AOL Problems
 

A mate of mine has a new PC.... Anyway he has reciently started to have internet disconnections which im certain are external as his router looses sync and the Dlink AOL router he has the green e internet icon turns red.

A few months back he was having internet problems with disconnections and slow speeds and i thought i had sorted it out by changing a long extension lead with a 15m cat5e lead and uptil now no problems. I have noticed tho that reciently his connection speed has had a big increase where before he was around 4.5mb he went to around 9.8mb with download speeds of around 850k but over the past few days with this connection issues the connection and sync speed has started to decrease now at around 7mb ish which again in my opinion is an external issue and not a PC related one.

Another reason i dont think its a PC related one is at my place on my 50mb Virgin connection i downloaded his student cad software for college which was over 11GB + all windows updates and latest drivers and so on and so forth and run the system over night and the system was perfect.

Im rattling my brains and ive asked a few mates that agree with me but can anyone tell me if i have missed something?

Here are line stats i took from him about an hour ago..

ppoe/ppoa
sync rate 9624
up 875

vpi/vci

snr down margin 9.5
up 11.9

attenuation 36.0 down
up 19.2

pvc-0 virtual circuit adsl modulation adsl 2+ annex_a
rs correctable errors down 10929
up 65491

rs uncorrectable errors
down 21
up 65505

hec errors
down 135
up 0

Re: AOL Problems
 

Anyone know???

Re: AOL Problems
 

This is still ongoing....

1. The PC was tested at my place on my internet connection for over 24hrs and no drops what so ever.
2. The Router internet light on the Dlink router changes from green to red.
3. When the drop occurs if you go into the Network and Sharing Center the connection remains between the PC and router yet between router and internet a red cross appears.
4. I installed a seperate PCI Ethernet Card just incase it was some kind of driver or compatibilty issue just a standard Realtek 8139D chipset thats been in my PC for over a month on VM 50mb with no problems, within 15 mins there it dropped.

I have tried such things as..
1. Removing the ring wire..
2. Changing all filters and RJ11 cable.
3. Trying it in the BT Test Port

AOL have been of little help support wise by giving such rediculous attemps at support such as..
1. It could be ur PSU frequency interfearing with the ADSL even though router is on a different floor.
2. Perform a defrag this maybe the cause of the drops ([censored]?)
3. AOL 9.5 is causing it because its an american version which is rubbish for two reasons, not only does it still drop out when ur not using the AOL software but the router internet light turns red when PC isnt even switched on.
4. The account password their end didnt match the one they had and this was the cause which wasnt after all..

The drops happen at all times of the day but mostly after around 4pm ish
Here are his current levels..

ppoe/ppoa
sync rate 10007
up 923

vpi/vci

snr down margin 9.6
up 11.7

attenuation 36.1 down
up 19.4

pvc-0 virtual circuit adsl modulation adsl 2+ annex_a
rs correctable errors down 10899
up 62484

rs uncorrectable errors
down 20
up 62101

hec errors
down 112
up 0

Anyone have any ideas?

Disconnections randomly from net
 

I cant remember wheather ive posted this before or not but its been happening since before christmas..

A friend of mine has a problem which started off with his line dropping completely, the router would lose sync. AOL stated nothing wrong and it went on for a while and suddenly all was ok again. Now he has problems again where his pc will report loss of connection on the task bar but apparently router doesnt lose sync.

AOL keep saying its software and it HAS to be his PC. first thing i did was change all filters and ethernet leads and even the router and still same, i then put a PCI ethernet card in which i first tested in my own pc for a week and all was great, as soon as it went into his system within 20 mins he had a disconnection.

If i bring his PC to mine and run it there are no disconnections what so ever so i know its not the PC

His current setup is an Athlon II X4 250 3Ghz AM3, 6GB DDR III, 1TB Samsung Hard Disk etc etc running Windows 7 Home Premium 64.

I am completely stumpt as to what it could be as if it is a line issue still surely the router would still lose sync?

Re: AOL Problems
 

Re: AOL Problems
 

When the net connection drops, does the routers Internet light go red? I presume your friend has the Dlink 2640r?

Re: AOL Problems
 

it is a Dlink and yes the light used to go red but now when the connection dies the light doesnt which is weird. I am adiment that its a line or router problem, it cannot be a PC problem since if i connect it to my 50mb i dont have an issue.

He has also noticed it will tend to drop a lot of the time when the connection is under some load for example downloading something such as emails or a file.

Re: AOL Problems
 

I have a family member with the same issue, ironically they are now switching to Virgin!

AOL appear to have poor support when issues like this crop up as they will just constantly blame everything in your home (wiring, router, microfilters, master socket etc) until they run out of ideas then just blame BT as they are carrying out "maintenance" at the switch... then again, any reseller of BT services is going to use the same excuses, Ive heard that line before from other ISP's.

Could be the router, I use the 2640r for my DSL line and its horrid! The router is very slow and doesnt seem powerful enough to deal with faster connections. That and its wireless G which isnt great. If possible I would try with another router first and make sure its not the equipment, also try connecting to the master socket (or even the test socket behind the NTE) to see if you still have the same issues.

Finally, try quietline for any line noise, dial 147017070 and choose option 2, if there is any noise this could also be the issue.

Last but not least, connect by Ethernet to the router, if you are connected by Wireless then I would rule that out as an issue as early as possible.

Let us know how you get on.

Re: AOL Problems
 

well ive tried a different router a netgear one and also trued the test socket and still the same. and yes its one of the bloody Dlinks!

Re: AOL Problems
 

That narrows it down to either a line problem (physical) or an AOL problem (network). the problem will be getting AOL to admit there is an issue. When I called them on behalf of a family member with a very similar issue they refused to accept there was a problem and blamed everything on BT.

Give them a call and see how it goes. Otherwise I would start looking for another DSL provider if you cant get cable.

Re: AOL Problems
 

When my mate rang them they told him that they can see that the connection was dropping and mentioned SNR but didnt state wheather there was a problem with the SNR. But now as i said when the PC displays a disconnect the routers light doesnt turn red but the disconnect can last from 20 secs or so to phaps 10 mins.

My mate cant get cable, while cable is in his street its only over the opposite side of the street.

Re: AOL Problems
 

Get him to send his address details over to cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk (if he hasnt done already) and the team can look into that for him.

Otherwise the stats look fine based on the Info you provided before, I would get AOL to quantify what they are talking about as they might be trying to pan you off.

;)

Re: AOL Problems
 

he has done that and a spotter has been out, apparently they refuse to do it because the council has stated that it would cause to much disruption as the road is used as part of the test route for learner drivers. BUT! what also made it worse and i had to explain it wasnt so the spotter told him that if he was to switch to Virgin ADSL he would DEFINATELY GET FULL 20mb speeds on the upto 20mb.

Re: AOL Problems
 

Haha oh dear, Spotter was probably trying to be helpful. I don't believe they deal with ADSL at all only cable orders. You never know though, I have a Virgin WBC connection and get 19Mb from it so its not all bad.

Get back onto AOL though and try and get things sorted, if they cant help then I would seriously look at switching DSL provider.

Re: AOL Problems
 

Makes me think that perhaps they upgraded him from ADSL to ADSL2+

Adsl2+ whilst able to achieve higher speeds than ADSL1 uses a much larger frequency range (upto 2.2Mhz where as adsl1 stops at 1.1mhz)

It could be Noise or interference in the higher frequencies (which would explain why it wasn't a problem on ADSL1)

Re: AOL Problems
 

dragon yes they did switch him to ADSL2+ now his connection speed is at max around 4mb again and AOL claim thats all his line can handle where before he had higher speeds perfectly.

Re: AOL Problems
 

If its a BTW line and not LLU then I suspect DLM has raised the SNR margin to stabilize the line thus causing lower speeds.

Not sure if AOL LLU has DLM but it probably does.

it would be worth disconnecting everything from the phone socket and then plugging in a standard phone (Not DECT) and then dialing 17070 option 2.

The line should be slient, no crackles pops.etc

If there is any noise on the line that might be what's causing the slower speeds.

Re: AOL Problems
 

Right well i have now proven that it HAS! to be a line or ISP Problem.

I changed the router for a Netgear DGN2200 but before i took the Dlink one out i looked at the logs and it showed no drops what so ever on the ethernet side of things. Also when it drops it also affects the second PC running windows XP i put onto the network for them it came up saying AOL session had been interuppted and logged off + on the windows 7 PC when it drops in Network and sharing center the connection between PC and Router remains its just the connection between Router and internet that goes but the internet light on router as i said before no longer goes red.

Re: AOL Problems
 

What have AOL said about it?

My family member in the same position sent them a letter to cancel, they didn't even respond and terminated the line after 7 days!! Shocking service.

Re: AOL Problems
 

AOL have been useless back in Last november they stated yes they could see disconnections were happening and told his mum who by the way suffers from back and neck problems she had to 1. Remove the ringwire from the box, 2. Plug in the router to test socket, 3. Remove Sky Box, 4. Try a different Router, 5. Have the new PC tested at another location, 6. Change filters, 7. try a different ethernet lead. At that time when the disconnections were taking place the router light would turn red but now it doesnt but AOL did state they can see a few disconnections still last week but they claim not as many to whats happening. Also last november they stated that the problem was being closed as fixed when no disconnections occured over a weekend and then a few days later it all started up once again. We have done all we can at this end so it has to be line or AOL. AOL told his mum that they will send an engineer out and if they test the line and its faulty theres no charge but get this... If theres an internal wiring fault at the house then they will get charged £49. I questioned this and they didnt mean as in extention leads they actually meant as in wiring that was fitted by BT for the phone line.
All the wires for router etc have been changed some even changed twice.