It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

This sodding ambit. :)

It's the NTL:200. Silver one. It's AWFUL.

It's disconnected me literally 3 times in the last hour. Once while Downloading. Once while browsing a forum. Once while MSN-ing. These were literally the only things i was doing at the time, so as you can see it's not down to maxing the connection out...

The connection is lost entirely. Can't even ping out.

It happens via USB or ethernet.

Every other piece of USB hardware works fine. It happens whether through a hub or the onboard ports.

My ethernet port works fine. The xbox, for example, never loses the connection.

Bearing all this in mind, and bearing in mind that i've read several people's posts saying they've had bother with this modem, i think we can safely say it's the modem at fault, not my hardware or software.

Now, it heats up like hell (whether upside down or not) so maybe that's the cause. Either way, i don't care. I want the problem sorted. I want rid of it if need be. I don't care whether i end up with another one, or a 250, i just want it fixed.

I checked the power levels the other day.

Downstream Receive Power Level : -4.7 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 32.8 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 54.75 dBmV

I'll check it next time i have to reboot it, to check for fluctuations.

I've been with NTL (this time) since the first of march. There hasn't been a day gone by when i haven't had to manually reboot the modem. That's just not good enough. I really grudge paying £35 a month for an unreliable connection. It's unacceptable that it breaks several times a day.

Basically i want to know, is there anything i can do at my end, and if not, what's the best way to go about getting someone at NTL to sort this out?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Have you contacted tech support?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Have a look under device properties and make sure the option to turn the device off to save power is not enabled.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Eliminates that possibility sadly.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

^^ What he said.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

its a hard one to diagnose because a power fluctuation could also be causing this, although if a reboot of the modem always fixes it, then chances are its not that.

sadly it took me ages to sort out my problem with NTL which did turn out to be a problem with the upstream.

I made sure NTL were aware of the problem from day one and I asked for a full 3 month refund which they gave when it was all fixed.

ring tech support and they will send someone over, probably wont fix it, but will at least get them to check that off their list... then you can badger them to provide a different modem....

good luck, we need the sm47 caps up without any hitches ;)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I'm quite scared that you've had to reboot your modem every day since March and it's now 3 months down the line and only now you're reporting it. This is a long-standing fault, but we can't sort it if we don't know about it!

0800 052 2000, go through the IVR and it'll offer you the option to report broadband faults, even a free call.

Probably not a hard one to diagnose I could most likely do it in 5 minutes, chances are tech support will be able to sort it in a few minutes too, at a guess you'll need an engineer to come visit to sort out upstream / return path power issue, possibly replace the modem if the return path is ok.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

had the same problem get a tech team out to test your connection strenght from that silly green box out side your house thats is most likly the problem i had to find that the hard way fiddling with some utils and now have a filter on my cable line too reducing signal noise even further after explaining in full the problem to some1 over the phone i got some out to fix only takes 5mins to sort out too sorted!

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

The reason i'm asking here instead of phoning tech support is to find out if there's anything i can check at my end. I'd rather try something myself than risk the stress of waiting on hold, being passed from department to department, and then ending up, *potentially* with someone who hasn't got a clue, and can't help.

Either way, i'll call 'em up tomorrow and see if they can sort me out.

I haven't got a clue what you're on about. :P

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

i'll look for the diagnostic utils i used to find out the problem if u give me a sec.
__________________

here it is m8 lots of stuff on there but very hard core to understand

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

thank me later :P

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I sympathise with you
I tried to get a problem resolved and didn't call, I emailed them and had no response, so I had to call
I ended up getting passed to 5 different departments, then back to the original one, where eventually, I got my problem sorted

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

make things simple see if this help its the direct link to the page i used http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d...ps/signal.html
__________________

well one thing is for sure ntl phone support stinks
__________________

btw if u have a set top box for your connection not a cable modem there is a combo on the remote to access the diagnostic screen i think its page up then down then press the blue button but not sure the tech guys know what its is here i'm sure :)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

After the bother i had actually getting CONNECTED with NTL... :)

I'll post back tomorrow and tell y'all the outcome.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

yeah thats the right sequence and there are some gals round here that know as well ;)

it's only the ex cable & wireless areas that have the stb connection, anything other is always cable modem :)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

On the phone just now. 33 minutes and counting.

Putting me on hold, and asking me the same stuff over and over again.

"phone us back the next time it happens" - and if it's outside the hours the call centre's open? (didn't have an answer for that one)

"power levels look fine" - And? I don't want to know what the problem ISN'T. I don't even care what it IS, i want it fixed. Grrr...

After being told several times it happens whether via ethernet or USB, he puts me on hold for 5 minutes then comes back and asks whether it happens via usb and ethernet...

He keeps telling me that if he sends out an engineer and they don't find a problem with the modem they'll charge me £100. That'll be shining bright. It's intermittent, ffs.

I don't have trouble with any other USB or ethernet device, and never have. I didn't have trouble with my ethernet DSL modem. I have trouble with this ambit 200, via ethernet or USB, and so do many other people. What's so hard to understand about that?

37 minutes...
__________________

FINALLY, a technician booked for tomorrow AM.

Will this solve my problem? I've heard of people needed several tech visits before the problem is rectified.

Either way, if they think they're stinging me for a ton...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Ok, so tech support are going to book on a technician..the tech is then going to attend and do nothing about it? Believe it or not our technicians and ntl as a whole want customers problems resolving asap. WHy should he badger them for a new modem if the modem turns out not to be at fault? :td:
__________________

Did you talk to Swansea or India? Whoever it was has misinformed you. Mr Wilcox decided it in the best interests not to give call-out charges. So don't worry about that.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I'm assuming india for tech support. Somewhere here for booking the appointment. I'm basing that purely on accents. I'd imagine there are Indians in Swansea, mind. ;)

The problem's not with my pc. They assure me it's not power levels. Ergo it's the modem, no?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Well we shall soon see tomorrow won't we :) let us know the outcome

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I expect i'll be back here saying "modem didn't misbehave, back to square one"...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

if i where u m8 if the tech guy doesnt sort it get the call center manager on the phone he'll sort it out fast if u say u want to make an official complaint to his boss about crap customer care.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

yeah, it took me 3 technicians before the turkeys at NTL realised it wasnt actually my connection...

and yeah, if rebooting the modem fixes the problem, chances are it is actually the modem. My suggestion was to get NTL out so they can cross things off their list and you can then move onto other things, which could well be the modem....

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Everything's pointing towards the modem, or something affecting the modem. According to the tech support guy, he looked back over the last 24 hours, and the power levels have been level.

I honestly believe it's the modem overheating though. It gets pretty hot.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Interesting... with SACMs tsb have no reliable way of looking at the last4 24hours activity (different story with a STB).

I would imagine the problem is a downstream power level, as most TSB agents don't check this.... PM me the mac address of the modem, or your current ip and i'll have a look next week.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

This might be a moot point now, but if you have a friend on NTL broadband could you have tried their modem on your connection and vice versa just to see if your modem really is the problem?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

None of my friends are daft enough to be on NTL. ;)

Anyway, the catchment area from which a modem would need to be to work at my place is kinda limiting, and i REALLY don't wanna go changing mac addresses on other people's modems. :)

So... He lied to me? I'll pm you the mac address if/when i don't get satisfactory results today. Thanks. :)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Ok, i got a swap for a shiny new 200, so fingers crossed...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I've been on NTL broadband for about 4 years and only had about 4 or 5 really bad times, but I know how you feel with an intermittent problem as I had one when the upstream went west and I couldn't upload anything. But would NTL acknowledge a problem? It took me 5 phonecalls to get them to admit a fault :rolleyes: then about a month to fix it, but it DID get sorted!!

The MAC address is registered to the modem, not the computer, so you can take your modem to anyone who has NTL BB and plug in your modem and it will work, just the IP might change.

Nice to see you eventually got a swapout, now the million dollar question: is it behaving itself?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

not quite true... modems are provisioned to specific UBRs and DHCPs, if connected to another they may well only get a pre-registration configuration.

However, having said this, if you are trying the modem on someone's connection who lives in the local area, chances are their modem is provisioned the same as yours.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

still going strong... :D

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

aaaaaaaaaand it died an hour ago. Same as before. Perhaps it took a few days to heat up sufficiently...

Either way, i'm not a happy bunny.

Perhaps it's a one-off. I'll wait and see.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

And again today. @ 15:00

*sigh*

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I use the NTL:200 model from Ambit and I have had problems similar to yours, though I don't believe these to be of fault of the modem.

It's usually an area problem which NTL somehow are not aware of. I had problems where my RDY light would go out, some occasions both would go out.

I would then restart the modem and everything would be ok, always seems like the modem due to this, but it's actually a signal fault.

I always found it would play up if downloading/uploading large files or gaming online. After many problems, engineer visits etc it finally got sorted and it now runs smooth. It was a problem with a cable in my street being too narrow, they had to relay the cable, and walah! Perfect internet and no more would I have to put up with the odd crackle or pixelation on my STB box downstairs.

Your situation may be different, but the chances of getting 2 faulty modems one after the other are very slim. I know it's hard, but you need to somehow make someone at CS believe it is an actual problem with the connection, not the modem. After you call about the same problem 3 times by the way, they will send a "technical engineer" which to my knowledge are sort of higher up in the knowledge and maintenance of the network.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I did a little more investigating. Popped out (street's SWARMING with U2 fans) for a couple of hours and just got back in and it's on the blink again.

Before i reset it (feel like stamping on the bugger) i checked some stuff.

I CAN still ping the ip address assigned to me.

i CAN ipconfig /release fine.

i CANNOT ipconfig /renew.

i CAN take the ethernet cable out of the modem, slam it into the xbox, change the IP address and ftp into the xbox no bother.

i put it back into the modem, changed it back to automatically be assigned an IP, and nothing. Can't do a repair. (i assume a repair just does a /release /renew)

The ONLY way to get connectivity back is to unplug the modem for a few seconds and reboot it.

It DOES seem odd that two modems give the same problem, so the problem must be on the other side of the modem somewhere.

If it happens again tonight i'll phone them WHEN it's on the blink. Perhaps that will show up something from their side.

Any other suggestions, people?
__________________

btw, the current power levels are

Downstream Receive Power Level : -6.9 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 34.1 dB

Upstream Transmit Power Level : 53.0 dBmV
__________________

judging by what it says here

the downstream receive is very much on the boundary of acceptable, and the upstream transmit is iffy too...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Thanks for the clarification monkeybreath! I've had to take my modem and PC to a mates house a couple of times when I've had a problem to see if it's my PC/modem or NTL. He lives 2 streets away and the modem worked fine on his cable hence I thought it would work anywhere!

Back to mrlipring, what about the cable from the box to the house? I had 3 STB's and a modem all one one cable which caused problems with the TV picture and I think, but not sure, the modem. Eventually I had a new cable pull with my STB and modem on it's own cable which cured problems with the TV. Also, the muppets who installed my cable modem/TV originally used the existing TV aerial coax I had to plumb their cable into instead of installing new shielded cable, this got sorted when I had a problem with a few channels and the guy who came to check it noticed the aerial coax feeding the splitter to the STB and modem!

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

That signal looks ok and would usually give good performance. Though I also had supposed good signals when I had these problems but still required work at NTL's end.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Now you mention it, the guy who installed it was surprised i had an NTL box (white thing on the wall, not an stb. dunno what it's called) in the flat. He was all set to run me a cable from the cab i think, but it saved him the bother.

perhaps it was an administrative error, i dunno.

I have one Pace STB and one NTL:200 modem.

I'll phone them again tomorrow, but i'll probably get another half-wit who'll argue that the problem's at my end because the signal strength's ok... Fingers crossed i get a good 'un.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Everyone has the white box on the wall, that is how the cable singal comes into the property. some areas of the country get their broadband through the digi STB and not a cable modem though. Glasgow is definatly a seperate modem area.

I have the same modem as you and recently it has been dropping the connection a lot more. It used to be I could reset the router and it would be fine but I not have to reset the modem to get it back.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Sorry, i might not have explained that as best i could. I think the tech thought the property hadn't been wired up at all, and that he'd have to get a cable in from the cab outside, but was surprised when he found the box.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

But if you have NTL then you are cleary all wired up.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

lol :)

Yep, i know. The point is that when the dude came to install it he was expecting to have to run me cable from the street, but didn't have to.

I was wondering if there was maybe something wrong with the cable that was already installed, and he SHOULD have run new cable.

Either way, i'm on the phone to them just now, and have been for 36 minutes now.

I've nearly been shouting at poor Shweta. I know a girl called Shweta and she's gorgeous, so i'm pretending it's her so i don't get TOO angry. ;)

Really though, i'm going round in circles. Had to restart the pc 50% of the way through a 3 hour virtualdub encode, which was a *******, even though i told her it wouldn't work. The only thing that DOES work is to restart the modem. But no, it's a problem with my pc.

"no it isn't. If it was, restarting the modem wouldn't work."

"the levels are fine, blah blah blah"

"i don't CARE about levels. I care about it working. It's not working. Restarting the PC doesn't work. Restarting the modem does. Ergo, it's the modem/connection."

rinse and repeat.

I've now got a reference number to quote the NEXT time it breaks. That'll be my third call (assuming it happens before tomorrow, which it will) in a week. I'm getting very ****ed off with this now.

At one point she told me "if restarting the modem fixes it, that's what you have to do. Just restart the modem when it stops working".

I laughed at the poor girl. That's pathetic. It's a solution, just not a very good one. I know she's working off a script and everything, and the script will tell her to tell me to do this or that, but when i've explained to her literally ten times that it's NOTHING to do with the pc, and ONLY restarting the modem fixes it, you'd think she'd get the hint...

*double sigh*

So yeah, next time it buggers up i've to get back on the phone.

I'm REALLY getting sick of this now.

Considering i can now get bulldog here... I assume my connection breaking *constantly* is reasonable reason to break the contract?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Sounds familiar, if it is broadband support, they always get you to restart your PC. Being very technically minded i could not get my modem working last month and had tried everything I new to do, and call them, first thing I was told was to restart the PC, I tried telling the guy I have already done that a fwe times as well as rebooting the modem but he kept insisting I restart.

It can get rather frustrating when you know they are reading a script and will not deviate from it.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

ok this is getting boring now....

bung me the mac address of the modem by PM and i'll have a look at what is really going on....

oh and DarthYoda Tech Support do not read from a script.... there are often genuine reasons for asking people to reboot.... such as we have reprovisioned, or not to check that the modem is dropping offline properly when it is unplugged etc etc..

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Errr... Are you sure? I have 2 black cables coming through the wall into my cellar with 2 isolators screwed onto the end and then the cable to the STB's/modem screwed into them, the telphone wires are actually stripped back bare wires with plastic crimp on ends where they have extended the cable to reach the 2 phone points in the house!! This lot is then tie wrapped onto a piece of brown plastic mounted on the wall!!

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I know you guys don't, I was meaning the guys in India I end up going to first.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

India are also technical support, and they also do not use a script. They have exactly the same training material / diagnostic tools- the difference that you see is that all the tech support staff in swansea have been there are lot longer- when the India tech's gain more experience they will learn what things aren't worth checking.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

You're telling me! :)

I'll pm you the mac address, but here's what happened with the latest saga.

Modem went offline at 15:55.

Called tech support and get Survip. (?)

Blah blah all the usual, then she decided to arrange an appointment because although the power levels look fine, she did another test that threw up an anomaly that nobody else had noticed. (why?)

She couldn't arrange an appointment as the queue was 15 minutes or something (LOTS of people with fux0red connections? lol), so wanted to get someone to call me back to arrange an appointment. Thing is, that could take up to 48 hours. Now, going by worst-case scenario, it could break many, many times in 48 hours. I insisted that she keep trying.

She came back and offered to put me through into the queue, which is better than nothing, and having call centre experience myself i know what supervisors can be like with call handling time, so it's fair enough. Personally, i'd have gone for the skive option, but that's me. ;)

Got through to book an appointment after another 10 minutes or so (just got off the phone to 'em there) and another guy's coming round tomorrow morning.

Monkeybreath, you have a PM.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Ok, Tommy the technician came round half an hour ago. Checked the signals. Went outside and did whatever he did there. Came back.

Told me there's nothing wrong with the signal levels etc, and that there's not much he can do unless he can be here when it breaks. Excellent.

To be fair to him, he's left me his mobile number, so's i can phone him next time it breaks. I think he means so he can come round and check it while it's broken. Either that or he's just going to laugh at me for having a broken internet connection... MAYBE because of my hayfever he thought i was winking at him. Nah, doesn't look the sort. :P

I guess whatever fiddling Monkeybreath did last night could've fixed it, but if not, i've got Tommy's phone number. Good old Tommy. :) lol

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Nah, MB's fiddling didn't work.

I phoned Tommy and he did suggest something none of us had thought of before - dodgy PSU.

He's dropped off another one (2 visits in a day. Above and beyond, eh?) so hopefully it'll be fine now.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Hmm, in theory a dodgy psu would cause a full reboot of the sacm really, not a lack of signal.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Wanna bet?

Google 'AC hum'.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

is this 5 pages yet?

It broke again sometime between 8am and 9am. Buggers.

Back on the phone...
__________________

Ok, apparently there's a known problem in the area, and there are engineers working on it just now. Any staff around that can confirm this and possibly shed more light on it?

If it IS a known problem, it must've been discovered sometime in the last 24 hours, because nobody knew a thing about it before this afternoon...

CSA's given me the number for faults to call "in a couple of hours"...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

just make sure you get at least a full refund for a coupole of months...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I am experiencing the same symptoms as mrlipring and I am not looking forward to ringing TS for the 3rd time this week. :Yikes:

The call center in India promised me an appointment for an engineer would be arranged within 48 hours but that hasn't happened.

So my plan basically is that if I get no joy from TS then I ask for the Call Center Manager and give him some grief.

I did check my signal levels last night, the downstream power was fluctuating between +6 and -14, when it steadied for a few seconds the modem locked and then dropped it when the signal went wanging around again. The upstream was +65 and fairly stable. I'm guessing it isn't the modem?

Also on the scheduled maintenance, some work was scheduled for last night in Farnborough, does anybody know what sort of thing would have been done, and is it likely to improve my signal?

Cheers

ViLLaN

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I wish mate. To be fair to them, i only made them aware of the problem just over a week ago. You'd think that 3 tech visits and god knows how many phone calls they'd be closer to fixing it...

You didn't let them tell you they'd get someone to call you back to arrange an appointment, did you? :D

I told 'em i wasn't getting off the phone until i got an appointment. They tried, but eventually just put me through into the queue to arrange my own appointment.

Good luck. :)

tech support can, from what they've told me, check the power levels for the last 24 (?) hours for fluctuations. They should be able to spot that no bother.

I'm off to phone faults now...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Welcome to the site ViLLaN :)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Well things have moved quickly since I posted earlier today. Got an appointment this afternoon, the engineer has been and gone!

He changed the connectors at the box end, replaced the 13 year old splitter at the house end and re-made all the connectors there.

He did say that if it goes again, then it isn't the modem or the connections but will probably be the amp in the network box.

Here's hoping that things are sorted......


And thanks for the welcome Ramrod :)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Yeah, that dude earlier was fobbing me off with the faults number. It was the number for network maintenance updates. Lots of stuff going on, nothing today near me, and it's all done between midnight and 6am anyway...

I'm getting really bloody sick of this now.

A year with freedom2surf in my last flat, and there was, iirc, one outage of around 10 minutes.

This connection i have just now breaks several times a day...

Perhaps the information line is wrong. IS There any work going on just now to fix this alleged area problem the CSA told me about?

Please? Anyone? I'm losing the will to live.

Oh, and gaining the will to cancel my direct debit...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Don't cancel your DD that will end up giving you even more problems.

I know a dropped connection is really annoying. I have since realised that my connection only drops while using bit torrent or playing online games for any length of time so for me I think the upstream is getting fully used and it is causing the modem to lose the connection.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I know, i know, but i really grudge paying £120PM (well, £38 for the broken bit) that doesn't do what it's supposed to.

Mine happens when maxing the upstream too, but not all the time. It'm sure it's happened when the connection's been sitting idle too though.

It's so frustrating. It's easy enough to fix, but i don't want a temperamental connection. I don't WANT it to drop out in the middle of the night when i'm downloading, or in the evening when i'm playing H2, or.. Ever, really.

Often i'm not around TO reset the modem (out or in bed) so i lose several hours' connection.

Right now, though, i want to know WHAT work is going on in the area, if any, and what it is.

Just had a phone call from Tommy the technician again, checking if the connection's been ok. Talk about customer service! The guy (probably?) won't have been paid for two callouts yesterday, because one of them was off his own back, and several phone calls off his own back... that's going the extra mile.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

After all the brown stuff you have been through with this issue, I'm surprised you don't just cancel the whole thing.

ntl customer 'service' at it's finest..... :rolleyes:

In fact-why don't you tell them direct?

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/ntl.php

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

because i genuinely don't think it'll get me anywhere. I'll try it anyway.

It just means that EVERY time it stops working i'll be calling them up. They'll not need to bother verifying my details, they'll know my bloody voice! :D
__________________

ok, i've done that. Not too bad an app, assuming they pay attention to it...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Whereabouts in Glasgow are you? If it turns out you are near me then it could be the same problem we both have, but I can't ever be bothered waiting on the phone to speak to someone.

I end up the same if I am out and come home to find the connection dropped not long after I left the house, and it does also drop when idol for me as well.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Uploading at full hilt shouldnt disconnect you.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Are you sure about that?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

PM me your IP address, when you have one that works that is.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

................
__________________

NOTHING should disconnect you.

Done. Cheers :)

South Side. Mount Florida.

I didn't report it for a couple of months, because i thought the same. The call queues aren't too bad. It's the NUMBER of times i'm having to call that's getting to me.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Not much to see, will check some other things when I have access to more tools in the next couple of days.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Cheers. It broke again there at 18:25.

Got on the phone immediately, and finally got to speak to someone at 18:40. Got put on hold for another 10 minutes, then was told that someone will phone me back "within 2 hours" but not before they (a) offered an engineer visit, and (b) offered a new modem... Do people read/write notes on accounts? I know when i was at scottish power we got it drilled into us that even if we LOOK at an account we should leave a note to say why.

Anyway, I should be expecting a call before 9PM. What's the bets it'll be when i nip out to buy rolls, now?

CSA also told me i should be expecting compensation for the inconvenience and loss of service. Which is nice, i guess, but i'd rather have a working connection. ESPECIALLY when some people are getting their service for nothing, for a year, and i'm stuck paying for a dodgy service. Grr...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Hrm from what I saw you're getting some value out of it when it is working, will dig some more into if that could be causing an issue.

Suspect you've a downstream problem though.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

As i've said before, it drops out when the pipe's being maxed, but it can also do it when idle, or just using MSN messenger, or whatever. There's no one thing i can do to trigger it, as far as i can see. :(

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Hark! Be that my telephone a-ringing?

Nope. *******s. 27 minutes past the time they were going to ring me, and counting. :(

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

6 pages yet? and 1800 views.

I hope this shows everyone how useless NTL can be. I's now a quarter past midnight, 15 minutes since the call centre closed, and i've yet to get my phone call.

Why would they tell me it'd be within 2 hours if they weren't gonna phone me back? I bet the buggers phone at 8am tomorrow and wake me up, after me having had 4 hours' sleep...

I'll admit that the call centre being open from 8am 'til midnight is pretty decent, and the queues are ok (during the day) but if i tell someone i'll call them back, i damn well will.

This wouldn't happen if Tommy was on the phones. :) lol

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Well now ignition is on the case I am confident you should be sorted out soon.

Neil yes unless there is a technical fault of some sort uploading at full tilt wont cause a disconnection, there has been a few occasions I have left uploads going overnight and such. The only affect will be increased latency and reduced download speeds.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

i imagine that dodgy hardware could be made to fail if pushed too hard, but if that's the case, the hardware needs a-fixin'.

Just realised it's 6am (damn you, babbage!) so i'm off to bed. No doubt NTL will be phoning me in 2 hours. (the *******s better not try. :P)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

t'was all looking fine when i had a look the other night...
__________________

The department that calls you back are open from 8-8 monday to friday and 9-5 saturday....

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Nice to see the old CS-BS is still alive & kicking. :rolleyes:

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

You know this problem so sounds much like what I had a few months back. Connection kept dropping randomly, they blamed my computer at first (even though I have 2, and the other one kept dropping too), then they thought it was my modem (i've got the 100 model, 2 years old and still running) then they gave me a new PSU for the modem, thinking it was that, when it was actually a fault in the area since a friend of mine who only lives a few blocks away from me - was having the same problem! :erm:

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

OK...

mrlp what in the hell are you doing with that cable modem that's generating so much traffic, both in terms of bandwidth and packets per second?

Seeing 500 packets/sec going through a modem is a new one on me to be honest. Shareaza?

Worth mentioning that cable modems have a finite amount of memory and CPU.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I am sort of near you, I am in Castlemilk.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Ignition if its download is it possible he is under DDOS attack?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

No.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

So could it be the heavy use that is making his connection dodgy?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Partly. I've just never seen that kind of throughput on a cable modem before in terms of packets per second. Something P2P like with a lot of peers to talk to.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Possibly playing an online game?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

yeah normally high packets/sec is usually a denial of service attack or p2p, some games may act in that manner also.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I was downloading stuff via bittorrent/usenet overnight. It didn't break overnight, so we can probably assume that it's not that. Or can we?

Surely idling in an irc chan plus using msn messenger isn't enough to make the modem fall over? :)

Either way, the connection breaks whether idle or taking a spanking, so it almost definitely isn't a throughput issue.

afaik (but i AM a heavy sleeper) they haven't tried to phone me back today.

Next time it breaks, i'll be back on the phone, but this is getting silly now...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Too much bandwidth util, skewed wrongly for gaming.

Still nothing apparently wrong. Minor adjustment made on my part.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Anyone in the know about this? Or was it fibs?

's working at the mo, but i have faith that it'll break again before too long...

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Well I can't really give you anymore at the moment, you're caning your upstream with Bittorrent causing your modem to fail to respond to my requests for info.

EDIT: Ah third time lucky. Nothing obviously wrong at present, and you've been online for more than a day now unbroken.

Upstream power is a little high, downstream power is a little low, still within spec though.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

yep, it's been stable since about 18:30 last night, so fingers crossed something someone did somewhere worked. :)

Having said that, i'm expecting it to break soon.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I've no more to do with this sadly. As a rule I don't help people who extract the urine with their connections. Looking at your utilisation about the only time you've stopped uploading in the past week is when it's broken :(

(Waits for the 'Oh my God they have stats like that?!?!?!')

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

That's entirely your call. You're not paid to help people via this website, so feel free to go in a huff.

I couldn't care less what stats NTL holds. I pay a premium for a fast connection, and i intend to use it. If NTL don't like it they can do something about it. I won't be changing my usage patterns. While they're at it they can knock off all the cloned modems.

Perhaps if i had a cloned modem i'd get a better level of service. ;)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Well I have found that if I set my upload limit on bit torrent to around 25kbp then the connection stays stable for a lot longer, it still drops but maybe only 1-2 times a week now rather than a few times a day when the uplod was maxing out.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I can't believe what I just read from earlier tonight. I have just removed a bunch of ranting posts that have little to do with the original topic. Please think before you post people - we don't need threads full of members ranting at other members. Thanks. :)

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Thank you.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

as i said, mine happens when the connection's idle too, so i don't think it's that.

It happens at full pelt whether i'm getting something via BT, FTP or NNTP, via many threads or one thread. if it's that the ntl hardware can't handle it, i'll be very surprised.

either way, it happens at idle.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Well I never said mine doesn't do it while idle sometimes, but most of the time it is while downloading, at least try and trottle your upload for a few days to give it a try.

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Well seems to me the problem is pretty much sorted out now as it has been a couple of days since it happened.

Would be nice to see some sort of thanks been given out though

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

I presume cloned modems are people getting online without paying?

Re: It's really getting on my nerves now...
 

Yes it is :(