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UKOnline Maxadsl- Driving me INSANE!!

hi al, i hope that i may be able to get some solid advice on my connection as its driving me up the F****** POLE!!!!

Ok so i joined UKonline about a month ago and i was told they could provide me with a 3meg service using maxadsl. Only reason why i went for this is that pipex were unable to offer me anything better than the 1meg service. Despite ALL the complaints about Pipex i must say NOT once did i experience any problem WATSOEVER with them!! My d/l were 40gb and u/l were 85gb per month and not once was i ever cautioned or was i capped on speed!!

Ok so now to the problem at hand, EVERY SINGLE DAY i have problems with my connection not neing able to connect to the net or even if it is connected i can't actually open any pages not even my homepage!! If i right click on the 2 computers to check the satus of my connection i notice that the number of errors recieved are just ticking away lick a clock!! In 3min it should 128 errors in recieving data and compression was 4%.

Its 4am and how in the world can the same be experiencing an overload as i was told?? I have spoken to ukonline about the problems and the answer is always " OH thats weird, everything seems to be fine on our side!!!"

They are insistent i get a router wen i have told them that my modem is capable of handling upto 8meg connections. Its a Thompson 330 USB Modem.

I am constantly experiencing these disruptions everyday without fail and now would like your advice into possible solutions, Do you think that it may be the modem? Is there any software out there that will be able to keep a log of the times wen my connection stops working and for how long so eventually if the service does not improve i have evidence to show as to why i have a right to terminate my contract due to them failing to provide with such said service in the user agreement.

Man i've even been kicked off the Warcraft tornament as i am UNABLE to keep an active connection for the duration of 1 game!!! (+/- 30min game)

So any advice you may have i'd appreciate it!!
 
Trying to solve a MaxDSL problem is a matter of elimination.

1 try your modem in the master socket. this will eliminate house wiring.
2 get some stats on your modem, ie snr and att, and post back.
3 consider buying a router, it realy does help. and doesnt have to cost a fortune.

http://www.dslsource.co.uk/product_details.asp?idProduct=87

Basicaly MaxDSL runs your connection close to the limit of reliability. If your modem struggles to maintain that limit, then you will get disconections. The router ive linked handles MaxDSL very well, there is also wireless version. There are other models of router, but you see what price kit is availble.

Try to keep your cool with UKonline, they are ok really, im with them too and find TS fine.
 
although getting a router can seem like a big step thats not needed it can infact improve problems.

A friend had a problem with getting only 1.2mb on Max, they live miles from the exchange. So he kept being told to get a router even though the usb modem was capable of upto 8mb.

He got one and his connection jumped overnight to 2.2mb and been stable ever since.

One thing with usb modems is that you are using more system resources on your pc to run it. The usb port speed, computer speed, power issues and drivers can all cause a slowdown or incorrect speeds on connection.
Getting a router means that the connection is direct to the router, missing out your pc so not using all its resources and tends to be more stable and also secure.

Of course ideally if you connect via a lan cable to it you will get the best possible speeds compared to using the wireless connection.

Yes it means paying out money, but its a worthy investment of £35 ish
 
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If you want to monitor your connection, sign up for an account at http://www.l8nc.com/


If you have a BT master socket with a removable lower panel and have hard-wired telephone extensions connected to it, unscrew the panel and connect the modem to the test socket behind it. If the downstream SNR margin is increased, try disconnecting the ring wire from the back of the removable panel.

The ring wire isn't needed provided that phones are connected using UK spec ADSL Filters which have their own ring capacitor. Because it is not part of a twisted pair, the ring wire acts as an antenna which can pick up interference that causes CRC errors.
 
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WOW!!! Thanks people for your responses! Well i'm going take your advice and go get me a router and then report back on how it goes.

Ok i know monkeyarms put a link for a router for me to see but is there anything in particular about a router that i should wanna get? I don't know much about them so i could end up buying some crappy one and i wouldn't know the difference! Any suggestions pliz.......
 
Well router/modem combo's are easy as that way you dont need a seperate modem. There are routers with wifi which you may want to consider should you have a laptop/pda, there are also routers with printer servers inbuilt. If however you have one machine then somthing simple like a modem/router combo (gateway) with a couple of ports will be fine. It comes down to personal preference, i've always liked Linksys routers but atm I'm using a SMC.
 
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The reason i linked that router is because its very stable with problematic lines, which u seem to have. The reason for this is, it has a Broadcom chipset, which is very stable.

Other router that have this chipset are Belkin 7633, Netgear DG834GT and the Speedtouch model i linked. Also, the speedtouch 585 which is the wireless version.

Also the sppedtouch range have a software tool called DMT tool, which allows tweaking to get the most fom your Max connection. Have a look over at Adslguide for discussions of Routers...

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/
 
You can find many routers from about £34 which include wireless.

3com, Linksys etc. although there is nothing to say that some of the cheaper ones wont do the job. Of course not all routers perform the same.. you could spend a £100 and yet a £35 might give better results on your line. Either way it will give better results than a usb modem, although dont expect major changes overnight. Once you have it setup leave it on for a full 7 days and then reboot the router, any sync changes to speed should then happen. DO NOT reboot over and over just to see if the speed increases as you can end up making the situation much worse as the exchange thinks it can't cope at that current connection.

I have an Addon wireless router from Maplins and cost me about £35 and although its a cheap make (never heard of it) it works a treat and get a constant 6mb download speed. (its about £49 now)

Aldi (the food shop) normally have a Medion in stock which comes with a usb wireless adapter and is £49 to £54. Quite easy to setup and of course you get the 12 months money back if unhappy.

Misco have a few deals:

http://www.misco.co.uk/categories/~941~/Wireless Networking.htm

Ebuyer and dabs do own brand/budget ones from around the £34 mark:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/sear...6&strSearch=&intSubcatUID=477&bolShowAll=true

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...177&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11177,4294959957

Just dont forget.. if you leave the wireless feature on or use it then make sure you enable WEP / security
 
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Netgear DG834GT
It might be worth mentioning that while this GT model has the Broadcom chipset, the cheaper netgear models with a similar code have an entirely different chipset, which I understand is not as good.

If you want a cheap router there is a website here selling B grade/used/returns http://www.dsldepot.co.uk/index.asp?idprodtype=2 although please note I have never purchased from them so I've no idea if they are any good. Also check www.ebuyer.co.uk but avoid the cheapo routers based on the old "Accessrunner" Conexant chipset (these are not good on poor lines).

I would still recomend trying the test point behind the master socket as the USB modem may not be the problem (although I'd get a router anyway)
 
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Just a note that may be of use to the OP, whilst others have correctly pointed out that cheap routers are available for £30ish, a 'cheap' router wouldnt be the way to go for solving a problem line.
I would go for something that is recommended for noisy lines, like i listed.
 
A router is the best option as the ST330 can only transfer about 3.5 meg data speeds which is useless when you have a connection that is about to do twice that due to the USB.

As to which router to get mmmmm the DG834GT gives your a intermittent connection which Netgear doesnt know how to fix, the speedtouch 585 is quite good and easy to set up. I disagree that the normal DG834G is worse than the GT the wireless speed is better but thats about it and will only work with cards that are another 50 quid each.

Overall out of all the routers on the market its the DG834G not the GT or a ST585 for wireless ones or the equivilant none wireless.

If you want my opinion I would speed more and get a VOIP router instead like the ST716 or the ST780 which will allow you to plug a normal phone into them and with a SIP service will allow you that feature in the future.
 
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