Intermittent BB failure

[frostbite]

Lately I have been losing my connection at various times on most days and I would like to establish just what is failing.

Normally my modem shows two amber signals with a flashing green on the ADSL-ACT when there is traffic. When there is a problem the amber light on ADSL-LINK changes to green or even goes out completely. It doesn't usually last more than a few minutes but I'm concerned it will happen at a critical time one day.

I think it's a problem with the line, does it sound like that to you?

[SimWes]

Which BB provider?

Not Virgin Media by any chance?

[Jofm5]

Do the drop outs coincide with someone using the phone - if so it could be a poor microfilter allowing noise on the line. Try changing the microfilter (usually a dsl modem will come with two) and see if that cures the problem.

[oldbeefer]

Is the modem connected directly to the BT box, or is it via an extension lead? If through a lead, it could be that is introducing some noise (most ISPs recommend a dedicated RJ11 lead which is higher quality than a cheap extension).TalkTalk Members - Telephone Extension Leads, Do Not Use Them (http://www.talktalkmembers.com/content/view/106/68/)

[scruggs]

Which BB provider?

Not Virgin Media by any chance?

I'm with Virgin Media, and lately my internet has been dropping out with annoying regularity.

I’ve phoned VM about this, they can’t give me any explanation apart from “it must be an issue at your end” – which it isn’t!



S

[Saab Dastard]

Scruggs,

Is this ADSL or cable?

I had been suffering regular dropouts earlier this year on VM cable - a few minutes a few times a day when I would suffer from 20-80% packet loss on a continuous ping - when I contacted VM last month.

I had got loads of details, proving that it was the local device (next hop router - see your modem status) that was failing, gave them the IP address of the faulty unit and they confirmed that there was a problem with the "box in the street".

They gave me £10 off my monthly bill (because I had complained of the problem previously), they sent out a new cable modem and gave me a date on which the repair would be carried out (it was).

I haven't had any problems since (touch wood, famous last words).

SD

[frostbite]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's Talktalk and I haven't contacted them yet.

Point taken about the ext lead but the one in use has been working well for a long time and hasn't been disturbed. Not caused by anyone using the phone.

[SimWes]

I had a lot of problems with Virgin Media after they did an upgrade to their systems

They had sent out an email saying not to worry and to make sure you update the drivers (if running Vista) for the old style USB ADSL modems, which I wasn’t

As I was using a Belkin wireless router I shouldn’t have been affected according to their email

Wrong, no signal appeared. Things I ended up doing was removing the facia of the telephone socket box looking for a light. Wasn’t going to happen as it is an old socket! Filters were changed. Still didn’t work
Then they told me to update the firmware for the router (which didn’t cure the problem)

After eventually receiving a disk with the new drivers, I went back to my old USB modem with new drivers which again didn’t fix it and just generally got the run around

Bearing in mind I shouldn’t have had to do anything. They even suggested I download the drivers myself. Not very practical as I had no internet and I was on my days off.

Eventually after a week or so they got it sorted. Not too sure what they did
Within a week it went again. This time I was told they would have to check some other things which again took a couple of days

Not the best service I must say. I kept asking them for a new router which they said they couldn’t do... Thanks. Did get a free month out of them though

Just have to wait until the next time it drops out