Internet connection/home network help

[Xander]

I've been with tiscali broadband for ages now... was all good, never had any problems or reason to contact them.

Then I decided to upgrade to their 8MB package.. well since then I've had problems. First of all it was just not being able to connect. I was on the phone with them ages going through all the trouble shooting, mostly like "restart the computer", "remake the connection", nothing worked.
They left me saying that I probably had some firewall, even though I didnt change anything just upgraded with them when the problems started.

The computer was also being weird like having serious system errors, I dunno, so I reinstalled windows. Then it connected to tiscali AT LAST, all seemed okay. Buuut not long after it just disconnected, and for the past couple of months it does it. It will connect sometimes for hours, sometimes for minutes but never stay connected like it always used to.

For information, I am using a Sagem F@st 800-840 USB modem. I only have USB1 ports on my comp, I dont know if this would effect it.

I have read stuff about it being to do with the high speed, the line not coping or something. Or, I dont know if its tiscalis fault. I keep contacting them, they say they have checked lines and it should be okay.

I've even told them to DOWNGRADE me again in the hope things will go back to how they used to be! But that hasnt completed yet. I just cant bear sitting on the phone with them cos they have indian tech support that knows NOTHING about the problem..

So I dunno, I cant figure out what the problem is, so I dont know what to do, except keep badgering them. So firstly..if anyone has any ideas? XD

Secondly, if you're still reading... I've read about USB modems not being good, etc, esp with the fast speed. So I wanna get one of those hub setups... also my mum wants to get a laptop and connect to the internet via that.

I dont really understand how that all works though and how we need to go about it. We need to buy a hub... what else? I guess I just need to connect my computer by wire and then she can connect wirelessly ? Is it a hub or a router or are they the same thing??

How can we go about getting a different service provider, and is there anything else I need to get/know. What do you recommend? Thanks if anyone can help :)

[Discord]

Now wait up, few question. After the upgrade:

1.) Did you have to install any new driver software or anything at all provided by the company?

2.) Did you get a new modem or are you using the old one?

3.) Which OS are you running?

[Xander]

1.) Did you have to install any new driver software or anything at all provided by the company?

No, they just upgraded the lines, already had everything set up on the slow connection and they just put it up to 8mb I guess.

2.) Did you get a new modem or are you using the old one?

Still the old one yeah.

3.) Which OS are you running?[/QUOTE]

Windows XP

[Discord]

Hmm... must be on their end then. Sorry, no idea there.:(

Good luck fixing it though pal lass.:)

[Baloki]

Get them to run a line test, it might be a noise issue on the line or you might just be too far away from your local exchange to be able to receive an 8 meg connection.

[Xander]

They *said* they have but I think I will have to try harder with them!

[ValiantKnight]

It occur at a certain time of the day?
About 2 years after we got our cable here in town, I noticed over a period of about 3 weeks that our cable internet slowed down to very slow speeds around 8pm and dropped off at 9pm, not to get service again at all until around 1am.
This happened repeatedly, and everything was fine the next morning, so when the technicians only come out from 9-5, and the phone support is only there from 8-8... it was harder to replicate this in front of them. They came out 4 or 5 times to check and found everything in good perfect order. I finally ended up giving up on it, only to find them "upgrading their core network and substations" a week later, to "help meet" the growing demands. They shut us down two nights for a few hours, 12am - 6am and after that happened, the service has been fine ever since. I think they reached some sort of limit during peak times and didn't want to talk about it myself.. but when they upgraded their infrastructure.. everything worked. We only go down now for a rare system maintenance, and sometimes 12am-6am it seems like they will reboot the switches as we get 2-3 min of loss, then its back.

[o_O]

Having worked in internet tech support, take it from me that if they tell you it's your firewall, they have no idea what's going on. :p

Just a note - the first thing you should always check is the length of the cable from your router to the phone line. Ideally it shouldn't be more than a metre in length, though up to 3 metres should be fine. Any greater and your ISP won't support you. :p

I think it's likely to be the distance from your local exchange that is causing your disconnections. The higher the speed of the connection, the smaller the distance needs to be in order to receive the full speed; to get 8Mbit, you probably need to be within 4km of the exchange, give or take a bit.

Excess noise is a by-product of distance issues. Here's an analogy:
I'm your local exchange, and I have some data to give you. The trouble is that we're in a big, crowded room filled with 20000 other people on the exchange. If you stand right next to me, I can easily pass that data to you, but if you're down the other end of the room, I have to shout over 20000 other people, so it will be far less reliable.

Broadband is the same, so greater distance means worse connections. This will manifest in slow internet, disconnections and simply no internet.

Another thing to consider is the power profile at your exchange. At your exchange, each house connection takes up a port. In order to reduce running costs, ISPs will limit the amount of power supplied to each port, based on the principle that the closer the house, the less power required. It often goes wrong though, and they end up limiting power to ports that hold connections of a larger distance.

The good news is that your USB router probably isn't helping. USB routers/modems tend to be quite underpowered compared to ethernet/wireless ones if they don't have an external power supply. The reason for that is that they need to draw their power from the USB port itself.
On that note, USB1.* isn't helping either. If you don't upgrade your router, you should definitely get a USB2.0 PCI card.

So here's what I would do:

Ask for a noise test, an attenuation test and a distance test from your ISP and ask for the results to be emailed to you.
Ask about what power profile you have and whether it could be too low.
Make sure that nobody else is using your username - this will disconnect you.
If nothing comes of the above steps, try replacing the cable from your router to the phone line.
Try getting a USB2.0 PCI card. It probably won't cost more than $10.
If that doesn't work, try a friend's ethernet router if you can borrow one. If that works your router is unsuitable for your new plan.

[Discord]

Respect. :thumb:

[Xander]

Thanks for that advice, I will do those things...

You talk about a router..do I have one at the moment?? I have a filter thing in my phone socket and something goes to my computer here but i forget how it works =/

Im not here in the day much, it happens in the evening to me , but I think it happens in the day too.

Could there be any problems with windows itself causing this? Just because hmm, I dunno, it's been dodgy and I dont trust that its working correctly. I mean the fact I reinstalled and this solved one internet issue (when it wouldnt connect at ALL).

I think my whole setup has got messed up somehow, bleh. Im gonna keep onto tiscali a bit more.

If I dont have a router(??) I should get one?

[o_O]

That's a good point, actually. After a little help from Google, I can say you have a modem, rather than a router. When troubleshooting a connection, the terms modem and router are almost interchangeable; only a few cases require differentiation.

Upon inspection of the Sagem website, it would appear that you should have two cables from your modem - one to the filter to the phone line and one to your computer via USB. Note that there is nothing from the router to the power mains. Basically it means that the modem is drawing all of its operating power from the USB port. It adds portability and convenience, since you don't have to worry about that extra powerpoint, but it also means that you need a stronger DSL signal to maintain a solid connection. To get a stronger DSL signal, you either need to be put on a higher power profile at your exchange, or you need to move your house closer to the exchange - both are somewhat of a hassle.

I would always recommend a router over a modem but you could consider me an internet snob. :p
If you do get one, Linksys has my seal of approval. I also tend to recommend ethernet as an interface for connection over USB, because it doesn't need drivers. You can chuck an ethernet router into any PC and theoretically it should work straight away. Theoretically, your modem should be fine if you're not too far away from the exchange, but in all honesty, it's not doing you any favours. :p

As much as I'd like to tell you it's Windows causing the problem, I don't think it's that likely. Of course, it's always possible, and the more power to you if you install Linux! :p
There are two parts to every DSL connection:
- The local area connection, or the connection between the router/modem and the computer.
- The DSL connection, or the connection from your router/modem through your phone line to the ISP.
Since your connection works sometimes - ie. it has worked with your current configuration at all - it implies that your LAC (and Windows) is working fine. Disconnections are also more consistent with a DSL, or physical issue than a LAC issue.

Here are a few steps you can try to see if it improves the connection quality without speaking to idiots at tech support who don't actually know anything about the internet:

Make sure any phone/fax/thing that connects to your phone line in your house runs through a filter before plugging into the phone jack. If you don't have enough filters, try unplugging the devices without one temporarily to see if the connection improves.
Diagnosis: If that fixes it, you'll need to buy more filters for your phone devices.
Before plugging stuff back in, try disconnecting everything from your phone line except the modem. If that doesn't work, switch the filter on the modem (if any - it doesn't need one) for another.
Diagnosis: You have a faulty filter. Try each filter on the modem (with everything else) to see which one buggers up the connection.
Try modem on a different phone jack.
Diagnosis: Faulty phone jack. (Duh :p) Your phone company will probably replace a faulty jack for free.
You shouldn't have more than 5 devices connected into your phone line if you want reliable ADSL.
Diagnosis: You need a splitter. It's a device that will separate the DSL and phone components of your line from each other, allowing you to have more than 5 phone devices.
As a quick check, you should have some lights on the modem. Specifically, we're looking for the (A)DSL light. If that turns off or flickers when you get disconnected, you definitely have a physical problem somewhere. If not, it could still be physical. :p It would be good if you could post a yes or no to this point.

[Xander]

Wow, thanks again for this detailed help. I haven't time to try the other points right now but I will do.

For the last point though, I can say that yes, the light turns off when it disconnects and flickers when reconnecting etc. I also have a little symbol in my taskbar (near clock thing) showing a green triangle when ADSL is connected. It just goes to red when its disconnected.

I then have to wait for it to turn yellow..then greeen...then I can dial up again... sometimes it just goes back to red instantly.

So, definately a physical problem? (physical meaning..at my end...line..etc..not windows?)

[o_O]

That's right. :p

The ADSL light is an indicator of the path between your modem/router and your ISP.
If it's flickering, some data is making it, other data is lost. If it's off, no data can be exchanged.
That's in contrast to the connection between PC and modem/router; you can have an ADSL signal but still be unable to use the internet because of your local area connection.

Be aware that while your problem is definitely a physical obstruction on the line, the other points from my previous post are causes of physical obstructions, so you'll want to try those before taking measures to get a technician to work on your line. That can result in hefty charges that you could avoid. :p

Having said that though, I think you might need a technician on your line based on the evidence so far. If that is the case, your telco should fork out for it.

P.S. One thing I forgot to mention before is that most routers don't need to dial up to broadband. Usually they're configured to remain online at all times. :p