Internet Problems

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I have had problems with my TalkTalk internet connection, since early Monday I haven't had an ADSL connection and despite a new router nothing has changed.

The engineer won't be here until Monday and even then won't do any more than authorise an Openreach engineer.

So I've had to get a dongle – this means I have less data than normal and I may be slow keeping up keep up with emails or be unable to visit this site as often as usual.

Thanks for your patience.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Don't forget to demand your compensation for loss of service. Meanwhile have a look at house adverts (in the printed media) in areas with cable broadband (insert opposite of "no connection just a happy customer&quot

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Neil, it is worth joining the TalkTalk Members Forum as you can check on outages in areas. also a lively help and discussion group, very helpful.

Clive

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

My talk talk is all over the place.
Swappes router
Filters

Disconnected all “extra” wiring
.

Found by accident leaving land line phone un plugged helps..
My guess an external wiring fault..but apparently line tests out ok..

Just waiting for the manky wire to finally fail and open reach to be tasked to effect repair…

[Dave DanielsParticipant @davedaniels93256]

I had some 6-7 years trouble free Internet with Tiscali .. and then it became Talktalk …

That's when the crap started … Line dropouts, no broadband, reset router etc. etc. etc.

Went on for months off and on …

'Engineer' came and fitted new router, didn't work so he disappeared for 3 days and having spent 3 lifetimes on their useless phone line another engineer came and fitted another new router which sort of worked, for a day or so, then back to situation normal ie,. no Internet.

Problems apparently caused by internal sockets / wiring / filters etc. etc. ie. Any damn thing you like except Talktalk ..

So, in Dec. 2013 I dumped the incompetent Goons and went to PlusNet.

Ever since then my apparently shaky set-up has worked quite well for some reason …

Dave

 

 

 

 

Edited By Dave Daniels on 06/09/2016 21:42:56

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

We used to have AOL as our broadband ISP with a BT landline. When things frequently went belly up they would blame each other – time after time. Some years ago and not without difficulty I managed to persuade the light of my life to ditch AOL and use BT as our ISP. Since then we have only had one problem – a dodgy BT copper wire to the house – and BT quickly replaced it FOC. The problem went away after the repair, along with AOL, and we have had trouble free broadband ever since.

Rik (My desk is wood and I have been in contact with it while I penned this post ! )

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I had problems similar to Jason early this year. Phone seemed to work mostly and fiddling with it often jerked the modem back into life if I rebooted and lifted the receiver at the right moment. It worked better when wet but not too wet or windy. First engineer found a junction box upside down letting in the rain and left without checking that things had got much worse down to 30k. A few bad weeks until I could be present for another visit and in the pouring rain he replaced 100 yds of 60yr old wire and all better than ever before. I'm the last house in the village so distance is a problem but I'm now better off than many quite close to the magic green box and getting about 5Mbps.

I learned that they may put you on a speed cap if you have a problem without telling you so after an engineer visits your previous peaks of 4Mbps may drop to 2Mbps. This is to stop the modem moving to an upper speed mode where it is more likely to cut off but then the line test thinks 'not very good' is normal. The different modem supplied by providers makes little difference since inside they are all using the same 2 or 3 chipsets and drivers, only the branding changes. Likewise at the junction box it is pretty much the same or equivalent. It all comes down to customer service and whether the Openreach lineman in your area is allowed to spend time fixing it.

Meanwhile my cable modem is steady at 63Mbps (different house)

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Problems in the past have been with the line along our road. Eventually Openreach replaced huge sections of it.

I have been on the TT forum and now an Openreach engineer is coming out tomorrow.

My stepson (an Openreach engineer) reckons we have probably been accidentally disconnected at the exchange… they rely on physical tags to mark which lines should have internet connections and if your tag falls off you connection can get swiped for someone else…

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Interesting … just got called by the engineer, apparently two doors up hasn't go any internet either and he's calling there first. As you may guess he thinking they may be a connection (or not, if you see what I mean).

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

I am with TT and before that Tiscali, I have not had any problems over many years other than with BT's copper at the top of the pole opposite!

Watch out it all must start now

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Have been with Virgin Media since they were Comcast cable way back, always had good service, any faults were/are resolved quickly, always informed of any area status.. faults/ est.repair time, annual free upgrade in download speed, have the full package so no reason to complain… pay for it mind you!

Usual disclaimer… a satisfied customer.

George

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Re your 'TalkTalk' telco, I have been hearing a lot of complaints (here in Oz) about people whose account details have been hacked. The company sounds a bit sus to me. Here is a typical news report from late last year, but my UK contacts report that they are still being targetted. **LINK**

* Danny M *

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Well! It turns out that everyone on our box has the internet down, but most of them are either waiting for engineers to check (before referring to OpenReach) or new routers (like my next door neighbour who is suffering 'bad communication' feedback on eBay!)

The line came back for a bit as they did a test to see if they had found the cause – so I had 0.5Mb/s! Apparently something is causing electrical interference and its a pig to track down, may be tomorrow before we get a fix.

The good news is that fibre to our cabinet may not be a pipe dream as our basic speed (<3Mb/s) is so poor and now the villages have got fibre pockets with <5Mb/s. are being prioritised.

Neil

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hang in there Neil !

We are way out in the sticks and the speed here was 4Mb download / 0.35 Mb upload for years and years. Fibre recently provided to our cabinet ( about 1 mile away) . I upgraded my package and now I get 43Mb / 8.5 Mb !

Happy bunny now!

Norman

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Thats not fair, I live in a town, could see the exchange if not for trees and a small hill. Our Cab is not not fitted with fibre like many others around here. Still stuck with 5Mb

[frank brownParticipant @frankbrown22225]

Must add my grumble here. Being the owner of a rural cottage and a ordinary house I have two Internet accounts, TT and Fleur (Ex Virgin BB on BT copper). Both are run by a bunch of incompetents. Both My properties wiring have 100% wiring yet the modems need resetting, The TT seems not to work before 0600AM. The WIN 10 often sits with no internet connection with the flag saying " Connect Automatically", which it might if you click it????

Its all part of the modern age where Sales people run basically engineering systems and do not understand them. AOL now seem to have their fingers in TT and are trying to retrospectively simplify the sign it. As I have had the same pass word for over 20 years there a high chance of me not needing any reminders!.

Frank

Edited By frank brown on 09/09/2016 08:45:19

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 08/09/2016 18:19:32:

Apparently something is causing electrical interference and its a pig to track down,

That will be the Adept then

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 08/09/2016 18:19:32:

… Apparently something is causing electrical interference and its a pig to track down …

.

If you feel the need for 'self help' have a look at the WiSpy products from MetaGeek

… even if you don't buy anything, it's worth a look.

http://www.metageek.com

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 09/09/2016 09:00:44

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by JasonB on 09/09/2016 08:46:11:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 08/09/2016 18:19:32:

Apparently something is causing electrical interference and its a pig to track down,

That will be the Adept then

.

How can you get electrical interference off a round moleskin belt ?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 09/09/2016 08:59:25:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 08/09/2016 18:19:32:

… Apparently something is causing electrical interference and its a pig to track down …

.

If you feel the need for 'self help' have a look at the WiSpy products from MetaGeek

… even if you don't buy anything, it's worth a look.

http://www.metageek.com

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 09/09/2016 09:00:44

Not something in our house. It's something in one of thirty-odd other houses or three large factory/office complexes…

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Second grumble and why my connection is intermittent – the dongle I got is 3/4G, every so often its getting a 'sniff' of 4G and goes up to 6 Meg! Then when the signal fades instead of dropping down to 3G it just disconnects without telling Windows and waits for 4G to come back so I have to switch it off and on again to get a connection.

We have got an EE booster which I thought would help… but it plugs into your broadband router <weeps>.

I shall probably cancel the contract once teh internet is back up, then buy a PAYG data sim for 3 or Vodafone which have better signals here.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Blimey! It's running at 9.8Nb! It must have heard me moaning.

Neil

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

I have been through BT, Tiscali, Talk Talk and now with Virgin. I never had good service from the landline and when Talk Talk took over Tiscali the service became very poor. Since changing to Virgin optical fibre all my problems ended and I have had download speeds in excess of 50 Mb, although to be honest most websites don't seem to benefit from a high download speed.

The downside, as mentioned previously, is the cost. I would be happy with 5-10Mb speed if the service was reliable and the cost reasonable, but that combination would appear to be a pipedream at present. At least direct debit hides the pain.
Doug​

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 09/09/2016 09:10:51:

Not something in our house. It's something in one of thirty-odd other houses or three large factory/office complexes…

.

They work fine on a laptop, for a walk-by survey

… probably the only useful purpose my NetBook ever served.

MichaelG.

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