Modem appearing offline ?

[domtheboy]

Afternoon all !

I wonder if someone could enlighten me - I've just got off the phone to the NTL broadband helpdesk regarding a problem I'm having. Since Tuesday I've been unable to surf the net or send / receive email, even though I have been able to establish a network connection.

I'm on the 1 mb package via cable modem, and am using a Linksys cable modem / router to run a home network between two PCs. Basically what is happening (on both of the PCs) is that when I turn the computer on, the icon appears indicating that a network connection has been made. However, if I fire up IE or Outlook and try to surf or send a mail, nothing happens and after a delay I get a message stating that the "host could not be identified" (I'm paraphrasing as I'm on my PC at work at the moment, without access to the machines in question).

To cut a long story short, I called the helpdesk and they have booked an appointment for an engineer to visit on Saturday morning. The chap I spoke to said his tests were showing that the modem was offline, and that an engineer would need to check out my local "box" to see if there was a power issue affecting the line I am connecting on.

Can anyone give me any more info as to what this means ?

Cheers guys

Dom

[AbyssUnderground]

That means there could be a fault with your line in the box out in the road. If there is it might only be affecting your cable and not anyone elses. He will check that everything is good and working.