«

The plan is no longer available but those on it when they dropped it were
given the choice to move to a new plan or stay on it.

Since 00:00 hours 01/06/2010 I've been experiencing drop-outs of my ADSL
link (not just the PPPoA). This coincided with a glitch with their server /
data counter / limiter (that the first-line desk monkeys don't acknowledge)
which resulted in my being able to download over 2GB for the 'days' of the
31st May and 1st June (They reset the data at 2am.) when I'm only supposed
to get 1.4GB/day. Also the 'data used' graphs didn't update for about a half
day.

Anyway, since then I'm lucky if my connection stays up for an hour at a
time. The first guy I spoke to told me to go out the next day and buy all
new filters for the phones and also to get spares as they don't last forever
and mine is over three years old. I told him that I'd tried 'the isolation
test' before calling and that I'm not a 'luser' but he was adamant that 80%
of the calls reporting problems that he'd had lately were fixed by the
customer fitting new filters.

(Actrix used to have such a good help desk. The last couple days though the
staff seem brusk and nowhere near as helpful as they used to be.)

Anyway, I didn't buy new filters, I just unplugged everything but the modem
/ router and the problem continued. As my connection has been rock-solid for
at least a year, since Telecom changed me onto a new port at the exchange
(other than a server-side glitch for a couple days after daylight saving
ended) and this issue also coincided with a glitch with their bandwidth
monitoring software / machine I'm convinced that the fault lies with them.
The guy I rang yesterday morning told me that he'd log my problem and
request Telecom to 'reset my port'.

Essentially I'm going to have to escalate this with them as, for relaxation,
rather than watch TV, I on-line game (Diablo 2) with a group of people (some
of whom I've 'known' for over 5+ years). However it takes up to ten minutes
to get a game established with all of us in it etcetera and it's untenable
with my connection as it is.

There used to be a link on the Actrix page where, after you'd logged in, you
could see how many connections you'd had during the last billing period and
the duration of them. Unfortunately that is no longer available. I used info
from that showing I was getting dropped / reconnected around 50 times a day
to help convince them to get Telecom to put me onto a different port at the
local exchange about 18 months ago. My router software only shows me how
long the current DSL and PPPoA links have been up, not how often it's being
disconnected / reconnected. I Googled last night for a utility to run on my
laptop to monitor this and give me some data to present to Actrix but didn't
have any luck.

Knowing if there are others experiencing the same problem might help with my
calls with the helpdesk. I have a feeling that this might take a while to
sort out. Also I have a feeling that they might be trying to get me off the
old 'Double Happy' plan as I get a call from them every month or two asking
me if I'd like to move to a different plan...

UPDATE: Just before hitting 'send' I checked their status page (which has
been green for the last few days) and now see the following message for
Cyberjet customers:

"Scheduled For Thu 3 Jun, 10 - 11:00PM
Duration: 1 hour
An upstream provider has urgent network maintenance scheduled for Thursday
the 3rd of June. This may result in an intermittent loss of service between
11:00pm and 12:00am, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."

To me the phrase "urgent network maintenance" suggests that this may perhaps
have been the cause of the issues I've been experiencing. I hope that this
fixes it.

However it would still be good to know if others have seen the same
problems. Actrix have been brilliant so far (~three years) but I got the
distinct feeling from the staff I talked to over the last couple days that
perhaps the level of customer support and indeed knowledge of the front-line
support team may have declined.

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

"When we dream.... that's just our brains defragmenting" G Jackson.

On Jun 3, 10:56*am, "~misfit~" <sore_n_ha...@nospamyahoo.com.au>
wrote:
> My router software only shows me how long the current DSL and PPPoA
> links have been up, not how often it's being disconnected /
> reconnected. I Googled last night for a utility to run on my laptop to
> monitor this and give me some data ...

How about running wget periodically in a script? Say, once a minute?

HTH, John

Somewhere on teh intarwebs John Little wrote:
> On Jun 3, 10:56 am, "~misfit~" <sore_n_ha...@nospamyahoo.com.au>
> wrote:
>> My router software only shows me how long the current DSL and PPPoA
>> links have been up, not how often it's being disconnected /
>> reconnected. I Googled last night for a utility to run on my laptop
>> to monitor this and give me some data ...
>
> How about running wget periodically in a script? Say, once a minute?
>
> HTH, John

Hi John. Thanks for your reply. I'm afraid that I'm quite
software-illiterate when it comes to scripts etcetera. I was hoping that I
could find a little simple utility that would simply monitor my internet
connection and write to a log when it failed and when it came back. My
searches have been fruitless.

Actrix called an hour ago and told me that they'd done all they could from
their end and that Telecom had re-set my port at 8am today. However their
logs show four drop-outs since the reset. Next move is to have a Telecom
tech come to my home with the caveat that if it's found to be my equipment
that's at fault I could be charged $200 or more[1].

I told them to hold off on that for now. I'll do a longer 'isolation test'.
I still don't get why it happened 'coincidentally' to a glitch with their
data server (which they still haven't acknowledged) yet they can't fix it.
<shrug>

If I need to replace my modem / router / firewall does anyone have
suggestions? I'm currently using a most excellent Alcatel / Thompson
Speedtouch 510 v4 that has been great along with a 3COM OfficeConnect
3CRWE.454G72 wireless AP that gets turned on when I need it (I'm mostly
wired but it's logical to get wireless functionality built into a
replacement modem if I need one). My local cabinet isn't due to be ADSL2
capable until late next year.
--
Cheers, and TIA.
Shaun.

"When we dream.... that's just our brains defragmenting" G Jackson.

In article <hu9ial$bek$>,
says...
>
> If I need to replace my modem / router / firewall does anyone have
> suggestions? I'm currently using a most excellent Alcatel / Thompson
> Speedtouch 510 v4 that has been great along with a 3COM OfficeConnect
> 3CRWE.454G72 wireless AP that gets turned on when I need it (I'm mostly
> wired but it's logical to get wireless functionality built into a
> replacement modem if I need one). My local cabinet isn't due to be ADSL2
> capable until late next year.

Until last week I'd've said 3com. Alas, HP has gobbled up 3com, and will
retire the label. Darnit, 3com made good gear, but my experience with hp
has been so bad of late in terms of getting anything even looked at
after the warranty expires that I'm no longer buying anything off them
(except for my monitors, all my hp gear has died and is not servicable
due to 'no parts').

So if I were to buy now I'd go netgear or linksys with a 'full
firewall'. Dynalink are a bit too up and down in my experience (not
recent experience), some of their gear was lousy, some great; and d-link
had bad flaws in their security some time ago so I'd shy away from them.

My current usr router/adsl modem is robust, but I do NOT like the
interface design - garish and cumbersome and about as anti-intuitive as
I've ever seen. It also has the ideosyncratic behaviour of stopping the
flow of data within 1/2 an hour of being turned on cold, after a reset
it will then happily work for weeks at a stretch. Go figure. Also, the
USR runs hot, hot, hot - particularly if the wireless is turned on. The
3com that I had before (partly damaged by lightening) was as cool as a
cucumber by comparison.

By the way, I have finally unearthed my 'Golden Orb' last night. Would
you still like it? If so, please send me an email (still first name dot
last name at gmail fullstop com) with your postal address - I seem to've
lost it.

-P.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs EMB wrote:
> On 4/06/2010 12:45 p.m., ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>>
>> If I need to replace my modem / router / firewall does anyone have
>> suggestions?
>
> A Netcomm NB6 family device. I recently replaced my Linksys with a
> NB6Plus4Wn and gained ~15% in real world speeds.

Handy to know, thanks. Archived for when / if needed.

It stayed up for ~8 hours, then dropped off twice in ten minutes around
midnight and since then has been stable again.

I'm pretty sure it's not my gear at fault.....
--
Shaun.

"When we dream.... that's just our brains defragmenting" G Jackson.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Crash McBash wrote:
> On Fri, 4 Jun 2010 12:45:06 +1200, "~misfit~"
> <> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>> Next move is to have a Telecom
>> tech come to my home with the caveat that if it's found to be my
>> equipment that's at fault I could be charged $200 or more[1].
>
> I have found that Telecom techs in Wellington have been very helpful
> in checking out line problems. They will only invoke the charge if
> there was obviously a fault clearly induced by your equipment - most
> unlikely in your circumstances. Over a four-month interlude with 3
> calls to my house in Kingston they (in order) replaced some of my
> phone wiring, installed a splitter (which I paid for), changed ports
> at the exchange and changed pairs between my house and the exchange.
> Connections used to drop about 10 times a day. The pairs-swap
> resulted in connections lasting weeks and connection speeds vastly
> improved Except for the splitter I paid nothing. However this was 5
> years ago so YMMV.
>
> Good luck...

Thanks Crash. Let's hope that, if it comes to it, the techs here are as
good.
--
Cheers,
Shaun.

"When we dream.... that's just our brains defragmenting" G Jackson.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Peter Huebner wrote:
> In article <hu9ial$bek$>,
> says...
>>
>> If I need to replace my modem / router / firewall does anyone have
>> suggestions? I'm currently using a most excellent Alcatel / Thompson
>> Speedtouch 510 v4 that has been great along with a 3COM OfficeConnect
>> 3CRWE.454G72 wireless AP that gets turned on when I need it (I'm
>> mostly wired but it's logical to get wireless functionality built
>> into a replacement modem if I need one). My local cabinet isn't due
>> to be ADSL2 capable until late next year.
>
> Until last week I'd've said 3com. Alas, HP has gobbled up 3com, and
> will retire the label. Darnit, 3com made good gear, but my experience
> with hp has been so bad of late in terms of getting anything even
> looked at after the warranty expires that I'm no longer buying
> anything off them (except for my monitors, all my hp gear has died
> and is not servicable due to 'no parts').

Yeah, I'm no big fan of HP myself. However you say "except for my monitors",
I have two old HP 1502 1024x756 15" LCD monitors (that are known to have an
[easilly fixable] capacitor problem) that have been totally trouble-free.
That said I don't use them often.

> So if I were to buy now I'd go netgear or linksys with a 'full
> firewall'. Dynalink are a bit too up and down in my experience (not
> recent experience), some of their gear was lousy, some great; and
> d-link had bad flaws in their security some time ago so I'd shy away
> from them.

Ok, thanks for that. I was wondering about Belkin but nobody has mentioned
them...

> My current usr router/adsl modem is robust, but I do NOT like the
> interface design - garish and cumbersome and about as anti-intuitive
> as I've ever seen. It also has the ideosyncratic behaviour of
> stopping the flow of data within 1/2 an hour of being turned on cold,
> after a reset it will then happily work for weeks at a stretch. Go
> figure. Also, the USR runs hot, hot, hot - particularly if the
> wireless is turned on. The 3com that I had before (partly damaged by
> lightening) was as cool as a cucumber by comparison.

Mate, I love my Speedtouch 510 v4. It's been so reliable I'm really hoping
that I don't have to replace it yet. It's one of those pieces of equipent
that I just never need to think about until ISPs start telling me that
connection problems are my fault. I've been told that several times now, and
to replace my modem but I stuck to my guns and it was never the Speedtouch
at fault.

> By the way, I have finally unearthed my 'Golden Orb' last night. Would
> you still like it? If so, please send me an email (still first name
> dot last name at gmail fullstop com) with your postal address - I
> seem to've lost it.

Heh! You finally found it huh? My last system that I might have used it on
stopped working sometime last year (and still hasn't been investigated) so I
no longer have need of it. However, thanks heaps for thinking of me. My
email 'for public consumption' is misfitnz with that gmail place.

Regards,
--
Shaun.

"When we dream.... that's just our brains defragmenting" G Jackson.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs EMB wrote:
> On 5/06/2010 7:24 p.m., ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>> Ok, thanks for that. I was wondering about Belkin but nobody has
>> mentioned them...
>
> Ok. I'll mention Belkin, in the same sentence as bargepole and
> something about wouldn't touch.

Cool. Thanks for that. I value your opinion. I only asked as a couple of
their models got good reviews in the June Aussie PC User mag.
--
Shaun.

"When we dream.... that's just our brains defragmenting" G Jackson.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Suzie Wong wrote:
> On Fri, 4 Jun 2010 14:25:28 +1200, Peter Huebner <>
> wrote:
>
>> In article <hu9ial$bek$>,
>> says...
>>>
>>> If I need to replace my modem / router / firewall does anyone have
>>> suggestions? I'm currently using a most excellent Alcatel / Thompson
>>> Speedtouch 510 v4 that has been great along with a 3COM
>>> OfficeConnect 3CRWE.454G72 wireless AP that gets turned on when I
>>> need it (I'm mostly wired but it's logical to get wireless
>>> functionality built into a replacement modem if I need one). My
>>> local cabinet isn't due to be ADSL2 capable until late next year.
>>
>> Until last week I'd've said 3com. Alas, HP has gobbled up 3com, and
>> will retire the label. Darnit, 3com made good gear, but my
>> experience with hp has been so bad of late in terms of getting
>> anything even looked at after the warranty expires that I'm no
>> longer buying anything off them (except for my monitors, all my hp
>> gear has died and is not servicable due to 'no parts').
>
>
> Seems that you do not know about your legal rights, you are covered by
> the C.G.A, so enforce it or lie down and be abused.

How do you know that he's covered by the CGA? It only applies to end-users.
There are quite a few IT professionals here for whom the CGA doesn't mean
jack. You buy using a business account you aren't covered by the CGA.
--
Shaun.

"When we dream.... that's just our brains defragmenting" G Jackson.

In article <>,
says...
>
> On Fri, 4 Jun 2010 14:25:28 +1200, Peter Huebner <>
> wrote:
>
> >In article <hu9ial$bek$>,
> > says...
> >>
> >> If I need to replace my modem / router / firewall does anyone have
> >> suggestions? I'm currently using a most excellent Alcatel / Thompson
> >> Speedtouch 510 v4 that has been great along with a 3COM OfficeConnect
> >> 3CRWE.454G72 wireless AP that gets turned on when I need it (I'm mostly
> >> wired but it's logical to get wireless functionality built into a
> >> replacement modem if I need one). My local cabinet isn't due to be ADSL2
> >> capable until late next year.
> >
> >Until last week I'd've said 3com. Alas, HP has gobbled up 3com, and will
> >retire the label. Darnit, 3com made good gear, but my experience with hp
> >has been so bad of late in terms of getting anything even looked at
> >after the warranty expires that I'm no longer buying anything off them
> >(except for my monitors, all my hp gear has died and is not servicable
> >due to 'no parts').
>
>
> Seems that you do not know about your legal rights, you are covered by
> the C.G.A, so enforce it or lie down and be abused.


As per usual, reading comprehension closely apporaching zero, Roger.

Try again.

I said AFTER THE WARRANTY EXPIRES. Does that mean anything to you?

While under warranty, they will ship a replacement unit. After waranty
expires, you're **** out of luck. No Parts. Right? Got it?

-P.