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View Full Version : Broadband nightmare!


tef
09-02-2006, 11:55
Hi all, am new to the forums so please be patient. I am looking for advice on behalf of a friend (really :-) who cannot connect due to the issues he is having. He has recently purchased a shiny new Dell pc;
P4 3.2 GHz
1024 DDR2
320 Gb HD
ATI X600T
XP Media Edition

Everything was fine until he attempted to connect to NTL Broadband 1Mb service using the set top box. Initially, he tried to use the NTL install disk supplied but encountered a 'Vrtuck' error. After some research we discovered this is a known problem, a rollback to a previous windows checkpoint was done to rectify this and NTL customer services talked him through a manual registration and set up of his settings.
A connection was possible at this stage and the lights on the NTL set top box indicated all was well. Myself and other friends could ping him successfully and quickly. He was able to chat to us using msn messenger. However, when he tried to access any web pages using either IE or Mozilla Firefox, he found that, even a page as simple as the google home page could take upwards of 10 minutes to load and searching from the page was impossible and resulted in a program not responding warning followed by a crash of IE. Mozilla Fire fox was slightly more stable but still as slow. NTL customer services position was his software must be corrupt (quite probably but also probably caused by the NTL installation disk in the first place), but my confusion arises by the fact that IE and Mozilla were experiencing the same problem. We attempted some speed tests including the NTL one, but it could not complete the test.
We contacted Dell, who said it's not your pc it must be NTL's fault ( stuck between a rock and a hard place ).
After some persuasion Dell eventually agreed to send out the xp installtions and driver disks. And we will see if this rectifies the problem although we could not check last night because many of the drivers necessary for his machine were not supplied in the disks Dell sent out and of course, with no internet connection we could not download them either.
If it helps, he is located in the Leeds area, and I have noticed through research on forums that certain areas of the UK including Leeds seem to report speed problems (although mostly in relation to the new 10Mb package).
I wonder if anyone has any advice or has encountered a similar issue. I am reasonably confident his internet settings were correct although I am certainly no expert. All guidance on the NTL home page was followed to the letter and cs talked him through the correct settings but still no success. I know I can sort out the missing driver issues but I am still doubtful that the broadband connection will be effective.
My friend is new to the pc arena and is fast becoming very demoralised he has spent a very large amount of money and has encountered many problems so far. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

homealone
09-02-2006, 13:07
Hi :welcome:

Do you know if customer services looked at the power levels for his set top box?

tef
09-02-2006, 13:43
Hi homealone, thanks for the prompt reply,

He says, during several lengthy conversations with NTL cs, nobody has mentioned power levels.
His box is manufactured by Pace and he confirms that the two green lights, that presumably indicate power and connectivity are fully on at all times.
We have attempted to reset (leaving it off for 2 minutes +) the box and followed that with many pc restarts. I hope that information brings us a bit closer.
:)

homealone
09-02-2006, 13:52
Hi homealone, thanks for the prompt reply,

He says, during several lengthy conversations with NTL cs, nobody has mentioned power levels.
His box is manufactured by Pace and he confirms that the two green lights, that presumably indicate power and connectivity are fully on at all times.
We have attempted to reset (leaving it off for 2 minutes +) the box and followed that with many pc restarts. I hope that information brings us a bit closer.
:)

Unfortunately I don't know how to display the power levels on a set top box, apart from it being a sequence of button pushes - hopefully this will keep the thread visible & someone who does know will help out.

What model of Pace box is it, btw?

tef
09-02-2006, 14:26
Unfortunately, we couldn't establish what model of Pace box we are dealing with, it doesn't seem to be identified in an obvious way, I will try to get some info on this though if it helps.

Btw, I should also mention that all security and firewalls are disabled. It does have a slightly cumbersome McGafee security suite installed but it's not running at the moment.

I was hoping to establish that this is infact a technical/software issue and not an overwhelming amount of congestion causing it. Seems very unlikely anyway.
Thanks for your help so far homealone, hopefully someone else out there has the answer.;)

homealone
09-02-2006, 14:35
I was hoping to establish that this is infact a technical/software issue and not an overwhelming amount of congestion causing it.

aye, that is why I wondered about the power levels. You are correct that congestion could also be a cause, but 'usually' in that case it tends to vary with the time of day. The other potential cause is a poorly performing proxy/cache server, but, again 'usually' the way the proxies work tends to affect some sites, but not others. From your description, it sounds like your friends connection is poor for all the sites you try.

tef
09-02-2006, 14:52
aye, that is why I wondered about the power levels. You are correct that congestion could also be a cause, but 'usually' in that case it tends to vary with the time of day. The other potential cause is a poorly performing proxy/cache server, but, again 'usually' the way the proxies work tends to affect some sites, but not others. From your description, it sounds like your friends connection is poor for all the sites you try.

It may be worth checking a range of sites, in a wide range of locations to be certain. I will suggest this and see what happens. I does strike me as odd that he can use MSN Messenger without difficulty though. I assumed this was because messenger only needs a tiny amount of bandwidth to do its job. I am certain that the problem is not isolated to common rush hour times, it is consistently bad at all times. If we have any success connecting to any other web sites I will put it down to the proxy server and as I understand I can set that myself. I will do a search of this forum as I'm sure somebody has already explained how to do it. LOL starting to find the limits of my knowledge now. I used to have the misguided belief that it will either work well or not at all. I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a cliff.:shocked:

homealone
09-02-2006, 15:05
the definitive guide to proxies, how to set an alternative one & a list of them is here

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/trancache.html

:)

tef
09-02-2006, 15:23
You've been very helpful, thank you :)

homealone
09-02-2006, 15:30
You've been very helpful, thank you :)

you're welcome, lots of helpful people on this site, stick around & hopefully we'll get your friend a bit happier with his purchase :)

tef
15-02-2006, 15:30
Hi all, wanted to post our current situation.
We have reached a point of despair.
We tried setting proxy servers with no change to the performance. The pc has been formatted and the OS reinstalled (it was new anyway so nothing much was lost).
I am of the opinion that it cannot be a software problem. It cannot be a virus or spyware as in it's current form the pc has never had a connection.
My friend contacted NTL after the OS reinstallation to explain what we had done and to reply to their position that the connection into the house is fine.
They agreed to send out a technician. They explained he could confirm the connection was fine by using his own laptop at the house.
My friend took the day off work, the technician arrived and said "oh, sorry I can't check anything because I didn't bring a laptop".
Frustrated we accepted this because he promised to send someone else out that day.
And in fact at approximately 3.50pm another technician arrived. Problem is though this technician said he was only trained to deal with tv and telephone issues and they would have to send someone else tomorrow.
Tomorrow is today at the moment (15/2/06) and the good news is a technician did arrive. The bad news is it was the same guy who first came without a laptop and he still had no solutions or suggestions or laptop.

Hmmm!!

At this point he has had a supposed broadband service for in excess of three weeks and has never been able to make use of it. He has accrued some very scary telepone bills by the amount of time spent on hold or talking to NTL CS.
He has been fobbed off, lied too on numerous occasions, missed three days work to be at the house for the problem to still not be resolved. He is also currently loosing money by not being able to avail of online services that he has subscriptions to.

My advice to my friend earlier on the telephone was to cancel the service with NTL on the grounds of breach of contract on their part by never having provided a service.

I am sad to say we are so dissapointed that we will never avail of any service from this company again.

I do however appreciate the members of this forum who are NTL employees who do care about their customers and I praise you for being rare beacons of light in an immense chasm of incompetence.

I think my friends problems could be rectified easily by checking and replacing where necessary the components that make up the connection, ie cables/set top box/lines into the house. I am convinced that the problem must be in this area. I am also convinced that my friend who is a complete novice should not have to endure this much hassle for a relatively simple concept. If a high level of technical competence is required to achieve a broadband connection they should say so in their advertisements. And besides, my gran managed to achieve it with ADSL and no technical competence.

Our next action will be to make an official complaint... now if only I could work out how that is done.... hmmmmmm???? seems to be tricky too.

---------- Post added at 14:30 ---------- Previous post was at 14:28 ----------

Further...
I apologise that my last post is nothing more than a rant, but I feel that by posting this at least the word will spread and someone somewhere may be able to make an improvement on some level.

Heres hoping.

Chris
15-02-2006, 15:43
Tomorrow is today at the moment (15/2/06) and the good news is a technician did arrive. The bad news is it was the same guy who first came without a laptop and he still had no solutions or suggestions or laptop.

This is completely unacceptable. It seems clear from your descriptions of the problem that there is a problem with NTL's network, somewhere or other, and yet youre friend has been fobbed off with excuses about corrupt software. Worse, the blokes they send round are ill equipped or unqualified for the job.

If your friend has the will to continue, we do have a 'way in' to NTL and can get his issue escalated. We have a pretty good success rate in getting these issues fixed. If he would like us to help in this way, we need (by private message, not in the public thread) his name, address and account number, and a description of the problem. We will forward this to our contact at NTL.

tef
15-02-2006, 16:18
I appreciate that very much, in the interests of being reasonable we will continue to have patience.
I have just been updated by my friend who says NTL have offered to send another technician to his home out of office hours, this friday evening.
I think the best thing to do is wait and see if this fella can resolve it. If not, with your permission we would like to use your suggested method, but I am sure your contact would be grateful if we save it for an obsolute last resort. (very close to that mind you). Once again I would like to pass on my sincerest thanks to the people who operate this forum, you guys really are a lifeline, your solutions are methodical and make sense. Long live the cable forum. ;)

tef
23-02-2006, 17:05
Problem now resolved, it turned out to be the set top box. Apparently the one provided ( a pace model ) was older than the dinosaurs. Anyway, the technician arrived when promised and resolved the issue by replacing the box and now all is fine. The connection seems to be reliable and as quick as you would expect from 1 Mb.
Thanks once again for all on this site who took the time to listen to our problems and offer suggestions. Please keep up the good work. It is very much appreciated. :)