Orange advice....

Hi,

I am hoping you can help me...

I am with Orange as my ISP mainly because I have my mobile with them
and took out the £5 deal for free international calls. A while ago, I
had a load of problems with my livebox disconnecting and won't
reconnect. After over a week each time and many calls, eventually they
got it back up and running. On one occasion, tech support guy said he
would send me their 1MB USB modem try connecting that up as it
sometimes clears the line. I thought he was mad but duely did it and
it worked!!

Anyway, on this last occasion, Orange engineer called me from my
exchange (about 0.5 mile away) to say it is fixed but he has limited
my connection to 1MB!! Having gone back to Orange they effectively
have no interest in sorting the real problem out as I am no longer
experiencing outages!!!

Is there anything else I can do? Given the distance from the
exchange, you would have thought I would have lightning speeds?
Funnily enough a neighbour who is with Sky's extended offering is only
getting 1MB too and he is on the same telegraph pole as me.

thanks in advance for any help/ advice.

Lee.

On 27 Mar, 14:59, "Ato_Zee" <ato_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Is there anything else I can do? *Given the distance from the
> > exchange, you would have thought I would have lightning speeds?
> > Funnily enough a neighbour who is with Sky's extended offering is only
> > getting 1MB too and he is on the same telegraph pole as me.
>
> Critical info. we need, the usual router stats/control panel info.
> Sync speed
> Attenuation
> (downstream at least - and upstream while you are at it)
> ditto for SNR (Signal Noise Ratio or Noise Margin)
>
> > Orange engineer called me from my
> > exchange (about 0.5 mile away)
>
> Physical distance, as the crow flies, may not be the
> route the cable takes. It could be a mile or more
> of 200 pair (waterlogged) street cable, the double back
> a mile to your local cab
> We can judge the actual distance from the Attenuation,
> to get an approx copper length, or aluminium equivalent.

Thanks very much for your reply. Without sounding too dumb but how do
I get this info? WIll it be on the live box?

thanks again

Lee.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am hoping you can help me...
>
> I am with Orange as my ISP

Then the only advice you need is to leave them.

Graham

Ato_Zee wrote:

> > Is there anything else I can do? Given the distance from the
> > exchange, you would have thought I would have lightning speeds?
> > Funnily enough a neighbour who is with Sky's extended offering is only
> > getting 1MB too and he is on the same telegraph pole as me.
>
> Critical info. we need, the usual router stats/control panel info.
> Sync speed
> Attenuation
> (downstream at least - and upstream while you are at it)
> ditto for SNR (Signal Noise Ratio or Noise Margin)
>
> > Orange engineer called me from my
> > exchange (about 0.5 mile away)
>
> Physical distance, as the crow flies, may not be the
> route the cable takes. It could be a mile or more
> of 200 pair (waterlogged) street cable, the double back
> a mile to your local cab
> We can judge the actual distance from the Attenuation,
> to get an approx copper length, or aluminium equivalent.

Somehow I once got that info from a BT engineer who was checking my line. He
was probably just thinking out loud. It was about 1.4 times the 'crow flies'
distance.

Graham

On 27 Mar, 19:19, Eeyore <rabbitsfriendsandrelati...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> Ato_Zee wrote:
> > > Is there anything else I can do? *Given the distance from the
> > > exchange, you would have thought I would have lightning speeds?
> > > Funnily enough a neighbour who is with Sky's extended offering is only
> > > getting 1MB too and he is on the same telegraph pole as me.
>
> > Critical info. we need, the usual router stats/control panel info.
> > Sync speed
> > Attenuation
> > (downstream at least - and upstream while you are at it)
> > ditto for SNR (Signal Noise Ratio or Noise Margin)
>
> > > Orange engineer called me from my
> > > exchange (about 0.5 mile away)
>
> > Physical distance, as the crow flies, may not be the
> > route the cable takes. It could be a mile or more
> > of 200 pair (waterlogged) street cable, the double back
> > a mile to your local cab
> > We can judge the actual distance from the Attenuation,
> > to get an approx copper length, or aluminium equivalent.
>
> Somehow I once got that info from a BT engineer who was checking my line.He
> was probably just thinking out loud. It was about 1.4 times the 'crow flies'
> distance.

Hmmm. Square root of two.
Sounds like this assumes that the link to the exchange
is two legs of equal length and at right angles to one another.
This would be the max if the route was indeed two legs
at right angles.

Kráftéé wrote:

> On yes the last question, why is it you wish to stay with Orange when
> they appear to be unwilling to give you a service which they are
> contracted and have agreed to do?

Do you seriously think Orange would have contracted with the OP to give him
more than 1M?

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
20:57:56 up 112 days, 23:09, 2 users, load average: 0.02, 0.06, 0.03
Sexy ladies, and nasty boys, all freaky freakin', to the robot noise

On 27 Mar, 20:59, alexd <troffa...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Kráftéé wrote:
> > On yes the last question, why is it you wish to stay with Orange when
> > they appear to be unwilling to give you a service which they are
> > contracted and have agreed to do?
>
> Do you seriously think Orange would have contracted with the OP to give him
> more than 1M?
>
> --
> *<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpE...@ale.cx)
> *20:57:56 up 112 days, 23:09, *2 users, *load average: 0.02, 0.06, 0.03
> *Sexy ladies, and nasty boys, all freaky freakin', to the robot noise

Hi All,

Thanks for all your thoughts/ questions. Here are the answers....

Details from the livebox
----------------------------------------------
Connection mode : ADSL2+
Type : Fast
Noise margin (dB) : 10.1
Attenuation (dB) : 29.5
Attainable download rate (kbps) : 5975

Looking at this, it would appear that they have removed my 1mb
restriction in the last couple of weeks. Amazing. How do these figures
look?

Other questions
------------------------

1. Estimated distance by road is about 0.5 mile and as the crow flies
about 0.25 mile
2. The USB modem was only plugged in to unblock the livebox line. It
worked first time then I switched straight back to the livebox which
then it magically worked. Almost as if the USB one fixed the problem!

thanks for all your help

Lee.

On 28 Mar, 16:50, "Kráftéé" <Kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote:
> <leenow...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
>
> news:f1346732-8118-43a3-ad21-(E-Mail Removed)
> | On 27 Mar, 20:59, alexd <troffa...@hotmail.com> wrote:| > Kráftééwrote:
>
> | > > On yes the last question, why is it you wish to stay with
> | > > Orange when they appear to be unwilling to give you a service
> | > > which they are contracted and have agreed to do?
> | >
> | > Do you seriously think Orange would have contracted with the OP
> | > to give him more than 1M?
> | >
> | > --
> | > <http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpE...@ale.cx)
> | > 20:57:56 up 112 days, 23:09, 2 users, load average: 0.02, 0.06,
> | > 0.03
> | > Sexy ladies, and nasty boys, all freaky freakin', to the robot
> | > noise
> |
> | Hi All,
> |
> | Thanks for all your thoughts/ questions. *Here are the answers....
> |
> | Details from the livebox
> | ----------------------------------------------
> | Connection mode : ADSL2+
> | Type : Fast
> | Noise margin (dB) : 10.1
> | Attenuation (dB) : 29.5
> | Attainable download rate (kbps) : 5975
> |
> | Looking at this, it would appear that they have removed my 1mb
> | restriction in the last couple of weeks. Amazing. How do these
> | figures look?
>
> OK, you're getting over 5Mbps which shots alexd down in flames, after
> it all settles down you may find you can get a little more. *That will
> depend on how Orange manage their equipment (or is mismanage a better
> word, can't make up my mind )
> |
> | 1. Estimated distance by road is about 0.5 mile and as the crow
> | flies about 0.25 mile
> | 2. The USB modem was only plugged in to unblock the livebox line.
>
> The USB modem was used as a work around until they got someone to fix
> the fault & using that was forcing the low sync rate on your
> connection. *It did not fix anything at all, it was a cludge to keep
> you occupied with smoke & mirrors until they could be bothered to
> investigate the real problem.
>
> | It worked first time then I switched straight back to the livebox
> | which then it magically worked. *Almost as if the USB one fixed the
> | problem!
>
> Sorry it didn't fix anything, somewhere some work has been carried to
> repair your service.

Thanks all.

The odd thing is that the USB modem did fix the problem at the time.
The livebox would not connect despite various resets etc etc. When
the USB modem arrived, I literally connected it to the PC and the
line, fired the PC up (may have needed to install some drivers - can't
remember) and it immediately connected. I then immediately
disconnected the USB modem, reconnected my livebox and it connected
fine...

The 1MB restriction was that the engineer told me on the phone he had
restricted it because my livebox kept disconnecting and wouldn't
reconnect. Maybe I'm gullibly fell for it!

bod43 wrote:

> Eeyore <rabbitsfriendsandrelati...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Ato_Zee wrote:
> > > > Is there anything else I can do? Given the distance from the
> > > > exchange, you would have thought I would have lightning speeds?
> > > > Funnily enough a neighbour who is with Sky's extended offering is only
> > > > getting 1MB too and he is on the same telegraph pole as me.
> >
> > > Critical info. we need, the usual router stats/control panel info.
> > > Sync speed
> > > Attenuation
> > > (downstream at least - and upstream while you are at it)
> > > ditto for SNR (Signal Noise Ratio or Noise Margin)
> >
> > > > Orange engineer called me from my
> > > > exchange (about 0.5 mile away)
> >
> > > Physical distance, as the crow flies, may not be the
> > > route the cable takes. It could be a mile or more
> > > of 200 pair (waterlogged) street cable, the double back
> > > a mile to your local cab
> > > We can judge the actual distance from the Attenuation,
> > > to get an approx copper length, or aluminium equivalent.
> >
> > Somehow I once got that info from a BT engineer who was checking my line. He
> > was probably just thinking out loud. It was about 1.4 times the 'crow flies'
> > distance.
>
> Hmmm. Square root of two.
> Sounds like this assumes that the link to the exchange
> is two legs of equal length and at right angles to one another.
> This would be the max if the route was indeed two legs
> at right angles.

Or indeed several legs. I wouldn't be surprised it it's a decent 'rule of thumb'.

Graham

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> On 27 Mar, 20:59, alexd <troffa...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Kráftéé wrote:
> > > On yes the last question, why is it you wish to stay with Orange when
> > > they appear to be unwilling to give you a service which they are
> > > contracted and have agreed to do?
> >
> > Do you seriously think Orange would have contracted with the OP to give him
> > more than 1M?
> >
> > --
> > <http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpE...@ale.cx)
> > 20:57:56 up 112 days, 23:09, 2 users, load average: 0.02, 0.06, 0.03
> > Sexy ladies, and nasty boys, all freaky freakin', to the robot noise
>
> Hi All,
>
> Thanks for all your thoughts/ questions. Here are the answers....
>
> Details from the livebox
> ----------------------------------------------
> Connection mode : ADSL2+
> Type : Fast
> Noise margin (dB) : 10.1
> Attenuation (dB) : 29.5
> Attainable download rate (kbps) : 5975
>
> Looking at this, it would appear that they have removed my 1mb
> restriction in the last couple of weeks. Amazing. How do these figures
> look?

It should run faster than that. This chart says about 15 Mbps
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...sl2-dist07.jpg

However the cheapskate ISPs are reknowned for throttling connections ( so it
seems ) and blaming it on BT's wires.


> Other questions
> ------------------------
>
> 1. Estimated distance by road is about 0.5 mile and as the crow flies
> about 0.25 mile

That's high attenuation over that distance.

Graham