Broadband help please!

[Rob P]

Hi all:)

In need of some help with my Tiscali BB.

Got the usual bundle of modem and CD and tried to install the software. No good. Crashes, missing drivers etc etc.

Spoke to technical support and no help.

So, using all the info they sent me with the registration I went to Dial Up in the control panel and created a new connection. Put the phone number/password/username in and now when I fire up explorer I get the "dial up" box and then I'm connected to browse at seemingly broadband speeds.

Have I done that right? Any pointers?

[d-man]

Yeap that sounds about right Your ADSL modem will still use the Windows dial up networking interface, so you'll see that dialog box when you connect.

You might want to invest in a separate ADSL modem / router at some point, if just for the added security of a hardware firewall.

[Vipers]

Any advise on my problem, my PC upstairs is on BT broadband, it keeps dropping out and I have to keep redialing, sometimes it stays connected for 5 mins, sometimes only 1 or 2.

When I use the laptop downstairs with a wifi connection, it NEVER drops out, BUT when someone calls on the phone, it does as well.

Any reason for the PC upstairs disconnecting as it does, and any suggestions why the laptop only disconnects when a phone call is answered?

Is it worth un-installing, and re-installing the software on my PC upstairs for BT broadband I wonder?

[d-man]

How is your broadband connected? I guess you have a wireless ADSL modem / router as you say your laptop connects via wifi.

If so, I'm surprised the computer you're using makes any difference... It shouldn't really. If you get disconected when the phone rings, make sure you've got microfilters on every phone, sky box, alarm and anything else that connects to your phone line (apart from the ADSL modem itself) as thats a classic sign of having something not filtered properly.

[Vipers]

Laptop is via wireless modem with a filter fitted, and the PC upstairs also has a filter, do I need one on the sky box, guess not.

As I said, the laptop never drops out until someone is on the phone, and the PC which never used to drop out, does now quite frequently.

Wondering if the REN (ring equivalent numbers) may be the prob for the laptop dropping out, but strangely enough, I dont recall this being a problem when I first installed the wireless router.

When I use the laptop, the connection to the PC is unplugged, and visa versa when I use the PC?

God these things can drive you nuts

[GreenV8S]

Are you saying that you have two PCs each with its own DSL modem, connected to different phone points on the same phone line? If so I don't think that's a very good idea, you would only ever be able to connect one at a time, and even then there's a danger of interference from the other modem. Hopefully this isn't what you are doing.

[d-man]

The ADSL modems shouldn't be filtered... They connect directly into the phone socket. Your phones (and sky box) should be connected via a filter.

I'm not surprised the connection drops lots if you've got a filter on the modem itself. In fact I'm more surprised the other modem works at all!

[GreenV8S]

The paperwork that came with my DSL setup seemed to suggest that the 'filters' used for the modems are in fact splitters rather than pure filters i.e. they exclude the analogue phone line noise from the digital circuit going to the modem, as well as excluding the digital signal from the analogue cicuit going to the telephone. The instructions also said that every phone point should be 'terminated' with a filter even if nothing was plugged in. I've also heared that this *isn't* necessary, but clearly at least some people think the DSL side is quite fussy. I'm still unclear exactly how this lot is wired up though so it may be that the problem in this case is much more fundamental.

[Kinky]

d-man said:

The ADSL modems shouldn't be filtered... They connect directly into the phone socket. Your phones (and sky box) should be connected via a filter. I'm not surprised the connection drops lots if you've got a filter on the modem itself. In fact I'm more surprised the other modem works at all!

I could 100% swear that mine are filtered and work AOK.

I'll have to check tonight - but I do know that I did have my BT 'flatfish' modem filtered, and I can swear that my Netgear router is too.

I'll check tonight.

K

[d-man]

As GreenV8S said, quite a lot of filters have 2 connections on them. One for the modem and one for a phone. I don't think the modem one actually does anything

So if you're modems are plugged into the modem sockets on your filters that'll be fine, if they're plugged into the phone sockets it won't work very well. The modems will also work plugged directly into the wall.

In any case, anything that isn't an ADSL modem and is plugged into the phone line must have a filter on it.

[Vipers]

GreenV8S said:

Are you saying that you have two PCs each with its own DSL modem, connected to different phone points on the same phone line? If so I don't think that's a very good idea, you would only ever be able to connect one at a time, and even then there's a danger of interference from the other modem. Hopefully this isn't what you are doing.

What I have is a PC upstaris, connected to broadband via a BT voyager modem, which connects via a filter to the phone line, (which I unplug when I use the laptop, note THIS IS NOT (R) NOT A WIRELESS CONNECTION), and when I use the laptop, it connects to the same phone line via a wireless connector to the wireless router, with a filter between it and the phone socket. When I use the PC upstairs I unplug the wireless router from the phone line.

There is no filter for the sky connection , but I thought the filter was actually for the broadband connection, and just happened to have a phone socket to plug the phone in as well?

Even before I got the laptop, the PC upstairs started disconnection quite frequently, BT have checked the line and say all is well.

[philthy]

Start off by putting a filter in between the sky box, and the phone line. How many phones have you got in the house? too many will make the connection twitchy.

Phil

[GreenV8S]

Sounds like the laptop/wireless/router-DSL-modem solution more or less works, given this setup it would seem to make sense to connect the upstairs PC into the router too, if that is possible?

Assuming that you have the right filters in all the right places, the fact that the DSL connection drops out when the phone is busy might point to a cabling problem. Analogue phones work quite happily over cheap alluminium cable, but DSL is more fussy and copper cable is recommended. It's also possible that there is something wrong with the filters you have, I've heared of more than one person returning filters that were causing problems.

[SS2.]

I had similar 'line dropping' problems caused by cheap micro-filters. I replaced all of mine with decent quality BT units - problems disappeared.

As an aside, if you are sharing the internet connection between two or more PCS (particularly if one or more are laptops), have not considered going wireless ? You can pick up router and wireless PCI / PCMCIA card bundles from PC World for cheap money.

[Vipers]

philthy said:

Start off by putting a filter in between the sky box, and the phone line. How many phones have you got in the house? too many will make the connection twitchy. Phil

Only one phone in house, 2nd handset connects wirelessly to first one.

Re filter between sky and phone socket, I thought the role of the filter to filter something out between phone line and modem, but maybe worth trying another filter, in case this one is duff.

[Vipers]

SS2. said:

I had similar 'line dropping' problems caused by cheap micro-filters. I replaced all of mine with decent quality BT units - problems disappeared. As an aside, if you are sharing the internet connection between two or more PCS (particularly if one or more are laptops), have not considered going wireless ? You can pick up router and wireless PCI / PCMCIA card bundles from PC World for cheap money.

I only use one PC at a time, either the one upstairs, which uses a wired BT modem, or the laptop, which is wireless, never use both together, just strange how the PC upstairs keeps disconnecting (didnt use to), and the laptop, which never disconnects, but does so when someone is on the phone, thanks for advise anyway

[SS2.]

Try swapping the micro filters between PC and the laptop. If the problem stays with the PC, then its probably cabling, if the problem moves to the laptop then its a dodgy filter...

[Vipers]

Just trying plan 2 at the moment, unplugged the PC to modem upstairs, and plugged in the ADSL WIRELESS ROUTER TO SAME PLUG, if laptop stays connected, then the cable to that socket must be OK, and then I'l try the same filter on the PC see what happens then.

Watch this space.

[philthy]

Vipers said:

Re filter between sky and phone socket, I thought the role of the filter to filter something out between phone line and modem, but maybe worth trying another filter, in case this one is duff.

You definately need one on the sky line.

If you've not got it sorted yet, can you detail the wires, starting from the main BT socket, and list them from there.

Phil

[Vipers]

philthy said:

You definately need one on the sky line. If you've not got it sorted yet, can you detail the wires, starting from the main BT socket, and list them from there. Phil

Right then, its all wired as follows:-

1. Main phone socket has two tees, one goes upstairs to another phone socket box, into which is plugged a filter, and into the filter the line to the BT Voyager modem for my PC. (NO PHONE GOES INTO THIS BOX)

2. The other tee runs into the front room, to another phone socket box, into which is my phone, and tee off to sky, neither of which have filters on.

This is how it has always been, and used to work fine no problem at all, but as I said the broadband connection disconnects every few minutes. BT helpline told me last night when I called, that as they had upgraded my line to 1mgb perhaps my modem couldnt handle it and I need a booster unit. Which is not what they said last time I called.

----------------------------------------------------

The problem when I use the laptop, I think I can fix with a filter on the phone, going to try this today, but the upstairs PC has got me stumped, do you think its worth un-installing, and re-installing the software?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, so right now I am going to put a filter on the phone and sky anyway, and a NEW filter onto the PC upstairs, and see what happens then.