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The Unofficial HomeChoice FAQ
This is the unofficial (i.e. user-contributed) FAQ for the HomeChoice DSL service in the United Kingdom. The most recent version of this document lives at http://www.maxuk.net/hc/faq.html.

The information here was provided by numerous postings to the homechoice.support newsgroup, and the people listed below who kindly contributed detailed information by e-mail. Please email updates and corrections to homechoice@maxuk.net.


Contributors:
  Andrew Betts, worf_sonofmogh@startrekmail.com
  Max Christian, homechoice@maxuk.net (FAQ maintainer & This Life answers)
  Colin Ling
  Ed Randall, ejrhc@ingenotech.com (BSD answers)
  Jose Commins, macNetworking@axora.net (Mac answers)



Information about how to use the Alcatel modem supplied by HomeChoice with
other UK ISPs is available here.

Last update on June 2nd 2001.



A. General HomeChoice Internet questions
  1. What are the details of the HomeChoice servers?
  2. Can I share the HC connection between several computers?
  3. How do I share the HomeChoice connection using Linux?
  4. How do I share the HomeChoice connection using FreeBSD?
  5. I don't want the HC software messing about with my system.   How do I
     install the drivers manually?
  5.1. How can I manually invoke the account signup process?
  6. I've heard HomeChoice uses Network Address Translation, what's that?
  7. Can I host my website on my own computer?
  8. Can I get rid of the HomeChoice Branding of Internet Explorer?
  9. Is there a service status page?
  10. Is there a users' group?
  11. What IP addresses can I use on my LAN?
  12. Why can't I connect using the Ethernet port on my modem?
  13. How do I actually make a local network for sharing the HC connection?

B. Optimising HomeChoice connection
  1. It's not as fast as I'd like -- is there a problem with 
     my connection?
  2. How can I make my HC connection faster?
  3. How else can I make my HC connection faster?
  4. How else can I make my HC connection faster?
  5. Why can't I access certain websites?
  6. How can I improve DNS reliability?

C. HomeChoice on unsupported operating systems
  1. How do I make HC work with Windows 2000?
  2. How do I make HC work with Linux?
  3. On Windows 2000, my modem isn't recognised when I first boot up.
  4. Should I install Windows 2000 service pack 1?
  5. Will HC work with my ZX-81, VIC-20 or motorised tie rack?
  6. How do I make HC work with FreeBSD?
  7. How do I make HC work with a Mac?

D. HomeChoice compatibility with particular applications/websites
  1. What's a generic way to get most apps working with HC?
  2. I'm having trouble with a [banking] website, what can I do?
  3. Can I use online/multiplayer games with HC?
  4. Can I use ICQ with HC?
  5. How do I get Napster to work?
  6. I can't pick up email from other ISPs, what's wrong?
  7. How do I make HC work with NetMeeting?

E. HomeChoice TV service
  1. In what order should I watch the episodes of This Life series 1?
  2. What is the video quality on the TV service?
  3. How do I get the programme I want without using the menus?
  4. Are the Internet and TV service affected by each other's use?



A. HomeChoice IP network/services

1. What are the details of the HomeChoice servers?

--------  ----------------------------------------------------------------
Protocol  Details
--------  ----------------------------------------------------------------
NNTP      news.homechoice.co.uk 
                     (currently alias for news1.homechoice.co.uk)
          news2.homechoice.co.uk
                     (unsupported, unofficial. not always available.)

SOCKS5    gw1.homechoice.co.uk port 1080 (or gw1.homechoice.co.uk:1080)

HTTP&SSL  proxy.homechoice.co.uk port 3128 (or proxy.homechoice.co.uk:3128)
proxy     
          
POP       pop.homechoice.co.uk
SMTP      smtp.homechoice.co.uk

DNS       dns1.homechoice.co.uk   Internet address = 10.16.124.20*
          dns2.homechoice.co.uk   Internet address = 10.16.124.22*

Games     games1.homechoice.co.uk serving:
          Quake3, Unreal Tournament, Half Life Team fortress
          Half Life (port 27006), Half Life Counter Strike (port 27007)
--------  ----------------------------------------------------------------

*DNS addresses may vary according to your location.  If in doubt, try
 allowing servers to be allocated automatically and then ask your operating
 system what values have been assigned.


2. Can I share the HC connection between several computers?

A. Yes.  A very easy way to do this is to use the connection sharing in
Windows 2000 (and 98?) if you have it -- just go to the Sharing tab of the 
Connection properties.  Bernie Greene suggests another way:

"I have two machines networked at home too. One running W2K and the other
Win98. Both are able to access the net using the one HomeChoice connection
which is to the W2K machine by using a proxy server. The one I use is called
"Proxy" and comes from AnalogX. Here is a url for the product
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/proxy.htm

You run the proxy on the machine that has the connection and set the other
to connect via a proxy. The programme comes with good notes on how to set it
up and if you have any problems I can help you out."

Another proxy is available from www.linkbyte.com.  Andrew Betts suggests the
following config: "Disable all Daemons except DNS.  This will make your proxy 
completely transparent and allow each of the computers on your network to 
address the home choice proxy directly."

See also question about connection sharing with Linux below, and question 11
about choice of IP addresses.


3. How do I share the HomeChoice connection using Linux?

A. This is pretty simple if you know what you are doing. If you are running
the Linux kernel 2.0.x you will need to use ipfwadm. If you are running the
Linux 2.2.x you will need to use ipchains. Version 2.4 of the Linux kernel
series uses iptables.

Install either ipfwadm, ipchains or iptables for your specific kernel
version if you haven't already done so. Compile your kernel to support
ipforwarding if it does not already do so. Next enable the rules for
ipchains. More information on the Linux documentation project page: see
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/IPCHAINS-HOWTO.html and
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/IP-Masquerade-HOWTO.html.

You'll also need to add ipfwadm/ipchains/iptables on startup if you wish.
For RedHat Linux, you should use chkconfig. At the command line type:
  chkconfig --list
to check that ipfwadm/ipchains/iptables is on the list.

Next type:
  chkconfig --level 345  on
where  is either ipfwadm/ipchains/iptables.

See also question 11 about IP addressing.


4. How do I share the HomeChoice connection using FreeBSD?

A. Configure user-mode ppp (see section C Q6) and enable "NAT" by
adding the following settings to /etc/ppp/ppp.conf:

 nat enable yes
 nat deny_incoming yes
 nat use_sockets yes
 nat unregistered_only yes

See also question 11 about IP addressing.


5. I don't want the HC software messing about with my system.   How do I
   install the drivers manually?

A. The following should work for Windows 95/98 systems:

  1.  Insert the CD.
  2.  Go to Control Panel > Modems > Add
  3.  Opt out of an automatic scan and say you want to select your modem
      from a list
  4.  Click Next
  5.  Click Have Disk
  6.  Navigate to the \Utilities directory on the CD.
  7.  Click OK.
  8.  Select the set top box that appears in the list, and click OK.
  9.  Click next/finish
  10. Close Control Panel and the Modems window.
  11. Open windows explorer and go to the Dial-Up-Networking folder.
  12. Double click add new connection
  13. Select the HomeChoice set top box in the modem drop down.  Click Next
  14. Put a single 0 in both the area code and phone number. Click next
  15. Click finish, and a new connection should appear in the explorer
      window
  16. Right-click the new connection and click properties.
  17. On the Server Types tab ensure ONLY TCP/IP is selected.
  18. Click OK.
  19. Double click the connection to connect.


5.1. How can I manually invoke the account signup process?

A. If you installed using the technique in question 5, or just quit the
signup procedure without completing it, visit:

http://www.homechoice.co.uk/signup/signup.html

A window will pop up asking for your username and password.  The username 
is your Homechoice account code, and the password is the one you agreed 
with the salesperson when you made your installation appointment.  Both are
printed on your installation appointment letter.  The password is case 
sensitive.  If you cannot get any further, contact Homechoice support on 
0800 092 3333 since sometimes they "forget" to enable your account!


6. I've heard HomeChoice uses Network Address Translation, what's that?

A. NAT is used to connect private networks to the Internet without having to
allocate each user on the their own Internet identity, known as an IP
address.  It also may mean that to the Internet at large, the private network 
is just one entity and Internet users cannot differentiate between each PC on 
the network.  As a result, it is not possible for PC's on the private network 
(HC's network in this case) to receive incoming connections from the Internet 
without support from the NAT router.  See 

  http://www.adslguide.org.uk/qanda.asp?faq=nat

for more information and also the next question.
 

7. Can I host my website on my own computer?

A. Not directly, because of the use of NAT on the HomeChoice network which
prevents inbound connections to individual users.


8. Can I get rid of the HomeChoice Branding of Internet Explorer?

A. There is a simple way to remove the 'C'.   Just delete the following directory:

  C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\SIGNUP

See also question 5.


9. Is there a Service Status page?

A. Not really.  See

   http://www.homechoice.co.uk/fi/ts/open.html


10. Is there a users' group?

A. Yes.  See
 
   http://www.ukmeetingpoint.co.uk/hc/


11. What IP addresses can I use on my LAN?

A.  The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has reserved the
following three blocks of the IP address space for private networks:

        10.0.0.0        -   10.255.255.255
        172.16.0.0      -   172.31.255.255
        192.168.0.0     -   192.168.255.255

However, HomeChoice use the 10.0.0.0 range for their "private" network.
If you were to use this range on your own network, you could find that
you can't connect to the HomeChoice servers or other HomeChoice users.


12. Why can't I connect using the Ethernet port on my modem?

A.  There is an Ethernet port on the back of the Alcatel SpeedTouch
modem that many HC users have, which is designed to operate in parallel
with the ATM connection through to the HC box.  So, one might think
that it would be possible to get an Internet connection via this port.

However, there are no reports of success at the moment.  It is possible
to connect to the port, make configuration changes on the modem and
even be assigned an address via DHCP from the modem.  However, it is
thought that the reason that no Internet traffic can be exchanged is
because the Internet data is exchanged in the control stream used for
keypresses on the remote control (amongst other things).  Sending data
to the Ethernet port does not encapsulate it within this control stream
in the required manner.  Since the encapsulation is likely proprietary,
it's possible that there will be no progress in this area unless HC
provide software or specifications.


13. How do I actually make a local network for sharing the HC connection?

A.  There are lots of ways to do this.  Two Ethernet-based methods are
as follows (which assume that each computer has an Ethernet card):

1. Get a crossover Ethernet cable and connect a second computer to the
   HC-connected computer.

2. Get an Ethernet hub (small hubs such as the NetGear are now available
   for as little as forty pounds) and connect a variety of network devices
   to it, including the computer with the HC connection.

An interesting variation on (2) is to use a minimal computing device
as the bridge between the hub and the serial connection to the HC box.
For example, a diskless PC or one of the "network appliance"-type 
products can provide a neat solution.

Once the physical network is built, you need some software on the
device that needs to share its HC connection -- see questions 2, 3 and
4.


B. Optimising HomeChoice connection

1. It's not as fast as I'd like -- is there a problem with 
   my connection?

A. You should be able to get just over 80 kbit/s (10 kbyte/s).  See 
the following questions if you aren't getting this speed.

To test what speed you are getting, the best way is to do a long
download from a local server and time it.  However, there are a
number of easier but less accurate ways to do it, including:

http://msn.zdnet.com/partners/msn/bandwidth/speedtest50.htm

Remember that your speed is dependent on the server you're downloading
from -- try a few before reaching a conclusion.  Some people have
also suggested that speeds could be lower if you're a long way from 
the local BT exchange.


2. How can I make my HC connection faster?

A. Go to

http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/

and look at the section called "Increasing TCP Receive Window".  I found
that the settings in the "Normal Latency" row work well on Windows 2000.
If your operating system is already giving you close to the theoretical
maximum speeds then think twice before playing with these settings.


3. How else can I make my HC connection faster?

A. The web proxy does seem to help when it is working, but in January 2001
it is very unreliable.   On the other hand, a minority of web sites are hard
to access without the proxy (see question 5 on MTU settings).

Peter Gray has found one solution to this problem: if you run your browser 
in SocksCap (see section D question 1) then you can access the websites
that aren't usually accessible without the HTTP proxy.  If you choose to
run your browser under SocksCap, you will need to disable any HTTP proxy 
settings.


4. How else can I make my HC connection faster?

A. Dog suggests the following: "In 1972, a crack commando unit
was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit.  These
men promptly escaped a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles
underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers
of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can
find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."

(There is no other known way to make your connection go faster.)


5. Why can't I access certain websites?

A. Probably because you haven't put the proxy server settings in your 
Internet browser.  For reasons currently unknown, some sites can only be
accessed through the proxy, for example:

http://slashdot.org

To configure the HTTP proxy in IE4 and 5, open the Internet options dialog 
(on IE4 View > Internet Options, on IE5 Tools > Internet Options) and 
click the connection tab.  In Netscape Navigator 4, the required settings 
can be found in Edit > Preferences > Advanced.

Set the proxy settings to the following:
   Address: proxy.homechoice.co.uk
   Port:    3128

Use the same proxy settings for all protocols except SOCKS.

For Linux (at least) this problem is solved by setting the MTU to 1492,
as documented in question C2.  Windows users have also reported 
improvements with this setting.  For more information about setting MTU 
on Microsoft operating systems, see:

  http://www.carricksolutions.com/pppoe.htm question 17
  

6. How can I improve DNS reliability?

A. Since HC have chosen to locate their two DNS servers slap-bang next to 
one another on the same network (for minimum resilience?) you could try 
setting yourself up as a local secondary nameserver to them.  If you run
a local copy of BIND (available for UNIX and Win32), you can achieve
this by adding the following to named.conf:

zone "homechoice.co.uk" {
        type slave;
        file "s/homechoice.co.uk.bak";
        masters {
                10.16.124.20;           // dns1.homechoice.co.uk
                10.16.124.22;           // dns2.homechoice.co.uk
        };
};



C. HomeChoice on unsupported operating systems

1. How do I make HC work with Windows 2000?

A. Go to Settings|Control Panel|Phone & Modem Options and choose the Modems tab.
Click Add... and check the don't detect my modem box before clicking Next.  
If you have HOMECHOICE listed as a manufacturer, choose the Set Top Box and
click Next.  If you don't have HOMECHOICE listed, click Have Disk and
specify the \Utilities directory on their CD as the source path.

Finish off installing the new modem on the appropriate COM port where you 
connected your box (probably COM1).

Next you need to set up the dial connection.  Click Start|Settings|
Network & Dial-up|Make New connection.  Set up the new connection against
the HC Set Top Box using 0 (zero) for the phone number and any username
and password.  "Redial if line dropped" is probably a good idea.  No need
to manually set any IP configuration.
  
That should be it.  Next step is to set the web proxy (which does seem to help)
and perhaps the SOCKS proxy in games etc.   See section A.


2. How do I make HC work with Linux?

A. This is easy. Simply run the following on the command line while logged
in as root (or, use the su command):

pppd ttyS0 115200 local noauth defaultroute receive-all mtu 1492 connect ''

Note that:
  - ttyS0 is com1: under Linux (ttyS1 is com2...), and note capitalisation
  - the last two characters are each single-quotes: ', not a double quote

Depending on your distribution the pppd executable might not be in your 
path, in which case you'll need to enter the location explicitly.  For the 
most recent versions, you need /usr/sbin/pppd.  (The "connect ''" isn't 
actually needed unless you use the "call homechoice" method described below.)

At this stage, you should have a connection but no name service.  This
means that you can ping IP addresses with numbers, but not names.

Things that may or may not be worth trying if this does not work:

  1. Look in /var/log/messages.
  2. Kill pppd and do a cat /dev/ttyS0 to check that you see garbage
     that looks like PPP.
  3. Do an ifconfig to list your interfaces and do an ifdown on all the 
     interfaces except loopback and ppp0.
  4. Rename /etc/ppp to /etc/not.ppp.

You will also need to configure the servers listed in Section A, in particular
the DNS servers in resolv.conf.  An example resolv.conf is shown below, but see 
also question B6:

   search
   nameserver 10.16.124.20
   nameserver 10.16.124.22

Once you have resolv.conf set up, you should be able to access other Internet 
hosts by name.

Another approach is to create a file called homechoice in /etc/ppp/peers 
which contains the command-line above but without the "pppd" at the front.
However, there's no point trying this until you've got pppd working directly
from the command-line.

Next, make a file in the /root directory called hc with the following:
  pppd call homechoice.
(again, specifying the path to pppd if necessary)

Make this file executable by root only:
  chmod 744 hc

Now run the file from the /root home directory:
  ./hc

The "mtu 1492" in the pppd command line solves the problems connecting to
sites like www.slashdot.org for Linux users and was discovered by Meta Tech
and others.

Of course, in theory you should be able to connect to HomeChoice using any
UNIX based operating system provided that the computer has a serial port.


3. On Windows 2000, my modem isn't recognised when I first boot up.

A. Several people seem to have this problem.  Try installing some critical 
updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com.  A package dated 25th August 2000 
has been reported as resolving the issue.


4. Should I install Windows 2000 service pack 1?

A. Not unless you select the option to create backup files that allow you
to uninstall it if you have problems.  Several users have reported serious 
trouble with their HC connection with SP1.  (And several others have reported
no problems.)


5. Will HC work with my ZX-81, VIC-20 or motorised tie rack?

A. Should be just fine.  Despite the fact that the service is only "supported"
on a few Windoze OS's, all you need is a quick serial port and a reasonably
flexible implementation of PPP.

(Although you might need to get a 115.2Kbps serial adapter manufactured if 
you want HC on your ZX-81 or VIC-20.)


6. How do I make HC work with FreeBSD?

A. FreeBSD supports 2 different PPP implementations, kernel-mode
pppd and user-mode ppp.  A good starting point with plenty of links
discussing both is at 

   http://www.awfulhak.org/ppp.html

I downloaded the latest version of the user-mode implementation from 
the above link, since I have quite an old version of FreeBSD (2.2.8).
Newer installations of FreeBSD will probably be OK as distributed.

Compile and install from the source as per the instructions provided
with it, then install the following as your /etc/ppp/ppp.conf file:

default:
 set device /dev/cuaa2  # Replace this with your serial port - this is "COM3".
 set speed 115200
 set log chat command id0 ipcp lqm ccp cbcp phase
 # Uncomment these lines if you want to use network address translation
 # nat enable yes
 # nat deny_incoming yes
 # nat use_sockets yes
 # nat unregistered_only yes

#
# Homechoice set-top-box - runs PPP continuously, no login needed
#
homechoice:
 set dial ""
 set hangup ""
 disable enddisc   # Without this, it seemed unable to agree a "magic number"(?)
 add default HISADDR
 set timeout 0
 set mtu 1492

To start ppp, enter the command:
$ ppp -background homechoice

If you have problems, check /var/log/ppp.log and /var/log/messages.
One problem I'm seeing is data overruns.  Lots of them.  Bad news.
I have a high-speed Hayes serial port card, which boasts 1k transmit 
and receive buffers, and can go up to 230kbits, so I shouldn't have any 
problems IMHO.  (It's well supported in the FreeBSD kernel). 


7. How do I make HC work with a Mac?  (by Jose Commins)

Being a Mac afficionado I set about linking the Homechoice internet 
connection to my Mac; it works!  So for the benefit of extending 
knowledge of all things Mac here's how to set up Homechoice with an 
Open Transport, MacOS 8 onwards running Macintosh:

First of all, cabling: the serial cable on the back of the Homechoice 
set-top box is a 9-pin-to-9-pin null modem cable which usually plugs 
straight into the back of a PC.  If you have one of these four following 
Mac serial cables here's what to do:

Mac->25-pin modem cable: you need a 25-pin to 9-pin converter - the 9-pin 
end on the converter should be *male*.  Plug the converter into the 25-pin 
end of your Mac's modem cable and plug the 9-pin end into the serial cable 
coming out of the Homechoice box.  Do not plug the converter's 9-pin 
straight into the back of the set-top box.

Mac->9-pin modem cable: plug the 9-pin end into the serial cable coming 
out of the Homechoice box.  Do not plug the converter's 9-pin straight 
into the back of the set-top box.

Mac->25-pin null-modem cable: you need a 25-pin to 9-pin converter - the 
9-pin end on the converter should be *male*.  Plug the converter into the 
25-pin end of your Mac's null-modem cable and plug the 9-pin end straight 
into the back of the Homechoice box.  Do not plug it into the serial cable 
coming out of the Homechoice box.

Mac->9-pin null modem cable: plug the 9-pin end straight into the back of 
the Homechoice box.  Do not plug it into the serial cable coming out of 
the Homechoice box.

Right, that's the cabling done.  Now for the PPP & TCP/IP settings.  This 
assumes you have Open Transport installed (usually present in OS8 
upwards).

First of all, let's sort out the PPP settings.  First of all, you must 
define a 'modem'.  There isn't one!  :o)  As it's a straight serial 
connection, go and open the 'Modem' control panel and sellect 'Null Modem 
115200' .  Click on 'ignore dial tone' - as this is a null modem 
connection, this makes absolutely no difference, but it's best to keep 
consistent!  For phone number, enter in '0'.

OK, now open the 'Remote Access' control panel.  Type in your User ID 
and Password.  Save this configuration.  Done.

Now open the 'TCP/IP' control panel.  Set up your TCP/IP to "Connect 
via:' 'PPP' and "Configure:" 'Using PPP Server'.  Type in your Name 
Server addresses.  NOTE - enter in your *Homechoice* DNS servers if you 
want to send mail via your Homechoice mail account and access the 
Homechoice newsgroups; the actual IP address of the Homechoice SMTP and 
newsgroup servers returned by a global DNS server are different to that 
returned by the Homechoice DNS servers.  OK, save your configuration.

Voila!  Now connect...

My personal setup, as I have several computers on the back of this 
connection, uses IPNetRouter (it's just one of *the* best apps around), 
which is easy to set up and extremely powerful.  I recommend using this 
if you want to have a Mac routing your network.  It's the business!

If you have any queries or comments, please feel free to drop me an 
e-mail at: macNetworking@axora.net


D. HomeChoice compatibility with particular applications/websites

1. What's a generic way to get most apps working with HC?

A. Use SocksCap from NEC.  It's available at 

    http://www.socks.nec.com/reference/sockscap.html

  Configure it to do "DNS remotely" and put in the SOCKS server
  name of "gw1.homechoice.co.uk" port 1080.  Drag a couple of apps
  from your Start menu into SocksCap and run them from there.  Then
  configure your applications as if they were on a completely clean
  Internet connection.

  (If you run an app under SocksCap which is configured to use any
  proxies, then the proxy will try to connect to a proxy and you are
  likely to have problems.)


2. I'm having trouble with a [banking] website, what can I do?

A. Try bypassing the HomeChoice proxy - delete the proxy details
   from your browsers config.  If this works, you can enter the
   [banking] website's domain in the "do not use proxy for domains"
   box, if your browser has one.


3. Can I use online/multiplayer games with HC?

A. Should be able to, although you will need to configure the 
   SOCKS proxy for most of them.  Hosting games is probably
   not possible.


4. Can I use ICQ with HC?

A. Yes.  Configure ICQ as follows under the menu ICQ/Preferences/
   Connections tabs:

  User:     I have it as 'use server proxy'
  Firewall: SOCKS5, Host gw1.homechoice.co.uk, port 1080 
            (nothing ticked,other boxes empty)
  Server->Proxy settings:  Select 'Using firewall'+'Not using proxy'
  General->Firewall ip settings: Always use internal IP

Several users have reported that it is not possible to receive files
or communicate with other HC subscribers when using this technique.


5. How do I get Napster to work?

A. With great difficulty.   A number of different approaches have been
suggested, and these include:

    - During installation, select "I am behind a firewall that restricts
      inbound TCP and can do nothing about it"
    - Remove any proxy settings
    - Reduce the number of maximum search hits.
    - Try other file sharing applications such as Scour, GNUtella, or 
      MyNapster

If this doesn't work, www.audiogalaxy.com works very well with HC and at
the time writing certainly isn't short of content.  A Linux client is
available.


6. I can't pick up email from other ISPs, what's wrong?

A. Using SocksCap (mentioned in question 1) solves this problem -- it
   might therefore be an MTU-related issue (see question 5 in section
   B).


7. How do I make HC work with NetMeeting?

A. Use SocksCap -- see question 1.



E. HomeChoice TV service

1. In what order should I watch the episodes of This Life series 1?

A. An important question.  Here's the plan:

"Coming Together"
"Happy Families"
"Living Dangerously"
"Sex, Lies and Muesli Yoghurt"
"Fantasy Football"
"Family Outing"
"Brief Encounter"
"Cheap Thrills"
"Just Sex"
"Father Figure"
"Let's Get It On"

(At the time of writing the episodes are shown in alphabetical order
on HomeChoice and three of them are missing, including the classic "Sex, 
Lies and Muesli Yoghurt".)


2. What is the video quality on the TV service?

A. The bandwidth available on the HomeChoice ADSL line is 2.3Mbps, which
is significantly lower than DVD, which streams at around the 10Mbps mark.

However it is sufficient for most television programmes on a standard TV set,
even though picture quality is visibly lower than other digital TV services.
There is also a 160Kbps bidirectional channel for control signals, such as 
commands you send via your remote control.   The Internet service shares
this channel.


3. How do I get the programme I want without using the menus?

A. Press the "What's On" button on the remote and key in the shortcut code
of the programme you want.  These codes are shown in HomeChoice: The Guide
and also on www.homechoice.co.uk.


4. Are the Internet and TV service affected by each other's use?

No.  (Unfortunately) the allocation of bandwidth on the ADSL line between
the Internet and TV is fixed.  So you don't get lower picture quality
while using the Internet, but you don't get faster Internet when you're
not watching TV either.




Q. How do I access my free 20mb web space?

Q. Will Virtual Private Networks work on HomeChoice?



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