Re: Broadband keeps disconnecting ??


andy100 wrote:
I am using Wanadoo broadband and have an Alcatel 300 USB Broadband Modem
(Win XP SP1 - can't use XP2 as it affects a lot of my hardware !). Athlon
2200XP, 620RAM, Zone Alarm Pro, Spyware Doctor running.



The broadband modem used to disconnect now and again (maybe 2 or 3 times a
night). So i updated the drivers from the Alcatel website, but it didn't
seem to help. That was when I was on 512K broadband and i could live with
being disconnected now and again.



However, last week I upgraded to 1MB broadband (still with Wanadoo), and now
the modem disconnects every 10 minutes or so (sometimes even every 2 minutes
!). I have again updated the drivers, I have taken all the phones out of the
line (apart from the broadband modem) and it is still the same. It
disconnected about 30 times in a 6 hour period, last night !.



When it disconnects, the right hand green light (connection light) goes
orange, flashes and then re-connects automatically and goes back to green
(the light on the left does NOT change colour, so I know it's not the modem,
setup or USB cable). That to me sounds like the line, yet the line is fine,
it worked okay before upgrading to 1mbps when it only disconnected now and
again. It works a lot better before 4pm and after about 10pm, but between 5
to 9pm the line drops a heck of a lot.



I really begrudge paying £27.99 a month for such poor service. So, a few
questions, if anyone can shed a bit of light:



1) Does this sound like it's the line ?.

2) Why does it disconnect much more between 5 to 9pm (peak period ???) ??

3) How could I solve this (is it worth ringing Wanadoo, what could they do -
could they "up" the gain on the line or is that only for dial-up modems ??).

4) Is it worth changing ISP or would i have the same problem (assuming it
was the phone line in the beginning) ?

5) Are there any other things I could try, that I might have overlooked ?





Kind Regards

Andrew

This sounds exactly like the problems I was having a couple of weeks
ago. I had recently upgraded to a 1MB connection and started getting
problems. From the little I understand about broadband, the faster a
connection you need, the better the signal you need. Can you check the
noise and attenuation signals on your line? Your modem probably has a
status page where you can check this.
My attenuation was about 40dB and the noise margin was about 12dB. This
was marginal for a 1MB line, so any increased traffic on the line (like
at peak time) would be enough to tip it over the edge. After the ISP
and BT said there were no faults on the line, BT sent engineers out to
look at my internal wiring.

The major culprit was an extension cable that was wired into my master
phone socket. Once that was disconnected, the noise margin was 20dB and
perfectly acceptable for a 1MB line. The BT engineers also fitted a new
faceplate with a filter built into it. I was able to save an extra few
dB on the noise by moving all my kit closer to the phone socket and
using a shorter modem cable.

So, my advice would be - disconnect anything else that's plugged into
your master socket and check your noise levels.

Simon

.