Forum • Non-Gaming • Travel

Is it safe for me to torrent in Slovakia?

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  • MrDigital 24 Jul 2012 09:34:12 1,658 posts
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    Hey guys. I ask this because there due to being without internet for ages, I'm now in Bratislava with an ISP called "UPC" and was hoping I'd be able to catch up on TV shows that I'm veeeeeery late behind with.

    I've heard some countries or ISPs come down very strictly on torrenting, so I thought I'd be safe. I'd be open to any legal options if it's let me watch the main US and UK shows, I'm just clueless as to what to use.

    Cheers fellas!
  • kalel 24 Jul 2012 09:36:11 76,472 posts
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    Probably best to czech first.
  • sport 24 Jul 2012 09:39:27 10,904 posts
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    Have you seen Hostel?
  • Murbal 24 Jul 2012 09:40:07 19,441 posts
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    @kalel you totally went there /o\
  • Deckard1 24 Jul 2012 09:40:52 18,110 posts
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    Wayhay!! The force of that joke could be felt for a 250 mile radius!

  • Blerk Moderator 24 Jul 2012 09:46:22 47,767 posts
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    kalel wrote:
    Probably best to czech first.
    Give that man an award! :-D
  • souvlaki 24 Jul 2012 09:47:02 673 posts
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    get a seedbox and then you'll not care about your isp.
  • lucky_jim 24 Jul 2012 09:51:52 4,900 posts
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    I've been living in the Czech Republic for a year and torrenting US and UK TV shows without any complaints from anyone. I'm not with UPC (although they're a Czech company) but I don't see why they should behave too differently to O2 CZ.
  • MrDigital 24 Jul 2012 10:01:59 1,658 posts
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    @lucky_jim Cool, thanks, I've give it a go then. There is one weird thing I've noticed in Slovakia - I'm getting my internet through the TV RF cable (the normal cables that connect to aerials). It has a splitter which splits the TV and internet, hah :/ Is it the same in Czech?

    And I suppose thank to Kalel as well... :)
  • lucky_jim 24 Jul 2012 10:06:47 4,900 posts
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    @Geesh

    I think that's unique to UPC (or at least, cable TV providers, they're the only one I know of though. They also seem to have the satellite market sewn up out here). They're the best for things like speed and latency, but have abysmal customer services.

    That said, even my supposedly-slow connection out here is MUCH quicker than the BT connection I had in London. I hadn't realised how far behind the UK is for things like that, quite shocking.
  • dominalien 24 Jul 2012 10:11:05 5,423 posts
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    Geesh wrote:
    @lucky_jim Cool, thanks, I've give it a go then. There is one weird thing I've noticed in Slovakia - I'm getting my internet through the TV RF cable (the normal cables that connect to aerials). It has a splitter which splits the TV and internet, hah :/ Is it the same in Czech?
    Yeah, it's normal, where I live all cable providers will give you one cable with tv, Internet and phone in it and a device at the end which separates the signals.

    PSN: DonOsito

    Flying_Pig > cookies

  • warlockuk 24 Jul 2012 10:25:37 18,618 posts
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    +1 for seedboxes

    I'm a grumpy bastard.

  • MrDigital 24 Jul 2012 10:26:46 1,658 posts
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    @warlockuk

    Had a quick look at them, bit expensive are they not? And is not a lot of hassle to download to a server before you can download to your own computer?
  • mikew1985 24 Jul 2012 11:31:43 9,705 posts
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    UPC are awesome if you're don't require any technical or customer assistance.

    In fact I got a letter just last week telling me my 100Mb internet had been upgraded to 120Mb for free.

    It's ludicrously quick. My upload is 10Mbs as well.
  • Deckard1 24 Jul 2012 11:33:37 18,110 posts
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    Why are you all living in Slovakia?
  • Fake_Blood 24 Jul 2012 11:39:11 2,991 posts
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    For the uberfast internet, clearly.
    Also, I don't think copyright law is a priority there.
  • neilka 24 Jul 2012 11:39:58 12,054 posts
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    Everyone living in London has been shipped out to Slovakia for the next fortnight, like during the war.

    Even the toast is a ghost, and your daddy is in the toast!

  • nickthegun 24 Jul 2012 11:40:50 44,589 posts
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    Deckard1 wrote:
    Why are you all living in Slovakia?
    Sex tourism and the ability to throw grenades at livestock

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    AGP.SRPT

  • mikew1985 24 Jul 2012 11:52:07 9,705 posts
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    Well I actually reside in Ireland, UPC are just one of the biggest cable providers throughout Europe. Used to be Chorus/NTL here.
  • Deckard1 24 Jul 2012 11:54:52 18,110 posts
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    Ireland, Slovakia, Afghanistan, they're all the same.
  • MrDigital 24 Jul 2012 11:55:28 1,658 posts
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    @Deckard1 Slovak missus
  • dominalien 24 Jul 2012 11:56:10 5,423 posts
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    Yeah, UPC has been buying up all the other companies. I wonder why the EU hasn't said anything about that yet. Or the national governments, for that matter.

    PSN: DonOsito

    Flying_Pig > cookies

  • neilka 24 Jul 2012 11:59:21 12,054 posts
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    They're probably waiting until it affects one of the important countries.

    Even the toast is a ghost, and your daddy is in the toast!

  • mikew1985 24 Jul 2012 12:00:26 9,705 posts
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    Burn, but hey at least we're not England eh?!
  • MrDigital 24 Jul 2012 12:00:32 1,658 posts
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    I'm on their cheapest package (around 7 quid per month) and I'm getting 25Mbps downloads and 10Mbps uploads...

    Let them monopolise the UK if I get this value :D

    Edited by Geesh at 12:01:59 24-07-2012
  • SYS64738 24 Jul 2012 12:00:53 1,309 posts
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    mikew1985 wrote:
    UPC are awesome if you're don't require any technical or customer assistance.

    In fact I got a letter just last week telling me my 100Mb internet had been upgraded to 120Mb for free.

    It's ludicrously quick. My upload is 10Mbs as well.
    My 25Mb line got upgraded for 'free' to 30Mb recently. They are also upgrading my bill by a couple of Euros (am currently paying 66 Euros p/m for TV & Phone (that I don't use or want but have no choice) & Internet...

    And speedtest.net tells me that my actual speed is more around the 10Mb mark. Plus they SEVERELY throttled my connection (50GB limit per month I believe) while I tried out the Netflix trial for a month (wasn't that much of a heavy user, watched maybe a movie or 1-2 TV episodes every other evening). Downloading 2 GB patch for BF3 took me a whole evening back then.

    So would slightly disagree with you there although compared to the (poor) competition available they seem the best choice where I am.

    Edited by SYS64738 at 12:05:00 24-07-2012
  • mikew1985 24 Jul 2012 12:04:08 9,705 posts
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    Well I'm on the uber 100Mb connection which has no limits and I've never been throttled. I download HD rips of TV shows on a daily basis and buy games over steam very often.

    Max Payne 3 for example took about 3 hours to download :)

    I'd say if you can afford to; upgrade to 50MB, you'll have unlimited download and my connection is very, very consistent and tops out where it should.

    You're not using wireless are you?
  • lucky_jim 24 Jul 2012 12:52:57 4,900 posts
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    Ah, I stand corrected, didn't realise UPC were everywhere.

    As for why I'm not in "one of the important countries"... well, Czech girls are both a thousand times hotter than English ones, and a thousand times nicer. And beer is about a pound for a half-litre.

    Enjoy your four-quid pints with English heifers, suckers! :-P

    In all seriousness, I expect I'll move back to the UK some day, but Prague's provided a convenient place to weather the economic storm and have a really good time whilst doing so.
  • mrpon 24 Jul 2012 12:55:27 24,107 posts
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    Geesh wrote:
    @Deckard1 Slovak missus
    Pics.

    Give yourself ½ gig or a £, you're worth it.

  • SYS64738 24 Jul 2012 13:11:10 1,309 posts
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    @mikew1985

    Hooked up the PS3 (and laptop for the purpose of speedcheck) to LAN cable. I gave up on Netflix after the trial, the only trouble I'm getting in terms of bandwidth right now is most HD youtube vids. What bugs me is they (and other ISP's) tend to advertise a much higher speed than what you realistically get, at least from my experience.

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