IanD

I know, I was just giving people an update in case they didn't know 🙂 You should get higher speed even with a 2x2 MIMO antenna if 5G is available where you are. A 4x4 MIMO (or two 2x2 MIMO) may give further improvement if you have one. Just be careful about the fragile TS9 connectors, you really need patch leads with a right-angled TS9 on one end (gaffer tape to the casing) and SMA on the other, and push them on gently while rotating them backwards and forwards. The SIM socket is also awkward and easy to get the wrong way round...

NR5103E now £115... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404865017361?_ul=GB&var=0

This probably depends on the age and exact materials of the cable (and insulation?) -- some may be perfectly fine, others brittle and disintegrating. As pointed out above, unless you move or disturb the cables this is unlikely to cause a problem anyway, even though there is some risk in theory. If work is being done which means it would be easy to replace the cables then it's worth doing at the time, but it doesn't seem to justify ripping a boat to pieces just for this.

And because the new building will house many times more people in the same area than the (not especially noteworthy) old one converted ever could, and there's a housing shortage.

My marina has the same clause; if it's work that their onsite team can do then you can't bring somebody in, unless it's snagging/repairs by the builder. Their explanation is that they have (and pay for) the onsite team to provide services to boaters, and I think it's not unreasonable to require that they should be given the work if they can do it (and are available when needed). They don't seem pernickety about this, Finesse were at the boat yesterday to do some work/tweaks/snagging and there were no objections to this -- though I'm not sure the onsite team would have been able to do some of it anyway, confronted with things like firmware updates/changes... 😉

Lidaldi do a lot of very good food and drink at lower prices than the other supermarkets.

Must be twice as good then -- already mentioned yesterday, a few posts back... 😉

That's like saying "I'm not going to pay my taxes (or a higher license fee) until the government (or CART) only spends them on things I approve of". I'm sure many people -- me included! -- would love to be able to do that, but it ain't gonna happen... 😞 We elect a government and they decide how to spend the money, because that's their job -- and CART work the same way, but they're obviously not elected... 😉 In real life if we want better services - NHS, rail, social care, roads, police, courts, canals -- they either have to be paid for/subsidised out of general taxation from everyone, which is not hypothecated -- NI was when it was introduced but has not been for many years -- or by fees paid by the users. In many cases a subsidy from central government to make something good for society affordable (e.g. rail transport, especially into cities) is needed, because left to the market these would die and be replaced by cars (see the USA) and we'd have gridlock -- good high-density public transport is too expensive if it's only paid for by users, and the canals are too costly if only paid for by boaters. The real problem is that because many politicians have been lying to people for years, lots of people think they can have better services without either higher taxes or fees, that either somebody else will pay or it'll come from magic money trees like "improved efficiency" -- and it simply isn't true. And no amount of Tory/Reform party manifestos will make it true... 😞 This applies equally to services like the NHS (paid for by taxes or charges) and the canals (paid for by DEFRA or boaters). The money has to come from *somewhere* and in the end that means *us*, one way or another...

The (newish) landlord at the Brickies (Chris) is excellent, as is the beer -- choice of 8 last time I was in, monthly song session is this Sunday so may jsy sample a few... 😉 No chance of getting anything at the Dove for much under £6 a pint today... 😞