View Full Version : Disgusted with NTL and need HELP!!! PLEASE!!!
I have a VERY serious problem with my connection that has NOT been dealt with by ANYONE!!!
I have had this problem now for 5 weeks in that I have barley any internet connection during the day or evening times.
I have posted a thread before when this problem first started, I beleive ignition replied to it saying he may be able to help.
I live in the NN10 area and have been told on the 3 previous times I have contacted them that there is a problem in my area and that they are aware of it and are dealing with it.
Today I ring them up and I get told that there are no further fualts in my are and that my modem could be at fualt. So I have to ring back when I get home from work and am sat in front of the pc so they could do some more tests.
Fair enough I think so I get home and spend another 45 mins on the phone to them where they run tests and tell me that it is NORTON that is stopping me from connecting to the internet. So fine ok then. Could you turn it off for me please sir. OK....So I do this for them.
Oh yes it is all working now sir...Simply becuase I could access the internet pages (regardless of it taking 30secs to load up) All is fine now he says. I say NO hang on a minute I still have the problem. I try to send a file over msn and I get nothing. It barely puts up 2kb in the 2 minutes he waited.
So he tries to tell me that it MUST be spyware on my pc. So I then ask him...Ok but first you said it was NORTON...WHY??? Oh I have seen it many times before. NORTON works for 6 months and then blocks all traffic for no reason?? Yeah ok then sure it does....I have used NORTON for 3 years now and am now on 2005 edition and have NEVER had a problem with it.
But ok then let it lie and persue the spyware thing he mentioned. My pc has been reinstalled 2 weeks ago to try and sort this problem but he tells me that it only takes an hour to get back on your PC sir......Ok so run SPYBOT evryweek to clear it. (WHY HAVE MY LETTERS GONE ON THE SLANT??:erm: )
So anyway i run it again while he is on the phomne with me and yes it does bring up 5-6 things but they are only tracking cookies, I remove then anyway and the problem STILL exists!!!!
I tried to tell him that my PC is NOT in the wromg and he tells me that my modem is recieving 100% and that the modem is sending back 100% but my PC has packet loss?? WTF???
I asked if I could speak to somebody higher up than him or somebody who had a clue what the hell they were doing?? But he told me there was noone.
He asked me to go to the start menu and RUN before he did any of the above and got me to get my I.P address out. This alone took him 10MINUTES!!! As he was obviously following instructions!!!
So where does this leave me then??
I asked for an engineer to come out but he told me NO. There is no point. He would come out and tell me there is NO problem and charge me £85 for the pleasure.
So they will NOT send an engineer to me and the problem is apparently my pc. Either spyware....(Which I cleared while he was on the phone) Or NORTON ( Which I disabled while he was on the phone).
As I write this I have a Torrent open to see what is going on and I have exactly 0KB/s upload and 10KB/s download. Web pages take an absolute age to load so what thye hell can I do?? Where can I go from here??
Thing is at about 12AM tonight I gaurentee that the connection will come back on again and I will upload at MAX 32KB/s for maybe a few hours but then it dies again. It comes and goes in spurts....I either get full up and down or NOTHING of each........
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me!!!! I am paying £40PM for something that is useless to me and this idiot was of no help atall and said nobody else could halp me and nobody would come out?? I have his name aswell which I will not post here, but if anyone wants it then I will be happy to PM it to them.
:( :( :( :( :( :( :(
EDIT: When I posted this I get bare pages....just the writing and stuff....no pics etc. The page loads up the bare minimum. It also took me a couple of minutes to be able to get it back up again to type this edit. It also seems to be upload that is effected more than download. If I do manage to get onto a site I can download anything...Patches, drivers etc....at max speed.
paulyoung666
24-11-2004, 20:22
ok , from the top , usb or ethernet , stb or sacm , what tier are you supposed to be on ????? , how about posting some pings and tracerts , can you provide any diagnostics to show signal levels etc ??????? , just a few things to get started on , sorry if i am treading on ground that has been covered before :erm: :D :D :D
USB 1.5MB SACM. Not sure about how to ping things etc...or find signal levels. Going to do a speed test at adslguide now, is this right??
USB 1.5MB SACM. Not sure about how to ping things etc...or find signal levels. Going to do a speed test at adslguide now, is this right??
Do Robin Walker's speed test from here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/speedtest.html
Wed, 24 Nov 2004 20:33:04 UTC
1st 128K took 703 ms = 186447 Bytes/sec = approx 1551 kbits/sec
2nd 128K took 719 ms = 182298 Bytes/sec = approx 1517 kbits/sec
3rd 128K took 703 ms = 186447 Bytes/sec = approx 1551 kbits/sec
4th 128K took 719 ms = 182298 Bytes/sec = approx 1517 kbits/sec
It is upload more than download can I test this> What about signal strength??
Wed, 24 Nov 2004 20:33:04 UTC
1st 128K took 703 ms = 186447 Bytes/sec = approx 1551 kbits/sec
2nd 128K took 719 ms = 182298 Bytes/sec = approx 1517 kbits/sec
3rd 128K took 703 ms = 186447 Bytes/sec = approx 1551 kbits/sec
4th 128K took 719 ms = 182298 Bytes/sec = approx 1517 kbits/sec
It is upload more than download can I test this> What about signal strength??
Nothing wrong with that download result.
Let me read your post again.....
Right.....
We need to know a bit more about your PC's setup-for starters do you have a router?
Tezcatlipoca
24-11-2004, 20:42
Wed, 24 Nov 2004 20:33:04 UTC
1st 128K took 703 ms = 186447 Bytes/sec = approx 1551 kbits/sec
2nd 128K took 719 ms = 182298 Bytes/sec = approx 1517 kbits/sec
3rd 128K took 703 ms = 186447 Bytes/sec = approx 1551 kbits/sec
4th 128K took 719 ms = 182298 Bytes/sec = approx 1517 kbits/sec
It is upload more than download can I test this> What about signal strength??
Upload test - http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/BandwidthUpTest.asp
Signal levels -
How to access them depends on the modem.
Have a look here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/signal.html
he tells me that my modem is recieving 100% and that the modem is sending back 100% but my PC has packet loss??This symptom can be caused by a flaky USB implementation on the PC. Have you tried converting to proper ethernet?
:wavey: Good to see you rdhw :)
I have no router at all.
Juat 1 PC connected to my modem. Cable from the wall to the modem and then USB to my pc via USB2.
It seems that my download is not the problem, if i manage to get to a site i can download at 180+KB/s.
IF for example I use a torrent site i will download at max speed but up nothing.....Then all of a sudden for no reason I will go to 32KB/s for a few hours and I can surf the web with ease. This tends to happen late at night. After 12AM. During the day and the evening I get nothing again?
As I speak now...I have a torrent running and azureus is showing 29KB/s up and 175KB/s down. So it seems it has come back on again. But by tomorrow I bet it has gone off again. It has been doing this for 5 weeks now......:o
Going to try the signal strength tests now, but while it is working I am sure it will be fine. Since my last post I have been unable to access the web atall so was unable to try the tests sooner.......
Type : Ambit ETH/USB Combo Cable Modem
Cable modem : Ambit Cable Modem
MAC address : **:**:**:**:**:**
IP address : x0.1xx.6x.xx3
Downstream Receive Power Level : -4.04 dBmv
Downstream SNR : 28.15 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 24.50 dBmv
I've also removed your MAC address. :)
I would do as Robin suggests & try via ethernet, that way if the problem doesn't re-occur you know it was USB related. :tu:
And if it does re-occur, you'll know that it nothing to do with USB! :p:
It's a process of elimination I'm afraid. :)
As I speak now...I have a torrent running and azureus is showing 29KB/s up and 175KB/s down.
Huh? Surely your download would be saturated with 29kB/s up? Or maybe it is just me :s
Huh? Surely your download would be saturated with 29kB/s up? Or maybe it is just me :s
I was just thinking that......
It's probably maxing out/saturating the upstream bandwidth, which in turn is crippling the downloads-but poster said he can d/l & full speed, & speed test results support this (or perhaps Bit Torrent wasn't running at the same time of the speed test....?)
Either way, worth capping your upload speeds.
Can I just swap over to ethernet or do I need to uninstall it all and then reinstall. I think i tried to go with ethernet when I reinstalled my entire PC but it was not letting me. It failed on one of the tests boradband jump goes through.....Can't remember what so I am no help there........
Tnx for all this advice. I am really greatful for your help.:)
I will now read through installing without broadband jump cd to see if I can find my own aswers to installing it......:angel:
Can I just swap over to ethernet or do I need to uninstall it all and then reinstall. I think i tried to go with ethernet when I reinstalled my entire PC but it was not letting me. It failed on one of the tests boradband jump goes through.....Can't remember what so I am no help there........
Tnx for all this advice. I am really greatful for your help.:)
I will now read through installing without broadband jump cd to see if I can find my own aswers to installing it......:angel:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/usb.html#usbswap
[Edit]-Try here too: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/p2p.html
Well I tried to swap from USB to Ethernet following the steps in the link.
1. I powered down my PC.
2. powered down my modem.
3. Unplugged USB at bothe ends.
4. Plugged in Ethernet cable to PC and modem.
5. Waited a while and turned PC back on.
The ONLY lights that were on my modem were the ENET and the D/S came on and off and on and off and on and off....You get the idea??HEhehe.
No other lights came on at any point I was especially looking for sync and ready...but nothing.......
Did I do it right?? I was thinking I did not wait long enough for the modem to settle down?? I only waited maybe 2-3 minutes. It kept doing the same thing so i powered the PC back up.
If I needed to wait longer then I will do this tomorrow as I have been on hold to NTL being transfered to Level 2 Tech Support (Which I never got through to!!!) For 3 Hours tonight....Enough is enough for 1 night. I will try again tomorrow. Just wanted to try this swap over while my connection is still working. Guarenteed it will not be tomorrow.
Tnx again for the help.
carlingman
24-11-2004, 23:50
Well I tried to swap from USB to Ethernet following the steps in the link.
1. I powered down my PC.
2. powered down my modem.
3. Unplugged USB at bothe ends.
4. Plugged in Ethernet cable to PC and modem.
5. Waited a while and turned PC back on.
The ONLY lights that were on my modem were the ENET and the D/S came on and off and on and off and on and off....You get the idea??HEhehe.
No other lights came on at any point I was especially looking for sync and ready...but nothing.......
Did I do it right?? I was thinking I did not wait long enough for the modem to settle down?? I only waited maybe 2-3 minutes. It kept doing the same thing so i powered the PC back up.
If I needed to wait longer then I will do this tomorrow as I have been on hold to NTL being transfered to Level 2 Tech Support (Which I never got through to!!!) For 3 Hours tonight....Enough is enough for 1 night. I will try again tomorrow. Just wanted to try this swap over while my connection is still working. Guarenteed it will not be tomorrow.
Tnx again for the help.
From another post of yours you the upstream power level looks a little poor at 24 from your reading but when you phoned did they mention what they can see at UBR level.
And also if you are not getting the SYNC light but you are getting an ENET light this sorta proves the connection between PC and modem is fine but the modem is not locking onto the downstream.
I would pursue this and hope a helpful techy pops in here or ring them again tomorrow.
:D
Ignition
25-11-2004, 09:54
Type : Ambit ETH/USB Combo Cable Modem
Downstream Receive Power Level : -4.04 dBmv
Downstream SNR : 28.15 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 24.50 dBmv
Hrm odd.
IP address please (when your modem is back online).
Hrm odd.
IP address please (when your modem is back online).
I have sent you my I.P in a PM for you to look at for me. Thanks in advance for you help. :)
It is now 6:45 and my connection seems to working ok.
I did manage to get through to NTL again last night and found the guy on the phone to be alot more accomadating than the first guy I spoke to which provoked me into the title for this thread. I relise that the title to this thread is perhaps not entirely fair. It seems a little over the top to brandish the whole company with the same iron after talking to one particualr idiot.
Anyway after speaking with him he said tnat there was indeed still a fualt in my area so why did this first guy not pick up on this?? He said that there was DEFINATLEY no fault in my are and that my PC was at fault.
He told me to restart my pc etc...and reboot modem and ran a few other test like ping this and I mentioned the robin test from above and the results and he said that I had a problem perhaps with my upload S/N or Power , (I think).
Anyway he said that he was going to transfer me to Level 2 Tech Support as they have more in depth tools to try and help me. He gave me a reference number and I was put on hold. After 20 Mins on hold the music that plays while you wait disapeared and was followed by a standard ringing. I held like this (with normal ringing) for a further 45 mins before thinking something was wrong and hung up.
I rediled NTL tech and after 30Mins got through and explained what I had just been through and gave the reference number and was told that I would again be transfered to Level 2 Teach Support. The same thing happened and after waiting with a standard ringing tone after the music stopped for a further 60 mins. I finally hung up the phone at 11:38 and gave up...:(
Hopefully someone here can help me out, you have all been very helpful indeed and have gotten me to do things that none of the tech people have so far. Why are they not as helpful and as polite as you guys?? It would be a much better front for the company if their Tech staff put as much effort into helping their customers as you people do. And you all do it off your own back and mostly in you OWN TIME TO!!! :angel:
Thanks again for all the help. I REALLY do appreciate it!!" :D
Earwig / anyone else in NN10 -
Has your connection been up and down like a whores pants today?
Can anyone shed any light?
Andy
System up time = 0 days 00h 00m 47.00s
Downstream channel ID = 0
Downstream channel frequency = 402750000 Hz
Downstream received signal power = 2.3 dBmV
Upstream channel ID = 1
Upstream channel frequency = 33584000 Hz
QoS max upstream bandwidth = 256000 bps
QoS max downstream bandwidth = 1536000 bps
SigQu: Signal to Noise Ratio = 28.4 dB
Cable modem status = Operational
Upstream transmit signal power = 44.0 dBmV
Date and Time = 2004-11-28,20:25:08.0
Configuration filename = ntlhm120-gold.cm
If that is any help before it goes down again....
OK, since posing last the moden has rebooted twice...
NN10 seems to be in dire straights, has anyone reported this yet before I call TS?
Andy
OK, since posing last the moden has rebooted twice...
NN10 seems to be in dire straights, has anyone reported this yet before I call TS?
AndyI would suggest you report it anyway - the more reports they get, the better.
carlingman
29-11-2004, 02:42
System up time = 0 days 00h 00m 47.00s
Downstream channel ID = 0
Downstream channel frequency = 402750000 Hz
Downstream received signal power = 2.3 dBmV
Upstream channel ID = 1
Upstream channel frequency = 33584000 Hz
QoS max upstream bandwidth = 256000 bps
QoS max downstream bandwidth = 1536000 bps
SigQu: Signal to Noise Ratio = 28.4 dB
Cable modem status = Operational
Upstream transmit signal power = 44.0 dBmV
Date and Time = 2004-11-28,20:25:08.0
Configuration filename = ntlhm120-gold.cm
If that is any help before it goes down again....
Hi Andy,
Im guessing those levels are a snap shot when your connection is fine.
Try posting them when the connection drops as it could be ranging power levels but follow the advice and call them to report as well.
;)
I guess you are right, the SNR rarely gets above 29dB these days so it looks like we are on a sticky wicket.
Hopefully the routine maintenance scheduled tomorrow will sort it... crossed fingers!
Andy
Hopefully the routine maintenance scheduled tomorrow will sort it... crossed fingers!
Andy
I think that is very likely :)
They are doing my UBR on Weds/Thurs - oh and you too Paul M if you hadn't spotted it
I think that is very likely :)
They are doing my UBR on Weds/Thurs - oh and you too Paul M if you hadn't spotted it
Time will tell.... ;)
SNR is 28.9 this morning so it has gotten a smidge better lol :rolleyes:
Andy
Hi Andy,
Im guessing those levels are a snap shot when your connection is fine.
Try posting them when the connection drops as it could be ranging power levels but follow the advice and call them to report as well.
;)
Here you go, just started to re boot again...
These are the levels when it's borked...
Type : Ambit ETH/USB Combo Cable Modem
Cable modem : Ambit Cable Modem
MAC address : 00:xx:xx:xx:xx:4c
IP address : 192.168.100.1
Downstream Receive Power Level : N/A
Downstream SNR : N/A
Upstream Transmit Power Level : N/A
Fancy some rep points ignition???
;)
Tuftus
OK, speaking to a lady who sounds indian at the moment (ABSOLUTLY no offence intended) and she reckons that anything above 22db fir SNR is perfectly acceptable....
To quote the man himself 'rdhw' -
Downstream SNR: should be 30 dB or higher: the higher the better. As the SNR decreases below 30 dB, performance will steadily decrease, and errors will increase. The cable modem might stop working properly if the SNR drops below 23.5 dB.
Who's on acid, rdhw or tech support???
lol
ian@huth
03-12-2004, 00:30
OK, speaking to a lady who sounds indian at the moment (ABSOLUTLY no offence intended) and she reckons that anything above 22db fir SNR is perfectly acceptable....
To quote the man himself 'rdhw' -
Downstream SNR: should be 30 dB or higher: the higher the better. As the SNR decreases below 30 dB, performance will steadily decrease, and errors will increase. The cable modem might stop working properly if the SNR drops below 23.5 dB.
Who's on acid, rdhw or tech support???
lol
I know who I would believe ;)
Downstream Receive Power Level : N/A
Downstream SNR : N/A
Upstream Transmit Power Level : N/AThese indicate that the cable modem itself is re-booting at this time, so no useful information is available. If your cable modem tends to spontaneously reboot, then it looks as if you might have a serious problem with the physical cable or the plant driving it. You should draw the cable modem reboots to the attention of NTL Tech Support when you ring them, as this is much more significant than anything to do with your own PC. You should also check whether your cable TV service is affected at the same time, as they come on the same cable.
Ignition
03-12-2004, 11:54
SNR on downstream of 28.9 is quite acceptable, indeed downstream remains acceptable just about until 23.5dB or so, the ideal is 30 however this isn't essential and BER remains workable at a much lower level than this (at 23.5dB BER is around 1 x 10^-8), 30 is required for the more strenuous 256QAM modulation which isn't live on ntl network at the moment (at 30dB CNR BER is 1 x 10^-8).
I'm suspicious of your cable modem to be honest and would suggest that gets looked at firstly, your SNR although not ideal is within spec and should be quite acceptable.
Can't see any sign of ya IP btw Tuftus :p:
SNR on downstream of 28.9 is quite acceptable, indeed downstream remains acceptable just about until 23.5dB or so, the ideal is 30 however this isn't essential and BER remains workable at a much lower level than this (at 23.5dB BER is around 1 x 10^-8), 30 is required for the more strenuous 256QAM modulation which isn't live on ntl network at the moment (at 30dB CNR BER is 1 x 10^-8).
I'm suspicious of your cable modem to be honest and would suggest that gets looked at firstly, your SNR although not ideal is within spec and should be quite acceptable.
Can't see any sign of ya IP btw Tuftus :p:
WHOOSH!!!! Well over my head mate!!!! :)
I have got an engineer booked for next Wednesday however, i wonder if this will 'fix itself' like it did last time before the engineer was supposed to turn up?
Does anyone know if I can use dialup in the mean time with my bb username and password? if so whats the dial up number?
Cheers
Andy
Well after ignition sorted my connection it went dead again!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have only been on in the last couple of days and have not had time to come back and post yet.
I rang NTL again and actually made it through to LVL 2 tech support who said that there was a MAJOR problem in the NN10 area which was nearly sorted.
He told me that from what he could see the packet loss to and from my pc was about 60% which is huge. The S/N ratio was also constantly under 18. He said that anything under 22 usually results in an unusable connection. Both my sync and rdy lights were out........
The next day when I got home from work I had a message on my answer phone from this guy who said that all problems now seem to be resolved in my area and sure enough my connection was on.
I have had a couple of dropouts since but they do not last very long.
So far all is well..........
Are you guys still having trouble or are yours sorted to now??
Has been up so far since I last posted...
I also got through to lvl 2 TS and spoke to a nice chap called Scott in Swansea and he arranged an engineer to visit on Wednesday... sods law has struck and it has not fallen over since.
SNR is 27 though, however when they checked it they said it was 22 but the modem said it was 28... hmm.
Will keep you all posted...
Andy
paulyoung666
04-12-2004, 17:31
Has been up so far since I last posted...
I also got through to lvl 2 TS and spoke to a nice chap called Scott in Swansea and he arranged an engineer to visit on Wednesday... sods law has struck and it has not fallen over since.
SNR is 27 though, however when they checked it they said it was 22 but the modem said it was 28... hmm.
Will keep you all posted...
Andy
take the figures with a pinch of salt but dont disregard them completely , i would rather trust a properly calibrated bit of kit than a cable modem :erm:
Still ok on my end so far/......
Hopefully this is all over now and we will all have a fualtless connection for many years to come.....
You know it's funny.....I did not expect this thread to go on for so long.
robomonkey
06-12-2004, 10:37
Is this all fixed now?, I noticed in an earlier post that you were using Azaerus Torrent Manager, I instaled that recently and it absoultly killed my connection, it was working fine for months, then I installed Azaerus and then it stopped, pages would take ages to open (even google) Initailly I didn't twig, and thought it was a DNS problem, but as soon as I uninstalled Azaerus it worked fine.
It may have been a coincidence but it seemed very strange to me.
Tezcatlipoca
06-12-2004, 23:17
Is this all fixed now?, I noticed in an earlier post that you were using Azaerus Torrent Manager, I instaled that recently and it absoultly killed my connection, it was working fine for months, then I installed Azaerus and then it stopped, pages would take ages to open (even google) Initailly I didn't twig, and thought it was a DNS problem, but as soon as I uninstalled Azaerus it worked fine.
It may have been a coincidence but it seemed very strange to me.
:welcome:
Azareus is quite hungry for system resources, but should not slow things down that much. I use it, & it's perfectly fine for me.
But, Azareus (& any other P2P app) should be set so that its upload speed is capped, preferably to something like 50% of your connection's actual upload speed. This is to stop it saturating the connection. If you let Azareus or other P2P apps use up all the upstream, it can kill your connection completely.
Have a look here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/p2p.html
There are a few threads here, available via a search, all about problems using P2P software.
I noticed in an earlier post that you were using Azaerus Torrent Manager, I instaled that recently and it absoultly killed my connection, it was working fine for months, then I installed Azaerus and then it stopped, pages would take ages to open (even google) Initailly I didn't twig, and thought it was a DNS problem, but as soon as I uninstalled Azaerus it worked fine.There is another new issue with many P2P applications running under WinXP SP2 that can cause network connectivity to appear crippled. SP2 limits the number of TCP connections that can be in half-opened state to a maximum of 10 for the whole system: when that limit is hit, all other TCP open attempts are delayed in a queue. Thus a greedy P2P application can wreck web browsing or e-mail. A fix was built in to Azureus with effect from Azureus v2.2. All users of XP SP2 should update their P2P applications to versions that contain fixes for this new limit.
gimpymoo
07-12-2004, 11:23
The Tech was right to an extent... Norton is a big steaming pile of greedy, resource hogging donkey poo. In my opinion. Although, it doesnt't just "Block everything" on its own. More likely youve changed something unknowingly.
I would say "re-master" your PC. Is it a pre-built PC by a manufacturer by any chance?
If configured incorrectly, Norton Internet Security 2005 can suck big donkey balls.
The Tech was right to an extent... Norton is a big steaming pile of greedy, resource hogging donkey poo. In my opinion. Although, it doesnt't just "Block everything" on its own. More likely youve changed something unknowingly.
I would say "re-master" your PC. Is it a pre-built PC by a manufacturer by any chance?
If configured incorrectly, Norton Internet Security 2005 can suck big donkey balls.
My pc is built by myself to my standards and Norton was NOT the problem. The problem was definately NTL which they have now sorted out.
I have NEVER had any problems with Norton products but I know many who have. Looking from another view though I know many who have had probs with Mcafree and again, many who have not.
My PC is now running like a dream now they have sorted the connection......
Just need to hope ADSL get's more than 1MB in my area now that the 40GB caps are coming in....:mad:
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