Zen Internet Support Forum

Dear Forum

Since moving to this new house a couple of months ago I've had many, many disconnections.  We're out in the middle of the countryside and my exchange is 5.7 miles away from the house (by road, according to the AA site anyway).  I still have Home 500 as my desire to live in the countryside means I'm never likely to get any higher speed that 512.

 The relatively slow speeds I can stand but not the disconnections which are driving me crazy.  I dabble as a casual gamer in World of Warcraft and that is impossible to play with so many drop outs. 

To illustrate; over the last 60 minutes I've had 17 disconnections!  I lose connectivity on whatever screen I next try to browse to/lose World of Warcraft and I get a pop up in the bottom left of my screen saying that "A network cable is unplugged".  I then have to go to "Repair" in the "Local Area Connection Status" window.  I'm running a single computer with Windows XP with a Netgear DG834G router but I don't use the wireless ability - it plugs directly into the back of my PC with a cable.  I've tried rebooting the router through the router software in Explorer but although I'm a gamer, my in depth technical knowledge of tweaking and changing settings are minimal.

I've been with Zen since Jan 2005 and have never experienced anything like this before - am I right in assuming it's to do with my new super extended distance from the exchange and therefore to do with noisiness on the line.  If so, can I change anything to make the router ignore the noise on the line. 

Another odd thing is I think the problem might be worse when it's been raining.  Bizarre.

I do hope someone can help me - if the connection stays up long enough for the post to go through.  Below is a log of my disconnection times over the last 50 mins.

TIA

Jules

I can't help with your problem but if it is any consolation I am 5.5 miles from my exchange and the best I can get is 256K.  The quality of the line is also an important feature. My line is useless.  Have you ckecked what speed your line can take?

John

Hello John

 Thank you for your reply.  I think the maximum speed was 512 but i'm not sure where I can check on the BT site anymore - they just seem to want to suck me into buying their ISP services and I'd sooner cut my right hand off than give them any more of my money!

 I phoned BT today to ask them about the noisy line - I can hear it on phone calls too but the lines were busy.  They promised (an automated promise) a call back within 45 mins but surprise, surprise I didn't get one.  Oh how I wish the cable companies would consider servicing the rural population.

Can you recommed somewhere I can check the maximum speed possible for my line?

Jules

Just carry on and order.  Before they continue with your order they will ask for your number and Post Code to ckeck if your line is suitable for Broadband and the speed you are likely to get.  I have just tried it and they tell me it is unlikely I will get 0.5mb but if I wish to continue an engineer will perhaps be required.  At that stage you merely disconnect.

John

It is a bit odd that you get a local area connection error - if your line is faulty and your router drops the connection to Zen or it becomes unusable the local network should still be working - any chance of borrowing another router to test it?

Does your connection drop just as frequently when you are not gaming - say just browsing the internet?

John 

Hello John,

I've checked the maximum suggested speed checker on the Zen site and it's saying that I could get up to 2Mbps with this line.  Must admit that I'm surprised but also quite pleased.  Now I don't know whether to give up the Home 500 I've got and move to the Zen 8000 service or not.  From what I read, the Zen 8000 suffers from disconnections anyway.

 The disconnections have not been happening at all on Sunday or this evening - not been online apart from that.  Maybe it is all down to weather conditions but on Saturday afternoon when they were so bad it wasn't actually raining.

In response to the other John, yes it was disconnecting whether I was just browsing Explorer or attempting to play WOW. 

Jules