No connection since thunderstorm

My brother has a 512kb account with Supanet, and since a violent
thunderstorm on Friday morning his modem refuses to synchronize with the
exchange. He has had no problems with his setup for more than six
months, but now the LED continuously flashes to no avail.

The USB ports all work, as all other peripherals work perfectly with
them. The analogue phone line works perfectly, but that bears little on
the status of ADSL.

The Supanet helpline charges £1.00 per minute, and my brother was kept
on for half an hour while a somewhat incoherent woman in India ran
through her checklist of usual suspects. She eventually said that my
brother's modem was obviously too far from the main extension, to which
he stated that he had tried bypassing all the filters to no avail. This
obviously isn't the problem anyway, as he has been using the same setup
since Christmas with no problems.

He explained about the thunderstorm, but the woman said that it couldn't
possibly have caused a problem(!?). I haven't been able to sit down at
his PC and take a proper look, but I'm guessing the problem is actually
with the exchange.

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/ex...p?ecode=WWEXMO

Can anyone advise on a further cause of action? He doesn't want another
£30 phone call getting nowhere fast.

"Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:d9jo3r$8l6$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> My brother has a 512kb account with Supanet, and since a violent thunderstorm on Friday morning his modem refuses to
> synchronize with the exchange. He has had no problems with his setup for more than six months, but now the LED
> continuously flashes to no avail.
>
> The USB ports all work, as all other peripherals work perfectly with them. The analogue phone line works perfectly,
> but that bears little on the status of ADSL.
>
> The Supanet helpline charges £1.00 per minute, and my brother was kept on for half an hour while a somewhat incoherent
> woman in India ran through her checklist of usual suspects. She eventually said that my brother's modem was obviously
> too far from the main extension, to which he stated that he had tried bypassing all the filters to no avail. This
> obviously isn't the problem anyway, as he has been using the same setup since Christmas with no problems.
>
> He explained about the thunderstorm, but the woman said that it couldn't possibly have caused a problem(!?). I
> haven't been able to sit down at his PC and take a proper look, but I'm guessing the problem is actually with the
> exchange.
>
> http://www.samknows.com/broadband/ex...p?ecode=WWEXMO
>
> Can anyone advise on a further cause of action? He doesn't want another £30 phone call getting nowhere fast.
>
>

your modem is fried. get a new one.

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 15:01:26 +0100, Cuzman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>He explained about the thunderstorm, but the woman said that it couldn't
>possibly have caused a problem(!?). I haven't been able to sit down at
>his PC and take a proper look, but I'm guessing the problem is actually
>with the exchange.

I'd take your ADSL kit with you, to be able to check whether it's his kit

>http://www.samknows.com/broadband/ex...p?ecode=WWEXMO
>
>Can anyone advise on a further cause of action? He doesn't want another
>£30 phone call getting nowhere fast.

As the other poster has suggested, I'd say the modem is likely to have died
in the storm. Next 30 quid should be spent on a spare... and when he can,
make a switch to some other ISP which doesn't use an 09xx number. Much
depends on amount of usage, but firms like Metronet etc have 0870 and/or
geographic numbers. Some people even moan about 0845, but even 0871 (at
10p a minute) would be cheap compared with 100p/min !! Ebuyer and Dabs
do some low cost ADSL modem/router gear, and budget network cards are a
few pounds too, if his PC has none. Just be glad PC didn't go bang :-)


--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4> - Happy to save cash with Plus.Net!!
E-mail + files - 30 day free trial - <http://web.vfm-deals.com/runbox/>
USENET news service? <http://tinyurl.com/3rjw4> (plans from under US$5)

A previous NetGear ADSL modem showed exactly the same symptoms when it died
(AFAIAA nothing to do with a storm though).

Yes, if you can take your kit to his home and try it there, and vice versa.

However, I suspect the exchange is probably in the clear, I think the
problem would be more widely known if the exchange was badly affected,
though it could be a problem local to his house or street. Get him to ask
his neighbours whether they're having any problems.

"Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d9jo3r$8l6$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> My brother has a 512kb account with Supanet, and since a violent
> thunderstorm on Friday morning his modem refuses to synchronize with the
> exchange. He has had no problems with his setup for more than six
> months, but now the LED continuously flashes to no avail.
>
> The USB ports all work, as all other peripherals work perfectly with
> them. The analogue phone line works perfectly, but that bears little on
> the status of ADSL.
>
[snip]
>
> I haven't been able to sit down at
> his PC and take a proper look, but I'm guessing the problem is actually
> with the exchange.

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 15:01:26 +0100,it is alleged that Cuzman
<(E-Mail Removed)> spake thusly in uk.telecom.broadband:

<snip>
>
>Can anyone advise on a further cause of action? He doesn't want another
>30 phone call getting nowhere fast.
>

Try another modem, beg, borrow etc, rather than buying, at least to
begin with and possibly new microfilters (You should be able to prove
the line is ok with another modem with no filters, temporarily) and if
the problem ends up being the modem, then severely bitch at the isp
about their incompetent tech support, and demand they refund the 30
pounds. They are unlikely to do so, so start looking for a decent isp
:-)

--
In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were REAL men,
women were REAL women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were
REAL small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Java Jive wrote:

> A previous NetGear ADSL modem showed exactly the same symptoms when it
> died (AFAIAA nothing to do with a storm though).
>
> Yes, if you can take your kit to his home and try it there, and vice
> versa.
>
> However, I suspect the exchange is probably in the clear, I think the
> problem would be more widely known if the exchange was badly affected,
> though it could be a problem local to his house or street. Get him to ask
> his neighbours whether they're having any problems.
>
It's not always the case of widespread problems - a few years ago we had a
window-rattling lightning strike nearby and our HH ISDN line went down.
When the chap turned up to fix it, he replaced all the kit from the box on
the wall, a different pair to the exchange (the original was
short-circuit), new linecard and even new junction boxes in the house
between entry point and the HH box. I asked him if it had fried much and he
said that ours was the only reported fault on the exchange.
--
Dave
mail da (E-Mail Removed) (without the space)
http://www.llondel.org/
So many gadgets, so little time...

True, lightning can do strange things, but the fact that his phone line is
working suggests that the problem lies within the house. However, whenever
I get a problem like that I always think it pays to check whether one's
neighbours are having problems, otherwise you can waste a lot of time trying
to fix something that isn't broken.

"Dave {Reply Address in.sig}" <noone$$@llondel.org> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Java Jive wrote:
>
> It's not always the case of widespread problems - a few years ago we had a
> window-rattling lightning strike nearby and our HH ISDN line went down.
> When the chap turned up to fix it, he replaced all the kit from the box on
> the wall, a different pair to the exchange (the original was
> short-circuit), new linecard and even new junction boxes in the house
> between entry point and the HH box. I asked him if it had fried much and
he
> said that ours was the only reported fault on the exchange.
> --
> Dave
> mail da (E-Mail Removed) (without the space)
> http://www.llondel.org/
> So many gadgets, so little time...

"nick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42bd71ac$0$2039$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d9jo3r$8l6$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > My brother has a 512kb account with Supanet, and since a violent
thunderstorm on Friday morning his modem refuses to
> > synchronize with the exchange. He has had no problems with his setup for
more than six months, but now the LED
> > continuously flashes to no avail.
> >
>
> your modem is fried. get a new one.
>

If the modem is 6 months old it might still be under warranty....

--

Michael Chare

On Saturday, in article
<42bd71ac$0$2039$(E-Mail Removed)>
(E-Mail Removed) "nick" wrote:

> "Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:d9jo3r$8l6$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > My brother has a 512kb account with Supanet, and since a violent thunderstorm
> on Friday morning his modem refuses to
> > synchronize with the exchange. He has had no problems with his setup for
> more than six months, but now the LED
> > continuously flashes to no avail.
> >
> > The USB ports all work, as all other peripherals work perfectly with them.
> The analogue phone line works perfectly,
> > but that bears little on the status of ADSL.

[snipped]

>
> your modem is fried. get a new one.

Yes, that's my suspicion too. I've had it happen three times in the
last dozen years. A thunderstorm can generate a considerable surge in a
phone line. The modem still works, as far as the computer is concerned,
but there's a safety device to stop dangerous voltages, and when that
fails there's no line visible.


--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

"I am Number Two," said Penfold. "You are Number Six."

Hi

Exactly the same problem with my router / modem since the thunderstorms
in the UK. In fact the house 2 doors away was hit by lighting and all
her electronics died. Only my router seems to be affected - the
network side is fine but the modem just refuses to respond.

If its a netgear they come with a 2 year warranty, spoke to some bloke
in Indian yesterday who is now arranging for a new router to be sent to
me free of charge.

Not bad service at all - shame I ordered a new router on friday night
before I knew about the extented warranty :-)

Thanks.

Rich

"David G. Bell" wrote:
> On Saturday, in article
> <42bd71ac$0$2039$(E-Mail Removed)>
> (E-Mail Removed) "nick" wrote:
>
> > "Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:d9jo3r$8l6$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > >
> > > My brother has a 512kb account with Supanet, and since a violent thunderstorm
> > on Friday morning his modem refuses to
> > > synchronize with the exchange. He has had no problems with his setup for
> > more than six months, but now the LED
> > > continuously flashes to no avail.
> > >
> > > The USB ports all work, as all other peripherals work perfectly with them.
> > The analogue phone line works perfectly,
> > > but that bears little on the status of ADSL.
>
> [snipped]
>
> >
> > your modem is fried. get a new one.
>
> Yes, that's my suspicion too. I've had it happen three times in the
> last dozen years. A thunderstorm can generate a considerable surge in a
> phone line. The modem still works, as far as the computer is concerned,
> but there's a safety device to stop dangerous voltages, and when that
> fails there's no line visible.
>
>
> --
> David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
>
> "I am Number Two," said Penfold. "You are Number Six."