Finally Faster Internet

Posted on 7 July, 2013 by Matthias Scheler

Two years ago I complained that British Telecom haven’t upgraded the exchange that our house is connected to for over five years. Unsurprisingly BT still haven’t upgraded the exchange during the last two years. Recently however TalkTalk another major British telecommunication provider connected the local exchange to their broadband network. This didn’t immediately help us because we wouldn’t want to use their residential service as TalkTalk offer neither static IPv4 addresses nor IPv6.

But fortunately AAISP have recently started to sell their Internet service over TalkTalk ADSL connections. As a first step AAISP moved all their customers that were like us still stuck with BT 20CN (British Telecom’s old ATM based broadband network) ADSL1 connections to TalkTalk ADSL2+ connections for free. The migration of our broadband connection went off without a hitch. After a downtime of about 15 minutes my Internet connection was almost twice as fast as before.

Unfortunately however it turned out that our Cisco router doesn’t support ADSL2+ very well. It was able to establish a connection to the exchange fine but dropped it about once every half hour followed by a downtime of several minutes. In the end I had no choice and bought an external ADSL modem. Considering that I can use neither the Cisco’s WiFi (no IPv6 support, only 802.11g) nor its ADSL interface I’m seriously considering to replace the router. A NetBSD machine could move packets between ethernet interface just fine, would have a more flexible and powerful firewall and wouldn’t require a support contract to download software updates. The Cisco 870 product line is also end of life which makes me wonder how much longer my old router will be supported.

Last Wednesday our Internet connection was updated again on my request. It is now operating in Annex M mode which more than doubled our upload bandwidth. But there were again technical problems at the beginning. Our new modem wouldn’t establish a connection to the exchange before we reconfigured it from Multimode (automatic detection) to ADSL2+ annex M.

Altogether I’m very happy with the update: a lot more bandwidth for the same amount of money. 🙂

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Movie of the Week: Star Trek Into Darkness

Posted on 2 June, 2013 by Matthias Scheler

Four years ago Paramount Pictures successfully rebooted the Star Trek franchise. J.J. Abrams‘s movie Star Trek raised the bar with more speed, action and drama than in any Star Trek film made before. Silke and I were therefore really looking forward to the sequel.

Star Trek Into Darkness tells the next chapter of the adventures of the original Enterprise under the command of James T. Kirk. After two devastating terror attacks on the Federation Kirk and the Enterprise are sent to hunt down the former Starfleet agent John Harrison, the man behind the attacks. During this manhunt the crew of the Enterprise is pulled into a dangerous conspiracy which could cost their lives and lead to a galactic war.

As its prequel Star Trek Into Darkness features action, drama and bits of comedy at a high pace. But there is still room for character development and good acting. I was particularly impressed with Benedict Cumberbatch who gives an excellent performance as John Harrison, the movie’s main antagonist. His character is ruthless, cunning and charismatic. Long term Star Trek fans will also like the homage to the original TV series and movies. Star Trek Into Darkness tells one of the original stories in a new and exciting way. The movie even re-enacts one of the most memorable scenes but with a new twist to it. All in all Star Trek Into Darkness is as brilliant as its predecessor and definitely worthwhile watching.

I really hope for another Star Trek movie with the new old crew, even if J.J. Abrams is busy with the new Star Wars movies.

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Movie of the Week: Iron Man 3

Posted on 12 May, 2013 by Matthias Scheler

The worlds vainest superhero is back! returns to the screens as Tony Stark for the final part of the Iron Man movie trilogy.

In Iron Man 3 reality has finally caught up with Tony Stark. He is suffering from post traumatic stress after his near death experience in The Avengers which strains his relationship with Pepper Pots. In a moment of anger he challenges the The Mandarin, a terrorist that threatens the security of the United States of America. The Mandarin retaliates with a devastating attack on Tony’s villa that almost gets Pepper and Tony killed. Tony is left homeless, without his laboratory and with only one unfinished prototype of his Iron Man armour. He decides to go into hiding to prevent further attacks on those close to him, in particular Pepper. In his self-imposed exile Tony needs to overcome his fears and figure out a way to conquer his new arch enemy with very limited resources.

The third Iron Man movie is a bit darker than the first two. Just like the main character the story has lost a bit of the lightheartedness. But in return you get more suspense, a plot with interesting twists and even more action than before. Robert Downey Jr. is again at his best and delivers a very entertaining performance which ensures that things don’t get too serious. The special effects are brilliant as usual but still leave room for the human aspect of the story. The final showdown delivers the stunning final that the trilogy deserved.

If you like action, comedy and special effects in an entertaining format you don’t want to miss Iron Man 3.

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