Category Archives: Telecommunications

Review, Teardown: Cisco SPA112 2-Port Analog Telephone Adapter

Posted on February 14, 2016 by lui_gough

I think it was clear from my last post that the Linksys/Cisco PAP2T was my favourite VoIP ATA. Unfortunately, as it is a dinosaur, it is no longer available. As I was interested in adding a few more lines to … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

VoIPey Valentines Day: Demonstrating V.61 Analog Simultaneous Voice and Data

Posted on February 14, 2016 by lui_gough

The way we communicate has changed substantially over the past few decades. What was once the most important staple of communication at home, namely the POTS land-line, is slowly disappearing altogether in favour of VoIP and mobile based services. Along … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Experiment: LG D686 Battery Charging Investigation

Posted on December 23, 2015 by lui_gough

Earlier, in my article about modifying a USB charger doctor as a USB current shunt, I elaborated on the possibility of microcycling occurring in the battery of my mobile phone due to the irregular current profile after the phone had … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Teardown: Alcatel 3AU 04805 ABAA & LSE LSF2070 ADSL Microfilters

Posted on December 2, 2015 by lui_gough

While rummaging around my old equipment box, I came across some in-line microfilters which I have collected as spares from discarded modem boxes or from places where they suspect having filter problems and have had their filters interchanged with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Electronics, Telecommunications | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Analysis: Freeview Sydney – Launch of 9Life, DSM-CC, etc.

Posted on November 26, 2015 by lui_gough

As per the announcements, at 6am on 26th November 2015, the 9Life channel was officially launched and the Channel 9 Freeview offerings have undergone a reshuffle as a result. Anticipating this move for a week now, I had my trained … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Analysis: Sydney Freeview Services (Nov 2015) & Melbourne Cup

Posted on November 21, 2015 by lui_gough

Being the busy person that I am, I don’t usually have much time to watch TV, not that there’s much to watch on Freeview most days. Despite that, I caught wind that Channel 9 will launch a new lifestyle channel … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Opinion, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tech Flashback: Ethernet (10Mbit/s) Network Interface Card Collection

Posted on November 1, 2015 by lui_gough

Seeing as I had just posted a Fast Ethernet flashback, I suppose it would be a good time to go further and look back another decade to the “original” Ethernet. Prior to the development of an over-arching networking standard, networks … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Tech Flashback, Telecommunications | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Tech Flashback: Fast Ethernet Network Interface Card Collection (Part 2)

Posted on October 31, 2015 by lui_gough

This post is part of a two post series looking at the Fast Ethernet NICs in my collection, with some reminiscence of the legacy Fast Ethernet has left behind. Here are some more interesting and varied NICs in my collection. … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Tech Flashback, Telecommunications | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Tech Flashback: Fast Ethernet Network Interface Card Collection (Part 1)

Posted on October 31, 2015 by lui_gough

The era of Fast Ethernet was a highly important and memorable (at least, to me) period in computing history. Introduced in 1995 (i.e. 20 years ago), after most competing networking technologies were starting to fall by the wayside, it added … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Tech Flashback, Telecommunications | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Teardown: element14 Wi-Pi USB Wireless 802.11n 150Mbit/s 2.4Ghz Dongle

Posted on July 19, 2015 by lui_gough

The end of financial year almost always means discounts and sales, and this year was no different. My favourite shop, element14, had run some promotions in their Connect magazine, which included a further discount of 10% on the already-discounted prices … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Raspberry Pi, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Vidonn X6 SmartBand Fitness/Sleep Tracker

Posted on June 15, 2015 by lui_gough

It seems the wearables market is gaining momentum, with increasing interest and publicity of fitness tracker and smartwatch style devices. Along with this, comes an influx of less well-known devices from smaller manufacturers, which often promise big features for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Tablet, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

News: Lycamobile Removes Bonus Data from Plans

Posted on April 28, 2015 by lui_gough

Hot on the heels of the recent irregularity experienced on Lycamobile’s data service, reported several days ago, today Lycamobile sent its users a message with new data bundle pricing. In effect, this indicates that the bonus data allocation will no … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged | Leave a comment

Lycamobile Data: A Routing Issue or Malicious Blocking?

Posted on April 23, 2015 by lui_gough

It hasn’t quite been a year since I joined the Lycamobile family in the quest for cheap data over the superior Telstra network. While initially their “slowness” took on an almost legendary status, they took some strides to improve their … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Genuinely Confused: Another Samsung Galaxy SIII Battery (EB-L1G6LLU)

Posted on April 13, 2015 by lui_gough

Around a year ago, I needed a replacement battery for my Samsung Galaxy SIII, which started a long series of posts encountering fake batteries. This provoked some responses, and a lot of interest, given the quality of the fake cells. … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Electronics, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Trip to HK & CN 2014 – Part 5: RTL-SDR, More Radio, AIS & Night Photos

Posted on March 28, 2015 by lui_gough

It’s been a while since the trip, but I’ve been just way too busy lately to post anything more about the experiments and photos I’ve taken during my trip. The trip continues, with this part focusing mostly on more radio … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Photography, Radio, Telecommunications, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Trip to HK & CN 2014 – Part 3: Hong Kong Free-to-Air DTMB Analysis

Posted on February 23, 2015 by lui_gough

What does somebody do when they’re in a room and want to relax for a bit? They watch television, of course! Having lived the majority of my life in Australia, it also provides the double-benefit of allowing me to soak … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Review, Teardown: Apotop Wi-Copy (DW21) 5200mAh Power Bank

Posted on January 29, 2015 by lui_gough

Towards the end of 2014, I entered a competition held by Scorptec for a chance to win an Apotop Wi-Copy power bank. Guess what? I won! Thanks Scorptec! As a bit of a hobbyist photographer, backing up photos and keeping … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Power Bank, Telecommunications, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Random: Site Stuff, LG D686 Fail, Shellshock, Transport Stuff, etc.

Posted on October 11, 2014 by lui_gough

It’s been a few weeks since my last random post, and many things have happened in the tech world. Unfortunately, because of the amount of work that I’ve had to do, I haven’t been able to take a break to … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Opinion, Telecommunications, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lycamobile Data: No More VPN Shenanigans!

Posted on October 2, 2014 by lui_gough

I’ve been with Lycamobile for my data services for a while, mainly due to price and coverage reasons, but one of the biggest drawbacks was the wacky way in which their transit arrangements routed your traffic, resulting in high latencies … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged | 2 Comments

Project: Extracting & Geographically Plotting DTRS Site Information

Posted on September 13, 2014 by lui_gough

As a radio enthusiast, and highly observant public transport user, I’ve made many notes about the deployment of the new Digital Train Radio System (DTRS) sites. This new system is based upon GSM-R in the 1800Mhz band, and is intended … Continue reading →

Posted in Radio, Telecommunications, Travel | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Marketing Confusion: Wireless 802.11ac Data Rates Explained

Posted on August 11, 2014 by lui_gough

For people who have looked at upgrading their network to 802.11ac, no doubt you have been perplexed by the wide range of physical layer rates advertised. Before, in the 802.11b and g era, all cards operated at just one rate … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Tech Flashback: Fujitsu M2266SA – Part 4 – A Time Capsule Unleashed

Posted on August 10, 2014 by lui_gough

While most people will see computer hardware as physical objects, often they have a story which is greater than what appears on the surface. For most devices, the story lives and dies with the owner, but in the case of … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Tech Flashback, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Amaysim: Unlimited now $44.90/mo w/5Gb Data but no free Social Media

Posted on August 6, 2014 by lui_gough

It seems like the trend of Optus data price hikes has slowly been reflected in carrier pricing, one of their victims being TPG, which shaved their data offerings, in some cases, hiked the price and killed off free social networking … Continue reading →

Posted in Telecommunications | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Laptop Wireless Card Whitelists: An upgrade nightmare

Posted on August 2, 2014 by lui_gough

What if I told you that an Intel 7260 dual-band dual-stream (marketing value 1200Mbit/s) 802.11ac mPCIe card with Bluetooth 4.0 costs just $26.50 including shipping and with just 5 to 15 minutes of your own work, you should be able … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , | 32 Comments

Genuinely Fake Pt 4: Samsung Galaxy SIII Batteries (EB-L1G6LLA/U)

Posted on June 27, 2014 by lui_gough

This week, I received a very interesting e-mail from an anonymous reader in Europe. The reader had been following the series of posts about well-disguised counterfeit Samsung Galaxy SIII batteries and had something to contribute. This anonymous reader had put … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Random: Opal Stuff, DTRS, Bus Advertising, Drive by Download, etc.

Posted on June 8, 2014 by lui_gough

Another week of random, and this week it’s much of the same, focusing on topics such as our public transport network, what’s happening with some MVNOs and drive-by-downloading. The main difference this week – I’m enjoying a day off thanks … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory, Telecommunications, Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Lycamobile Data: Going a Long Way to Cut Costs on Transit

Posted on May 28, 2014 by lui_gough

Update on September 2014: The situation has appeared to have changed, with transit now locally terminated, but the settings remain the same. Readers of this blog will know that I had changed over to Lycamobile for my data service because … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged | 9 Comments

ADSL2+ Woes: What’s in a Training Signal?

Posted on May 19, 2014 by lui_gough

Visitors who have explored the site quite a bit will probably know that I’ve got a bit of a thing for modems – specifically, the sound and behaviour of different dial-up modems. The sound of the modem handshake, formally known … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Random: Hiatus, Opal, Station Upgrades, DTRS, CeBIT, Things Breaking

Posted on May 18, 2014 by lui_gough

It’s been a long while since my last random post. While the site might seem quiet, the Gough never stops! Amongst the minefield that is my brain, there are many pages and posts which I’ve planned and have intended to bring … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Telecommunications, Travel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

D-Link SecureSpot DSD-150: The death of an idea?

Posted on May 7, 2014 by lui_gough

It’s been a relatively long hiatus with no posts, but rest assured, I’m still here. Between a mountain of work, and the flu, I’ve had very little time to write anything. Instead, a lot of work got done, and if … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Obituary, Tech Flashback, Telecommunications | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment