BT Broadband

[Mike6567]

My BT Broadband went off for a while this morning. The number I telephoned to check and confirm there was a fault took me to an Indian Call Centre. I was told there were no faults and he started to ask questions about my router etc. I have had this before spending time checking settings etc to no avail so I ended the call.
An hour or so later my BT Broadband was working again OK.
Does anyone know a number to call to check for information on these brief interruptions to the service.

[spannersatcx]

you could try here (http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_adp.php?p_faqid=9813&p_sid=&p_lva=&cat_lvl1=346&cat_lvl2=401&cat_lvl3=407&cat_lvl4=411&p_cv=4.411&p_cats=346) Or download the BTBroadband desktop help program that sometimes helps.

[Mike6567]

Just what I wanted. Thanks very much.

[Old Ned]

You might want to try 0800 1690199 which will tell you if there is a BB fault affecting your particular area exchange.

[dontpickit]

Mike

If you've got a BT Voyager (205) router you might have heat problems - I did, and wrongly assumed slowdown/connection problems in the late evening were due to internet traffic, the US waking up etc, but they were actually due to it heating up after a few hours running (neighbour's connection was ok). Try your hand on top of it - hot to the touch. One website recommends placing a metal object on top as a heat sink.

Mine eventually stopped working.

[Mike6567]

I have a Linksys Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway router.
I had wondered about overheating (it is normally on all the time) so had switched the whole system off for a while. On switching back on an hour or so later everything worked OK and has done ever since.
When I was not getting BT Broadband the computer gave no indication of problems with the router. It gave the usual "Wireless Network Name: linksys Speed: 54 Mps Signal Quality: Excellent" - so I still think it was a temporary BT "glitch".

[HughMartin]

I had a recent incident when my local exchange had a tech problem. I became suspicious when several of my friends in adjoining houses lost their internet access. I phoned BT and whichever way I tried, I ended up getting put through to people in Mumbai who insisted in going through my modem/router settings and would not acknowledge there could be an exchange problem. Eventually I got someone to admit there was an exchange problem but when challenged as to why this was not posted on the ISPs system status page they said that local problems like this would not show up. Only large scale problems on the main system network would be be posted on system status reports. Really helpful? I think not.

[Cremeegg]

Slight thread drift but hopefully of help. Even BT's own engineers have to call India to get any infrormation these days. They are even more frustrated that their customers. Recent bad experiences on BTs website and Customer (dis) Service confirm it's impossible to find anyone in BT that knows what they are talking about. I ended up telling their service centre in Norwich what their own branded products did using information off the Argos website as they didn't know.

[roger13]

Just thought I'd put in my 'tuppence worth'.

I use a Voyager 205, it does get very warm, and I have been losing my internet connection intermittently SO, I took the thing apart and cut a hole in the top about 2" in diameter. Then I fixed a redundant processor cooling fan to the top using 1" spacers. Running from a PP9 (9v) battery this very effectively cools the little beast and, fingers crossed, no lost connection yet.

It's not a pretty arrangement so you can forget selling it on Ebay later :)
but then what use is a router that won't route?

Actually, when you open the thing up (the necessary screws are hidden under the rubber feet) you realise just how bad the cooling arrangements are. No wonder they overheat. :hmm:

Cheers,
Roger.

[Blues&twos]

Before getting too complicated, might be worth checking the easy stuff first - telephone plugs & sockets around the house. Wiggle the wires and see if your router or telephone disconnects. Pick up the phone and see if the line is crackle free, or if you lose the internet connection, pick up as well to confirm there isn't a line fault.

This happened to me a few weeks ago, assumed it was an internet problem for ages until we noticed the phone momentarily dropped the connection at the same time as we lost the internet. Got up a ladder and traced the fault to a broken wire in the telephone line from my house to the telegraph pole. Strangely this was caused by a tree growing round the cable and gradually crushing it over a number of years! One new cable - problem solved.

[roger13]

Absolutely right. How many times have we 'condemned' an appliance only to find (eventually...) that it was just the fuse?

Re the cooling fan mod to my router, I have now found that a 12v fan on a 9v battery doesn't run for very long so I have rejigged it to run from a 12v mains adaptor.

As I said, it's not pretty but it sure does keep that old router cool! :)

Cheers,

Roger.

[Devlin Carnet]

Ahh but, If the fuse has blown, then generally speaking there is a fault with the appliance which it is protecting.

[green granite]

If the fuse has blown, then generally speaking there is a fault with the appliance which it is protecting

As someone who latter years was spent in servicing electronic equipment I would say that a lot of the time it's just that the fuse has "got aged" and blown for no apparent reason. If the fuse is rated close to the running current of the appliance then it tends to bend at power up and it also sheds a minute amount of metal, end result after awhile is it just dies. If I had that problem a lot on a piece of equipment I'd substitute a "slow blow" fuse of the same rating. (I'm not talking about plug fuses which are only,or should be, to protect the cable going to the unit.)

[Saab Dastard]

it sure does keep that old router cool!

Better than the chap who tried to cool his by putting it in a bowl of water.

SD

[G-BOY]

We've got the BT Homehub - sometimes you need to shut it down completely, or reset it - periodically it'll just stop working.

You might want to try disconecting the wireless on your laptop/mac/pc and then re-connecting again.

One of the above usually works for me.

[Devlin Carnet]

Green Granite,
I bow to your greater experience, I've often wondered why you can just "change the fuse" and all will be well again. Like the fuse is put there to
just "blow" every now and again.:ok:

[blackace]

We've got the BT Homehub - sometimes you need to shut it down completely, or reset it - periodically it'll just stop working.

Yup, that happens to mine as well, but only when I am downloading through a peer to peer sharing program. I think it cannot handle all the connections, gets scared and buries its head in the sand.

You got the phone ? looks like something from Joe 90, blooming terrible styling, works OK though.