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I *HEART* Broadband

Yesterday, as expected, I received a Livebox which allows me to receive 8Mb broadband (for free).

The installation wasn't quite as smooth as it could have been. My CD player is a little tired and I had to try several times to run the set up programme. Once everything seemed fine, my PC rebooted itself twice for no apparent reason (after showing, too quickly for it to be readable, a BIOS screen).

I rang the Orange support line who were very friendly and apparently helpful although the technician diagnosed that the problem had nothing to do with the newly installed broadband but rather was due to a fault on my PC. I wasn't convinced. Finally, and rather unexpectedly, microsoft came to my help. Windows XP has a fault report facility built in. Each times my PC had rebooted, one such report had been sent as well as when the problem occured a third time. This time however, something new happened. An Explorer window opened giving me a possible solution to my problem. It seemed that it had to do with the wireless LAN network connection. The solution was to download an updated driver for the bit of hardware; something I dutyfully did and lo! everything now seems to be working fine....

The surfing speed has of course increased tremendously and my online experience has improved in parallel. An added bonus, and I will probably come up with others as time goes by, is that I am now able to listen once again, after 7 years, to my favourite radio channel ever. Yes, even better than Radio4!

When I was at university in Dijon (I got there in 1993), I started to listen to the very local student radio, the, for me mythical, Radio Dijon Campus, 92.2FM. Like any good student radio, the production values were sometimes a bit ropy but the people working there were pationate about alternative/independant music and through them, thanks to them, I was introduced to all sort of wonderful sounds I would never have heard had I contented myself with a more traditional fare. The playlist hovers between alternative rock to electronica, drum and bass, to jazz, hip hop and latin beats and many others.

I strongly invite you to give them a listen. The summer programmes are on at the moment which means the only bits in French are taking place on the hour (for the news by Radio France Internationale) and after 6pm CET (French time). To listen to that wonderful little radio on Itunes (MP3 format), click here and relax.

Enjoy.



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