The Linux Extremist

I’m originally a Londoner, but I always wanted to move to the countryside, particularly after seeing how the other half live in December 1997. I was visiting a software firm; their offices were located in the middle of Dorset. I had to drive for hours on winding roads to a tiny village located in the middle of a small valley. The offices were above a pub and they had a T1 line. The fellow who ran the company, an ardent Linux advocate, excused himself at the end of the meeting by saying:

“I’m sorry, I have to go and play the piano at the village church for their Christmas play.”

I thought that was so cool.

After the meeting, I went for a walk along a country lane, sucking in the cool, clean air and when I looked up, I saw a strange sight - the most stars I’d seen anywhere outside a planetarium. At that moment, I knew that I had to get out of the city, and eventually I got my wish. Fast forward to 2006, and I’m presently looking for a little corner of West Sussex in which to permanently settle down.

My lovely, intelligent and wise girlfriend brought up a major point as we began our search: “Make sure you check out the internet services that are available.”

She knows me well. I am the type of person who insists on having an 8 MB business broadband line in my private home. She also realised, rightly, that what’s available to people in the countryside is not always as good as what the city slickers in London get. Presumably it’s the compensation for being jostled in the Tube on a daily basis, rising gun crime and property prices that would break the Bank of England - your life may be a load of camel excrement, but, hey, at least you have the latest and greatest broadband.

Fortunately service in the shires has improved; unlike that fellow in 1997, I don’t have to get a dedicated line to achieve a high speed connection. This year, I was able to make the leap from 2 to 8 MB, and believe me, there is a difference, particularly if you download Linux distros constantly like I do. So how does one maintain this high standard of living while looking for a new house? I’ve gathered a few hints.

1. Forget cable. Not that many people, particularly in the countryside, were going to be able to consider it; NTL claims that it’s only second to BT in terms of the size of its network, but what they don’t say is that it’s so far in second it’s not anywhere in sight. Furthermore, I have used their services before and found they were far less flexible than ADSL; equipment such as ADSL routers are far more generic than those one gets with cable broadband.

2. Get the postcode. The postcode of any property you consider is the first key to discovering what services are available.

3. Go to Yell. It’s fairly simple to plug the first part of a postcode of the property you’re considering and find the phone number of a local store, cafe or in some cases, farming equipment supplier. Generally speaking, the business will be on the same exchange as the property. The local exchange determines what broadband services are available.

4. Use the broadband checker on BT Broadband. It doesn’t matter if you want to use BT or not, they will be able to tell you how fast you can go, under most circumstances.

5. After you’ve found your speed, find your service using www.adslguide.org.uk. This is, by far, the best source of consumer advice on which one to pick.

6. If you’re renting, ask the potential service provider if they are part of BT’s programme which allows your services to be moved along with your telephone account. I found out I couldn’t do this with Bulldog the last time I moved and I was disappointed.

7. Try not to chew the carpet while you wait for broadband to be switched on. Bulldog was the worst in so far as that was concerned - I had to wait over a month. BT Business Broadband had me on in less than 5 days.

8. If you have wireless, remember you still need security. Even if your immediate neighbours are a bunch of cows in a pasture (as opposed to ones in semi-detached houses screaming at their 15 kids), switch on some form of filtering; wireless signals travel further than you think, and broadband leeches are always a danger.

Following these hints, I’ve managed to maintain my fast connection to the rest of the world, while staying away from it. As I pick a house which is still further buried in the shires, I am glad that it’s likely that I will be able to continue to do so.

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