Steve King Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 I finally decided to broadband at home and was pleased to find out that wireless broadband is now available in my street and what's more the price is about the same as dialup! I also thought it was high time to rid myself of the ancient pile on junk running on Windows 98! I signed up and the wireless modem arrived special delivery the next day. Meanwhile I lurked on e-bay and did a successful last minute bid on a new computer. The computer arrived yesterday or more correctly, I should say most of it arrived as one box was missing and I'm having to use the old monitor and speakers for the time being! I connected up the new computer and booted up. So far so good. I ignored all the nagging messages telling me to install drivers for the printers and scanner. Yes, I do know that the hardware won't work correctly without them Mr Gates! I just want to get this wireless modem connected up and see how fast it is! The driver for the modem installed quickly and seconds later I plugged in the modem and switched on. Full strength signal and away we go! I logged into my new ISP's homepage and found the instructions for configuring Outlook Express. I went and made a coffee and was about to return to the computer when the phone rang. I chatted to my brother for 15 mins or so and then went back to the computer. No lights on the modem! check plug and connections all OK. Tried another appliance in the power socket and it was fine. Pressed the re-set button on the modem. Zilch, not a sausage. I rang the helpdesk and a new modem will be with me ASAP, but because of the Bank Holiday that means Tuesday at the earliest. So here I am again back on dialup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minivin Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 it's one of the reasons I've stuck with my ntl BB, it's expensive and they're a bunch of numpties on the help desk phone line, but it aint gone wrong on me for nearly two years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 yep, thats why i pay over the odds for AOL, not all that fast by todays 8Meg standards but its one of the most reliable broadband packages around.... A lot of the guys at uni are with Bulldog and Wannadoo... £15 per month for an 8Meg connection is a blinding deal... when it works.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 i have just upgraded to BB on AOL despite being some 9.45km from the exchange. most of the work is thanks to Tony C digging around for me and coming up trumps with some parts! AOL enabled the BB connection and then sent through the modem - and nothing this end! typical. BT did a line check and found the line was OK, therefore cr*p modem deemed to be the fault. tired a decent modem (lent from Tony) and it works a treat! Unfortunately AOL dont believe it now works and wont replace the modem they supplied without a BT eng coming to visit despite the fact its up and running now. Note: you can use AOL silver and go wireless depsite what AOL may have you beleive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugwash Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 i have just upgraded to BB on AOL despite being some 9.45km from the exchange.most of the work is thanks to Tony C digging around for me and coming up trumps with some parts! AOL enabled the BB connection and then sent through the modem - and nothing this end! typical. BT did a line check and found the line was OK, therefore cr*p modem deemed to be the fault. tired a decent modem (lent from Tony) and it works a treat! Unfortunately AOL dont believe it now works and wont replace the modem they supplied without a BT eng coming to visit despite the fact its up and running now. Note: you can use AOL silver and go wireless depsite what AOL may have you beleive! James- AOL are totally carp- move as soon as you can to Zen or nildram- much quicker, and far far far far far far far far far far better customer service! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MJG Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 it's one of the reasons I've stuck with my ntl BB, it's expensive and they're a bunch of numpties on the help desk phone line, but it aint gone wrong on me for nearly two years For the record..........how do you know the help desk lot are a bunch of numpties.... if you haven't had a problem in nearly 2 years???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 For the record..........how do you know the help desk lot are a bunch of numpties.... if you haven't had a problem in nearly 2 years???? maybe he just gets lonely and phones them up for a chat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siggy Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 I know somebody who works for NTL and he says they are numpities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Jim - i know that now, having just signed up to 12 mths!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddyplugger Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 it's one of the reasons I've stuck with my ntl BB, it's expensive and they're a bunch of numpties on the help desk phone line, but it aint gone wrong on me for nearly two years To make the pill easier to swallow, if you have your TV and phone with them, ring them up and tell them you qualify for a discount as you have other services with them! I did my bill came down from £24 to £18 (give or take a quid, i cant remember) for the same service, and they upped it to 2Mb. They dont advertise the fact but its a legit discount they offer. [\offtopicmodeoff] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minivin Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 For the record..........how do you know the help desk lot are a bunch of numpties.... if you haven't had a problem in nearly 2 years???? because when it did go wrong 2 years ago, it took two weeks for them to mend it as they couldn't figure out over the phone on numerous calls using the "diagnostics" they have to figure it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve King Posted April 15, 2006 Author Share Posted April 15, 2006 The replacement wireless modem arrived early this morning special delivery. I ran through the whole setup process from scratch just to be sure. Good signal strength, but as soon as the modem connected, it promptly dropped the connection and started connecting again, and again ad infinitum I rang the support desk and after 15 minutes of speaking to a very nice lady who did her best to help me, passed me to a techie. The techie too was very nice and helpful, but alas he couldn't solve the problem either. He offered to get an engineer out tomorrow (Easter Sunday) but as I'll be away until Monday night, we settled for Tuesday morning. Here's hoping it will be a case of 3rd time lucky! Meanwhile, I'm still crawling around on dialup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MJG Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 because when it did go wrong 2 years ago, it took two weeks for them to mend it as they couldn't figure out over the phone on numerous calls using the "diagnostics" they have to figure it out You know what I'm going to say here don't you???? If you don't...... How do you know if they were numpties 2 years ago......... That they still are??? I used them a couple of months ago and they sorted my issue............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomG Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Worth looking at http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ Particularly the Message Boards & the ISP Compare pages. I agree with Pugwash, Nildram / Zen are the one's to go for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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