ADSL query

[rossored]

Anyone else heard of this?

A friend of mine has just had BT Broadband installed on her home phone line - activated this morning, but all is not well.

The Speedtouch330 she's got had installed correctly, she's got the filters on both phone lines coming into the house but there's no ADSL signal - according to the modem lights.

She's rung BT and they've tested the line, but apparently "you cant have any other digital equipment - such as SkyTV, a fax or digital phone" on the same line as ADSL. Its the first I've heard, because I use a digital phone, I've got SkyTV and my home network all running through the same line with no problems. Apart from the speed, thats half the point of having broadband...

However, just to test the theory, she's unplugged all the digital equipment and - surprise surprise - there's still no ADSL signal. My own thinking is that BT havent actually activated the line yet - dont they normally say any time between 8-5pm on the day of activation?

If anyone else has got any ideas, let me know.

 

[zzaxx99]

Is she connecting the modem directly to the master socket or to an extension? If the latter, try connecting directly into the master socket to ascertain whether the problem is the extension wiring. I had hell and all problems with my extension wiring when I first went broadband - eventually solved after I re-kroned the extension into the socket for about the 5th time. Although the extensions had worked fine for phone, the connections weren't reliably enough for the broadband signals.

re: BT's "you can't have digital equipment on the line". It is, as you suspect, complete rubbish, viz:

• The Sky box is digital satellite, but communicates by analogue phone line.
• Not sure what you mean by digital phone - unless you have a PABX, maybe you mean a DECT cordless? If so, again BT are talking nonsense - the connection from cradle to phone is digital wireless but the phone connection is standard analogue.
• Similarly, a fax also communicates by analogue signals - the signal is digitised, but so what?

If they come back with this line of bull again, I heartily recommend challenging them on it and asking to speak to someone who knows what they're talking about.

 

[rossored]

Yep, thanks.

Already tried the connection through the master line into the house and on the extension - same problem.

re Digital Phone - yes, I just meant as you suspected - a digital handset = analogue signal.

BT talking our of thier ladybum again.

 

[SvenFoster]

I've got a BT line, and speedtouch 330 setup with sky digital and fax running.
They are not incompatible as zzax said the skybox just needs to go through a microfilter like *all* appliances connected to that line.

If you've got a spare filter swap them over as they are seriously cheap pieces of tat, if that doesn't work I would be convinced that BT have not enabled the line yet.
If they are convinced that its working then see if you can't plug someone elses modem/laptop in to the line but I'm more inclined to believe that BT have not done their work yet.

I was told mine would be activated by 6pm, it happend at 5 to 6...nice.

Yep, thanks.

Already tried the connection through the master line into the house and on the extension - same problem.

re Digital Phone - yes, I just meant as you suspected - a digital handset = analogue signal.

BT talking our of thier ladybum again.

 

[Davros]

I suspect you have jumped the gun and the line is not connected yet.

I was told mine would be activated by 6pm, it happend at 5 to 6...nice.

I was told mine would be connected on a Tuesday. Thought I'd configure the router on the Friday before in order to have everything ready to go and was shocked when it sprang into life 4 days early!

 

[Bluewave]

If the line is definitely enabled, this is just a stab in the dark....

My bro was using ADSL and the Speedtouch modem without any problems for months and months. Then he updated to SP2 which, due to having a certain motherboard that hadn't had a BIOS update, subsequently screwed his machine up... well and truly... he couldn't even get into safe mode!

Anyway, a trip to an engineer later to copy over his data and re-install Windows, and he can't now connect through the modem. He has uninstalled, reinstalled etc. the driver and swapped over filters but no joy. The modem lights are on but it seems the computer / driver is no longer sending the modem the signal to connect.

In my research of this problem I found out that sometimes ADSL modems "forget" the correct VPI and VCI numbers which ensure a correct link-up with the ISP. Some driver software allows these numbers to be entered on installation, for others you need to go through the driver options/configuration. One guy said he could only change his numbers for his Speedtouch through the "Phonebook.ini" file that was installed at the same time as the driver.

Different ISPs use different VCI numbers. For my brother's ISP he needed VPI = 0, and VCI = 38.

However, after checking these numbers were correct he still couldn't connect but at least it ruled that out, lol. He is still battling to try and solve this problem.

A warning to people to be cautious about SP2 if nothing else. My machine also needs a BIOS update and may well have got screwed up if I had updated without researching the problem and finding Microsoft's patch. So I suppose my bro did me a favour there

 

[zambuck]

...is there a divider at any point along all the way to the main socket...??

...is there an ordinary modem linked to the same line..??

 

[DaveJB]

Your friend's line is not enabled.
It took me 2 days to confirm they'd disconnected my ADSL on swapping phone company - I also had to pay for reconnection (insult+injury) ... for 2 days they insisted I was enabled etc then said I wasn't - they didn't check anything physically about my connection, just the paperwork! (Yes, you're definitely working okay, no fault on the line etc etc etc). Only took a week to get my internet back up.
If no lights on the ADSL modem then the line ain't doing anything.... tech support at BT is pretty poor imo, they'll tell you all sorts of cobblers given half a chance... sadly so will lots of other companies!
Dave

 

[Mayfly]

BlueWave,

It's a power issue - a consequence of SP2, I'm afraid - if you go out and buy a USB 4 port hub (obviously it's got it's own power supply - and that's the key) you'll be fine.

I had the same problem/issue with this machine and it's OK now!

I agree with the others that BT and MS have been totally useless on this issue - among others; but there you are?

HTH

Cheers

Mayfly

 

[DaveJB]

A Speedtouch modem (I had one, but gave it away unused) has power and ADSL lights doesn't it? If so and it's a power issue then both lights will be off, power okay but line not enables is shown as power light on, adsl light off. ( this might be 'amber for ADSL off', I don't remember exactly). If your power light is on, and the ADSL one isn't, then it's not a USB issue.

 

[roguetrader]

This is complete stab in the dark, but how far is she away from the exchange. Reason I ask is that BT have removed the distance limits on broadband, but distance wise they haven't really acheived any great improvements. So before they would tell you that you were too far from the exchange, now they just enable the line and see what happens.. I had this problem similar to what you have described and that is what then engineer told me. On a brighter note, if she is within good range of exchange, it is possibly an internal wiring prob. Took a month to sort mine, they kept checking the line and saying there was no fault, then they did a line length test which came back at 7.2km, which they said should be possible. Engineer who sorted mine out said he had seen up to 8.2km working. Eventually engineer hooked his computer into the main junction box where the outside line enters the house. When he got signal there he rewired my master socket and solved the problem. Master socket has a built in filter so no other filters needed

 

[DaveJB]

Is the problem still apparent, or are we all passing tips along when the fault is long since cured?
Apart from the obvious - which lights are lit on the modem - if it's anything at all complex on the line side then the only real hope is to get an engineer in who knows how to fault find.... a 5 minute job that could take months if you get the engineer who DOESN'T know how to fault find. Based on tech support encounters I've had over the past couple of years your friend is far more likely to encounter the latter.

Dave

 

[Racer]

BT are a load of ...(fill in appropriate words here)
It has taken about 5 months and numerous calls, lots of BT visits, a lot of listening to 'your fault that you recently reported has been resolved, if you wish to report a new fault.......) since I first got broadband enabled
But it was never really resolved during these 'resolved' visits... just they wanted to boost their fault clear up rate and sign the problem off, so they could minimise the compensation.
I have got a bit of a refund though... 3 months line rental and a few bob for missed appointments, but considering the problems and the time I spend phoning them, probably works out at 10p an hour!

 

[david8253]

Problems with broadband effecting windows

Hi Folks,
Need desperate help!! My sister has just started using onetel broadband,i installed it as per instructions,2 green lights bladdy bladdy! connects to inter' but then problem i have is that once i shut down windows and then turn on the window " window system checker comes up this window will close down and then restart and repair " but it don't.
I have tried re-installing microsoft 98 but i still get the same error,but as soon as i disconnect the usb hub my pc is fine.any suggestions folks PLEASE!

 

[rossored]

Sorry for not replying chaps - didnt receive updates to this thread for a few days then got a load today...

Anyway, as I said in the first post it wasnt a USB issue - its BT (cue Cilla Black singing Surprise Surprise at the top of her voice....) . Her exchange is enabled but she wants a 1Meg connection, and because of the distance from her exchnage (although she's only 4 miles from central cambridge....) her connection can only handle 1/2 Meg. BT, of course, did not think to mention this when they gave her the 1Meg connection.

Some things never change!!


David8253 - dont totally understand your problem/description of problem : except I'm pretty sure that Win98 doesnt offer full USB support. Its only Win98SE that does - I think.

 

[roguetrader]

SE[/B] that does - I think.

win98 should support a USB modem imho

 

[DaveJB]

Win 98 supports USB, some versions of 95 don't include the drivers (95A doesn't include drivers, 95B has them as a seperate download, 95C includes them) . You might need to d/l new drivers if the modem is USB 2, as Win 98 won't support that out of the box - Win 98 supports USB 1.1, and if you're loading from an old install disk that's probably what's getting loaded.
It's worth checking BIOS settings to ensure USB support isn't disabled.

 

[rossored]

Yes, you're both quite right - my mishtake

 

[adrianallen99]

Of course you could have gone with Wanadoo Broadband, like I tried to.
I setup my account over the internet and after 10 days nothing. So I Phoned up and said that it wasnt working, they said that my registration hadnt gone through so I would need to cancel this order and re-register. Which I did. After 11 days I phoned up asking why it wasn't connect, they informed me everything had been done and it should be working. After about 5 hours of un-installing - re-installing, messing around, trying a different modem, filter etc.. I decided it wasnt in fact connected. I phoned up again and was told that I had cancelled my account? It turns out the request to cancel my account didnt go through until they had actually connected the line. So it was connected and disconnected on the same day.

I then decided to go back to BT and was told it would take 10 days to connect. 6 hours later the line was connected and I was up and running. My line isnt due to be connected till tomorrow and according to BT my line isnt connected yet, i guess the fact that its been working for over a week mean nothing

 

[minx]

I had this crap from Wanadoo too, they said it'd take 2 weeks to connect to the number of the house I was just about to move into, 2 weeks after I move in no broadband. They tell me the number doesnt exist even though I'm calling them from it (why do they say these stupid things?!?!?!). I called BT to use their broadban service and they say it can take 21 days to disconnect my current (non) connection and then 10 working days to connect to them.........I went back to wanadoo and moaned and shouted, next day its all up and running........the mind boggles.