Today, we have had an intermittent internet broadband connection (we do not use the TV service).

The funny thing was that the STB (old variety) was showing a solid blue light as normal and the Netgear router was working.

As usual, I disconnected for a couple of minutes and reconnected, but then we had no internet at all so I rang Tiscali technical service.

I explained we had a direct connected home network with the cables running under the floorboards to the second and third computers.

The technician got me to do an ipconfig test and then got me to type in various stuff which said packets were being sent but not received.

He insisted that there was no fault with the internet from their end and the fault must be in our computers, which either had a virus (all three) or that there was something wrong preventing us from connecting.I pointed out that if I shut down and then switched on, I could connect to the internet. He claimed that because the service was intermittent, we must have something wrong here and it was not a fault with the Broadband service.

We had an acrimonious discussion and nothing was resolved.

We once again disconnected the STB and router and reconnected and for the last two hours we have had the internet. It then went down and we had to reconnect again.

In the meantime, customer services has phoned and asked us if we would like to upgrade to the new STB, with built in router. They ate coming on Friday am.

I cannot see that we have a problem with our hardware as we are able to keep reconnecting once the internet goes down.

2 questions:

1. has anyone else encountered this intermittent service and was it the fault of their computer

2. Are the new STB much better than the old ones and can we still have a direct internet connection with the new one. We do not want a wireless connection. Our walls are very thick and wireless does not work for us.

Please give me some advice

Intermittent service can have a variety of causes. With the old STB, as long as the blue light was on, there was usually an internet connection. From tech support, they will usually query the STB and could see it connected. If you've rebooted the STB and its worked its way through the light sequence and come back solid blue then there is an internet connection. I would look to the router as a possible cause of your problem. With an actual intermittent connection you would normally see the STB blue light changing from steady to flashing.

The new STB is much better then the old one. The set up will be slightly different to what you have now. Firstly you will have a new four port wireless router. This is connected to the phone line much like your current STB. In turn, the router is connected to the STB. You don't have to use the wireless service as you will still have 3 Lan port free on the router.

MK_Brett,

the irony is that the system is OK today, so all the stuff he said yesterday really did not make sense!

I was wondering if the effect of the bad weather on the ancient phone cabling around our block of flats had anything to do with the outages yesterday. The cabling running around the outside of our walls looks very old and the rain and wind were really strong here yesterday.

Anyway, I will now wait and see and hope that the new box gives us decent service.

The weather can definitely cause a problem, but you may also have a faulty router or cabling.

The engineer arrived and installed a Telsey box ( the A model) I asked whether I could have the B or the PVR. he told me that all Homechoice customers get the A model with a Speedtouch router. Only Tiscali customers get the B or the PVR.

Does this mean that all HC customers who, like me, use only the BB connection still get a better contention ratio, or having had the new box and routher installed I will be on the same contention ratio as Tiscali customers.

OK, for you knowledgeable people, this question is too simple to ask, but I do want to know!

My download speed measured on Speedtest.com was 5019d/l and 383 u/l a few minutes ago.

I guess that is not too bad for a Saturday night!

Cheers

Anniel

Ouch, you live in a flat. Yes is possably the answer to all the sugestions you've made about cable and weather, plus internal wiring and distribution points need to be considered as well.