Is BT Anytime to blame for slow connection?

[Stan Sted]

I have been having terrible trouble with my internet connection and I cannot establish if it due to the computer or the ISP, BT Anytime.

I recently had the puter upgraded with a 1Gig Athlon processor, 256MB Ram, a new Elite motherboard (with an on board 56 bpps modem) and for any graphics works with Photoshop it fairly whizzes along. Previously the computer had an AMD 200MHz, 96MB, and a separate 33bpks modem, and the connection was slowish, but constant.

It is not so hot now, after a hour or so use on the net. The connection seems to stall and the glowing lights on the two little monitor screens at the bottom right of the screen, goes out and may not light up again for a few minutes. There is then a surge of activity for a few mins then it slows down again. All this has been especially noticeable during the school Easter hols, so is system overloading a possible factor?

Do I need to get a separate modem, is the motherboard or processor stalling/overheating or is it just the BT connection. There have been rumours that BT disconnects Anytime users who may use the service, er um, at anytime.

However, when my daughter uses my telephone connection to run her Mac G4 with 400Mhz and 680 MB and separate modem it belts along at great speed.

Any advice would be gratefully received and returned in beer at the Gatbash

cheers

SS

[FL310]

there is no prob presently with BT, lightning speed through the tinny wires....:eek: if one can call that lightning speed at all...:D
it looks like this is somehow a prob at your end. Yes, heat is always a major issue, some may shake their heads now, but read the manual of your motherboard, only up to at 25 degrees C you have 100% performance...if it goes beyond ISA +10.....well, we all know the degrading facts...:rolleyes:

[somewhatconcerned]

BT anytime works fine for me except for the obvious few peak periods. Assumimg you have installed the correct modem driver I would try and borrow/buy an external modem, they always seem to give less hassle. If you get a USB modem you don't have to worry about a seperate power supply either. If that works ok, keep it and forget about the one on the motherboard.

[Stan Sted]

Thanks for the advice, I will try an external modem.

In the meantime I have loaded a free AOL 100 hr trial (I say loaded, but the blasted thing seems to have completely taken over my computer) in the hope of trying to improve my surfing.

I had high hopes but found that AOL was stopping and starting just like my BT connection. For you techies out there, does this mean my computer is at fault?) I thought it was starting to point to 'puter overheating, modem malfunction etc, but lo, tonight, BT is whizzing along without a hitch albeit at a connection speed of 45,500 bps (whatever they are) whereas I managed to get only 44,000 bps from AOL. I have got a 56 bps modem, so shouldn't the connection be running at 56,000bps?

I have now forgotten the AOL password, so I am back to BT for tonight.

But it all seems pretty hopeless for anyone who wants to rely on the net for internet banking, share dealing, etc etc. You could build and paint an Airfix 1.72 scale Spitfire in the time I was waiting for my BT link to crank up again after stopping for no apparent reason after 10 mins use earlier this morning.

If there is no improvement in the next few weeks I will have to try broadband and shell out £30 a month.

[spekesoftly]

Connect speeds are influenced by many factors, and it is unusual for a 56k modem to run at its maximum rated speed. The figures you quote (44,000 - 45,500 bps) are much more typical. Also remember that what you see is only an initial connect speed; the modem will periodically 'retrain', and the speed alters 'unseen'.

If you do decide to borrow/buy another modem, I strongly recommend an External serial modem, not USB.

Before you invest in any broadband equipment, have you checked that your local exchange is ADSL enabled ?

[FL310]

Another one bites the dust....

I have loaded a free AOL 100 hr trial (I say loaded, but the blasted thing seems to have completely taken over my computer)

of course it has...:eek:

[Stan Sted]

FL

of course I am reluctant to slag off BT having used the service for more than four years. Until relatively recently I had no problem with BT, rapid log ons, no cut offs, fast downloads, but now it is so unreliable it is driving me nuts.

For example, this morning I logged on at 0800 to read PPRuNe and after seven minutes the service, or computer, just stopped. It was still connected but was doing absolutely nothing. I have Zone Alert which tells me when the connection is firing on all cylinders and nothing was showing.

About 12 mins later it decided to start again and ran fairly quickly for another eight minutes. Whilst waiting for it to resume I could have nipped out and mowed a quarter of ther lawn.

And this no doubt will be the pattern for the next two hours until I get disconnected and will have trouble getting on again.

Sorry BT, but I am not a very happy customer.

[spekesoftly]

Stan

Sorry to hear you are still having problems.

BT - before you finally give up on them, have you tried deleting their connection software and and making a new connection with 'Dial-up Networking' ? I know of cases where this has solved similar problems to yours. If this makes no difference, my next step would be to suspect the 'on-board' software modem, and as previously mentioned, try a proven external serial modem. (your daughter's modem ?)

If your daughter's computer regularly connects satisfactorily to BT, via the same 'phone line, then I suggest this rules out an ISP problem. The fact that you suffered the same connection problems with both BT and AOL further supports this conclusion.


AOL - opinions are very polarised, customers seem to either "love them" or "hate them". The 'invasive nature' of the AOL software is a common cause for complaint, if you do change your mind. I'm told that the only way to completely remove ALL trace of AOL is to re-format the hard drive, not for the faint-hearted !

Good Luck

[What_does_this_button_do?]

Where I work we use BT as a partner to supply ISP traffic as well as the Wide Area Network - over the past 4 weeks (although we have paid for an 'exclusive' 160 ports from BT) no connections available (we only had 3 people in working) and average ping times of 500ms to a Cat A site in the UK.

Reponse from BT "we are not aware of any problems". Sent them a note with a trace report and that changed to "we are currently investigating........"

[Stan Sted]

When BT logged me off at 0955, having been logged on since 0800 but having actually used the service for only 30 useful minutes I phoned the BT helpline.

At a cost of 50p a minute I was taken through the usual set up checks, told to go through dial up networking etc etc. After £10 of useless advice I was told that my phone line could be faulty and I was advised to dial 150 to ask for a line check and an increase in gain.

I went away and did other things while this was carried out and logged on again at 1400. The machine stopped after 4mins of PPRuNeing. So I phoned the helpline again. This time after nearly £2 of advice I was told my modem setting might be incorrect and that I should reduce the setting from something like 11560 to 5667 or whatever. So far the connection has operated properly.

I will get another modem and I will try to get shot of AOL. thanks for your advice.

cheers

SS

Uh oh...the connection has stopped again.

[Stan Sted]

sorry false alarm.

Wow the connection is still going after 25 mins. Wonders will never cease.

touches wood.

SS

[spekesoftly]

Stan

Sounds like you may be making some progress. I had discounted a line fault, again because you had mentioned that your daughter's computer connected without any problems, using the same line.

Helplines are notoriously expensive, but I believe AOL's is free. Probably too late for you now, but others may be interested.

[swashplate]

First got my own computer (work cast off)going in aug last year. I've been with BT Anytime ever since, and not had any probs.

Both original desktop, and now Toshiba laptoposaurus seem to be fine.

Very rarely 'just get booted', and can get on 99% of time.

Download speeds are what I would expect with 28.8kbps (kilobits-per-second) modem. I would prob get impatient with Broadband connection!! :D :rolleyes:

Maybe your local exchange is very busy?

Just my experience - hope you get it sorted!!! :cool:

[Stan Sted]

cheers Swashers

something is definitely amiss because I have been with BT for more than four years and until recently it was OK.

The BT engineer I spoke to checked my line, increased the gain and said with the connection running at 43500 bps it was an excellent rate . Sure it is excellent, but only in short bursts. And to be honest I am getting pretty narked at paying £14.99 (soon to be £15.99) for access that amounts to about 40 useful minutes a day.

Techies at work reckon it is the BT server but I will go out and buy a better modem and see if that cures it .

If not I will get Pipex broadband and send out thousands of change of e-mail address messages. That is the worst thing about it , you rely on a company, give them some commitment for fours years and when it starts going wrong get nothing back from them.

Here endeth the nightly moan.

[somewhatconcerned]

My Anytime BT connection is always very quick, they do disconnect you if your connection has been inactive for sometime (ie when you are reading a web page as oposed to clicking away). I haven't timed it but I'd guess this happens after 10min or so??
Other than that, if I am frequently clicking links I reckon I get around two hours before having to redial.

You can get software that pings the server (not sure about the terminology) so it thinks the connection is active. Unfortunately I don't know any names for this software but if you suspect this might be the cause of your frequent disconnections it might pay you to start Googling (http://www.google.com) or try TUCOWS (http://www.tucows.com) to find it.

[FL310]

also I assume that this has nothing to do with SS problem, to keep the connection alive it is enough to set the mail client to check for new mail every 10 minutes, at least with BT it works this way...

And I still mount the problem to the modem...

[fobotcso]

I cursed BTInternet AnyTime for months for its frequent disconnects but decided to check everything at my end before having a go at BT Internet.

This included having my line checked (twice) and buying a new ISDN TA for the Server.

For about three years I had been running the Deerfield/Wingate Internet sharing software to enable multiple access through a Server on my LAN.

Very recently I dismantled the whole Wingagte Server/Client setup and operated two of the PCs independently. Problem solved! And it hasn't returned after re-installing the upgraded version of Wingate.

My point is that if your set-up suddenly changes in characteristics and performance, look to something you may have done recently that may have changed your set-up by over-writing some of the core Microsoft system files.

Try going back to basics for confirmation that your system is still sound. A neat trick I've used in the past is to uninstall a Service Pack and then re-install it. That re-datums your OS.

[Stan Sted]

Thanks for all the advice folks

Fobo: I have had my line checked and the gain increased, I have had my computer souped up from a 200Mhz processor to a 1g, I have increased the memory from 96 to 256MB, I have increased the hard drive from 4.3 G to 20G and I have changed the modem from a 28 to a 56k V somethingorother.

But even before the upgrade I was having trouble with the internet connection slowing down and stalling for a few minutes at a time. Since the upgrade the problem has become far worse and I am convinced that the machine is not to blame.

I have spent about £30 on the BT 50p-a-minute helpline asking for advice and I have spoken to various experts and been given various opinions. Some say "Don't touch BT with a bargepole," others have said the same about AOL and suggest that I must have been desperate to try to AOL 100hr trial!

One chum, who is a computer wizard at BT, says the problem I have described is typical of the service. He even has similar problems with his own Anytime connection at home.

I have been studying the options on that very good website Net4nowt and also looked at the similar broadband discussion forums.

It is time for a change.