Anyone else having problems with Pipex

Or Talk Talk, or whatever they're calling themselves at the moment?

I've been unable to connect to the net all weekend. It was definitely
all working normally in the early hours of Saturday morning, but since I
tried to use it around 9.30am Saturday, nothing.

According to my router, the line is all connected as it should be, but I
can't contact the Pipex DNS. I rang Pipex on Saturday and was told "the
line is being upgraded it'll take up to 24 hours". Still nothing
yesterday afternoon, so called again and was told there was "a problem
at the exchange, should be sorted by tomorrow".

Still nothing this morning, so will try it again when I get home from
work and get back onto them again if it isn't sorted and see what excuse
they can come up with this time.

I know there are all sorts of horror stories about Pipex, but having
been with them since 2002, this is the first major outage I've had, but
I'm seriously beginning to wonder if it's time to jump ship.
Unfortunately, I'm only half way through a 12 month contract, but is
their inability to supply the service I'm paying for 3 days and
counting, a good enough reason to break the contract without penalty?
--
Sean Black

"Sean Black" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Or Talk Talk, or whatever they're calling themselves at the moment?
>
> I've been unable to connect to the net all weekend. It was definitely all
> working normally in the early hours of Saturday morning, but since I tried
> to use it around 9.30am Saturday, nothing.
>
> According to my router, the line is all connected as it should be, but I
> can't contact the Pipex DNS. I rang Pipex on Saturday and was told "the
> line is being upgraded it'll take up to 24 hours". Still nothing yesterday
> afternoon, so called again and was told there was "a problem at the
> exchange, should be sorted by tomorrow".
>
> Still nothing this morning, so will try it again when I get home from work
> and get back onto them again if it isn't sorted and see what excuse they
> can come up with this time.
>
> I know there are all sorts of horror stories about Pipex, but having been
> with them since 2002, this is the first major outage I've had, but I'm
> seriously beginning to wonder if it's time to jump ship. Unfortunately,
> I'm only half way through a 12 month contract, but is their inability to
> supply the service I'm paying for 3 days and counting, a good enough
> reason to break the contract without penalty?

In the short term, change the DNS settings (either in the router, or in your
computer). You could try OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Tke router reports ADSL sync and a PPP connection - yes? You can ping known
IP addresses on the internet - yes? Start with the default gateway
reported by the router ...

You might have a stale session. Try reconfiguring your router as follows:

Username = bt_test@startup_domain

Password = no password required

Open site http://www.bt.net/digitaldemo

Also worth a look is http://speedtester.bt.com



Then:



Username = bt_test_user@your_connnection_pipe

where your_connection_pipe is the bit after the @ symbol in your ADSL login.
Password = no password required



Then reconfigure your router with your normal login username and password.
This should reset the system at the BT end of things, and re-establish a
route into the Pipex network.


You've seen how Pipex have rewarded your loyalty - so you should have no
qualms about moving to a trustworthy ISP.

--
Graham J

In message <4cb2d56e$0$12158$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham J
<graham@invalid.?.invalid> writes
>
>"Sean Black" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Or Talk Talk, or whatever they're calling themselves at the moment?
>>
>> I've been unable to connect to the net all weekend. It was definitely all
>> working normally in the early hours of Saturday morning, but since I tried
>> to use it around 9.30am Saturday, nothing.
>>
>> According to my router, the line is all connected as it should be, but I
>> can't contact the Pipex DNS. I rang Pipex on Saturday and was told "the
>> line is being upgraded it'll take up to 24 hours". Still nothing yesterday
>> afternoon, so called again and was told there was "a problem at the
>> exchange, should be sorted by tomorrow".
>>
>> Still nothing this morning, so will try it again when I get home from work
>> and get back onto them again if it isn't sorted and see what excuse they
>> can come up with this time.
>>
>> I know there are all sorts of horror stories about Pipex, but having been
>> with them since 2002, this is the first major outage I've had, but I'm
>> seriously beginning to wonder if it's time to jump ship. Unfortunately,
>> I'm only half way through a 12 month contract, but is their inability to
>> supply the service I'm paying for 3 days and counting, a good enough
>> reason to break the contract without penalty?
>
>In the short term, change the DNS settings (either in the router, or in your
>computer). You could try OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
>
>Tke router reports ADSL sync and a PPP connection - yes? You can ping known
>IP addresses on the internet - yes? Start with the default gateway
>reported by the router ...
>
>You might have a stale session. Try reconfiguring your router as follows:
>
>Username = bt_test@startup_domain
>
>Password = no password required
>
>Open site http://www.bt.net/digitaldemo
>
>Also worth a look is http://speedtester.bt.com
>
>
>
>Then:
>
>
>
>Username = bt_test_user@your_connnection_pipe
>
>where your_connection_pipe is the bit after the @ symbol in your ADSL login.
>Password = no password required
>
>
>
>Then reconfigure your router with your normal login username and password.
>This should reset the system at the BT end of things, and re-establish a
>route into the Pipex network.
>
>
>You've seen how Pipex have rewarded your loyalty - so you should have no
>qualms about moving to a trustworthy ISP.
>

--
Sean Black

In message <4cb2d56e$0$12158$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham J
<graham@invalid.?.invalid> writes
>
>
>In the short term, change the DNS settings (either in the router, or in your
>computer). You could try OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
>
>Tke router reports ADSL sync and a PPP connection - yes? You can ping known
>IP addresses on the internet - yes? Start with the default gateway
>reported by the router ...
>
>You might have a stale session. Try reconfiguring your router as follows:
>
>Username = bt_test@startup_domain
>
>Password = no password required
>
>Open site http://www.bt.net/digitaldemo
>
>Also worth a look is http://speedtester.bt.com
>
>
>
>Then:
>
>
>
>Username = bt_test_user@your_connnection_pipe
>
>where your_connection_pipe is the bit after the @ symbol in your ADSL login.
>Password = no password required
>
>
>
>Then reconfigure your router with your normal login username and password.
>This should reset the system at the BT end of things, and re-establish a
>route into the Pipex network.
>
>
>You've seen how Pipex have rewarded your loyalty - so you should have no
>qualms about moving to a trustworthy ISP.
>
Thanks.

Will give it a try when I get home.

The router does report ADSL Sync and PPP Connection.

Not sure how to ping addresses.

I have emailed Pipex this morning, documenting what has gone on this
weekend and my dissatisfaction with it and their "it'll be working
tomorrow", and told them if it's not sorted by the end of the day, I'll
be requesting a MAC. So at least they've got something in writing from
me.

I've since had an email back from them saying they are progressing it to
second level support and asking me a load of questions, about filters,
what else is connected etc... which makes me think they are trying to
solve a line problem, but if the router is syncing and showing a stable
connection, it's not a line problem, is it? Or have I got the wrong end
of the stick?
--
Sean Black

[snip]

> Will give it a try when I get home.
>
> The router does report ADSL Sync and PPP Connection.
>
> Not sure how to ping addresses.

Open a command window; type:

ping <ip address>
e.g.
ping 208.67.220.220.


> I have emailed Pipex this morning, documenting what has gone on this
> weekend and my dissatisfaction with it and their "it'll be working
> tomorrow", and told them if it's not sorted by the end of the day, I'll be
> requesting a MAC. So at least they've got something in writing from me.
>
> I've since had an email back from them saying they are progressing it to
> second level support and asking me a load of questions, about filters,
> what else is connected etc... which makes me think they are trying to
> solve a line problem, but if the router is syncing and showing a stable
> connection, it's not a line problem, is it? Or have I got the wrong end of
> the stick?

No, Pipex have the wrong end of that stick. They have demonstrated they
don't understand the issue, at least as you have described it here.

--
Graham J

In message <4cb30eeb$0$12166$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham J
<graham@invalid.?.invalid> writes
>[snip]
>
>> Will give it a try when I get home.
>>
>> The router does report ADSL Sync and PPP Connection.
>>
>> Not sure how to ping addresses.
>
>Open a command window; type:
>
>ping <ip address>
>e.g.
>ping 208.67.220.220.
>
>
>> I have emailed Pipex this morning, documenting what has gone on this
>> weekend and my dissatisfaction with it and their "it'll be working
>> tomorrow", and told them if it's not sorted by the end of the day, I'll be
>> requesting a MAC. So at least they've got something in writing from me.
>>
>> I've since had an email back from them saying they are progressing it to
>> second level support and asking me a load of questions, about filters,
>> what else is connected etc... which makes me think they are trying to
>> solve a line problem, but if the router is syncing and showing a stable
>> connection, it's not a line problem, is it? Or have I got the wrong end of
>> the stick?
>
>No, Pipex have the wrong end of that stick. They have demonstrated they
>don't understand the issue, at least as you have described it here.
>
As I thought. In the past when I've had problems, the router doesn't
sync at all, this time it's totally different.

I have replied to their second email once again stating that there is
not a problem with the line but a DNS problem. I now begin to see where
all the Pipex horror stories come from :-)

This being pretty much the first time I've had to have any major
dealings with them, at least not since the call centre was actually
based in this country as opposed to India or wherever it is now.

I think it's definitely time to start looking elsewhere for ISP.
--
Sean Black

In message <4cb30eeb$0$12166$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham J
<graham@invalid.?.invalid> writes
>
>No, Pipex have the wrong end of that stick. They have demonstrated they
>don't understand the issue, at least as you have described it here.
>
Well, what do you know? Got home yesterday and all was back working as
it should be, whether it was anything to do with the snotty email I sent
them, I have no idea.

Strangely, this morning I've had an email from them again, apologising
for my problems and promising they'll be sorted ASAP, but the priority
is to sort out my telephone service problem!!??? I haven't got a
telephone problem, I didn't even have problem with the broadband line,
just their DNS.

I've got 5 months left of my contract, apparently, so I'm going to spend
that time deciding on an alternative supplier and will be leaving Pipex
at the earliest opportunity, I think.
--
Sean Black