Fibre to the Cabinet

Given that the speed on my broadband connection has reduced from 2.1MB/s to 841KB/s over the past 12 months for no obvious reasons – the service provider always claims the line length as the issue, I’m really looking forward to BT’s roll-out of Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC).

If you’re interested in finding out when you’re schedule to go live, then there’s a list here  - I should be patched in by 31st December 2010. Fingers crossed that BT are ahead, rather than behind schedule!

Pixmania – Buyers beware!

Be very careful when buying from Pixmania. For sure, their prices are very competitive, but the goods are shipped from France… and sometimes they’re selling the French version. It is normally noted on the page for the item:

This means that:

• They’ll send you an adapter plug (European to UK) that you have to fit yourself – a minor effort

What they don’t tell you is that:

• The goods will have French manuals included. You may get lucky and have the English manuals included as well, but a lot of manufacturers are only shipping the manual for the locale to save weight and costs.
• The number given on the order confirmation email is ‘no longer in service’

  

The correct number is 0844 369 0372 and it is possible to contact customer service via email as well – first you’ll have to log in with the email address and password you created when you purchased the item.

Calling the Customer Service number is fun too, the system doesn’t respond when you enter the order number and keeps asking for it to be repeated. Eventually, you’ll get to a message that says “All our operators are busy, please call back later” and you’ll get cut off.

I’ll let you know how I get on with sourcing a UK manual…

<Update> In the end I gave up with Pixmania and downloaded the PDF from the manufacturer’s web site.