Hi,

tonight I'd like to emphasise the importance of reliable equipment and connectivity when playing in running. My connectivity is rubbish, and have learnt a lesson worth sharing.

I have a BT wireless Home Hub, and a wireless card in a pc situated in a different room in the house. The connection I have is regularly dropped, often 3 or 4 times in the course of a football match. Tonight I lost out because of it.

I was on the Newcastle v Celta Viga game, and was a couple of quid up when I decided to lay the draw when Newcastle got a corner, and were looking (vaguely) threatening. This is a tactic that can be worthwhile. It has got me into the green more than once in 50 or so plays.

I placed my bet laying the draw for £5 with a liability of £1.35! Much to my pleasure, Newcastle scored from the corner, and I assumed I had won a crisp "electronic fiver", but then I noticed my connection had gone down (for the 3rd time in the game). Unable to restore the connection I rebooted the computer, though by this time there was only 4 minutes left in the game. When the computer rebooted, the connection was restored, and I logged into Betfair (by this time it was injury time), to find that my bet had not been placed - the connection must have gone down before I placed the bet! As I'm only playing with small stakes it was not a disaster, but if I'd been playing for more I would have been very annoyed rather than just slightly peeved.

However, I've learnt my lesson. The wireless card in my computer, which seems to be the prime culprit, is going to be replaced with a long ethernet cable direct into the hub. Wireless, at least in my place, is not reliable.

I'm not totally convinced with ADSL either, but must give it the benefit of the doubt when there are other more likely suspects.

All the best,

FT