Hacked Lobster - Landline and Internet recommendation please

[Lobster]

Some may remember how I tried to hack my sisters internet password as she no longer knew what it was or which conspiracy was running it ...
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 334#856334

The situation has worsened and now I am asking you guys for a recommendation for a uk landline phone provider and internet broadband provider (probably as a package deal) which I will set up separately as soon as possible on her present system. I think cable is now available.

All advice, links, suggestions welcome

The charges of the usual suspects seem like a protection racket rather than 'service provision'. Apparently landline charges have rocketed for no reason, except profit.

this one sounds good but I have never heard of fuel-broadband
http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/provi ... -broadband

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To update you on the above URL link situation ...

Basically I found out the original ISP that I had set up (for which I had the password) had been changed to 'Talk talk'. How did I find this out? Well not from my paranoid relative BUT from talk talk hacking my Puppy Firefox browser with a demand to phone an 0845 number, Ipad Safari browser was similarly hacked. Also possibly (don't want to be paranoid) talk talk were sending malicious software to my ipod touch, disabling its usage by constantly demanding password recognition. Now it seems the phone bill has not been paid, mobile phone calls and letters unanswered etc. Does that mean javascript redirection is legal? Don't know, certainly does not feel ethical. The password attack may be unrelated.

Must get myself a tin foil hat ...

When all this happened I thought it was some sort of spoof attack ... truly horrible and invasive behaviour. The only site I could access through my sisters connection was talk talk, the site said their servers had been compromised, no idea what was going on. Trying to contact them had to be done by phone as the site only allowed the account holder access by web. The phone service based in India seemed helpful but unconvinced that the 'account holder' was just not available or going to contact them. No possibility of her phoning anyone at present ... She barely answers the phone at present ... Ay curumba ...

[rokytnji]

And here I thought all you British dudes were Virgin Media Broadband users.

No suggestions from the Mexican Border. Sorry.

[ally]

yep, I am

I moved from an area in deepest darkest lincolnshire (8 miles from lincoln) with shitty internet from bt and no gas to the village (8 just 8 miles people)

moved and asked bt for speeds in new property, was told 0.5~10mbps, I was getting 4.5ish at old address

so it could be 0.5mbps, feck off

cancelled the line move and went virgin, got 60mbps immediately which was upgraded to 100 in about a year

although bt had my a my new addres they have chased me for unpaid charges with 5 bailiffs to date even though I offer to pay by return for correct charges

bt is a shocking company to deal with, I've file an inch thick but too boring to get into

zero issues with virgin save a few router locks every now and then

if at all possible stay clear of bt (and others using their hardware)

[Lobster]

And here I thought all you British dudes were Virgin Media Broadband users.

No suggestions from the Mexican Border. Sorry.

Virgin as far as I know were our ISP and then without upgrading loyal customers they sold their overpriced ADSL service to TALK TALK.

Virgin are also keen on spying on their customers on behalf of HM government spooks.

Not too keen on BT as they seem to get consistent complaints.

It seems as if faster speeds are available but all seem to require over priced line rental which is usually managed by BT.

a lot of people are ditching their land lines but is not an option in this case

thanks for advice so far ...

Quite interesting doing research ... Apparantly MAC number not required. Just been looking at hardware SIP phones ... still need broadband and landline ... probably not viable ...

[greengeek]

Apparently landline charges have rocketed for no reason, except profit.

There may be good reason for landlines to be more expensive - if (as in New Zealand) you have a legacy of the old style "copper wire" network that originally supported telephone exchanges. Over the last few years there has been a move towards fibre optic backbones for the new style of communications and these are cheaper overall than having to maintain the old style battery powered exchanges and copper lines.

Telco companies want to get as many people as possible off the copper network and onto the new lines as it has many benefits for them eg:
- Cheaper to maintain
- Easier to control (eg they can switch off a customer immediately and digitally using centralised computer control rather than sending a technician and a van out to disconnect wire pairs).
- Easier to monitor traffic (eg they can "wire tap" your line without actually having to connect a monitoring device onto a copper wire or piece of exchange equipment - the moitoring is already in place 24 hours a day and can be remotely activated)
- Easier to multiplex users onto the same backbone rather than maintaining individual discrete subscriber lines (eg it is much cheaper for a Telco to "cabinetise" a block of 100 apartments and connect all users into a local cabinet which feeds one trunk to the exchange rather than feed 100 copper pairs from the apartments all the way to the exchange.
- The new lines support services that older copper pairs cannot.

For most users these advances can have significant benefits of cost and functionality, but there is a downside aswell. Gone are the days where your phone connection provides a direct copper link to the person at the other end - you now have a high speed party line that is under constant control and surveillance. Also people that need to use faxing will experience significant problems when their data is fed through a VOIP style line (where the audio is chopped up into random digital data packets). Faxes were designed to have a "real time" conversation where the arrival timing of each audio signal was consistent. VOIP lines cause this timing to be disrupted and variable which confuses the fax machine.

The other main downside of the digital lines currently available is that they fail when the home/neighbourhood loses power as the router/gateway goes off, and even if supported by a UPS it may not help as it has to communicate with a "cabinet" somewhere in the neighbourhood which has also lost power - in contrast to the old copper network which was supported by -48volts supplied from the exchange batteries. (which wasn't 100% foolproof but did protect against a host of power network problems in times of emergency)

So - if you need to send faxes, want your phone line to remain useable during powercut or civil emergency, or have a monitored medical device you may wish to pay extra for a dedicated landline.

Be warned though - some "landlines" are still just VOIP lines - some Telcos are unscrupulous in their terminology!

[prehistoric]

Part of the problem is that mobile telephone companies have discovered that their customers can be products as well. Older telcos want in on this bonanza. If you check your terms of service you will discover they are able to find out just about anything anyone might want to know about you. Naturally, they don't just sell this off to the highest bidder, they do some discrete packaging to ward off legal challenges, then sell blocks of data.

People who buy information like credit reports and public records in quantity can put this stuff back together in milliseconds. This leaves the telco free from any criminal intent in selling you out. There are even companies buying mug shots in quantity, and displaying them to the public. You can get your mug shot removed by paying them. This is perfectly legal extortion.

Limitations on these practices are still being tested in European courts. The U.S. has fewer limitations on business uses, but more on government collection of data. (You may be aware that this has not worked too well.) European governments place significant restrictions on what businesses may do, but place essentially no limitations on themselves.

There are embarrassing questions about how well governments are protecting personal information they collect, starting with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and a certain massive form 86 needed for security clearances.

I suggest you read Bruce Schneier's book Data and Goliath before you spend money on data communications. You may want to fall back to smoke signals.

BTW: that link above takes you to Amazon, which is also in the business of collecting information and determining what you are allowed to know. At one point a copyright dispute caused them to remove a number of ebooks from users' libraries after they were purchased. One of these was 1984.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

[Wognath]

Good luck, Lobster. Here in US, phone providers are known for bait and switch. My provider, C**tury L**k, advertises internet and voice with unlimited long distance for $64.95. But after you sign up, you find your bill contains $12.05 in "taxes, fees & surcharges" and $17.91 in "additional monthly charges", among them internet cost recovery fee, phone service access charge, extended area calling and long distance interstate service fee, somehow not included in "internet and voice with unlimited long distance".

There's a monthly charge if you want unlisted number.

No doubt monopolies know best, but I ask, why not be honest up front?

[starhawk]

Wognath, what state are you in? CenturyLink is in my area (middle of NC) too.

You do know their history, though, right? They were Sprint, for years. Then people started noticing how bad their service was -- and rather than do better, they decided to simply change their name.

So they became "Embarq".

That didn't work, so they became "CenturyLink"...

I don't think that's worked either, so they'll probably do it again soon

[rokytnji]

Well, we are looking into switching from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0syFQLGBjo Stream to Delcom out here in the sticks.

Out of curiositymore than anything. I looked for Delcom in England. Only a radio company with that name in England.

So the below may help, or not.

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/broadband/unlimited

Things are so different between pond shores. Then even more between deserts and foggy climates.

Oh, forgot to mention I get to play with this once in awhile also.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/internet ... ifi-6620l/

It is cool when you plug the headphone jack from your laptop and run streaming no commercial radio stations while doing hundreds of miles down the freeway on the pickup truck stereo. Then post here from the middle of now where. Expensive though.

[Wognath]

what state are you in?

Oregon, where CenturyLink used to call itself Qwest. I still have an Embarq modem from back east, "no longer supported, buy a new one". (After several tries I found a tech support person willing and able to help with settings and got it working.)
As a possible alternative, there are some local companies that offer DSL over CenturyLink phone lines or broadcast to a dish antenna. Edit: former requires paying line charges to CL, latter available only in limited area.

[starhawk]

That's very interesting... last I heard CenturyLink was only in NC, SC, and FL. Huh.

I guess they're spreading...

[Lobster]

Thanks guys,

Appreciate the info. Smoke signals may be the safest bet.

They do sell my data and I am paying them for the 'privilege'.

I am using PAYG MOBILE INTERNET another commercial con that gives me 2 gig for a whole month. I can use that in an evening.

Ignorance and sheeple mentality seems why the mis communication companies get away with it.

If I try to use internet at the local library, they want to know who I am.

Free internet? Free as in 'free of surveillance' may no longer be possible ... if it ever was ...

Have emailed my MP but may send a hand delivered letter - yep real olde school ...