The General Conversation Area

[RadFemHedonist]

Experimenting with makeup for the first time in years atm... Boots'll be happy, I spent a lot in there over the past two days

I have two main modes of dress: Gothic Drusilla vampire woman and kawaii pastel unicorn fairy mermaid girl. Currently on a mission to find the best makeup for me for both of those. Also body mist - I spray it in my hair as well and then certain attractive guy frens who shall remain nameless say it smells amazing, so will def keep doing that

When I was younger my mum had a lot of misogynistic attitudes towards girly stuff and I was rather a tomboy to begin with... but I love stuff like this now. It's play for me as much as anything, like dress up and getting my face painted was when I was a kid. That said I still kinda wanna explore that more boy side of me too, wear suits and ouji fashion and stuff like that... Momiji Sohma is a tiny bit of a style icon for me

 

[D1tchd1gger]

Got fibre broadband installed:

Spoiler: Before

Spoiler: After

Nice

Belatedly wishing you a swift recovery, man. I hope your time off work is proving to be a good tonic at least!

Thanks. Bumped into a colleague, sounds like our department manager might not be here for too much longer! Glad to be away from that sort of stuff.

 

[Lordhippos]

Got fibre broadband installed:

Bear in mind that WiFi can also slow it down, is that the expected speed?

I think around here FTTP starts at like 150 down!

@Neil.T hey dude long time no see!

 

[Neil.T]

hey dude long time no see!

Likewise, buddy! How're you doing?

Is that a Stellar Blade character you've got as your profile pic? Have you been playing that?

Haven't played it myself but saw a lot of the advertising in the run-up to release.

 

[Vincentdante]

Likewise, buddy! How're you doing?

Is that a Stellar Blade character you've got as your profile pic? Have you been playing that?

Haven't played it myself but saw a lot of the advertising in the run-up to release.

Hey Niel. Long time indeed hope you are good.

 

[Lordhippos]

Likewise, buddy! How're you doing?

Is that a Stellar Blade character you've got as your profile pic? Have you been playing that?

Haven't played it myself but saw a lot of the advertising in the run-up to release.

Hi Neil!

Yes it is, it's a great game I recommend it for sure, I've been playing a bunch of things lately, posting about them in the what are you playing thread

Been a good year for games so far, with some more on my radar that I am interested in as well. I am posting about those over in the games for 2024 thread!

 

[HWR]

@Neil.T nice to see you popping up again in this thread - hope you’re doing well!

 

[D1tchd1gger]

Bear in mind that WiFi can also slow it down, is that the expected speed?

it's not like I really need it, it was on offer at a third of my BT broadband cost, although if both of us are at home some apps would struggle, like Crunchyroll on the PlayStation.

Weirdly doing the speed test on the PlayStation only got me 10 extra MBPS than on BT which was higher than the result on my phone, so not sure what is going on there. If the PS4 was starting to creak a bit you'd expect both results to be lower? Still D/Ld an update of about 10GB and it took less than an hour which is definitely quicker.

 

[Lordhippos]

it's not like I really need it, it was on offer at a third of my BT broadband cost, although if both of us are at home some apps would struggle, like Crunchyroll on the PlayStation.

My point was that wifi can slow down a speed test as the wifi speed plays into it as well, so you have device => wifi => internet, the speed test will never be able to exceed the speed of the wifi, if you get bad signal the wifi could slow it down.

Typically your internet will have a rated speed for which you are paying, so if you are paying for 80mbps and you're getting it over the wifi all is good!

 

[Neil.T]

I've been playing a bunch of things lately, posting about them in the what are you playing thread

Been a good year for games so far, with some more on my radar that I am interested in as well. I am posting about those over in the games for 2024 thread!

Looks like I need to go and follow those links, dude. I've been kept busy with gaming myself lately as well! I'm currently (belatedly) finishing up with Kirby and the Forgotten Land on Nintendo Switch.

Long time indeed hope you are good.

nice to see you popping up again in this thread - hope you’re doing well!

Hi, guys! Hope you're both doing well likewise. I'm doing just grand, thanks.

It's good to run into you both again here.

 

[Lordhippos]

Looks like I need to go and follow those links, dude. I've been kept busy with gaming myself lately as well! I'm currently (belatedly) finishing up with Kirby and the Forgotten Land on Nintendo Switch.

I've basically ran out of games to play or anime I want to watch at this point! Is it a dream? I don't know lol.

I don't replay or rewatch stuff very often, so for both I am awaiting new releases.

 

[Girls with Guns]

it's not like I really need it, it was on offer at a third of my BT broadband cost, although if both of us are at home some apps would struggle, like Crunchyroll on the PlayStation.

Weirdly doing the speed test on the PlayStation only got me 10 extra MBPS than on BT which was higher than the result on my phone, so not sure what is going on there. If the PS4 was starting to creak a bit you'd expect both results to be lower? Still D/Ld an update of about 10GB and it took less than an hour which is definitely quicker.

Do you have anything connected directly to your internet router via ethernet cable? What speed are you actually paying for?

Our local Cable TV company just upgraded their entire network from coaxial cable to fiber, so I recently upgraded my internet service to Gigabit ethernet Up/Down. They do also offer 2 Gbps, and soon will offer 5 Gbps, but I don't need those kind of speeds, yet.... On my main PC that is connected directly to the router via ethernet, I get very close to full speed on upload, around 980 Mbps, but my download speeds are being limited somewhere to right around 400 Mbps, it may be because that computer is about 9 years old now, even though it does have a gigabit NIC on the motherboard. I really need to upgrade my PC within the next year anyway, so that it's Windows 11+ compatible. I'll soon have to start gradually buying up all the needed pieces-parts to build me a new compooter...

 

[Kite]

The best way to get the 'true' speed is to plug the laptop directly into the router via an Ethernet cable, then run a speed test. Just to get rid of any potential slowness caused by WiFi signal (especially if the laptop or other device is in a different room). Although even that won't be a true figure as ideally the test will be run at various times during the day to cater for any peaks.

For most people, the sort of speeds offered by Fibre are over the top. Similar to how most people won't be using the performance capability of a top range smartphone (only having one to show off that they can afford the latest iPhone/Samsung device rather than running with last years model etc.

 

[Lordhippos]

For most people, the sort of speeds offered by Fibre are over the top. Similar to how most people won't be using the performance capability of a top range smartphone (only having one to show off that they can afford the latest iPhone/Samsung device rather than running with last years model etc.

Yep that is true, my internet is 900/120 and it's hugely overkill, I could easily make do with 1/3rd the speed or less, though sometimes it's nice when you're downloading a massive game or update. It's £50 per month via BT, which is OK ish, when my contract is up I was going to see if I could downgrade and save a little, but often the prices they give me are like you save £3 and it's half the speed, so may as well spring the extra £3 for a small luxury

I can get Toob where I live, which is Gbit up and down for like £25/month, but the issue I have is they are still pretty new so outages/issues could be more common (I wfh a lot and BT has been solid for many years for me). The other problem is the cabinet at the end of my road has been bashed by a car or something as it's wonky and the door is half hanging off it, so I'm not sure I want to trust my internet connection to the half broken cabinet.

I'd never pay RRP for new flagship phones but due to deals and shenanigans I got the S24 Ultra SIMO for only £575 on release, with trading in my S10+ (so old phone wasn't worth a lot and was a few years old at that point). A killer deal really, and does show that sometimes it's not what you get, but the deal you get on it that matters! I save some on SIMO deals as well, my mobile sim is £6/month as I'd rather have a nicer phone than unlimited data or similar.

 

[Neil.T]

I've basically ran out of games to play or anime I want to watch at this point!

You've done what?!? What even is that?

My anime viewing has basically stopped for the moment while I'm enjoying time on the Switch (leaving a stockpile of yet-to-watch Blu-rays).

And then there's my games stockpile, too. (Help. ) I'm probably not helping myself progress through it by replaying some of my 8-bit and 16-bit favourites so many times, but they're favourites, so...!

I've also been setting myself challenges like completing the original Super Mario Bros. without losing a life, or completing the harder arcade version of it on a single credit. And then there was the challenge mode on New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe where one of the levels took me a total of around 20 hours to finally get the gold medal for it. You had to clear an already difficult late-game level without touching any enemies or coins. It was brutal.

 

[Lordhippos]

You've done what?!? What even is that?

My anime viewing has basically stopped for the moment while I'm enjoying time on the Switch (leaving a stockpile of yet-to-watch Blu-rays).

And then there's my games stockpile, too. (Help. ) I'm probably not helping myself progress through it by replaying some of my 8-bit and 16-bit favourites so many times, but they're favourites, so...!

I've also been setting myself challenges like completing the original Super Mario Bros. without losing a life, or completing the harder arcade version of it on a single credit. And then there was the challenge mode on New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe where one of the levels took me a total of around 20 hours to finally get the gold medal for it. You had to clear an already difficult late-game level without touching any enemies or coins. It was brutal.

As I've gotten older I've become more selective in what I watch/play, to a point where I only really like certain types of games or shows, and the natural result this gives is that I can run out of such things to use as entertainment.

I've never really re-played or re-watched much either, which doesn't help!

I used to play online games where you just got stuck into playing one thing, and didn't really have to consider what else was worth looking at, and these days I'm very much about chasing the great story driven games that I can play solo, I don't really play much multiplayer anymore.

Your issue is that you're replaying stuff whilst you have new stuff you haven't tried yet, but I envy you the list of things you want to do vs my empty list

I love a good challenge but I am certainly no completionist, those ones you set yourself sound crazy to me! I could never dream of spending that much time on one thing like that, mostly when I play games I focus on the core game and some side stuff, depending how good it is, but I probably usually play about 70-80% of most games, as side stuff becomes repetitive and collection stuff doesn't usually stay interesting either.

I have no games on Platinum nor any 100% games on Steam, and I love it, it means I don't get bogged down with trying to get achievements even when it stops being fun. I came pretty close to getting platinum on Stellar Blade but I avoided it (reckon I did like 90% of that game though!).

 

[D1tchd1gger]

Toob

That's who I went with. Like you and others said the speed isn't really needed, but it's cheaper than BT, and I also got a deal with a £50 coupon for Amazon.

 

[Lordhippos]

That's who I went with. Like you and others said the speed isn't really needed, but it's cheaper than BT, and I also got a deal with a £50 coupon for Amazon.

If you're with Toob that speed you showed was definitely less than I expect, as Toob only do 900 down 900 up.

Could be your WiFi, do you have anything you can plug in via ethernet such as a desktop or laptop?

With things like Toob you shouldn't get slower than advertised speeds because FTTP is way more reliable and consistent.

 

[D1tchd1gger]

Could be your WiFi, do you have anything you can plug in via ethernet such as a desktop or laptop?

I'm using the router they gave me. I have my PS3 plugged in, I tried searching speed test on the browser, but it must be ancient because most pages wouldn't load!
Can't remember if it has an inbuilt one like the PS4 or not, couldn't be arsed to faff around with logging in.
It faster and cheaper than BT so that's all I care about!

 

[Lordhippos]

PS3 may well only have 100mbit ethernet port! That console is old, probably before 1gbit ports became normal.

Yes you're right of course just in some cases here you could be missing a lot of speed you do have if the device is connected to the router via a method that slows it down.

If you're ever curious if you are getting the top speed then you'd probably need to check it from a more current laptop or desktop cabled in, but I'll shut up now!