My DSL goes out at 7 pm...

[Deltron]

My DSL goes out at 7 pm almost everynight and only comes back if I restart the modem but it only sticks around for a couple minutes, this only started to happen recently (about two weeks now) and this happens till about 2 am and then it runs perfect again. Throughout the day it runs perfect also, I was just wondering if anyone else ever had a problem like this and if you could tell me what the problem is so I could fix it or tell my ISP to fix it, I have already called them 3 times already but still this problem exists, any help would be great, thanks.

[Bovon]

Call the tech help desk..ask to speak to a supervisor (or call the ISP's customer service) tell them they are cutting you off at 7 pm until 2 am...and you will have to calculate the loss of the time each day from your monthly bill.(If you have unlimited service)..thats 7 hours a day times 30 = 210 hours a month at least. calculate the cost per hour of your service and subtract the number of $$$ for those 210 hours...and if they cant fix it then thats what you will do. When you start telling them it will cost them some cash..they usually will get off their rumps. I suspect it is caused by some telephone device that is timed to come on at 7 pm and off again at 2 am.. I have seen the times that an ISP will put a timer on some account and cut them off at a certain time limit. By cutting you off at 7 pm..smacks like that is the busy time, and if you have been on all day, they may need some extra bandwidth in the evening rush hours..then allow you to reconnect at 2 am..when everybody else has retired. Look at your log in Windows...see if it says 'remote modem hung up...that is a sure fire way to tell if your ISP is shutting you down during the busy hours, and then allowing you back during the quiet hours.

[dr_roberts49]

That's unacceptable. Are they the only DSL provider in your area? I'd start shopping if they're not. I recently switched from Verizon to MCI, not because of service, but price. MCI had the better deal.

Now I did leave ComCast Cable because of service. That was about 2 years ago. I was one of their early customers, and had been with the service for 3 years with no problems. Then I started losing service, getting dial-up speeds, and a bunch of other problems. It just wasn't the internet, but also their digital cable TV. Image breakups and loss of audio & video. I called several times, and the problems only got worse. I found out it was like that with my neighbors who had the same service. They were frustrated too. I finally pulled the plug and went with Verizon's DSL, and went to Direct TV.

Robert

[Deltron]

Thanks guys, a tech came today and fixed the problem so he says but I think I may have fixed it last night by simply changing the phone line connected to the back of the modem, the internet went out at 7 like always so I turned off the modem plugged in another phone line and turned it back on and the internet stayed with me for the rest of the night, it could have just been coincidence but who knows, if the problem persists I will definitely be telling them I need some kind of reimbursement for having no service for that time. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[Bovon]

Originally posted by Deltron
....but I think I may have fixed it last night by simply changing the phone line connected to the back of the modem.

Tell me something. I understand telephone systems and how they work, and I have a decent handle on dialup internet service, but DSL is something I have not been involved in.

There are 4 wires in a phone line..only two are required for one private line in an American home. I have been told that DSL uses all 4 wires...can you confirm this?... if this is correct, how did you get around that by switching phone connectors?..do you have two separate phone lines?..or is the other line you connected to the same line, but different socket?...When you were able to connect last night after 7 pm...was it a good DSL connect?..or slower, like a dialup might be?..

If you can answer the above, I may have further thoughts about the problem.

[MDS]

Bovon DSL still uses 2 wires as the DSL I have used anyway.

[dr_roberts49]

I'll try to add to what I (think) know about my DSL. Before DSL, when I was on cable, we had 5 phones in my home (3 story house). When I switched to DSL, Verizon provided what they called filters for each of my 5 phones. These were little pig-tail like cords, with a male end and a small box-like female end. These had to be attached between each phone and the wall connection, EXCEPT for the line that went directly into the DSL modem. They provided a special splitter for that, one having the filter for my voice phone, and the other without the filter for the DSL modem. Are you all with me still?

This tells me that when DSL is activated, you can plug in anywhere in the house, but you need the filter attached for normal phone service. When I switched to MCI last month, they also sent me filters for each of my phones, but I just left Verizon's on (because after a year, I now own the hardware) and they work fine.

I did have to switch the DSL modems though. MCI's has some firmware on their modem which is necessary in the setup. Unlike Verizon, which provided 2 install CDs, no software was provided by MCI. You just typed in their customer site, after doing your network settings in Windows. When I tried this with the Verizon modem, nothing happened, so I unpacked the MCI modem, and it connected immediately. Now I have 2 DSL modems and a cable modem. Time for a yardsale

Another note. When I canceled my Verizon service, the active led light went out. There was a lull of 10 (very long) days before MCI activated their DSL service (I never lost dial-up during this wait period). On the day they did, it started blinking again. That's why I thought I wouldn't need to swap modems. This shows me, that the connection is always on, as advertised by MCI. The same with Verizon. Good reason to have a firewall. The fact that your DSL provider would go offline at a set time, is not right. What does your contract of service say?

Robert

[shawshank62]

my verizon dsl goes out from 6-7...7:30 everynight....hmm....uhhh....

[Bovon]

Originally posted by dr_roberts49
I'll try to add to what I (think) know about my DSL. Before DSL, when I was on cable, we had 5 phones in my home (3 story house). When I switched to DSL, Verizon provided what they called filters for each of my 5 phones. These were little pig-tail like cords, with a male end and a small box-like female end. These had to be attached between each phone and the wall connection, EXCEPT for the line that went directly into the DSL modem. They provided a special splitter for that, one having the filter for my voice phone, and the other without the filter for the DSL modem. Are you all with me still?

I am not positive, but there is a chance those 'filters' Verizon provided to be used in each phone socket except where the modem connects is for cancellation of noise getting into the phone lines from charging devices on voice mail devices, cordless telephones etc. I have had running fits with those things here, and at family homes. Sometimes its so bad you cannot even connect to the server. The charging circuits feed back into the phone line and the AC hum or noise will kill any signal from a modem.

[dr_roberts49]

Bovon, I made that determination about the filters too. In the 2 years I've been using DSL, I've not encoutered any problems with losing service or noise. I also have a 56k internal modem that I use for an occassional fax, and I've never had a problem with that. I can only conclude that the phone lines in my area are meeting the standards for DSL service. That might also account for my service sustaining at or close to the highest speed possible. Another factor, is that all the land lines and power lines, are under ground here. Columbia had very few power outages during the recent hurricane, despite the amount of damage.

Robert