that the items aren't for your personal use.
  19. Longueur de ligne :  6812 mètres Affaiblissement :  70.16 dB Don't hold your breath.
  20. Neuf (aka 9Online) no longer have any ADSL offer at all in non-degrouped areas. You are either in a degrouped area (which means being very close to a city or big town, or in Ile de France) or you signed up with them before they withdrew from non-degrouped areas. The ADSL situation in France has changed radically in the past 6 months and just because one person has something doesn't mean that it is still available to his neighbour. For example, I have Tiscali 512k ADSL for 20€ which used to be the best value offer in France but this offer is no longer available and the only Tiscali offer here now is an expensive 1mb for 30€, plus rented special modem at 3 or 4€ per month. You can get twice the speed from Free or Wanadoo for the same money with no obligation to rent a special modem. Indeed the Free offer actually includes a special modem and unlimited free phone calls within France.
  21. Those figures are fine. You will get all speeds up to about 4megabits (this is a lot more than the maximum 1 or 2 megabits that most ISPs currently offer in non-degrouped areas) though you won't get the degrouped ultra high speed offers that can be had in very big towns. That date is flexible and will probably retreat as it gets nearer. Your two villages are undoubtedly on the same DSLAM.
  22. my 'webmail' is done via POP3 - what is the distinction? Maybe we don't have the same understanding of the word "webmail". Webmail usually means going to a website belonging to one's ISP (with Internet Explorer or Safari for example), inputting a login and password and then being able to view one's inbox and messages within a webpage (these sites generally use IMAP protocol for this rather than POP3). Most people find this handy when using a Cybercafe or other computer that isn't their own. Anyone using their own computer will normally find a POP3 client like Outlook Express to be more useful as it downloads all messages to the hard drive and enables you to consult them/reply to them later. There are some webpages run by third parties that allow anyone to visit and input their email details and password. The site then connects to the POP server of your ISP and presents the email info as a webpage. This may be what you use. There's nothing wrong with it though for security reasons I would prefer to use the webmail option offered directly by my ISP (most do offer this) if I really had to use webmail. Having your own POP3 (or IMAP) client like Outlook Express, Eudora or Entourage is generally more useful than webmail though but of course this is only applicable if you are using your own computer.
  23. The link I gave above does explain how to configure OE to receive and send messages from two accounts using one connection. It is slanted towards those who want to use a new French account and an old UK account though it can be easily modified to suit any and all combinations of accounts. It can also be adapted to suit AppleMail, Entourage, Outlook or indeed any other POP3 programme, all of which work basically the same way. Webmail is a possible solution but I prefer the better message handling and storage that a POP3 client allows for.
  24. I went to the local FT office to ask why typing my number into wanadoo and tele2 sites didn't come up with anything - when I understood that my commune was now connected to ADSL.  They told me I was "too far away".  Not sure from what.  Use this site http://www.degrouptest.com/ to check for ADSL availability as FT will invariably omit to tell you that there are many providers other than Wanadoo. It usually takes at least 7 days for ISPs' websites to be updated with new ADSL installations. Just because ADSL is in your village doesn't mean that you are on an ADSL loop. Initially not all loops are connected to a new DSLAM though progressively you can expect them to be. Often the DSLAM is in another (larger?) village that may be several km away and if you are much more than about 5km from the DSLAM (the site above tells you how far away you are) you may not get ADSL at all, though another person further away from the centre of your village may well be much closer to the DSLAM and so may be eligible. The quality of your line is also important. If you currently have ISDN you will always get a negative response from ADSL test sites.
  25. http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-techcorner/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=435 I strongly advise never to use any ISP's CDRom (except for AOL when it is obligatory) if you value your sanity. The Wanadoo software is especially evil and far more invasive than anything AOL ever produced. You never need to install it, regardless of what type of Wanadoo account you have (dial-up, ADSL, etc.). Nearly all French ISPs (except AOL) offer a "pay as you go" account that costs nothing per month and for which all call costs appear on your FT phone bill. Call charges are at a special off-peak local rate that doesn't increase during the day. It comes to just over 1€ per hour, but more for short calls. This is fine for occasional users. Most ISPs also offer "forfait" packages of x hours for y Euros and this is much cheaper for regular users. Some ISPs still offer unlimited or semi-unlimited dial-up packages though these are getting rarer.
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