Other ways to get broadband

moneyistooshorttomention

I've had such problems with my broadband since moving here and engineers have been in numerous times checking it out.

The phoneline to the house does seem to be the problem (most of it is rather old) and I'm fighting and fighting them to get them to change it and they are refusing and refusing (on grounds of cost).

Wondering what way to go now to get normal broadband (ie the standard I was used to prior to moving) - rather than constantly having to "fight" with my broadband to make it work normally.

Darn nearly 100% of the time I use the "checking" thing on my computer for the source of the problem up comes "Windows Network Diagnostics - problems found = windows cant communicate with the device or resource (primary DNS server)".

I've just had a local computer guy telling me "That means it's definitely the phoneline to your house and nothing to do with your computer. I can take your computer away and check it elsewhere if you like - and I will find it's fine and the problem is nothing to do with you".

I'm at a loss as to how to proceed now. I'm about to have engineers in yet again for time number 101 since getting this house (or whatever it's got to this time).

I bet this engineer visit doesnt do the trick either and I'll still have it cutting out on me and they'll still be refusing to swop most of phoneline.

What would you do in these circumstances to get normal service once and for all? (NB: It's a desktop computer, wired-up and not wireless).

arciere

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Darn nearly 100% of the time I use the "checking" thing on my computer for the source of the problem up comes "Windows Network Diagnostics - problems found = windows cant communicate with the device or resource (primary DNS server)".

I've just had a local computer guy telling me "That means it's definitely the phoneline to your house and nothing to do with your computer. I can take your computer away and check it elsewhere if you like - and I will find it's fine and the problem is nothing to do with you".

That error means that the computer is unable to reach the DNS server. While this can be because of a broadband problem, before blaming the line, I would first of all check the router.
Assuming that this is an ADSL line, what speed does it sync at? What are the noise levels? How is the cabling within your house? Does the ADSL remain in sync or does it disconnect frequently?
There are so many variables with an unstable internet connection that, while a faulty line could be the issue, it may also depend on other factors.
You mention that the cabling is old, are you referring to the cabling from the Exchange to your house (if so, how do you know that it's old?), or are you talking about the internal wiring after the BT master socket?
PS Have you/the engineer tried to change DNS server? What server are you using now?

[Deleted User]

If you can then take the computer and router and try it at someone elses house, also try the computer on their router. You can then (if everything checks out) use that when you next contact them.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm not very pc-literate - so bear with me.

The computer has been cutting out on me ever since moving here. One of the things I did some weeks back was I had the computer guy I called in changing my DNS server from the Plusnet default one to another one. I chose the Google one ("Google Public DNS").

Hence I was getting a bit confused earlier on - when I talked to another computer guy here and he didnt seem to understand what I meant by "I've had the server changed from the Plusnet one to the Google one" and kept repeating "Google isnt a server" and me responding with "There's Google - as in googling - and there's a Google server. I have the Google server" and him saying I don't have a problem. It's down to the phoneline.

The cabling within my house is all recent (ie I've had it done since buying the house). I'd never seen anything like the cabling set-up in this house at the time I bought it - and hence had it changed to standard modern usual (main socket that BT put in and secondary socket I had to have an electrician put in - as they wouldnt put the wires "hidden", because of "'elf and safety considerations for themselves").

The "old" cabling I refer to is the BT phoneline. I believe most of it is 1970s.

The router I have is my 2nd replacement since moving here and was only changed earlier this year and is a decent quality one.

System

Good, the computer guy has done what I would have done so this bypasses any DNS issues with the router etc so the only way you can get that error message now is with no internet connectivity which is either a problem with the connection between the computer and the router, a problem with the router so it has no internet connection or a problem with the phone line which is causing no internet connection.



The guy you spoke to who said there's no google server needs to not be doing his job. Google run their own public DNS servers, the IP address is 8.8.8.8


Basically a website is actually accessed by an IP address, not the name and what a DNS server does is look up the name you type in the address bar, find the IP address its supposed to be and tells your browser to access that. So it goes like this:


You type in https://www.moneysavingexpert.com in the address bar.

Computer queries DNS server.
DNS server reports the IP address for https://www.moneysavingexpert.com is 162.13.48.82
Browser asks that IP address for the information.

moneyistooshorttomention

Tarambor wrote: »

The guy you spoke to who said there's no google server needs to not be doing his job. Google run their own public DNS servers, the IP address is 8.8.8.8

Yep....that's the one I've now got.

I was the one that had read something or other on the Net about different servers, just about understood what they were on about and googled as to what would be the best server for me. Followed by specifying to a different computer guy that that was part of what he was going to do to my computer to alter it.

Thanks.

culpepper

Does your landline phone cut out too when the web is down? Ours does.
We were with BT (phone and web)for a few years and our line was rubbish, we kept complaining and they kept saying it was not their problem. Eventually we switched to sky and within about 2 days of having the new set up, it failed again. We rang them and they sent a man out within 20 minutes of the call. He found the problem was the wiring outside and sorted it out(which is ironic as it is the same engineer that BT would have used and the same box of wires). Sometimes the line will still go down but hardly ever and each time, its sorted quite quickly. One engineer told us it is because the wiring from the box (up the road) is all old copper and until the phone companies actually change it out, its likely to happen with any internet that comes through it at times.

AndyPix

Your "computer guy" needs sacking ..


Google run 2 Public DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4


Next time this happens, to help determine where the issue actually is, see if you can ping 8.8.8.8 and then see if you can ping your routers IP address .


You mention the trouble shooter thingy - does this fix the issue temporarily or tell you that it was unable to do so ?

arciere

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

The cabling within my house is all recent (ie I've had it done since buying the house). I'd never seen anything like the cabling set-up in this house at the time I bought it - and hence had it changed to standard modern usual (main socket that BT put in and secondary socket I had to have an electrician put in - as they wouldnt put the wires "hidden", because of "'elf and safety considerations for themselves").

The "old" cabling I refer to is the BT phoneline. I believe most of it is 1970s.

If the router is connected to the extension, instead of the main socket, BT (or PlusNet) will never touch it, so if that's the case I would move the router to the main socket, if possible.
The best way of checking whether it's a computer problem or a line problem is to monitor the stats on the router. If you (or the technician) connect to the Plusnet router, and check how long the line has been in sync for, you can blame (or not) line issues.
If you had ADSL sync for 2 hours, while the routers was never switched off, then clearly the line is not stable.
Another check is to look at the SNR values, these tell you what the noise on the line is (if you suspect old wires, they should have a major impact on the noise levels).
Is the computer the only device that uses the ADSL line? Do you have a mobile phone you can check when the connection on the computer is down?
EDIT: I guess you have filters on all the sockets that have a phone?

arciere

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

If you can then take the computer and router and try it at someone elses house, also try the computer on their router. You can then (if everything checks out) use that when you next contact them.

No, that won't work, unless you have the same ISP and does not require username/password.

moneyistooshorttomention

culpepper wrote: »

Does your landline phone cut out too when the web is down? Ours does.
We were with BT (phone and web)for a few years and our line was rubbish, we kept complaining and they kept saying it was not their problem. Eventually we switched to sky and within about 2 days of having the new set up, it failed again. We rang them and they sent a man out within 20 minutes of the call. He found the problem was the wiring outside and sorted it out(which is ironic as it is the same engineer that BT would have used and the same box of wires). Sometimes the line will still go down but hardly ever and each time, its sorted quite quickly. One engineer told us it is because the wiring from the box (up the road) is all old copper and until the phone companies actually change it out, its likely to happen with any internet that comes through it at times.

No it doesnt - the landline still works okay thankfully (albeit sometimes with a bit of noise on the line).

That's one of the things I've been considering - either whether to swop Internet provider (and Sky is the one I'm wondering about swopping to).

Fibre broadband has reached this area and I've also considered that - but am told that they would still be using the old landline from the box to my house and that swopping to fibre wouldnt make any difference (because the fibre only goes to the box). Mind you - I don't know if that's correct or no - considering one of the computer people telling me that told me in the next breath that there's no such thing as a Google server:cool::cool:

Personally - I can't see how I could swop to fibre - and NOT get any difference. Otherwise - why would anyone do a swop to fibre and pay more for their service in the process? They must be getting more for their money surely?