[Johnny Brown]

Finally got the broadband connected yesterday after a seven week wait 

It doesn't work. Of about 100 sites in my favourites, only the met office works perfectly, the rest don't work at all, am forever 'waiting for a reply', including Ukb. So back on dial-up...

Any ideas? I've tried turning zonealarm off, doesn't appear to make any difference.

[unclesomebody]

try your router. Your problem may lie in there.

[Johnny Brown]

I don't have a router. I have a USB modem. If it does lie in there, what would it look like and what would I do with it?

[butters]

My first guess would be that the DNS is not working properly - are you running Internet Explorer or Firefox?

bluebrad

[Johnny Brown]

No its not cached.

What is the DNS? I'm running firefox, have tried IE but no difference...

What a bag of balls. Thanks for the tips though, keep 'em coming.

[butters]

It would help if you know the settings for your internet connection - been a long time since I have had to set up a broadband connection so some (if not all) of this could be worthless.

Anyway - try this..

Open Tools --> Options and select Advanced. Select the network tab and click Settings in the Connections part. In there is a radio button called Select Auto Proxy for this Network

Select that and restart Firefox.

Let us know what happens.

bluebrad

[Johnny Brown]

Appreciate that, but no joy. The impression I get is that the connection is unreliable, the computer is able to connect about 1 time in three, it then seems to be able to connect to remote sites - I don't get site not found, it just sits there waiting for a reply for ever.

[butters]

OK after reading through the thread again - USB modem - is it a powered modem (has its own power cable) or is it powered off the PC itself - if it is not powered by it's own power cable do you have anything else running on the USB ports that you can remove - it (or something else) might be drawing power and not leaving enough to power the modem correctly.

Also do you have the drivers from the manufacturer installed or has Windows installed a random set that it has decided on?

bluebrad

[fatdoc]

i have heard from other PC usless users like myself that USB modems take a chunk of power to run... whether that's an issue  for your conectivity I really dont know...

[Control freak]

Amazing - JBs finally joined the 20th century

You really should splash out some cash and replace the bag o' shite modems that the isp give you and get yourself a router. By using a modem, your pc assumes the dhcp address which the isp issues and consequently leaves your precious box completely exposed to the interweb. By putting a router in the way it will connect to the isp and then issue your pc with a new address, probably a 10. or a 192. These addresses are not forwarded across the internet and so you have an instant level of protection. Make sense? Didnt think so.

As for your waiting for reply problem

If your waiting for reply then its probably not a dns issue. You can test this by trying to ping a website using a dns name ie 'ping www.ukbouldering.com'

If you can connect to some websites then its unlikely to be a power issue as if it was you wouldnt be able to connect to anything

It may be a crap phone line issue - make sure youve got a filter on all you phones and on the modem - some modems tell you what the lines SNR is but this one probably wont.

If you can get it working I'll be back over christmas so I'll come and sort it out for you then - infact, Ive got a spare router somewhere so I'll bring it with me 

[andy_e]

USB modems are a large pile of shite. Scrap it. Are you on tiscali perchance?

[Jim]

I had a look yesterday, I think its definately a hardware problem. either the modem or the phone line

[Johnny Brown]

Cheers for the help guys.

No different today - I can receive email but not send it, and I can surf to my hearts content as long as its on the met office's or natural history museum's sites. Bizarre. All others just 'waiting for a reply'

There is clearly some level of connection as when I disconnect and reconnect on dial-up UKB shows that I visited whilst on the broadband, though you could have fooled me.

I don't think its a power issue, tried disconnecting all other usbs. Plus the consistency in the unreliablity suggests its not the modem...

I haven't phoned the ISP as last time it took 50 mins for them to tell me 'we don't know' and 'no, its not possible for us to email you when we do know'. As I got ther modem from a shop via Jim, at 1/3 the cost for the same item, I am sure they will just sell me another or a router before taking ownership of the problem.

[Jim]

I'll try and get over tomorrow with my spare modem.
The other thing worth doing is ringing BT to get them to do a line test.
Also will be worth trying plugging the modem straight into the master socket, could be a dodgy extension you have on

[fatdoc]

i'm on BTbroadband...

combo of dodgy extension in the house and the exchange having just been upgrtaded caused no end of shite for me when using a modem.

then i got a router whilst WiFiing the house; totally no problems now. Router was about £50.... have 4 other devices in the house wified up with as well as my base PC.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Also having BB issues. 

Don't try and do this: Go on TalkTalk, move house, move TalkTalk but try and keep your old number. BT/TalkTalk expect you to have a time machine and return back to a date 10 days prior to moving to inform them to move the number. Even though I followed BT/TalkTalk instructions to the letter, about two weeks prior to moving.

So resigned to the fact we now have to change numbers, ask TT to move our account, how long before we have BB again?  A month.  Rubbish. In fact don't sign up for TalkTalk in the first place. They are shit. Wish I never had.

[Johnny Brown]

But they're cheap right?

Can't you just hack into an unsecured WAN now you live in that swanky area? Or are you too busy walking on an endless circuit between Obi towers, Tony's, Richer sounds and Record collector?

[SA Chris]

I'll try and get over tomorrow with my spare modem.
The other thing worth doing is ringing BT to get them to do a line test.
Also will be worth trying plugging the modem straight into the master socket, could be a dodgy extension you have on

Definitely do that. I had endless shit with boreadband until i plugged it into the master socket. Also make sure the master socket IS the master socket, and that there isn't some heath robinson extension tacked onto it.

[Johnny Brown]

Have tried several different cables now, plus two different modems, same as before. Luckily I can still check the weather forecast doublequick, everything else is still on dial-up. I am pretty convinced the problem isn't at my end.

[Jim]

defo phone bt and get a line test and phone your provider and tell them there shit

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Can't you just hack into an unsecured WAN now you live in that swanky area?

First thing I tried!  Pity most houses near us are empty, in the process of being flogged off. The only one I can pick up is secured, bloody IT-students.

Or are you too busy walking on an endless circuit between Obi towers, Tony's, Richer sounds and Record collector?

Pretty much. 

[Johnny Brown]

Had my brother-in-law controlling my mouse from london this morning - perhaps even more impressive than wireless broadband. However he couldn't fix it... doesn't think it is the line though, suggested I borrow a laptop and connect it up to check the line first.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Goodbye TalkTalk, hello back...PlusNet! Hurrah! Managed to get out of my TT contract with (fingers crossed) no cancellation fees. Yippee! Mrs Obi is having t'internet withdrawal symptoms. 

[RobinB]

I work for an ISP and could get some of our techies to give you some feedback if you want. Things they will need to know are:

Has your modem ever worked on a broadband connection?
The sync light on the modem - is it on, off or flashing? If on or flashing is this constant or intermittent?
Have you tried plugging straight into the master socket and/or using a new microfilter?

Other things to consider are:
If your provider has provided you on a BT Up to 8 Mb product, the service will generally be poor for the first 10 days of service while the equipment at the exchange 'trains up' to the characteristics of your line

At this time of year Christmas lights can play havoc with DSL lines regardless of you having a suitable microfilter - not a lot you can do about this unfortunately unless the Pikeys turn them off

Drop any other relevant info on this thread

[unclesomebody]

Robin; Can you post more details on how xmas lights affect the service? I'm mainly interesting in the more science/phsyics side of it... so perhaps you could link to an article or something. Thanks.