The Sinclair QL Forum

The best is probably to ask Marcel directly.

Today I received this little item:


My first order from AliExpress since our overlord added high tariffs. It seems AliExpress is just eating them because I haven't seen any major price differences and the package came in the usual manner. I expected, upon checkout, besides our state sales tax, for there to be a 30% tariff charge, but that never showed up. Then I expected to hear from our postal service asking me to pay some insane amount, and that never came (the shipper was UNIUNI)

This item was heavily discounted to $9.99 with and additional 55% off and free shipping (that was a special on my wife's account since she hadn't ordered in a couple of years). Still even at $9.99 it would have been a steal at about half the price from the sellers website. I expected it to come in a thin envelope to save on shipping, but they stuck it into a small box and added a USB cable. I have no idea how AliExpress's sellers can make any money on that. I get this was likely a special to get US buyers back, but I don't mind a few dollars added to pay the tariff, I just didn't want to have to pay a $100 or $200 charge for the tariff.

Delicious....

RalfR wrote: Sun Aug 10, 2025 9:32 am Delicious...

Yummy!

You'll have to visit Britain more often, Ralf. Then you can satisfy your craving for British foods! Meanwhile, I was on Irish beers last night, left for me by Darren Branagh when he visited last week

Yes, that's true, from English breakfast to teatime with sandwiches, I'm always up for anything. I just refrain from Marmite . But delicious fish and chips aren't to be sniffed at either. And of course, cheddar in numerous varieties.

Yesterday we visited a friend from Ireland who had her mother visiting from England. They served authentic English tea, which I drink with milk, of course. Very tasty.

And congratulations on the beer—you don't get that every day.

Today I recieved my ultra fast fibre thingie.

Some faffing around as the OpenReach guys hit a snag or two, but got them sorted.

My PlusNet Hub2 hasn't arrived yet but that's not a problem as my ASUS RT-AC-68U works fine and you caneven plug a VoiP phone into it.
(Mind you they left my copper landline phone connected as well - shame it's been disconnected at the exchange.)
VoiP needs a sperate contract as does the landline.
Still not decided best route to take.

After a while it was showing an impressive turn of speed: (depending on which site you use : fibretest gives a speed around 900Mbps which is plenty fast.

I know some people have problems getting even 10% of that speed whilst others can get faster.

But it's a big leap up from about 70Mbps.

> But it's a big leap up from about 70Mbps.
On a good day I get 35Mbps here - although faster more expensive packages are available.

Living alone, I don't usually notice its limitations until my son comes home and starts streaming big videos!

Those of us who belong to a generation who remember dialup and 512Kbps broadband or 64K ISDN appreciate 35Mbps I suppose.

I used to have 100mb here, but a couple of years ago, as I don’t know how long I’ll be living here and didn’t want a contract, I just switched to a router with just a 4G SIM card that I can just take with me

There are times when I miss the fast speed, large downloads/updates, but in general 20 to 30mb suits me fine

I win! (or lose!)

Upload 1.6 mbs.
Download 0.8 Mbs.

WiFi/Broadband is absolute pants here!


Cheers,
Norm.