Broadband been down for over a week now

pauljames · 01-01-2008, 12:54

1)What, specifically, is your issue?
The internet stopped working completely on 22/12/2007 and hasnt worked since. The router can 'see' the connection and thinks its established between itself and the modem, it just cant get to the DNS.

2) Do you have cable TV? If so, is there any reception degradation?
The TV works fine, although there is now a flashing green light above the channel numbers on the box

3) Have you contacted customer support about this problem? If so, what did they say?
I contacted them on 23/12/2007 and as soon as the usual 'please restart everything' out of the way an engineer was sent out for the 31/12/2007. At this point i was not told the engineer wouldnt access the property without someone home even though the porter would give him the keys......so around comes the 31st, around comes the engineer, and away goes the engineer without doing anything.

Last night i called tech support again, and after 5 minutes spent explaining what my postcode code was to someone who started speaking English last week i began trying to explain that i cant have an engineer at whatever time on a weekday because i work. Before i had chance to ask if engineers can be sent on weekends he hung up on me...

4) What troubleshooting steps have you taken to resolve this problem? (aka: if you haven't tried to help yourself, why should *we* help you?)
Resetting all the devices, trying different cables etc. Not alot else i can do as there is no bandwidth coming down the line.

5 Who you are and what you have
My postcode is N1, between all computers i run Windows Vista and XP, Mobile 5 and Mobile 6, and Safari. The cable modem is plugged into a D-Link DIR-655 router, although it has been tried directly connected to the XP machine.

**Rob M** · 01-01-2008, 13:02

1.

2. You say it 'just can't get the DNS', are no DNS addresses being assigned, or can your computer/modem not communicate with the ones that *are* being assigned?

pauljames · 01-01-2008, 13:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raistlin

1.

2. You say it 'just can't get the DNS', are no DNS addresses being assigned, or can your computer/modem not communicate with the ones that *are* being assigned?

Nothing is being assigned. On the router config page primary and seconday DNS's are all 0's

Axegrinder · 01-01-2008, 13:10

Try using opendns

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

Impz2002 · 01-01-2008, 17:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Axegrinder

Try using opendns

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

I highly recommend everyone uses open DNS all the time it makes browsing so much easier and best of all it is free and you don't need any 3rd party software! give it a go, if you don't know how to do it go here for simple instructions - http://www.opendns.com

Impz

dev · 01-01-2008, 18:40

does the router get an ip from the modem?

seeing as the stb has the interactive light flashing i'd say there is a return path problem (or outage) which isn't something you can fix and afaik need a tech out.

pauljames · 01-01-2008, 22:06

I called VM again today and in complete contradiction to what the guy said on Monday an engineer is coming out on Thursday morning...so we shall see.

I've also noticed some TV channels have stopped working. All of the Discovery channels and a few others just give a blank screen....i assume this is related somehow. I have been away so hadnt noticed it, but my housemate tells me its been like that all week

Darrenp · 01-01-2008, 23:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Impz2002

I highly recommend everyone uses open DNS all the time it makes browsing so much easier and best of all it is free and you don't need any 3rd party software! give it a go, if you don't know how to do it go here for simple instructions - http://www.opendns.com

Impz

Just changed my dns to these and my internet is considerably more responsive.

pauljames · 03-01-2008, 20:55

Update:

An engineer came out today and his tests determined it was a weak signal causing the problem, not just for me but for the whole building of ~100 apartments. He said it was a network problem and he would have to call a network engineer out to fix it, and two hours later i got a voicemail from the network engineer saying the security guard wouldnt let him in. Lord only knows why, but he said to call him and rebook it. Only problem was he didnt leave a number, and for some reason all of Virgin's helpdesks seem to be down today. All except the sales line obviously, but they passed me between 9 different departments before i finally ended up back where i started.

So, does anyone have a number for the network engineering office the original engineer called to rebook this appointment? Fair enough i cant blame Virgin for the idiot security guard, but what kind of company cant keep its helpdesks running?? If there's no progress by the weekend im off to Sky.