Nick.B
15-07-2008, 18:00
Hello everyone,
Bit of a long rant first... Please hang in there - I need to get this off my chest first, then I've still got a bit of a problem at the end of the post!
For about 3 weeks, we kept getting dropouts of our connection. The modem lights were all still on ok (ready and sync), but it just wouldn't respond. Rebooting the router made no difference, but rebooting the modem sorted it out and it was fine again for a while. After about 3 weeks, I got fed up of this and phoned the helpline.
First I was told that I needed to call back when we had no connection so they could run some tests. So we waited.... A while later the connection went. So I phoned technical support. I explained the problem and told them that it was an intermittent fault that we'd been experiencing for a few weeks. I was told the usual "unplug the cable modem, plug it back in again, oh look, it works now". I was told because I had it plugged in to a router, I needed to plug it directly in to a PC and "monitor the connection". So I plugged it back in to the router and carried on. A few hours later the connection went again. So I unplugged the modem from the router and plugged it directly in to my Mac. I tried getting an IP address, but the DHCP server in the cable modem wasn't responding and wasn't giving any IP addresses. So I phoned the helpline again. This time I was told he was going to do some diagnostics on the cable modem....
Support : "What lights are on on the front of the modem?"
Me : "Power, ethernet, ready and sync".
"There's no problem with your modem. Do you have it plugged in to a router?"
"No"
"Could you click on the Start button"
"It's a Mac"
"Ok, could you click on the apple symbol"
<conversation getting me to get to the network preferences omitted>
"What is the IP address?"
"192...."
"That's the problem. You should have an address of 82 something. 192
means that there is a problem with your ethernet in your Mac."
"I can assure you that there is no problem with my Mac."
"There is. Otherwise it would have an IP address of 82 something"
"There is nothing wrong with my Mac. I've just plugged the ethernet
cable in and the DHCP server in the modem won't issue me an IP"
"Yes. Exactly. Your DHCP in your Mac is broken"
"What?"
"The DHCP in your Mac is broken. That is the problem. There is no problem with the cable modem."
"Can you send an engineer out as we have been having this problem for weeks"
"No. There is nothing wrong with your cable modem." etc..
I hung up from that and rebooted the modem. A while later it went again. So I phoned up again. This time I took the IP settings from my router and put them in manually on the Mac. A similar conversation went on about nothing wrong with the cable modem. We went through the IP address again and he said that was fine (he only asked the IP address, not the subnet, etc).
So then he kept saying that he "had no problem booking me an engineer".
Me : "Great. I'd like it for next Saturday".
Support : "I'm sorry, I can't do that"
"Oh. Ok. I guess one day during the week then"
"No, I can't book the engineer"
"But you just said you had no problem booking an engineer"
"Yes, that is correct. I have no problem booking you an engineer"
"Great. Book it then"
"I can't book you an engineer as there is no problem with your cable modem"
"WHAT? Can I speak to your supervisor..."
<pause>
Supervisor: "Hello, I'm xxxx, I'm the senior technician here"
<explained all the problem, intermittent fault, etc again>
"There is no problem showing on your cable modem."
Me: "Why does it keep freezing then?"
"It could be your router"
"I'm not connected through a router"
"Oh. Well then it must be your PC"
"I'm on a Mac"
"That's the problem then. Your Mac"
"What? Look... I'm going to say this really slowly. We've been having a problem with intermittent connections. It doesn't matter if it is connected directly to a PC, a Mac or through a router. When the problem occurs, if I reboot the router, it makes no difference. If I reboot the Mac/PC then it makes no difference. If I reboot the modem, then the problem is solved. How can that be anything other than the cable modem at fault?"
"There are 1000 things that could be the problem."
<I'm getting really annoyed now>
"Last night the connection gradually got slower and slower. It ended up being slower than a dial-up modem. I tried very simple text sites like Ananova, Google, etc and they were taking an age to load. All of them. Not just one"
"Are you running some kind of file sharing program? That can make the connection slow"
"No. I'm not"
"I find that hard to believe."
"What!?"
"The problem is not the cable modem or our network"
"So what is it then? What do you suggest, having been provided all the information I gave you about rebooting various things, is the problem then?"
"It is your browser. You need to reinstall Safari"
"No I don't. There is nothing wrong with Safari"
"That will be the problem with it going slow"
"But it goes slow on a PC and I use Firefox on my Mac"
"Ah, it will be because of a cookie then."
"I'm sorry.... Did you say a cookie would cause the connection to go slow?"
"Yes. That is correct"
"A cookie. Do you know what a cookie is?"
"Yes."
"Could you explain to me what a cookie is then?"
"Yes. A cookie is an internet server"
"WHAT!?!? What are you on about?"
<conversation continues in a similar manner with refusal to book an
engineer still for an hour!>
I hung up from that and phoned customer services to cancel everything
and I'd just get ADSL. But they were shut.
A while later the connection went again.
I phoned them up again. I kept calm and explained everything again. The woman looked at the details and said "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your modem. Oh, hang on a sec. There is a problem with the signal strength on the network. I'm just logging it with network services to check it out and then I'll book an engineer to come out to check your modem for you"
Finally.
So, the connection was fine a day after that. I checked the signal strengths and they seemed to have gone down. The engineer turned up anyway and swapped the modem (but left my old one) and got it all registered on the network, etc. It was going ok, but then.....
I got home and the sync light was flashing slowly. I rebooted the modem and still the same. So I rebooted it a bit longer and still nothing. Then I tried plugging in the old modem and that worked (full internet access and everything - I would've thought only the new MAC address would be registered, but hey...). Straight away I powered that down and plugged the new modem back in and that worked now. Strange.
This has happened twice now. Anyone got any ideas? Is this just a coincidence that the connection came back on when I switched it back over, or is there something more to it than that?
Cheers, and sorry for the long, rambling ranting post!
Bit of a long rant first... Please hang in there - I need to get this off my chest first, then I've still got a bit of a problem at the end of the post!
For about 3 weeks, we kept getting dropouts of our connection. The modem lights were all still on ok (ready and sync), but it just wouldn't respond. Rebooting the router made no difference, but rebooting the modem sorted it out and it was fine again for a while. After about 3 weeks, I got fed up of this and phoned the helpline.
First I was told that I needed to call back when we had no connection so they could run some tests. So we waited.... A while later the connection went. So I phoned technical support. I explained the problem and told them that it was an intermittent fault that we'd been experiencing for a few weeks. I was told the usual "unplug the cable modem, plug it back in again, oh look, it works now". I was told because I had it plugged in to a router, I needed to plug it directly in to a PC and "monitor the connection". So I plugged it back in to the router and carried on. A few hours later the connection went again. So I unplugged the modem from the router and plugged it directly in to my Mac. I tried getting an IP address, but the DHCP server in the cable modem wasn't responding and wasn't giving any IP addresses. So I phoned the helpline again. This time I was told he was going to do some diagnostics on the cable modem....
Support : "What lights are on on the front of the modem?"
Me : "Power, ethernet, ready and sync".
"There's no problem with your modem. Do you have it plugged in to a router?"
"No"
"Could you click on the Start button"
"It's a Mac"
"Ok, could you click on the apple symbol"
<conversation getting me to get to the network preferences omitted>
"What is the IP address?"
"192...."
"That's the problem. You should have an address of 82 something. 192
means that there is a problem with your ethernet in your Mac."
"I can assure you that there is no problem with my Mac."
"There is. Otherwise it would have an IP address of 82 something"
"There is nothing wrong with my Mac. I've just plugged the ethernet
cable in and the DHCP server in the modem won't issue me an IP"
"Yes. Exactly. Your DHCP in your Mac is broken"
"What?"
"The DHCP in your Mac is broken. That is the problem. There is no problem with the cable modem."
"Can you send an engineer out as we have been having this problem for weeks"
"No. There is nothing wrong with your cable modem." etc..
I hung up from that and rebooted the modem. A while later it went again. So I phoned up again. This time I took the IP settings from my router and put them in manually on the Mac. A similar conversation went on about nothing wrong with the cable modem. We went through the IP address again and he said that was fine (he only asked the IP address, not the subnet, etc).
So then he kept saying that he "had no problem booking me an engineer".
Me : "Great. I'd like it for next Saturday".
Support : "I'm sorry, I can't do that"
"Oh. Ok. I guess one day during the week then"
"No, I can't book the engineer"
"But you just said you had no problem booking an engineer"
"Yes, that is correct. I have no problem booking you an engineer"
"Great. Book it then"
"I can't book you an engineer as there is no problem with your cable modem"
"WHAT? Can I speak to your supervisor..."
<pause>
Supervisor: "Hello, I'm xxxx, I'm the senior technician here"
<explained all the problem, intermittent fault, etc again>
"There is no problem showing on your cable modem."
Me: "Why does it keep freezing then?"
"It could be your router"
"I'm not connected through a router"
"Oh. Well then it must be your PC"
"I'm on a Mac"
"That's the problem then. Your Mac"
"What? Look... I'm going to say this really slowly. We've been having a problem with intermittent connections. It doesn't matter if it is connected directly to a PC, a Mac or through a router. When the problem occurs, if I reboot the router, it makes no difference. If I reboot the Mac/PC then it makes no difference. If I reboot the modem, then the problem is solved. How can that be anything other than the cable modem at fault?"
"There are 1000 things that could be the problem."
<I'm getting really annoyed now>
"Last night the connection gradually got slower and slower. It ended up being slower than a dial-up modem. I tried very simple text sites like Ananova, Google, etc and they were taking an age to load. All of them. Not just one"
"Are you running some kind of file sharing program? That can make the connection slow"
"No. I'm not"
"I find that hard to believe."
"What!?"
"The problem is not the cable modem or our network"
"So what is it then? What do you suggest, having been provided all the information I gave you about rebooting various things, is the problem then?"
"It is your browser. You need to reinstall Safari"
"No I don't. There is nothing wrong with Safari"
"That will be the problem with it going slow"
"But it goes slow on a PC and I use Firefox on my Mac"
"Ah, it will be because of a cookie then."
"I'm sorry.... Did you say a cookie would cause the connection to go slow?"
"Yes. That is correct"
"A cookie. Do you know what a cookie is?"
"Yes."
"Could you explain to me what a cookie is then?"
"Yes. A cookie is an internet server"
"WHAT!?!? What are you on about?"
<conversation continues in a similar manner with refusal to book an
engineer still for an hour!>
I hung up from that and phoned customer services to cancel everything
and I'd just get ADSL. But they were shut.
A while later the connection went again.
I phoned them up again. I kept calm and explained everything again. The woman looked at the details and said "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your modem. Oh, hang on a sec. There is a problem with the signal strength on the network. I'm just logging it with network services to check it out and then I'll book an engineer to come out to check your modem for you"
Finally.
So, the connection was fine a day after that. I checked the signal strengths and they seemed to have gone down. The engineer turned up anyway and swapped the modem (but left my old one) and got it all registered on the network, etc. It was going ok, but then.....
I got home and the sync light was flashing slowly. I rebooted the modem and still the same. So I rebooted it a bit longer and still nothing. Then I tried plugging in the old modem and that worked (full internet access and everything - I would've thought only the new MAC address would be registered, but hey...). Straight away I powered that down and plugged the new modem back in and that worked now. Strange.
This has happened twice now. Anyone got any ideas? Is this just a coincidence that the connection came back on when I switched it back over, or is there something more to it than that?
Cheers, and sorry for the long, rambling ranting post!