Registration/Activation - what a nightmare!

[Logan]

Well, after the intial installation failure last Monday, the team turned up again today at abotu 12:30. They were done and dusted by 14:00! To be honest I couldn't fault the guys, they were professional and did a nice tidy job.

However, after them leaving is where the fun began...

I whacked the v3 CD in on my Windows Vista x64 install. The process went fine until the point it asked me to install the USB cable. Now, I thought it would give me the choice between USB or Ethernet - no. The CD wants USB, so I plugged it in. Of course the device drivers are not available. So I quit setup, and restarted into Windows XP x64.

Again, I inserted the CD and began installation. This time, it would simply hang on the installing software screen. I tried several times - nothing.

Rebooted into Vista as I was at least getting further in the install. This time though, I plugged my Ethernet cable in.

I actually got further this time. Until I hit the pin and surname screen. I entered the pin provided and my surname, hit the continue button and I got a pin/surname error number 204.

This was my first call to support. Indian chap I spoke to updated the system with some of my details and told me to try again. So I put phone down and tried again.

Once again, stumped at the same screen except this time it was an error number 207! Back on the phone. This Indian chap ran me through the web based registration. Left me at the terms and conditions. Things seemed to be going ok again.

Until I reached the final step (or near enough) where I was greeted with another error screen, regarding a failure to register the cable modem account or something similar. Back on the phone.

I'm through to an Indian lady who basically has to escalate the call to her seniors. Comes back to me 2 minutes later and tells me I have to wait 24hrs for the issue to be addressed then it should be ok. Problem is, she doesn't tell me how to complete the registration!? Do I go back to the online registration process? I gave up trying to ask her as her line kept cutting out and she spoke less English then her previous two colleagues.

Any ideas as to what I do next!? I must be about 90% through the process. I've got all my details, username, password etc. I really didn't expect it would be this hard to register!!

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Details of the error I received -

Error Activating Cable Modem Account

Unable to activate the Cable Modem account, and reported Unable to register your cable modem until the order has been completed. If you need further help, please contact our customer support (0845 650 0121).

[Rob]

Not sure of all the problems you have there. If ntl haven't got your modem setup properly whatever you do you won't resolve it.

You don't need the ntl CD unless you are connecting via USB. USB drivers are not in any case supplied for Vista I beleive, so that is not an option.

It should be as simple as powering off the modem, and PC, connecting via ethernet, powering up the modem, letting that settle, powering up the PC. On first use you may need to register some details on a web page, primarily to setup an email account, but that should be about it.

[Logan]

Well this is just it. The installers don't tell you the CD is only used for USB. The guy said you use one or the other.

When you say 'NTL haven't got your modem setup properly' what do you mean by that exactly? The installers basically left as soon as they saw the sync light remain solid.

I go through the web based registration (https://autoreg.autoregister.net/), its talking to my modem just fine. But once I get to a certain point, I receive:

Error Activating Cable Modem Account

Unable to activate the Cable Modem account, and reported Unable to register your cable modem until the order has been completed. If you need further help, please contact our customer support (0845 650 0121).

---------- Post added at 20:30 ---------- Previous post was at 19:04 ----------

Well what a f*cking bunch of numpties! About 5 phone calls later, I'm finally connected!

The order obviously hadn't been closed off and until I got through to an Indian who knew what the f*ck was going on, I was being told bull**** after bull**** for excuses.

Now I just need to figure out how to look at my modems stats to see what speed I'm syncing at.

Apologies for the foul language, but they really make things so damned frustrating

[hairy_mick]

yer mate them errors are because the job had not been closed they must have been hanging on to it in case they got another

[Logan]

Quick test from Speed Guide:

« SpeedGuide.net Speed Test Results »
8555 kbps down (~8.56 Mbps, 1044 KB/s)↓
477 kbps up (~0.48 Mbps, 58 KB/s)↑
5120 KB downloaded in 4.903 seconds
3072 KB uploaded in 52.725 seconds
Tested on: 2006.11.27 15:43 EST
Tested from: #
Test Link: http://www.speedguide.net/speedtest/...st=NSLG9FFUYRX
Provider: nrth.cable.ntl.com
Location: UK

And one from ADSL Guide:

Speed Test Results
Downstream 9,417.1 Kbps ( = 9.2 Mbps )
Upstream 479.2 Kbps ( = 0.5 Mbps )

And another from Speedtest.net:



Seems pretty good. Its tons better then ****ty Pipex lol

I'm getting download speeds (for example I downloaded the trial of WinDVD from the authors website just because its a good size file) anywhere between 600 to 1000kb/s. Again, no idea if thats good for 10mb NTL??

[Rob]

Glad you seem to be sorted

[Logan]

Yeah thanks mate, all looking good