internet woes

[bigsixfive 336]

I'm having a problem I can't figure out. My internet browser loads some pages fine, but it times out on other pages. This site has no problem loading, but other sites are problematic. For example: Fox News is hit or miss, but Compass I can't get to no matter what. Once I can actually get a site loaded, it seems to be ok for the most part. I was running IE7, but I just installed Firefox to see if that was the problem.. it wasn't. I've restarted, reset the modem, ran Adaware, but non of its helped. I tried running Windows update, but it hangs up when its "checking for installed components" or whatever it says.

Any clue on the issue? I want to blame the modem or the network card, but I'm reasoning those can't be faulty or I wouldn't get anything. Its odd that this site loads fine, but others wont. I'm about to switch to Packet 8 VOIP, but I'm hesitant until I can discover this issue.

[WarTiger 3,987]

Make sure its seated in the slot first...and that your firewall(if you have one) isn't blocking ports...Check your cat 5 cable as well, make sure you have a good connection there. If not, your nic card could be failing...

BUT, first things first...DO NOT USE PACKET 8....I had it for several months and it NEVER WORKED properly...I never received any calls at all at home....Everyone that called said when they spoke to me that they got busy signals every time....I canceled that thing and would never go back to them ever again...It also disabled my internet connection every time I used it. Sort of defeated the purpose...

Personal note....DUMP IE....use FIREFOX...

[Boonan 0]

If your problem is tonight and you are in the state of Alabama and you have Charter then that is the issue... I just got off the phone (foreverly long wait, btw) with them and they are doing maintenance that has the whole dang state going up and down.

[bigsixfive 336]

Thanks for the replies.

The cable and all that is good. This computer has been hooked up since I moved into the house in July, and nothing has changed. Its just been the past 3 days or so I've had this problem. I am reluctant to change the card out. I don't want to drop the $14 if its Charter's fault (I'm cheap) and its a pain to change (my cpu is in a cabinet, not easliy accessible). If the problem persists, then thats my course of action though.

It wouldn't surprise me if it was Charter. I wish they would issue statements when they're screwing with stuff. It seems odd still that this site works fine, but others don't. Hopefully its their issue, and it gets cleared up soon. Highly annoying!

As far as Packet 8... A buddy of mine uses it and hasnt had any problems out of it. Do you know of any other VOIPs in the Auburn/Opelika area? A Birmingham buddy used and liked Vonage, but its not available here. The rates to these are rediculously low compared to phone companies. I don't understand why Bellsouth and the others haven't been able to offer competitive rates or offer a similar product, because in the coming years there will be a huge market shift from telecom to VOIP.

[otterinbham 0]

Boy, you said a mouthful on Charter...In fact, my internet slowed to a crawl today about 4:00 for about an hour.

On the other hand, Road Runner was the best. I loved RR, and hated having to switch over when I moved.

[BamaGrad03 0]

VOIP...

www.mypeople.com

I used to work for them. Did all their webstuff. Great product.

[bigsixfive 336]

On the other hand, Road Runner was the best. I loved RR, and hated having to switch over when I moved.

My parents had that, and it was awful. The internet hardly ever worked, and they could never get someone out to fix it. The problem was always "their computer" (Charter does this same thing, I know from experience). Comcast recently bought out their provider though, so they don't have it anymore.

[otterinbham 0]

On the other hand, Road Runner was the best. I loved RR, and hated having to switch over when I moved.

My parents had that, and it was awful. The internet hardly ever worked, and they could never get someone out to fix it. The problem was always "their computer" (Charter does this same thing, I know from experience). Comcast recently bought out their provider though, so they don't have it anymore.

Man, I had Road Runner for four years. It ran like a top. And if I had the occasional glitch (maybe once every year), they had the best phone support I've ever experienced. Ever. Once, I had an equipment failure out on the line, and they were out in three hours. So maybe your parents had bad luck.

[bigsixfive 336]

Man, I had Road Runner for four years. It ran like a top. And if I had the occasional glitch (maybe once every year), they had the best phone support I've ever experienced. Ever. Once, I had an equipment failure out on the line, and they were out in three hours. So maybe your parents had bad luck.

Maybe they did. Is their support reigonal, or is it like Charter where you get someone in some random US city?

status update: Seems to be working great now, everything is really fast. I'm pointing my finger at Charter. I would have liked a warning.

[otterinbham 0]

Man, I had Road Runner for four years. It ran like a top. And if I had the occasional glitch (maybe once every year), they had the best phone support I've ever experienced. Ever. Once, I had an equipment failure out on the line, and they were out in three hours. So maybe your parents had bad luck.

Maybe they did. Is their support reigonal, or is it like Charter where you get someone in some random US city?

status update: Seems to be working great now, everything is really fast. I'm pointing my finger at Charter. I would have liked a warning.

I was on Bright House Network in Birmingham, but Road Runner's phone support was out of Toronto. They were the best I've ever seen.

[bigsixfive 336]

VOIP...

www.mypeople.com

I used to work for them. Did all their webstuff. Great product.

If you did their site, good job, I like it. They don't offer service in the Auburn/Opelika area though. Looks like a good company, I'd strongly consider them if I could.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

As far as Packet 8... A buddy of mine uses it and hasnt had any problems out of it. Do you know of any other VOIPs in the Auburn/Opelika area? A Birmingham buddy used and liked Vonage, but its not available here. The rates to these are rediculously low compared to phone companies. I don't understand why Bellsouth and the others haven't been able to offer competitive rates or offer a similar product, because in the coming years there will be a huge market shift from telecom to VOIP.

I can't believe you can't use Vonage. I have it and love it. Isolate you network of phone jacks at home and plug it in. It's great and cheap. If you have Bellsouth, they have no choice but to give up your number.

[Aubie16 1]

yeah its charter...they've been doing it for the past couple of days. really pissed me off.

[Captain Liger 0]

Man, I had Road Runner for four years. It ran like a top. And if I had the occasional glitch (maybe once every year), they had the best phone support I've ever experienced. Ever. Once, I had an equipment failure out on the line, and they were out in three hours. So maybe your parents had bad luck.

status update: Seems to be working great now, everything is really fast. I'm pointing my finger at Charter. I would have liked a warning.

Don't always automatically assume that the problem is on your end which is a common mistake amongst users. But you are a responsible user because you checked your equipment first and that's good. If and when you check out your stuff and everything appears to be fine you can save yourself a lot of time worrying about what is going on by using the below troubleshooting tips to check the distant end:

Pinging

Pinging is nothing more than trying to contact another IP address to see if they reply. So which IP address should you ping? Start with the following:

1. Go to "Start" and click "Run." The command prompt will come up.

2. In the box type "cmd" and then hit enter.

3. The box should change to a larger black screen and a line that reads something like "C:\Documents and Settings\(your username)>

4. You should see a blinking cursor. Type "ipconfig /all" and hit enter.

5. A whole list of IP configs and LAN settings should come up. Look down where it says "IP Address." That's you, the IP address assigned to you by your ISP. Go ahead and ping yourself just to make sure there's nothing wrong with your NIC. Do this by going back to the line with the blinking cursor and type "ping (your IP address)." For example "ping 150.113.126.9" and then hit enter.

6. You will then see ping statistics come up. If everything is ok you will get a 100% success rate.

7. Now go back and do the same thing except this time ping the Default Gateway. The Default Gateway is just a router that sits at your ISP and is your way out into the internet hence the term "gateway." Ping it. If you get a 100% success rate then you know there's nothing wrong with it. BUT if you get a 0% success rate then you know it's down for whatever reason or if you get a 25% to 75% success rate then it may be experiencing trouble or it could be going up and down for whatever reason like maintenance.

8. Don't worry about pinging the DHCP server. It really has nothing to do with the internet. All it is is a server that is responsible for assigning IP addresses to workstations (you) on it's network.

9. If the above pings check out you can start pinging various websites. You don't actually need to know the IP address of a website as you can ping it just by typing in the name. For example "ping www.yahoo.com"

10. If this ping works out then everything is fine on your end, fine with your ISP, and fine on Yahoo's end.

There's also another trick you can try. It's called "trace routing." By doing this you see how many "hops" there are between you and a website. For example, at the blinking cursor type "tracert www.yahoo.com" If hops all the way through the results will tell you so and then you know there is no connectivity problem. If a hops stalls out and the trace route stops then you know the problem lies at the first place after the last successful hop.

Anyone confused yet? These tips are easy to use once you get used to them and it's better than sitting on the phone waiting 20 minutes for an operator to come on and help you.

[DaddyBoyAU 119]

If you have the problem again: If you more than one computer sharing your internet, try the sites from a different computer. If you plan to get VoIP, you will probably have a router/hub in there somewhere and you'll have the ability to hook up another computer.

Concerning VoIP providers: Wired magazine online has a quick reveiw today - click here and scroll down a bit. Packet 8 doesn't get a good review, maybe ATT is available in your area.

@Captain Liger: many companies are beginning to turn off ping for security reasons - specifically to thwart a "smurf attacks". So to amend your post, if pinging a site doesn't work, it doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong. But you are right, it's the first thing you should try. And tracert is a great tool.

@bamagrad: mypeople doesn't seem to have a national presence - hence its exclusion from the above mentioned review. What type of market share to they have among VoIP providers? I notice they have a "sister company" in Momentum Telecom. What's the details on that? And why are you no longer with them? I try to support tech companies in the area, and I'm curious about their direction.

[BamaGrad03 0]

@bamagrad: mypeople doesn't seem to have a national presence - hence its exclusion from the above mentioned review. What type of market share to they have among VoIP providers? I notice they have a "sister company" in Momentum Telecom. What's the details on that? And why are you no longer with them? I try to support tech companies in the area, and I'm curious about their direction.

They just launched their VOIP product about a year and a half ago. Momentum has been around for a while. They are a CLEC with about 150k customers.

MyPeople provides nationwide service, they just dont have the advertising dollars yet to have a national foothold.

And I'm no longer with them because I started my own company: www.ilogicweb.net

[Boonan 0]

@Captain Liger: many companies are beginning to turn off ping for security reasons - specifically to thwart a "smurf attacks". So to amend your post, if pinging a site doesn't work, it doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong. But you are right, it's the first thing you should try. And tracert is a great tool.

You can still ping it though to find out if DNS is working... it should at least tell you the sites IP address even if it deosn't reply.

Google always replies so I'd try that one first if ever you have a problem.