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Lordhippos said:
connected to the router
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Did have a thought on this. They have a box on the outside, if you live in a toob area you might have seen it. But there's also a box on the inside which then has a wire to the router, could it be as simple as the wire leading from that box to the router being a normal wire and thus not getting all the speed to the router?
The engineer left before doing a speed check because even though connected the Internet wasn't working yet. Not that I would have thought to ask if it was an impressive number, but less than promised (didn't even clock that on the leaflet!). He did say he would phone after his next job, but the Internet showed up about 10 mins after he left. I then got a call from a mobile number nearly 7 hours later, which I ignored. Only after did I think "oh that must have been the engineer" and again I would have just "works fine mate, cheers"
 
D1tchd1gger said:
Did have a thought on this. They have a box on the outside, if you live in a toob area you might have seen it. But there's also a box on the inside which then has a wire to the router, could it be as simple as the wire leading from that box to the router being a normal wire and thus not getting all the speed to the router?
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That is possible, but only really likely if you supplied that cable, or it was one that was already there which they re-used.

There are Ethernet cables out there that can only do 100Mbit, they're not that common, but they do exist.

If the cable has Cat5 written on it, then it can only do 100, if it has Cat5E then it should be able to do the full 1000.

You can also try speedtest over WiFi but make sure you're really close to the router and don't have any obstructions between you and it, your phone should then connect over Wireless N and get at least a few hundred Mbit.
 
Lordhippos said:
I came pretty close to getting platinum on Stellar Blade but I avoided it
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You deliberately sidestepped it?! Duuude! You could've had yourself plat for that! 🤣

I read your post about the game in the thread you linked to before. Really pleased you had an enjoyable time with it. Based on what I've seen, the visuals look absolutely outstanding.

Lordhippos said:
I love a good challenge but I am certainly no completionist, those ones you set yourself sound crazy to me!
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Eh, I first played the original Super Mario Bros. way back in 1991, so I know it so well by this point that doing it on one life really isn't too difficult. The arcade Super Mario Bros. (called Vs. Super Mario Bros.) was a tougher one, though, because after I finished the game on one credit I changed all the settings to their most difficult and tried that as another challenge: only two lives at the start instead of three, 250 coins needed for an extra life instead of 100, and less time given to complete each level. Just like with my regular Super Mario Bros. challenge, I barred myself from using any level skips, so I had to play all 32 stages. Yeah, that took a few goes to get right. 😅

The 20 or so hours spent on that New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe challenge level was by far the most difficult thing I've ever taken on in gaming, though. The level itself is only about 90 seconds long, so I must've made somewhere around a thousand attempts at it. Yikes.

It's honestly healthier not to be a completionist, to be honest. I played Yoshi's Crafted World to 100% earlier this year, even though it's honestly a pretty middling game. That had a really difficult boss fight at the end of the post-game. I took far too long to get the patterns down, so I was stuck on that for around six hours in total. Help. 😬

TLDR: You're going about your gaming in the right way, I reckon.
 
And then! Neil completed it blindfolded! o_O

Neil.T said:
TLDR: You're going about your gaming in the right way, I reckon.
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Honestly most games are inherently a way to spend time and don't usually serve much of an educational purpose etc, so I don't necessarily think it's true, I think the best way to play is the way that suits you the best :cool:

Some people dedicate their lives to speed running the same games over and over etc, as long as they have fun who am I to tell them they can't?

I think I just like seeing new games and new stories and things, although I see a lot of releases and very few of them really grab me, I can usually tell if I'll like something from a quick demo or video.

Sometimes great games come along and surprise me even still.
 
IMG_8973.jpeg

This is the speed coming into my router. I have to say, I do rate Vodaphone for fibre. I have a sim only contract and my internet and the total is just under £57 a month. Also their rewards on the mobile app are decent too. I got a £8 TK Maxx gift card the other day, I’ve also had a few Sainsbury’s and Morrisons ones in the last 6 months too.
 
As I understand it Vodafone fibre is one of two flavours, either you get it via BT Openreach which is the same network as my BT 900/120 service, or the other flavour is on the City Fibre network, yours is probably the latter because you have 1Gbit up and down, and BT OR doesn't offer such a service.

They are competitively priced though, internet being quite reliable especially on FTTP, you can't really go wrong in picking the cheapest major suppliers.

Mine :)

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@Lordhippos yeah it’s through City Fibre (I referred through them a few years back and they gave me some Amazon vouchers I think). I was only on a 100mb package at the start of the year but they offered the upgrade for £3 extra a month and locked the price for 2 years. As all the providers were raising prices, I figured £3 wasn’t so bad and the service makes work a lot easier (I deal with a lot of raw video files).
 
AgeOfBoredom said:
@Lordhippos yeah it’s through City Fibre (I referred through them a few years back and they gave me some Amazon vouchers I think). I was only on a 100mb package at the start of the year but they offered the upgrade for £3 extra a month and locked the price for 2 years. As all the providers were raising prices, I figured £3 wasn’t so bad and the service makes work a lot easier (I deal with a lot of raw video files).
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£3 for 10x the speed is 100% worth it! Upload speed being much less than download kind of sucks as I'd rather have say 500/500 than 900/120, but it's still plenty quick enough really for me.

Speaking of referrals ... I never seem to have much luck with them, and I don't like trying too hard either, but I realised I'm up to 18 refs on Octopus Energy (including the fact I got referred to begin with) which is £50 a time they pay you, so I've made £900 from refs on that in under 2 years! :cool:
 
@Lordhippos you’ve almost paid for your years energy bill 🤣 I use Top Cash Back for a lot of purchases and I’ve got about £250 back in a year just buying stuff I was going to get anyway. You can get a few quid on a HMV order but when it comes to things like insurance or bank accounts then you can get paid a decent amount.

If anyone wants a referral to that, let me know 😉🤣
 
@AgeOfBoredom Yes it wouldn't surprise me if it fully covered all of my utility bills since I moved over, because I have solar energy so my bills are less anyway!

I have a solar thread here if you're interested in seeing some figures. My system was £8.5K and by the time it's been in for 2 years, I'd estimate it will have saved me around £2.5K of that initial cost. So nicely on the way to paying for itself.

I love cashback and deals and things, I try and get good deals where I can so I also use TCB as well, but I must confess I don't actually buy much outside of larger occasional spends when I want to upgrade my PC or similar. Get the odd deal on cashback with insurance (was £45 back with TCB this year for car insurance) or stuff like Ebay.

This is because I've basically got all of the stuff for the house I need really, so no purchases on my horizon unless something breaks down.

Octopus is easier as everyone needs a utility company and they are still the cheapest one I believe if you can get onto tracker or agile (needs smart meter). Even for people without solar or heat pumps/EV.

Don't know if anyone else has this but today Nationwide have confirmed that £100 fairer sharer payment will be made to anyone who has a combo of current AC + savings AC OR current AC + Mortgage with them:

Nationwide Fairer Share | Nationwide

Find out more about the Nationwide Fairer Share Payment, including who’s eligible
www.nationwide.co.uk www.nationwide.co.uk

I have all 3 so it says I am eligible in the app :)
 
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@Lordhippos solar is def something I want to do in the next few years but my roof is an old slate one, so should probably get that sorted out first before sticking panels over the top of it. My average usage is like 8.5 kWh in the winter and down to less than 5kWh in the summer. The thing that uses up all my electricity is the smart home appliances like HomePod minis, Sonos and Hue bulbs. Then if I’m rendering video my electricity spikes for a bit.

I’m on OVO and I’ve had a good experience, especially as I was on a two year fixed but for some reason they cocked up and had me in a one year fixed at the same time (they don’t know how this happened) which was a lot cheaper. So mid way through my two year my bills dropped loads. Also I used their discount to get a smart thermostat and smart TRVs in all the rooms.
 
Check out if you're still competitive, not a sales plug or anything but the tracker rates have been fairly good vs the SVR ones for a while now, so if you're not on a fixed deal where the units are cheaper there could be a saving to be made. I've been on the gas tracker since last Feb so over a year now, and I don't think a single day was more expensive than SVR so far.

My region but you can change it on the left for yours;

https://octotrack.co.uk/region/h-southern-england

Elec is routinely under 20p/kWh and gas is around 4 - 4.5p/kWh, I think SVR is about 24p and 6 - 6.5 respectively, so maybe 20% cheaper on tracker at the moment vs SVR rates.

Regarding the roof, you can get in-roof panels, can save you on some costs as you then don't need tiles under them, if you're re-doing whole roof one day, consider replacing some of the tiles with solar panels instead.
 
AgeOfBoredom said:
I can change my tariff at the end of the month so I’ll check this out 👍 cheers. If I move, I’ll send you a DM for your ref if that’s good for you?
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Yes not a problem, and no pressure from my side at all here, keep an eye on the prices on that site so you can see how they compare.

By the way, standing charges are abysmal across the board at the moment, all rates are up, a large % of my bill is standing charges, but it seems true no matter which supplier or tariff you are on.

I think currently unit rates win with whatever works out cheaper for these. SC is about £1/day for both now or getting there!
 
Lordhippos said:
And then! Neil completed it blindfolded! o_O
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Haaah! Not a chance, man! 🤣

Although, as I'm sure you probably know, there are crazy mofos who do actually play various blindfolded categories. That's... unthinkable. 😵

Lordhippos said:
I think the best way to play is the way that suits you the best :cool:
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Really, you've hit the nail on the head there. I mean, I like my challenges and aiming for 100% completion, but I do also like to play different games as well. I wouldn't be any good at hammering away at one single game every day in trying to find more and more improvement at it.

As a side note, I feel that, with the length of games now, by the time I reach the end of one, I really don't want to touch it for quite a while after that because I got (sometimes more than) enough of it as I played through. I actually really do like shorter games that I don't feel like I'm just slogging my way through come the end; I feel far more inclined to pick those up again and enjoy them some more, because they still capture my imagination even after playing the whole thing.
 
@Neil.T where you been hiding man? Glad to hear you're keeping well though.

And @Lordhippos did I read correctly that you've actually run out of things to watch/play?! I'm impressed and jealous, but at the same time it's not a bad thing to always have something from a neverending pile to pick up to watch/play/read heh.

Ah this reminds me, I do sorely miss our simulcasting days, but life has gotten so busy that that would be nigh impossible for me now, even if others had the time 😔.
 
Geriatric hedgehog said:
And @Lordhippos did I read correctly that you've actually run out of things to watch/play?! I'm impressed and jealous, but at the same time it's not a bad thing to always have something from a neverending pile to pick up to watch/play/read heh.
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Pretty much, yeah I wish I had more stuff in the pile to do, but can't force it.

New things do come along though, so it's not all bad, just means I'm waiting for stuff more. Meanwhile I'll have to play older stuff or find things to do, but there is plenty out there I feel.
 
Lordhippos said:
Pretty much, yeah I wish I had more stuff in the pile to do, but can't force it.

New things do come along though, so it's not all bad, just means I'm waiting for stuff more. Meanwhile I'll have to play older stuff or find things to do, but there is plenty out there I feel.
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Heh indeed, you can always raid your physical collection during drier spells but really there is always something new isn't there and I feel we're getting spoilt this year with new series like dead dead demon's destruction, the return of others like monogatari and then there are all the nasyuerse VNs coming for those interested
 
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