Good to see you're back Valve

[ioan]

I see you had a good time and you're storming the forum with humorous posts!

[Valve Bounce]

I see you had a good time and you're storming the forum with humorous posts!


You have no idea how difficult it has been for me to get internet access. I am now at my neice's place in Geneva and I have free internet. In Italy and France the cost is around two to ten bloody euros per hour, and that is if you can find someplace to go on the internet. Two days ago, I walked around Aix les bains for three bloody hours before I found the place where they had internet, and they were closed until 2 o'clock. :( And then they had a French keyboard :(

I just love to be back here to crack jokes and be part of this community. I know pino will ask why I am saying all this in F1 - well pino, it's because i am so happy to be back here to post in F1.

[tinchote]

:)

[ioan]

You have no idea how difficult it has been for me to get internet access. I am now at my neice's place in Geneva and I have free internet. In Italy and France the cost is around two to ten bloody euros per hour, and that is if you can find someplace to go on the internet. Two days ago, I walked around Aix les bains for three bloody hours before I found the place where they had internet, and they were closed until 2 o'clock. :( And then they had a French keyboard :(

I just love to be back here to crack jokes and be part of this community. I know pino will ask why I am saying all this in F1 - well pino, it's because i am so happy to be back here to post in F1.

It's not easy to find internet access in France that's for sure. Most of the bigger train stations offer however Wireless connection, but I've been told that the price is pretty high.

For how more are you going to stay in Europe?

[Valve Bounce]

I go to Paris tomorrow, and fly out on friday next week, to be home on Easter Sunday. I hope to see a much more meaningful and positive race from ant then. Let's hope so!!

[ioan]

Have a good time! :)

[tinchote]

Nice trip you are having, Valve! :)

[Valve Bounce]

The only problem we have encountered so far is that most of the camping grouds are closed and will not open till next month. We had hoped to be in Versailles tomorrow only to find that it will not open until the following day.
But getting back to F1, it is really great to read all the issues that are developing in F1. I hope that more members who have left our forum will return now during the F1 season.

[Mickey T]

there's always the old indian trick of taking your laptop for a walk until you pass a house with an unsecured wireless network.

it rarely fails in europe.

[ioan]

there's always the old indian trick of taking your laptop for a walk until you pass a house with an unsecured wireless network.

it rarely fails in europe.

That's true, unfortunately those unsecured networks are fewer and fewer every day.

[tinchote]

That's true, unfortunately those unsecured networks are fewer and fewer every day.


It's still easy in North America. I'm not sure if I ever tried in Europe.

[aryan]

A better solutions I have found is to take my laptop and ask the shopkeepers, restaurant staff if there is a wireless hotspot in their shop/cafe/restaurants. In most metropolitan cities, that rarely fails.

I have never understood why internet coffees charge such a high amount in europe when household internet connections are so cheap there, while exactly the reverse applies to the middle east (i.e., cheap internet coffee, expensive subscribtions).

Pino will probably close this now before we make this into a second chit-chat :D

[harsha]

there is a wireless hotspot at subway....as far as i know

[andreag]

Maybe it helps you a little bit:

http://www.wififreespot.com/europe.html

http://www.hotcafe.fr

http://www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm

http://www.kiosek.com/eurocybercafes/index.html

Good Luck and have a wonderful time!

[Valve Bounce]

Actually, I foud that the Mc Cafe at DEFENSE not only has free wifi, but they provide power for the laptops and you sit on a huge comfortable sofa.

Sadly, I didn't bring my laptop with me that day.

As for prowling around until I find an unsecured wifi, this is rather difficult, as it requires me to bring my laptop with me from the bois de boulogne camping ste, and then wandering aimlessly arond instead of going sightseeing and enjoying Paris with my wife. Not a very clever thing to do if I might add. I just had to bite the bullet and wait. I am at the Radisson at D de G and there is free internet here. :)
Leave for Singaore tomorrow and for Melburne on Sunday. Will probably miss the GP. :(

[Valve Bounce]

I am home. Have no internet, and no phone. Am jet lagged and i am about to kill myself. :(

[jjanicke]

what happened, you were suppose to be there a few day ago?

[ioan]

I am home. Have no internet, and no phone. Am jet lagged and i am about to kill myself. :(

Cheer up mate, it can't be that bad. Or is there such a big difference between Europe and Oz?! ;)

[Valve Bounce]

I got home to find my telephone provider had altered their billing practice by billing ahead instead of one month behind, I was double billed, so when my bill wasn't paid while I was overseas, they cut me off. I was going to have internet set up on the day I returned, but they didn't even send me the new modem or set up DVD, so I still have no internet. I missed half of the Sepang race because I had to check out of my hotel in Singapore, and today is the first opportunity I have to access the internet at the library and check out pitpass to find out what happened. :(

[ioan]

I got home to find my telephone provider had altered their billing practice by billing ahead instead of one month behind, I was double billed, so when my bill wasn't paid while I was overseas, they cut me off. I was going to have internet set up on the day I returned, but they didn't even send me the new modem or set up DVD, so I still have no internet. I missed half of the Sepang race because I had to check out of my hotel in Singapore, and today is the first opportunity I have to access the internet at the library and check out pitpass to find out what happened. :(

Bad, bad people! ;)
I see, you'll be fine in a couple of days, tomorrow it starts again, plusthere's more to life than F1. :)

[aryan]

Not the first time I hear complaints about phone and internet access in Oz.

Let me guess, was that Telstra?

[Valve Bounce]

Collected my modem myself from the courier (sent to wrong address) , tried to install modem which was a dud and died immediately I plugged it in.
Was told to contact technical support which is some guy in India - don't know how this guy can help me get a new modem. Still at Port Melbourne Library. Have now run up almost 5 hours of listening to that awful music on hold by Optus.

Please advise what options I can take in this life.

P.S. My new modem will take another three days to be delivered. :(
Thursday at the earliest. :(

[PSfan]

I am going to now request this thread be locked or moved to an apporopriate (Chit Chat) area of the forum.

And while I agree to some extent to, I believe it was Race's opinion that Happy Birthday threads are a way of expressing friendship towards our fellow members. I think the same tolerance can be held towards some of the retired drivers. I do recall alot of friendly banter in the "Only JV threads" after he wasn't resigned to BAR (in fact a do recall a certain Mod commenting on a shirtless pic of JV that turned up during his little time away from F1)

And as I stated before, if we are going to take this hardline stance (That probably chased some of our friends off the forum) then it should extend to these kind of threads. Especially if Valve still insists on refering to some of the posters here as "genital cranium"

[ioan]

Please advise what options I can take in this life.

Come back to Europe, things are somewhat better plus you can use your neighbor's wireless connection when you have troubles.

Not to mention all those F1 races you can go to! ;)

[Valve Bounce]

Come back to Europe, things are somewhat better plus you can use your neighbor's wireless connection when you have troubles.

Not to mention all those F1 races you can go to! ;)

Europe is nice, but there's no place like home, really.
My replacement modem finally arrived, I was re-routed to an Aussi in Adelaide to help me set up my modem and internet, and lo and behold - everything is finally working. I am now on high speed ADSL.