Connection times

[#1]

Brief background. Silver surfer; with PN almost 2 years; not a technophobe but not well up on manipulation of software and knowing what is possible - still learning. Problem: it can take hours - literally - to get an internet connection. When problem first occurred PN ran tests and called in BT to check line (I live 300 yds from exchange). No faults found. The only change made was to remove phone link to Sky box. Things improved markedly and connecting within 15 minutes - my benchmark - was achieved most of the time. Approx 12 months later problem resurfaced - Nov last year. Drove me mad; PN blamed everyone and everything but themselves but reinstalling the modem seemed to have done the trick - as well as my signing a 1 year contract for discounted fees. Following this I contacted Computing Which? and a friend of mine who runs his own computing business (I'd not told him the story before as you don't mix business with pleasure and I can't afford his fees anyway) Outcomes: Computing Which? felt fault probably with PN but without checking computer etc could not be sure; said that as PN had supplied modem and had suggested an upgrade they should supply one FOC; Friend did lots of tests on computer  concluding fault was with PN's computers as nothing wrong with my computer, modem, phone line links or anything else but said he'd get a colleague to check as well to be certain. Colleague arrived today; said connect to net - started 1311, he had to shoot off but returned 1350 to find me still unconnected despite 1 reboot - he couldn't believe it - rebooted again and then came up against "remote computer did not respond" which persisted after another reboot. Gave up 1407. He carried aout checks and concluded nothing wrong this end so must be PN. Tonight connected in 6 minutes. My next door neighbour is still using dial up and is connected quicker. PN's claim Ishould connect in less than 1 minute has been achieved no more than a handful of times. Spoken to 20-odd other users of net in village - all connect quickly, none use PN, so not fault in exchange then. Once connected to net I've had no problems at all, it's just getting there to start with. To be fair PN's people have tried hard to fix this and have been tolerant.
I am not going to tolerate another period of long connecting times. If it starts again I'll request to change ISP as PN will not be doing what I pay it for and providing an internet connection. Before things come to that I hope someone out there might be able to help. I have to avoid stress and another bout of this problem will not help.
Sorry to go on. Thanks for your help.

[#2]

Are you using a USB ADSL modem or a router? Etiker way what make/model and connection method are you using (USB or Ethernet).
Have you tried other ADSL equipment to see if that has the same problem. If it does not then I would suspect the current ADSL equipment.
What account are you on? If not a BBYW product you could change to one of the new products and get a free* router which will use Ethernet which is much better than USB.
* Subject to £5.99 P&P and you have to remain with PN for 12 months.
Have you tried replacing the ADSL filter/splitter?
Have you tried connecting direct to the BT master socket?
Have you tried with all other phones disconnected?

[#3]

Hi vectrian,
Sorry to hear of the problems you've been having. From reading your saga it sounds like you are using a USB modem, is this correct? They can take longer to connect than a router but really shouldn't be taking anywhere near the length of time you are seeing.
When trying to connect what is the DSL light on the modem doing? Is it on solid or flashing?
Peter has asked some good questions to help diagnose this. Have you raised a fault report with us to investigate? If not, I suggest doing so at http://faults.plus.net making sure you have tried the connection in the master socket with a different filter and without any extension leads or other devices connected.

Quote

If not a BBYW product you could change to one of the new products and get a free* router which will use Ethernet which is much better than USB. * Subject to £5.99 P&P and you have to remain with PN for 12 months.

Peter is right here too, apart from it's £6.99 now.

[#4]

Quote from: Peter

Are you using a USB ADSL modem or a router? Etiker way what make/model and connection method are you using (USB or Ethernet). Have you tried other ADSL equipment to see if that has the same problem. If it does not then I would suspect the current ADSL equipment. What account are you on? If not a BBYW product you could change to one of the new products and get a free* router which will use Ethernet which is much better than USB. * Subject to £5.99 P&P and you have to remain with PN for 12 months. Have you tried replacing the ADSL filter/splitter? Have you tried connecting direct to the BT master socket? Have you tried with all other phones disconnected?

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your reply. Not sure what I'm doing here. Am I replying to you? I'm assuming so. Modem is USB as supplied by PN when I joined - a ZyXel P-630-S. Phone filter is a Belbin. Can't fit direct to phone socket as my phone will have nowhere to live; it lives upstairs as it is via extension - cordless and rarely switched on as rarely used. Only other phone is for Sky box which is permanently disconnected as stated which did improve things when problem first alerted to PN. Don't know what a "BBYW" product is. I have paid £14.99/month until December, now £9.99/month for 6 months then back to £14.99 for 6 months under 12 month contract. Computing Which? recommended a make of new modem, as did PN; bought one but not installed because having spent hours on phone to PN, signed up for 12 month contract, connection times suddenly improved markedly. Coincidence or what? Set me thinking which is why I called in others with results reported on  original post. I only have a PC in a fixed position; do not need to use anywhere else so what I have should suffice.
Chris of PN asks if DSL light is solid or flashing when trying to connect; answer is solid. I have been through all of this with PN to no avail and do not intend to repeat myself to them. They could not solve the problem then and I have no confidence that they can now. 3 separate "experts" have told me there is nothing wrong with my equipment (computer equipment chaps) and laid the blame squarely on PN's computers. I have no idea whether they are right or wrong. BT have confirmed no faults with my line or exchange; this was before they bought PN. I'm trying to eke my pension out by selling stuff through various auction and other sites and all I want is to be able to connect to the net within a guaranteed time, say 15 minutes. This has never been achieved on a regular basis and at some stage will end up costing me money. When that day arrives PN will be required to cough up.

[#5]

OK, lets see....
BBYW = Broadband Your Way, plusnets current range of broadband products. As yu are paying £14.99/mo you must be om BBYW option 2 with 8GB peak time usage allowance.
You say you bought another modem. What is its make & model and is it USB as well or can you connect it using Ethernet? You should try and use this one to find out if it is the existing USB modem that has the problem.
It could be your phone extension that is causing the problem hence why I suggested connecting the modem direct to the master socket. Is your PC movable? If so, can it be moved downstairs where your master socket is temporarily to see if connecting the USB modem direct solves the problem. If it does you know the internal wiring is to blame.
This is what a Master socket looks like. Do you have one of these?

You say you can't connect the phone to the master socket as you would have no room for the existing phone. Is the existing phone connected via an ADSL filter/splitter? Note: a filter/splitter looks like this:

or this

And is normally labelled ADSL and phone/PSTN
If it looks like this then that is a normal phone splitter, not an ADSL filter/splitter

You will notice the ADSL filter/splitter has 2 different sized connectors on one side and a normal BT plug on the other (or on the end of a short cable in the 2nd picture). The narrow connector (TEL) is for a phone and the smaller square connector is a US format RJ11 for connecting your ADSL modem/router. Your USB modem's phone cable may have been supplied with a normal BT plug but it maybe be done via an small adapter that converts the RJ11 plug to the BT plug. To try your USB modem on the master socket you fit your ADSL filter/splitter to it, plug your phone in the BT (TEL) socket and the modem minus the small adapter in the ADSL/RJ11 socket.
You should also try a different ADSL filter/splitter?
You say 3 "experts" said your equipment is not at fault, but did they actually try other equipment or other ADSL filters or connect direct to the master socket as suggested in this thread? If they didn't they could not have come to the conclusion they had.
You really need to try and eliminate both your internal phone wiring, your ADSL filter (you have tried another filter haven't you?)  AND your USB modem as the cause for the problem as well as ensure your normal phones are fitted via an ADSL filter.splitter (and by phones I mean anything that connected to a phone socket, including faxes, old modems, house alarms etc.

[#6]

Peter. What can I say. The answer is that I've not done most of what you suggest and I'll be querying the main "expert" as to what he actually did. He runs his own business dealing with all aspects of computers from websites to idiots like me. He got a colleague in who is a hardware "expert" just in case he'd missed  something. My set up is (not well explained before): PC downstairs with filter connected to main socket and phone connected to filter. Phone is cordless with base upstairs so phone is not connected directly to main socket. Filter is a Belkin which was recommended in Computing Which? and is a filter/splitter. There was a definite problem when the phone extension linked to my Sky box was connected so this is now permanently disconnected. I suppose an option would be to get rid of the phone and only use a mobile - my mobile was bought 3 years ago when I went on holiday to a remote area and my daughter insisted; I think I've made 2 calls on it!
Spent a long time trying to connect again tonight so called PN. Outcome was they would send me a router to try so I will.
The thing that baffles me is this: for the first few months with PN all was fine and after the first connection problem occurred - solved by disconnecting Sky box phone - all was fine until late last year. Why do things go wrong like this? Is it just equipment wearing out do you think?
I'll try this router and come back again whichever way it goes. In the meantime many thanks for your very helpful ideas which are very much appreciated and worth trying in the meantime. As a pensioner I have to be careful with the pennies - doesn't mean I'm tight, just do not want unnecessary expenditure.
I do find PN support staff on the net and phone to be helpful, genuine and patient. They are the reason I stick with PN.

[#7]

Good Morning Vectrian,
There should be no need to stop using phones and other pieces of equipment as this all sounds well filtered. The tests that Peter has asked you to do are the tests that we use to rule out any problems with the customers equipment. If you perform all of the tests and still have the problem we will ofcourse raise this with BT, however should there be something your end which is causing this then these tests will highlight and, with abit of detective work, will identify the equipment causing the problem if this is the case.
We are checking several things with the tests we do. If you plug directly into the master socket using just a microfilter and it works then there is a problem somewhere on the internal wiring either inside a piece of equipment or extensions, and plugging each piece of equipment in until the service drops again would identify it. We send a test router to rule out hardware in certain situations and if this solves the problem then we know the hardware was at fault. If all this fails then we turn to BT to investigate. We always make the reasons why we do these tests crystal clear and I am sure this is apprecaited.
Thankyou for your comments regarding your contact with PlusNet. It's always nice to hear..
::I edited this to change a few words::