Men With Moustaches

Broadband Woes
On Sunday, I came home hoping to watch the latest episode of Top Gear on iPlayer, having been at quiz when it actually aired.

Imagine my dismay when I found that it wouldn't load. I'd noticed my internet was slower than normal, but I figured it was just due to throttling, which happens from like 5-12 usually. Given the extent of my bandwidth usage at time, I don't really mind the throttling.

However, it soon became apparent that it wasn't just throttling. I ran a speed test and found that I was getting a download speed of 0.13Mb/s. 130kb/s. Dial-up is 56kb/s. Fuck sake.

We're with AOL [cue laughter] - We have been for about 10 years, back during the dial-up age and installation CDs from ASDA. The reason we haven't switched is definitely laziness, but after a call to the technical support on Monday, I've been looking into other providers.

During the call, we were made to go through the router settings and change certain things and told after that "that should fix it." When asked just why, if the router settings were all wrong, we hadn't had any problems with speed up until now, the response we got was "Well, I don't know what happens in your home." Oh, thanks... That explains things.

I found an email form on the AOL website. I emailed them with the following:

I want to know if I've been capped, my internet speeds have gone from 'normal' to near dial-up speeds.

A simple enough question, right? AOL didn't seem to think so, when they emailed back with the same automated bullshit about router settings, ending the email with:

I hope that is clear and has answered your query, but if you do have any further queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us again.

As a result of your contact you may receive a survey about the interaction you had with myself. I hope you will fill this out positively as this survey will relate to myself and not any other agent that you may have dealt with in previous interactions.

Thank you again Martin for contacting AOL Technical Support via e-mail, and enjoy the rest of your morning.

"...I hope that is clear and has answered your query..." -- What? Seriously? If there's something I hate more than indian call centres, reading off a sheet of paper instead of being actually trained in the things that people are calling about, it's automated emails that feign personalisation.

As of July 1st, my speeds are back to normal. With no explanation as to why they were ever slow and without having touched the router settings. Thanks AOL. Thanks.

EDIT: I wrote this earlier in the week. Since writing it, AOL replied to my 'angry' email (sent to them after the one above came through) with the following...

Good morning and thank you for your reply. Your not being capped by AOL whatsoever which is why I sent on the instructions in the last email. You weren't connecting to the correct AOL network which is why the router settings need to be updated to the correct information.  

If you were in breach of the fair usage policy you would be notified about it I can assure you by email from AOL. Your connection might be back to what it is normally is but your still not experiencing the full impact of the connection to the correct AOL network.
 
Thank you again Martin for contacting AOL Technical Support via e-mail. 

That's fine. It actually answers my questions and gives reason for the router settings. If they'd come with that in the beginning, I would have been a lot more accepting of their advice. Instead, what they sent made no sense in relation to my problem, as far as I could see. The tone in the reply email, to me, comes across as pretty snippy. Probably just as snippy as my email to them though.


Red Dead Redemption
As mentioned in the last blog, I got a copy of Red Dead Redemption for my birthday. I tried to get it when it first came out, but first of all it wasn't available in ASDA and then it was generally sold out.

One week later, I've finished it. The credits have rolled. There's still a heap of side-missions and stuff to finish off before the game is 100% complete, but the main story is over -- and that story? Is pretty damn awesome.

Grand Theft Auto is the obvious comparison, what with it being made by Rock Star Games and the general running around killing people thing it's got going on within the game.

However, I've played GTA a few times and I've never really felt overly invested in the story. I'm aware of it, but I've never felt the need to find out what happens next. When I play it, I've never continued with the missions to find out more about the characters or what happens to them. In GTA, I continue with the missions, to complete the game. It's a means to an end. With RDR though, it's the complete opposite. All the characters are incredibly fleshed out, with loads of back-story, told to you by the characters through cut-scenes and also while riding to various locations. They talk to each other, making even the journeys you can choose to skip worth sticking around for.

The only downside to the story would be that it peaks too early. You find yourself finishing what could be said to be the main part of the story and then go back to doing some mundane tasks, before the proper end of the game. However, this makes perfect sense once you play through the mundaneness.

It's the calm before the storm, in many ways. Once the credits start to roll, I felt satisfied with the game as a whole and intend to go back to it, to continue with all the side-missions. Treasure hunts, etc.

A lot of games have a filmic quality to them, but this is the first game I've played where I can picture it on a screen, not necessarily 'the big screen', perhaps as a mini-series or something. I still maintain that Zelda would make a good film, but it would need a lot of work to make the story work 'in real life' whereas RDR has everything there already.

Photos
Not a lot to say on this one, just some pictures from during the week.
Kingston

Quiz
Team name: Men With Moustaches
Score: 31.5

A low-as-fuck score, saved only by the picture round. The last round was a connections round and from the first question, we knew it was gonna go badly. It was a question about Dad's Army. Overall, we got 1.5 out of 10 in the last round. Crap.

Before quiz started, we broke out the money game. A game, i'm pretty sure we invented. You take some coins out of your wallet/purse and the others have to guess the year the coin was made based on clues you give them.

Examples of some clues.

"The year we started school..." (the people playing were all the same age) Answer: 1992.
"The year I got my first video camera..." Answer: 2003
"The year of my first T in the Park..." (from Tain) Answer: 2004

It was a good game, even causing us to push the picture round back until we'd finished.