Internet Access Improved Speed

I contacted my ISP on Thursday to see what I needed to do to upgrade my connection to move from ADSL2 to ADSL2+ following the upgrade of the local RIM (Internet/Telephone Connection Hub) on the estate to which my internet connection is connected.

It was confirmed the upgraded service was now available to me and that my connection would be upgraded sometime over the next 24 to 48 hours.

I did a speed check about 4 hours later and found the upgrade had gone through.  My connection speed has been increased by around 250%.  This means any downloading I do is completed in at least half the time, usually quicker.

The screen shot of a download above shows the transfer rate at 2.234MB per second.  Previously this would have read .920MB per second on a great day! Click on the picture for a larger view.  It still isn't an NBN type connection but a marked improvement on what we had previously.

A file which used to download in 30 minutes (a largish movie file) now downloads in 10 to 15 minutes.

When using a free download site to download a file, the speed can vary remarkably from peak speed to 30% speed during a single download.  30% speed with my upgraded connection is what I used to download at full speed previously.

I helped an older couple yesterday with their movie files.  The format I now download as a preference (HEVC) won't play on their WDTV.  The elderly husband enjoys watching a movie or two during the afternoon and the odd TV series from time to time.

I discussed and demonstrated all the options to them so he could watch his movies.  With this in mind we finished up upgrading his TV to a 40"smart Samsung TV with all the apps available.

He now has access to all the local streaming providers, Netflix, Stan and Presto.  With the free offers now available to these services he could actually watch around 6 months of streaming TV at no charge.

When I left their home after spending after around 4 hours or so with them, he was busily playing with his new remote, had a large smile on his face and a celebratory whisky in hand.

Wednesday Update

As you can probably tell, the cricket from New Zealand has just finished so I have levered myself away from the telly to the PC and my Blog Page.  Australia has won the cricket reasonably comfortably.

Being a live telecast from NZ meant that with time difference play started live on TV in my lounge room around 7:30 am our time and was all over around 3pm daily.  So watching the game takes most of a full day and with an early start, it even meant my bike riding went on the back burner as well.

I also needed to get a home brew on so I brewed on Friday and bottle washed before the cricket telecast began on Monday mornng.

I did slip off to Computer Club and missed around 2 hours play early on Saturday.

With home brew commitments and the cricket on TV I decided to have the crank between the pedals on my bike checked out at the bike repair shop during some bike riding time off.  I dropped it off before lunch on Thursday and it was back, serviced and the crank replaced by late on Monday afternoon.

It now runs beautifully again.  I was up a little earlier than usual the last couple of days for an abbreviated ride.  I was out of bed by 6:20 am, completed an 8k bike ride, had a quick dip in the pool and was sitting in front of the TV by start of play at 7:30!

So there really is very little news.

We did check out a new restaurant for lunch on Thursday, a Thai place down at Kawana which was very nice and it was economical as well.

My birthday evening meal the night before at the Dicky Beach Surf Club was OK at best.

And tonight we will use my Club birthday freebies at the Caloundra RSL.  They are a little more generous than other places we have been to with their giveaways but the food won't be flash.  The meal will be 'pub like' so I may need another tablet for reflux after we get home.

I continue to 'play' with my Android TV Boxes and am having great fun just setting them up as I like it.  There is some experimentation going on and I am discovering the more I get into Kodi, the more mind blowing it is. I have updated all devices to the latest version of Kodi called "Jarvis".

Currently I have Kodi on my PC, my old laptop, two android TV boxes as well as my android tablet

I even can see myself moving from downloading movies to internet streaming more and more.  Last night a movie I had downloaded had severe audio problems around 5 minutes into it.  So onto one of the 'streaming Kodi addons' I went and did a quick search.  I found the movie we had been watching and fast forwarded through to where we were up to and continued on.

The movie stream worked perfectly with quality as good as what I had downloaded.  All in all it was a very satisfying experience and worked well.  It is a shame the movie was just so so!

A friend from Computer Club is also into making his own alcohol.  He had a 1.125 litre bottle for me on Saturday.  My home made "Sambucca" supply was down almost to none left.  I am pleased to report my Sambucca supply has been updated to 'full' again and that it tastes pretty good.

Where's The Cool Change?

A cool change usually doesn't mean much here on the Sunshine Coast.  Instead of being 34 it is 30 instead but the big difference can be in the humidity level.  A cooler change was expected this morning but our little thermometre says 34 right now and humidity around 70%.  It sure feels hot outside and it is just on lunchtime.

I have made it to 70 years of age! We usually don't do much regarding presents here on the Sunshine Coast between Trish and me so I received a wonderful surprise when I was presented with a large parcel containing a new set of Sennheiser wireless headphones.

The best part was the accompanying card with birthday greetings from not only Trish but the three kids and their families as well.  It was great.

Trish and I have used headphones now for some time as they are great when watching TV.  A big hassle with downloading my own TV and movie shows can be the audio that comes with it.  The headphones allow you to pick up nearly every word.  And me being half deaf doesn't help either!

My current wireless headphones are around 8 years old now and having fairly oily skin (I will spare you any more details!) they were probably ready to be retired.

I have the new headphones set up now and they work fine!  I missed my bike ride this morning just to set up the new present.  I am delighted.

They were just the set I had been looking at but I had had some concerns.  Would a second headphone sender interfere with the first original sender thus making the other headphones useless?  They are supposedly 'digital' but did I have a digital output from my amplifier to work them properly?

I am pleased to report they work perfectly in tandem with the original setup.  They use a different wireless range so there isn't any interference, and the digital refers to the signal transmitted by the new sender and has nothing to do with a digital input.

Thanks everyone for your kind wishes via Facebook, email or phone messages.  The phone has been running hot this morning, just like the weather outside.

I think I should celebrate with a beer or two during lunch and across the afternoon!

Monday's News

The direct telecast of the Australia Vs New Zealand cricket Test match from NZ has just finished so life will return to some form of normality again in our household.  Australia has had a strong win in the First Test, the Second Test begins on Saturday coming up.  The telecast has begun around 7:30 am daily here in southern Queensland and only on Pay TV.  So by 7:30 am, that is where I am, sitting in front of the TV.

I did get to Computer Club for a short time on Saturday morning but then was straight home by 11 am to ensure I didn't miss too much of the play.

My maths from the previous post was out by a week so it looks like if the better internet speed is switched on, it should be a further week away than I had first suggested.  As I get older the weeks just seem to mould into each other anyway.

The weather has been relatively cool for this time of the year with it being high 20's, overcast and showery most days recently, however clearer blue skies returned yesterday (Sunday) afternoon with the temperature making it into the low 30's.  The pool probably peaked yesterday a little under 27°.

I haven't been on a bike ride since the cricket began opting to prop in front of the telly instead.

Being the member of several 'clubs' in this part of the world you get freebies to celebrate your birthday.  So last Thursday, 6 of us headed off to the Kings Beach Surf Club as a couple of us have February birthdays.

I was given the stainless steel mug in the photo above as a birthday gift by one of the couples with us.  The mug itself is actually quite light as it appears to be 'double layered' with a vacuum between the layers.  This makes the mug insulated and keeps drinks quite cool!  It is great.

The meal, company and the evening were all great.  The only downside was there were very few in attendance which causes clubs such as the one we were at to close early.  Few customers make it unprofitable to remain open.  So come 9pm we were hustled back onto the free bus and sent on our way back home!

I have bottled the most recent brew and now have just about caught up with supplies.  I guess I will need to make another brew later this week with bottle washing and bottling about 2 weeks away.

With a former cyclone around 1000k's off the coast we have quite blustery conditions today.

It is a big week coming up for Community Association business with me now 'out' Tuesday and Thursday nights for meetings.  We will use up more 'freebies' on Wednesday (my actual birthday) at the local RSL Club.  Just Trish and I will be going!

My inexpensive phone I bought from China is now around 18 months old and still does everything I want a phone to do.  The other day it suddenly shut down and wouldn't fully start up again.  It turned out the battery needed recharging which was strange as just before shutting down it was showing 83% of battery was left.

A bit of Googling has shown that most likely the battery is on the way out.  The same thing happened to Trish's phone but rather than swap the battery we bought her a new phone.  We still keep Trish's old phone (with the crook battery) as an emergency backup.  I have since ordered a couple of replacement batteries from China via eBay, one for my phone and the other for the backup phone.

One was AUD$18, the other from a different store in China was AUD$10.  Problem is they are about 4 weeks away from delivery!  After recharging my phone, it has been holding its charge reasonably well so I will keep my fingers crossed to get another month's use from it.

And finally, I have discovered this website:  http://dl.tehmovies.com/

All links are interesting especially the one labelled "94".  The ../ link takes you back to the previous page.  Serial link is interesting as well.  Have a good look and follow as many links as you want to find heaps of interesting and recently updated stuff.

Can't Wait For Feb 17th

The photo left is one I have collected from the web but shows exactly what is happening to the local "RIM", the Telstra box that acts like a mini telephone exchange for us where we live.  Our estate has around 6 of these boxes scattered about the place but our particular box is looking just like the one in this photo.

It is called being "Top Hatted", that is it is being extended to have more ports not only so more people can connect to the internet but also to have a major increase in internet speed from ADSL1 to ADSL2+

This should mean our maximum internet speed will go from around 6.5MB to 20MB and congestion will be eliminated.  So there shouldn't be a slow down at 3pm when the kids come home from school and get on the internet!

The 20MB speed would still be below what a minimum NBN speed would be. The movie which currently takes 15 minutes to obtain will now take around 6 minutes!  But remember, the speeds Kate and Arj get in Saudi are more like 75MB!

And when should/could all this take place?  You guessed it, February the 17th! .... which also happens to be my 70th birthday!

The weather has cooled markedly with tops most days around the low 30's.  Nights are cooler and life altogether is a lot more comfortable.  I still get to bike ride most mornings with bottlings and bottle washings being reason enough nowadays to not ride but do the chore instead.

I didn't quite smash the telly while watching the cricket from New Zealand recently but I certainly didn't stick it out till the end!

Computer Club was on Saturday as usual and I got to chair the elections for the new committee coming in.  I politely declined a nomination to fill a vacancy on the Committee.

One of my mates from Computer Club enjoys spicy Asian food so the four of us are back to the local small but tasty Vietnamese this evening.

Trish is flat out with preparations for the Arts Association 40th Birthday celebrations with meetings or commitments nearly every other day.

Life potters along quite comfortably!

Week Of Extremes!

I would suggest we have experienced the hottest spell of weather since we have lived in this part of the world.  For several days earlier in the week we had very high temperatures and very high humidity.  The humidity was even higher than we usually get at this time of the year.  The weather forecasters on the TV repeatedly talked about our part of the state being covered in hot and humid air blown down from over Indonesia.  I reckon that was quite true as well!

On one day the thermometres in the backyard were indicating that it was around 40°.  The sun was beating down and with pavers and concrete in the little backyard they seemed to further radiate the heat!  And the wind was from the north west meaning a continuous sprinkle of leaves and twigs off next doors plants!

With the heat and humidity came the inevitable severe thunderstorms.  We would receive the best part of an inch of rain (25mls) which only went to further compound the humidity problem.  The water in the pool was over 30° for a couple of days in a row and a quick swim before going to bed was done in 29° water!

One day we just locked the doors and the windows and put the air conditioner on at around 9am.  It was set quite high but with ceiling fans whirring away overhead the living area of the house remained comfortable.

But then late yesterday morning (Thursday) the southerly wind began to take effect and some rain came as well.  Today is marvellous, no need for the fan even and a lovely cooler day outside.  It is a pleasant 28° or so.  Despite the extreme weather, we have still managed around 40mls of rain this week.  22 of those fell in about 30 minutes during one downfall!

I got a bike ride in most mornings, usually I was home well before 7:30am after doing my 12.5k's.

But there were always jobs to do despite the hot weather.  The lawn was mown and yesterday morning was a huge Home Brew day despite the warmth.  It was a day for bottling and the task was underway before 7am.  I usually have to re arrange the bottles as well and found another 7 bottles of the 'crook' brew.  These bottles were emptied, given a quick rinse then into the recycling bin.  With the extreme hot weather another bottle had 'leaked' about half of its contents into the polystyrene box I store my beer in.

Then a form of moss began to grow over the base of all the bottles and made quite a mess of the box as well.  The bottles needed cleaning off and the box needed a wash and scrub to clean it as well.

Then I bottled the brew and tidied up afterwards.  Because I had tossed out the best part of a complete brew I then put another brew on straight away.  All of this was done with the temperature well over 30° and the humidity heading towards 80%.  When everything was finally done I was a lather of sweat and ready for a swim!

It has also been a Community Association meeting week with associated tasks.  One of the Committee who looks after the newsletter is experiencing some problems.  Rather than wait for him to get it finalized, I took it upon myself to re do several of the articles and change the front page all around!  It is now done and off for printing!

On Wednesday all the Councillors from the Sunshine Council attended a meeting here in Bellvista.  As the local Community Association we were given the opportunity to meet and greet them as well as give a quick overview of issues confronting the local community.  This was too good an opportunity so as President off I went!  Our local Councillor stepped in to thank me for the update.  I hadn't quite finished what I wanted to say but ..... as I said it was too good an opportunity to pass up!

On Tuesday night 6 of us got out to a small Vietnamese restaurant which has recently opened locally.  The food available there was not quite what we enjoy when in Melbourne but many of the flavours and and aromas were unmistakable.  Though not the real genuine fare, it was extremely good for this part of the world.  I would give it close to 8 out of 10 so we will do that again sometime soon!