Virgin drop-outs - Needing Help...

[Johnnyboy]

Thought that would get your attention!

My Virgin ADSL broadband wasn't connectable on Sunday evening and again last night. My Netgear router DG834GT had a flashing orange 'i' symbol indicating no ADSL service. The service starts again automatically in the morning.

Virgin have confirmed their service was fine on Sunday and I got the usual generic response. I've tried different cables, phone point, power adapter etc. without luck.

BT's dslchecker confirms the service is poor in my area (see report below).
A year ago I left BT for a similar problem and joined Virgin, so I don't think it is an ISP problem. I'm at the end of the exchange so maybe get worse problems when it is overloaded.

I'd appreciate your advice whether to persevere and maybe buy a newer router to rule this out.

Or alternatively look into mobile broadband. Problem here is that I get a very poor signal across all networks (no mobile signal indoors on O2, Orange and Vodafone).

Thanks, John


-------------------------------------------------------------
THE BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER

For Telephone Number 01382581XXX on Exchange MUIRHEAD

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that it is VERY UNLIKELY you will be able to receive fixed 512Kbps or 256Kbps broadband service due to the very long length of your telephone line. However, your order will be accepted if you still wish to order. An engineer may need to visit who will, where possible, supply the broadband service.

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 250Kbps or greater.

If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase.

 

[tibtib123]

Mobile Broadband wont solve your speed problem It will work but the speeds might be slow...

 

[wij]

Well judging from the report from the BT checker you have an exceptionally long line, so you're never going to get a brilliant service anyway.

Drop outs and losing sync are not going to go away from changing ISP, and if you've had a bit of bad weather that could have caused enough interference to kill off your ADSL signal for a while.

Mobile BB is certainly not the answer if you get no mobile signal indoors as without a reasonable 3G/HSDPA signal it is not going to be any better or more reliable than a ropey 56k modem connection.

The only real alternative for you is possibly to look at a satellite based connection, though these are very expensive and wouldn't really deliver any more speed to you without a lot of additional cost.

 

[Johnnyboy]

Really appreciate the responses, thanks. They have confirmed my thinking.

I'm going to set up a dial-up connection as a backup when ADSL drops-out.

I'll look into satellite, but not sure if this is the answer.

 

[Mattus]

What connection speed do you normally get?

 

[rtk]

Dude the internets cant move your house closer, where do you live that deemed so far away?

 

[Duke]

Satellite is worth looking at. I noticed a provider (will try to find them again later) was only £30 a month and it was now two way rather than one way and using phone line for upstream.

 

[Johnnyboy]

Thanks again for the replies. I am about 3 miles from the exchange in a rural, hilly area above Dundee. I usually get 512k down and 56k up - not good I know.

I wondered if I fitted a mobile phone aerial to my house roof that I might get a 3G signal? I'd then need to figure out how to set up a network in the house connected to the aerial. The mobile USB dongles don't look like they would take an external aerial.

Thanks again.

 

[Mattus]

If you get no signal at all indoors, I reckon it's very unlikely that you'll pick up a 3G signal, even with an external aerial. 3G does tend to be limited to built-up areas and areas that already have pretty good 2G coverage. You can find out where your nearest mobile base stations are using SiteFinder. The effective range of a 3G mast isn't as far as that of a 2G mast, though.