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Message 1561440 - Posted: 24 Aug 2014, 7:56:38 UTC

On a 9500 you can only run 1 at a time Glenn as its pre fermi.
I rather think its a ethernet issue.
Interrupt or timeout problem.
Maybe a ethernet card to try that could be of any help.


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Message 1561453 - Posted: 24 Aug 2014, 8:40:45 UTC

I may be wrong but as a BT customer also, I believe Annie is referring to the orange light on the BT Home Hub, that signifies loss of broadband. It starts flashing when it looses sync.

If this is correct then it is not a problem with the computer or internet card but from the router outwards..

Also a speed test won't help because if the above is true the line is disconnected and will not be able to test anything.

I am not sure what model of Home Hub it is but all have fairly detailed logs which can be accessed. As long as the Hub is not powered down all logs should be retained.

Maybe copying them and sending to BT might be helpful.

I am quite surprised at the problems with BT as I have never had any real problems, just last month the Wi-Fi started to play up on my Home Hub, so after explaining to the call centre they arranged for a brand new hub to be sent free of cahrge.
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Message 1561537 - Posted: 24 Aug 2014, 14:57:48 UTC

So over to Annie, are you interfering to the orange and blue lights on the BT home hub?

Any other speculation at this point will not be helpful until that question is answered.
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Message 1561731 - Posted: 24 Aug 2014, 22:43:14 UTC

YAY! - my first connection opportunity since 6.33 this morning! Let's see if I can answer and post before it goes :) Hello everyone :)

Yes! :) I'm referring to the lights on my hub (power - broadband - wireless) hub 3 I think in the totally useless BT desktop help window - which takes ages to work out it can't help me :) bless it!

Most of the time I have only a flashing orange power light and nothing else. Ooh - like now :/ (well THAT window of posting opportunity turned into a turd did it not annie? :) Oh indeed it did! What joy :)))))) Still... why not soldier on and pretend you still have a connection. Oh yes please, lets! :))

All cables are plugged directly into sockets - no extension cords or doublers and there are no external heat sources within three feet of the hub or the white router box thingy ('scuse the technical term there :)) and cable IS in the ethernet 1 slot.

My daughter brought her laptop over on Saturday and recorded exactly the same dropped connection and reconnection times as I did - so it's not the computer.

The call centre staff have advised unplugging and replugging from the mains as the best way to try to restore my service - would that wipe the log? Is that what they are hoping for? *stare at orange flashing light grumpily* Am I removing my corroborating evidence whilst destroying my knees?

My service was not too bad until the "major broadband fault in my area" at the end of July - blamed on the "high temperatures". BT claim that was completely resolved. It SEEMS not in my case :( and although they told me they sent out an engineer to check mid August, the person I spoke to yesterday said there is no record of it.

The wiring from the external exchange box into my house remains unchanged from when it was installed 17 years ago when I moved in. Could that be the problem? If so - do I have to pay again for it to be re-wired, or are BT obliged to upgrade old wiring after a certain period of time?

When call centre staff "check my connection" they first insist there is nothing wrong with it. This is sometimes because the connection comes back mid call. Saturday morning the connection dropped six times during their tests so they were much less grudging when it came to admitting that there IS a fault somewhere. They are sure that it is not the hub nor the router, but not once have they asked me to access any logs or even told me that I could or should :(

So I am going to do as Chris has suggested... once I get a connection back... *twiddle thumbs...*

Okay... off to crawl around the floor and do the unplugging of bits again. I DO hope it works long enough for me to send this :) and that I don't have to power down and so end up retrieving a blank log...

Thank you so much everyone for your advice and input! :) It is greatly appreciated!!!
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Message 1561747 - Posted: 24 Aug 2014, 23:39:04 UTC

OK Annie, is this what you have at home:



If so you are saying that the "power" light on the home hub starts flashing by itself?

That as far as I am aware means the Hub has reset, nothing to do with the broad band or any phone or internet cables, but could be a dogey power plug or adapter.

It could also mean the Home Hub is faulty.

I assume you have had an Openreach engineer to check it out?

And yes if you unplug the Home Hub as far as I am aware it wipes out the log, also if the hub is rebooting it may also erase the log.

Here is a copy of my hub log when I disconnected then reconnected the cable to the Infinity modem(the white box underneath in the picture)

00:23:28, 25 Aug. NTP synchronization success
00:23:15, 25 Aug. NTP synchronization start
00:23:12, 25 Aug. WAN connection ETH connected
00:23:12, 25 Aug. PPP IPCP Receive Configuration ACK
00:23:11, 25 Aug. PPP IPCP Send Configuration Request
00:23:11, 25 Aug. PPP IPCP Receive Configuration NAK
00:23:11, 25 Aug. PPP IPCP Send Configuration ACK
00:23:11, 25 Aug. PPP IPCP Receive Configuration Request
00:23:10, 25 Aug. PPP IPCP Send Configuration Request
00:23:10, 25 Aug. PPP CHAP Receive success : authentication successful
00:23:10, 25 Aug. PPP CHAP Receive Challenge
00:23:10, 25 Aug. PPP LCP Receive Configuration ACK
00:23:09, 25 Aug. PPP LCP Send Configuration ACK
00:23:09, 25 Aug. PPP LCP Receive Configuration Request
00:23:09, 25 Aug. PPP LCP Send Configuration Request
00:22:50, 25 Aug. WAN connection ETH disconnected


It reads bottom up. As you can see it is timed and dated.

Do you know how to "log in" to the hub?
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Message 1561759 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 0:18:33 UTC

Bernie,

Yes, she can log into the Hub. I just got off the phone with her 20-30 minutes ago.

Unfortunately, since she's been following BT's advice in unplugging several things at once and plugging them back in; she's cleared the log. I instructed her to have the log build up again, and when she loses connectivity at that point to log-in copy the log paste to Word/Text Editor of Choice, and print it off for record for BT to diagnose.

I'm convinced that the connectivity problem is outside her residence, not a hardware problem in the home. A more complete log should give BT the same conclusion.

In short, a Technician needs to come out to her place and check connectivity from the broadband source, (fiber optics to the phone switch, and phone switch to the residence), before rechecking her interior equipment.

In the meantime, she says she misses us all, and hopes to be back with us soon... The soonest being Tuesday, because, (apparently), Monday is a holiday.
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Message 1561828 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 1:15:39 UTC - in response to Message 1561731.  

YAY! - my first connection opportunity since 6.33 this morning! Let's see if I can answer and post before it goes :) Hello everyone :)

Yay! But boo that you're gone again.

My daughter brought her laptop over on Saturday and recorded exactly the same dropped connection and reconnection times as I did - so it's not the computer.

That should help. I also agree with Scott's advice.

The wiring from the external exchange box into my house remains unchanged from when it was installed 17 years ago when I moved in. Could that be the problem? If so - do I have to pay again for it to be re-wired, or are BT obliged to upgrade old wiring after a certain period of time?

I don't know about there, but here the phone company is responsible for the wiring outside the house and the resident is responsible for it inside.
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Message 1562031 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 12:44:59 UTC - in response to Message 1561828.  

YAY! - my first connection opportunity since 6.33 this morning! Let's see if I can answer and post before it goes :) Hello everyone :)

Yay! But boo that you're gone again.

My daughter brought her laptop over on Saturday and recorded exactly the same dropped connection and reconnection times as I did - so it's not the computer.

That should help. I also agree with Scott's advice.

The wiring from the external exchange box into my house remains unchanged from when it was installed 17 years ago when I moved in. Could that be the problem? If so - do I have to pay again for it to be re-wired, or are BT obliged to upgrade old wiring after a certain period of time?

I don't know about there, but here the phone company is responsible for the wiring outside the house and the resident is responsible for it inside.

Here (US) the typical switch over point is a connection point screwed to the outsidewall. On the house side of that box, it is the homeowner's problem. The box and outside is the telephone companies problem.


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Message 1562033 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 12:49:52 UTC - in response to Message 1562031.  

YAY! - my first connection opportunity since 6.33 this morning! Let's see if I can answer and post before it goes :) Hello everyone :)

Yay! But boo that you're gone again.

My daughter brought her laptop over on Saturday and recorded exactly the same dropped connection and reconnection times as I did - so it's not the computer.

That should help. I also agree with Scott's advice.

The wiring from the external exchange box into my house remains unchanged from when it was installed 17 years ago when I moved in. Could that be the problem? If so - do I have to pay again for it to be re-wired, or are BT obliged to upgrade old wiring after a certain period of time?

I don't know about there, but here the phone company is responsible for the wiring outside the house and the resident is responsible for it inside.

Here (US) the typical switch over point is a connection point screwed to the outsidewall. On the house side of that box, it is the homeowner's problem. The box and outside is the telephone companies problem.


Yes; however, also in the US, AT&T offers "Inside Wiring Protection". ($4 to $6 per month per household.) With said protection, AT&T covers any and all repairs to ALL wiring free of additional charges.
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Message 1562085 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 14:16:47 UTC

Oh the hilarity of dealing with the internet people over the phone :) Unplug everything, plug just the router in, then unplug the router and connect a single phone, plug the router in, plug the second phone in...

and so on :)

Some time later, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your landline so we'll get one of our network people to call you.

They call and the same thing all over again with added reset the router and disconnect it from the mains stuff. The end result being a new router on its way in the post.

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Message 1562141 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 15:33:24 UTC

It doesn't help when said engineer turns up & ignores customer! Near the end of June my Virgin hub gave up the ghost & Customer Services in their attempts to remote in also failed so sent a new router in the post.

Several days later, receive it & set up. From that point until Friday morning, experienced continuous drop outs from 5 minutes to 10 hours or more.

Customer Services agreed that the new router was faulty & also noticed several issues with the line entering the property so scheduled an engineer to call.

Engineer arrives, takes my seat & attempts to log into router, he failed. Guy would not listen to a word I said & called his Supervisor (?).

While he did that, I logged into router. Virgin's Superhub has 2 modes. Router & modem only with the hub set as router by default. On setting it up first I logged in & changed to modem only mode using my router which gives me gigabit lan.

Here's the issue for that engineer. Using Superhub as a router/modem it is accessed by 192.168.0.1, however as soon as that is changed to modem only, the ip address changes to 192.168.100.1.

One would think that engineers are aware of the settings for the equipment they install.

So just in case something like that happens again, stuck a P-Touch label on the back of the router in bold...

"Modem only use: 192.168.100.1"
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Message 1562159 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 16:03:33 UTC - in response to Message 1562125.  

Oh the hilarity of dealing with the internet people over the phone :) Unplug everything, plug just the router in, then unplug the router and connect a single phone, plug the router in, plug the second phone in... and so on :)

Some time later, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your landline so we'll get one of our network people to call you.

They call and the same thing all over again with added reset the router and disconnect it from the mains stuff. The end result being a new router on its way in the post.

Ah well you see, this what happens when you let governments privatise a national Utility and let it be run for profit instead of customer service. Then some spotty little corporate bean counter convinces the Board that they can save £10 million a year in a recession, by outsourcing tech support to Far East call centres with basically nice people, but are only capable of reading idiot scripts.

And of course all this free Router shenanigans is just to upgrade the populace to the latest version that they can log into remotely to fault find it. That saves more money and avoids a home visit. And guess what, they are all Infinity ready which they would like to sell you for even more money :-)

If they were from the far east I have to give them kudos, their scouse accents were pretty good :)

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Message 1562234 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 17:38:27 UTC - in response to Message 1562141.  

It doesn't help when said engineer turns up & ignores customer! Near the end of June my Virgin hub gave up the ghost & Customer Services in their attempts to remote in also failed so sent a new router in the post.

Several days later, receive it & set up. From that point until Friday morning, experienced continuous drop outs from 5 minutes to 10 hours or more.

Customer Services agreed that the new router was faulty & also noticed several issues with the line entering the property so scheduled an engineer to call.

Engineer arrives, takes my seat & attempts to log into router, he failed. Guy would not listen to a word I said & called his Supervisor (?).

While he did that, I logged into router. Virgin's Superhub has 2 modes. Router & modem only with the hub set as router by default. On setting it up first I logged in & changed to modem only mode using my router which gives me gigabit lan.

Here's the issue for that engineer. Using Superhub as a router/modem it is accessed by 192.168.0.1, however as soon as that is changed to modem only, the ip address changes to 192.168.100.1.

One would think that engineers are aware of the settings for the equipment they install.

So just in case something like that happens again, stuck a P-Touch label on the back of the router in bold...

"Modem only use: 192.168.100.1"

You expect a (so called) engineer to RTFM? - That is error number one in the book. Most of the (so called) engineers who come out to "fix" such problems are little more than unskilled menu followers - give them a problem off menu and they are off piste and lost in the long grass. It can be highly amusing to watch one trying to diagnose a real problem (one that's not on their menu)...
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Message 1562256 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 18:02:15 UTC

I guess i've been fortunate. The few times I've had an AT&T PavBell tech out to my house, they were competent technicians and had fairly good customer-service skills. And more than happy to listen to what trouble-shooting I had already done.
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Message 1562342 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 20:22:20 UTC - in response to Message 1562256.  

I guess i've been fortunate. The few times I've had an AT&T PavBell tech out to my house, they were competent technicians and had fairly good customer-service skills. And more than happy to listen to what trouble-shooting I had already done.


I, too, have had great luck in working with AT&T U-Verse Techs. They take the time to listen, and then go out and check the stuff that needs checking.

There have been some hardware issues. In In four years, we've gone through three DVR's and one Gateway. Again, each time, the Tech. listened to our noted observations, checked Gateway logs, and system notes from the phone Tech, and changed out the necessary hardware. Not once have they blamed inside wiring. The latest DVR seems to be behaving better than the previous units.
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Message 1562398 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 21:52:06 UTC
Last modified: 25 Aug 2014, 21:52:50 UTC

I used to have DSL, so I can sympathize, Verizon seems to be wanting to move people to their wireless or to cable, rather than do replacement of any copper phone lines, as landlines are regulated here in California, wireless so far is not. So I'm here via Time Warner Cable @ 15/1 and I own My own Docsis 2 cable modem so that I don't have to pay a rental fee, plus I get HDTV all for about $64 a month, no complaints.
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Message 1562419 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 22:27:39 UTC - in response to Message 1562342.  

I guess i've been fortunate. The few times I've had an AT&T PavBell tech out to my house, they were competent technicians and had fairly good customer-service skills. And more than happy to listen to what trouble-shooting I had already done.


I, too, have had great luck in working with AT&T U-Verse Techs. They take the time to listen, and then go out and check the stuff that needs checking.

There have been some hardware issues. In In four years, we've gone through three DVR's and one Gateway. Again, each time, the Tech. listened to our noted observations, checked Gateway logs, and system notes from the phone Tech, and changed out the necessary hardware. Not once have they blamed inside wiring. The latest DVR seems to be behaving better than the previous units.

Right, but the service is expensive, and I *still* can't get IPV6 (they even block my tunnel).

Google Fiber at $70 for 1Gb/S sounds really good.


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Message 1562428 - Posted: 25 Aug 2014, 22:44:04 UTC - in response to Message 1562419.  

I guess i've been fortunate. The few times I've had an AT&T PavBell tech out to my house, they were competent technicians and had fairly good customer-service skills. And more than happy to listen to what trouble-shooting I had already done.


I, too, have had great luck in working with AT&T U-Verse Techs. They take the time to listen, and then go out and check the stuff that needs checking.

There have been some hardware issues. In In four years, we've gone through three DVR's and one Gateway. Again, each time, the Tech. listened to our noted observations, checked Gateway logs, and system notes from the phone Tech, and changed out the necessary hardware. Not once have they blamed inside wiring. The latest DVR seems to be behaving better than the previous units.

Right, but the service is expensive, and I *still* can't get IPV6 (they even block my tunnel).

Google Fiber at $70 for 1Gb/S sounds really good.


They're cheaper than Comcast; and MUCH better, too. Without discounts, our U-Verse bill is about $170 per month including 24Mb internet. We have two non-DVR boxes, one wireless box, and the DVR. We are on U-Verse 300 TV package; so, we get all movie channels except HBO and MAX. ...and, we get HD Service. Alone, the internet is about $60; so, for HD Service, a DVR, 3 other boxes, and movie channels we pay $110. I don't consider that expensive compared to Comcast.
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Message 1562476 - Posted: 26 Aug 2014, 1:53:58 UTC - in response to Message 1562182.  


Ring ring, ring ring,
Good afternoon my name is XXXXXXXX, how may I help you today?
*%&%$"$%^^&***&%^$£"######~@@
Thank you for that information, can I have your telephone number, and name and the first line of your address please.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrggghhhhh



Very funny Chris i can understand mate i've got to the same point and just could not help it . And i wasn't even upset when the line went dead i just started laughing when i reliased what i said to them
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Message 1562486 - Posted: 26 Aug 2014, 2:24:25 UTC - in response to Message 1562033.  

YAY! - my first connection opportunity since 6.33 this morning! Let's see if I can answer and post before it goes :) Hello everyone :)

Yay! But boo that you're gone again.

My daughter brought her laptop over on Saturday and recorded exactly the same dropped connection and reconnection times as I did - so it's not the computer.

That should help. I also agree with Scott's advice.

The wiring from the external exchange box into my house remains unchanged from when it was installed 17 years ago when I moved in. Could that be the problem? If so - do I have to pay again for it to be re-wired, or are BT obliged to upgrade old wiring after a certain period of time?

I don't know about there, but here the phone company is responsible for the wiring outside the house and the resident is responsible for it inside.

Here (US) the typical switch over point is a connection point screwed to the outsidewall. On the house side of that box, it is the homeowner's problem. The box and outside is the telephone companies problem.

Exactly.

Yes; however, also in the US, AT&T offers "Inside Wiring Protection". ($4 to $6 per month per household.) With said protection, AT&T covers any and all repairs to ALL wiring free of additional charges.

I have never even remotely thought that was worth the cost. All the wiring in my house goes through the basement, where I can fix it myself. Except I don't use it anymore. I finally unplugged the Magicjack from the computer just in case it was still using resources that could have been serving the radio feed. Now the phones all say "No home line" on them, but I can live with that. (Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I just plugged it into a USB phone charger...)
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