Internet connection keeps dropping out. Aol and bt not helping

fatpurse

My ISP is aol and bt provides my phone line. My Internet connection has never fully worked properly in the 7 years that I have lived in my house. During the last few weeks it has got worse and drops out every 5-10 minutes for around 5-10 minutes before connecting again and this cycle repeats.

In the past aol have been hard work and after several repeated calls and being cut off etc i have got them to arrange a bt engineer to come out. Those times when
I have to keep saving and editing as I will lose connection again before I've finished, bear with

I'm back 3 posts below

DevCoder

Is it the wifi that's dropping out or the actual internet connection from the exchange?

Have you replaced the microfilter if its ADSL? Also if it is ADSL do you have a microfilter at every phone point?

keyser666

Is this wireless or wired? If wireless can you try it wired?

forgotmyname

If you have wireless, AOL will probably tell you that the cable is the wrong colour.

Modem or Router? AOL software may lose connection but the internet may still be active.

fatpurse

I'm back!

I don't have filters at every so let as once a bt engineer came and put one larger filter in at the main socket and said I didn't need the other filters. The bt engineer that came yesterday confirmed this.

Now I don't know if its the wifi or the actual Internet connection from the exchange. A red light comes on to my router and I cannot connect to Internet at that time. My ipad shows that I'm still connected though. It's not just the ipad it's the same whether I use my main pic or whatever. My iPhone only rarely connects to my wifi for dome reason.

I'm on my 3rd router from aol so I doubt it's the router. Bt engineer yesterday said there is no problem with my line even though initially he said his test showed that there was. Typically my router lights were all on green whilst he was here. Actually it worked very well yesterday after he came up until 6pm then the red light saga continued.

Ps how do I try it wired? It's wired up to my main pc but wireless for the ipad. Apologies for my lack of tech knowledge.

Aol are a nightmare they have me going through the same checks every time I call, no one seems to take notes of my situation and I'm always taken back to the start and the same questions . How many telephone points, do you have filters, unplug this and that aaarghgh. The last time I spoke with aol they said to call bt. Bt have not been much better, I'm put on hold, there is a slight language communication problem, and they tell me my line is ok I need to call aol.

I don't know where the problem lies but calling them both up is wasting so much of my time and I'm getting so frustrated with not getting anywhere.

ljonski

Post this on the techie forum.

fatpurse

Ok I'll move it to tech when I can

ValHaller

fatpurse wrote: »

INow I don't know if its the wifi or the actual Internet connection from the exchange.

Put your efforts into resolving this question. Until you do this, getting BT out or whatever is 50-50 a wild goose chase.

DevCoder

If the connection light is going from green to red then that's the DSLAM dropping the connection (ie its an exchange issue) or the router is dropping the connection.

The requirement of a microfilter at each outlet depends on how the wiring is configured. For the time being can you remove any other devices from any other extension point other than the main point (which should be filtered) and see if that helps?

If you know how to get to your routers status page, can you give the connection status when the light is red (probably "down") and if the information is there can you also provide the line attenuation values?

WTFH

Physically unplug all your phones, fax machines and any other devices that are plugged into phone sockets so that the only thing plugged in is the router.

Does the connection still drop out?

Next, what is the make & model of your router!

Next, try connecting using just your PC. Does it drop out?

closed

assuming the router is plugged into the master socket, it's an aol or bt problem, not wireless

login to the router admin page when it happens, and have a look at the connection status.