Do I need to replace my terajet

[lardboy]

Been having problems in the NG17 area of Nottinghamshire recently which are particularly bad tonight.

Every night my modem disconnects at least once and the cable light goes out for a few seconds then retrains and goes back to normal.

However tonight every time I tried to do anything like downloading something or even running a speed test the speed will go up to 4Mb for a second then connection will die for 20 secs then modem will disconnect and retrain.

I'm using a TJ210 on 4mb connection.

If I do need to upgrade is there anyway I can do it without spending half a day and a fortune on the phone to CS and then lose a days wages waiting for an engineer?

[opelfruitcase]

Originally Posted by lardboy

Been having problems in the NG17 area of Nottinghamshire recently which are particularly bad tonight.

Every night my modem disconnects at least once and the cable light goes out for a few seconds then retrains and goes back to normal.

However tonight every time I tried to do anything like downloading something or even running a speed test the speed will go up to 4Mb for a second then connection will die for 20 secs then modem will disconnect and retrain.

I'm using a TJ210 on 4mb connection.

If I do need to upgrade is there anyway I can do it without spending half a day and a fortune on the phone to CS and then lose a days wages waiting for an engineer?

Sounds like the modem has reached retirement age - time for a new ntl250.

[mmm]

Originally Posted by lardboy

Been having problems in the NG17 area of Nottinghamshire recently which are particularly bad tonight.

Every night my modem disconnects at least once and the cable light goes out for a few seconds then retrains and goes back to normal.

However tonight every time I tried to do anything like downloading something or even running a speed test the speed will go up to 4Mb for a second then connection will die for 20 secs then modem will disconnect and retrain.

I'm using a TJ210 on 4mb connection.

If I do need to upgrade is there anyway I can do it without spending half a day and a fortune on the phone to CS and then lose a days wages waiting for an engineer?

I still have one too - sounds like you have signal problems and I was told that the first thing an engineer tries with these 5+ year old modems is to swap them out.

The current policy is that only an engineer can now install modems - I guess this in response to abuse/fraud of ebayed items etc. Stupid thing is 5 years ago my Terajet was posted and I installed myself with only help from Robin Walker and a telephone given PIN! (modem point and white cable was installed by NTL before modem turned up).

[opelfruitcase]

Originally Posted by mmm

I still have one too - sounds like you have signal problems and I was told that the first thing an engineer tries with these 5+ year old modems is to swap them out.

The current policy is that only an engineer can now install modems - I guess this in response to abuse/fraud of ebayed items etc. Stupid thing is 5 years ago my Terajet was posted and I installed myself with only help from Robin Walker and a telephone given PIN! (modem point and white cable was installed by NTL before modem turned up).[/QUOTE]

Maybe, but what the sub was describing (reading between the lines) is that the modem only looses conectivity not as a result of signal issues but as a result of component stress and subsequent reboot, as it only happens when the connection (and modem) is being maxed out. Signal strength will not affect this at all - if signal strength is an issue, then generally the connection will either work all of the time without fail or not work at all - i.e. is pretty black and while, compared to the 'grey' problems the sub is having. Some of these modems will work fine others won't.

As a further example of this, my old SB3100 was still working fine up until a few months ago, was only getting 6.5Mb due to connection between CM and router only being 10Mb half duplex, but other than that, fine. OTOH, other SB3100 have failed miserably on the 4Mb/10Mb with descriptions of the above quite common.

Originally Posted by mmm

The current policy is that only an engineer can now install modems - I guess this in response to abuse/fraud of ebayed items etc. Stupid thing is 5 years ago my Terajet was posted and I installed myself with only help from Robin Walker and a telephone given PIN! (modem point and white cable was installed by NTL before modem turned up).

Nope - I remember clearly the tech would go out, have their own cable modem and would test the connection that way. If their own cable modem would lock onto a signal, then so would yours, it was just a case of registering it then, as is exactly the same now.

Regarding the ebay/abuse/fraud thing - the cable modem will only work if you register it onto an account - either through the automatic online reg process or by ringing tech support- this is required for any modem swap. The tech would have nothing, not in any way, shape, or form have anything to do with this registration/security process.

[mmm]

I have a history of upstream problems with my Terayon, marginal signal gives exactly the symptoms as described, and if you monitor forum posts there are a lot of these 5 year old Terayon modems failing at the moment, the UBR change to QAM 256 seems to increase the sensitivity - but apparently no problem in theory.

The Terayon has a maximum upstream of +58dB, newer modems can go up to at least +61dB. As it only has a 10Mb/half duplex Ethernet port the TJ210 cannot make full use of 10Mb/s connection - mine could speed test to over 8Mbps with TCP/IP tweaks but never got more than 5 or 6Mbps in real downloads.

But when it works it handles 4Mbps fine.

When the cable for my 64kb/s modem was installed the technician could only measure there was a signal in the house - he had no modem or laptop.

[lardboy]

Well I took the plunge and called tech support.

They wanted to send out an engineer but I just can't afford to lose a day off work ATM for an intermittent fault. So I asked if I could have a replacement modem posted to me.

Tech support put me through to customer services and they put me through to sales who had no idea why they had put me through to sales.

It appears that it is not possible to simply have a replacement modem supplied without an engineers visit. Why do I have to lose a days wages to wait for someone who may or may not actually turn up to do something I can very easily do myself.

[Nedkelly]

When the tech comes he will check the levels before he puts in a new modem something customers can not do.We do not send modems out for security reasons.The time slots for techs are 8 to 12 12 to 6 6 to 8