I am immigrating to England from South Africa in about a year but I want to get everything in order before I go over, thus I would appreciate any suggestions for good (translate cheap) computer stores, internet connections, cable/satelite television etc. and anything else that a techie might need.
Telewest do some very good unlimited internet packages with cable TV and phone to boot. It's £35/month for a 10Mb cable connection with no cap, and their TV stuff is fairly well priced too. You get the capability to replay shows from the last week with their fancy "Teleport" thing. Good online retailers for computer parts include ebuyer.com, scan.co.uk and komplett.co.uk. Scan have the best customer service in my experience but a more limited range of parts and pricier delivery; eBuyer have crap support but loads of cheap stuff.
computer stores (online): ebuyer.com, dabs.com, scan.co.uk internet connections: greatly depends on what you want but the typical cost is £30/mo with a cap, but for a little bit more you'll be able to get unlimited 8meg for £35 from pipex and bulldog. Depending on where you are you may be able to get 24meg for just £25 from beunlimited. cable: you can only get ntl/telewest afaik satellite: Only one company operates in the UK and that is SKY which offers various packages at various prices. Remember you need a license to watch TV in the UK. What else might a techie need... really everything a techie needs is online, if you need stuff urgently and are willing to pay a premium, Maplins usually has a lot of what you need.
For TV, if you don;t want to go the cable root, just get freeview, if you're moving to london the BBC are doing it in HD.
Not to the public! There isn't exactly enough bandwidth over digital terrestrial for HD signals unless the old analgoue signals are turned off, somehow however the trials have begun but you won't be able to get a set box to decode HD signals! http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/06/09/HDTV_over_terrestrial_coming_to_the_UK_soon/
Whoops, my bad, I thought it was a public test! Freeview quality is still far superior to analogue though, so if you don't to fork out for satellite or cable, get it. Just remember you need a TV license. Computer stores there are loads, look in the bargain section or the forums.
On standard terrestrial you'll get a minimum of four channels, BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4. Most areas can get Channel 5 (my road doesn't get it even though the rest of the town does, go figure), Freeview gets you BBC3 and 4, ITV2, 3, 4, More4, E4, UKTV history, ABC1, couple of music channels, couple of shopping channels and various other stuff like the 24hr news and kids channels.
And on sky theres like 700 or so, plus radio channels. I have to note that only about 50 of them are good channels, the rest are american crap* or constant repeats... *No offence to Americans here, but sky digital is becoming a dumping ground for failed shows
Like the double-post Wonka, although you're right about Sky Digital, it's a turd-ground for repeats of stuff on most channels. The UKTV channels are pretty good, along with several of the documentary channels too.
Film 4 will soon be for free on free view, no subscription. with free view thay say i cant get it but i have so better of trying and if it dosent work it will soon whan thay boost the signal.
Comet and Currys are "warehouse" stores such as the American Walmart, but more related to tecknology, they sell TVs, VCRs, DVD recorders and freeview as well as kitchen elctronics, fridges, kettles and toasters.... Dixons is a premium for gadget, gear and technology such as MP3/4 players, PC monitors and TVs though it is very overpriced and I just buy accesories such as carrying cases and earphones...
Whih is funny really because Currys is part of Dixion group so your paying for more for the same item just in a diffrent shop.
