We all know what it is like. I mean the Christmas feeling of excitement when we get a new version of our software or even see a new driver or Bios update is available for our beloved equipment.

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In life most people will help others when they have a problem to solve and occasionaly you get someone who goes beyond helping an individual and helps everyone around. On the bybroadband site InfinityMVS was just such an individual when he provided a comprehensive list of which numbers belong to which network. THis was in response to someone who was setting up routing on a PABX.

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A recent post on a forum was asking is it possible for someone to "Sniff" the wireless traffic from outside the network.

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Using DHCP makes it very easy to move around from place to place with our mobile devices and get connectivity without having to change our IP address.

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Going through a forum post this week highlighted that at time we all need to remind ourselves to be vigilant.

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With physical higher broadband speeds becoming available terrestrially, there will soon be a new constraint and that is the ISP. Your contract with an ISP does determine how much information you can download and upload. If you had a 1MB line then you would sign up for a 1MB package from the ISP. There would be no point in paying for a 4MB package. Now with dramatically increased speeds the ISP may become the constraining factor. This was the case recently that I cam across. Their router was showing 22MB connectivity for download and the ISP under speed test was showing download at 3.5MB on a 4BM ISP contract (which is not bad). Loads of people replied much the same as I did. I agree with what has been said before regarding the physical connection and the download achieved. Nothing to complain about there. It does remind me though that it is good practise to run speed tests occasionaly especially as ADSL upgrades are rolling out at the moment. It may also be a good idea to re-boot your router every few days so that if the line has been updated you can get the benefit of it. Anywho your ISP is going to limit you to the bandwidth that you are contracted for. Warmest regards Tim

Connecting to the Internet whether fixed line or mobile has a number of hidden pitfalls. Leaving it permanently connected and using up your sometimes precious allowance of data in tasks you did not know about is one of them. This was the case with one post that I came across where a good well intentioned son had purchased a data bundle from one of the cell providers to allow him access to mail. He found his data consumed and far more than sending and receiving an email would do. He found that Windows was turning on updates again as it does. Others commented on this and he corrected the problem but I had an additional suggestion or 3. Windows updates and do you do them automatically, manually or not at all is a good debate. What I did with my father who is very advanced in years was to disable all updates completely. He brings his laptop round every 3 months or so and I connect it to my LAN and BroadBand connectivity and do the updates that way. I do the same with his anti virus as well. It might be sensible as well with those of advancing years to remind them that in their youth they would not have left the phone off the hook or they were charged for the call. So it might be an idea to unplug the modem after accessing mail. Anywho that is my suggestion

I came across a post that intrigued me a bit. If one has weak wireless signal how can it be boosted? The post went into some options and gave a good description of the problem. The router is in the main building and the user 5m away physically from the main building and 15m from the router so yes there would be some degredation of signal. A few peopole including me would suggest cable and this is what I said: I would go the cable route. Firstly it will ensure that you have better speed to the ADSL router and that is I believe one of your main concerns. Secondly you are likely to spend less. In running the cable I would say it pays to make a bit of an effort to make it neat and tidy to stay in the landperson\'s good books. Assuming that the area between your cottage and the house is garden, I would suggest digging a trench and laying the cable at about 40cm depth which is out of reach of most garden spades. Do encase it in normal electricians PVC conduit and put at either end proper elbow joints and run the conduit up the wall. I would even drill through the walls (check for electrical and water pipes first) and make it a neat and tidy job. Where it goes into the wall it is a good idea to put an inspection box in as at times it can be difficult getting cables round bends and having these boxes lets you get an electricians fish in easily. To make life a little easier you could run the cable or strong string through the conduit before you bury it and then either pull the cable through or just push the ends of the cable through into the house. Remember to use the PVC cement to join all the connectors to make them watertight. If there is paving between then you will need to lift it carefully and put it back. A word of warning though, it never looks the same so make sure the landperson is happy that you do it. If it is cement then I suggest you go back to looking at the wireless extenders or find another route even if it is more than 15m. Good Luck