(no subject)

[elizalavelle]

HELP!

Okay firstly Bell Sympatico is crap. I'm aware of that, it wasn't my choice to use it and I'll be getting rid of it as soon as I can. In the meantime neither Jo nor I can get our computers online and we've spent over 5 hours today on the help line. My mood is not good.

SO computer people if you have any suggestions I welcome them all. Bear in mind we've done all of the basic stuff (resetting modems, computers etc) several times already.

Yesterday we installed our secure modem. Sympatico sent us a new one and insists that we use it. We hook it up, internet works on all 4 computers albeit that Jo's computer (laptop w. Vista) doesn't work quickly.

Today no computers will connect. Nic called them, after 90 minutes of playing around with the system they have her hook her laptop with XP into the modem and change the channel of the modem. All works (we're not sure about on Jo's computer as she wasn't home) the Mac desktop, XP laptop and my XP desktop all worked. An hour later my computer froze (as it so often does) and when I restarted it, no more internet.

Jo came home, she had no internet. The other two computers still are working fine. Now here's where we spend from 8:30-11pm on the phone with Bell, are hung up on twice, speak to several people who all put us through the same few steps before getting stuck. Speak to people who claim they are supervisors who all seem incompetent (to the point where I know more about computers than they do) and who also sounded mostly afraid of both Jo and I. While I was impatient I wasn't yelling or being rude. Neither was Jo. We both explained that the level of service we were getting was not acceptible and that after 5 hours on the phone with them we do expect to be offered new solutions. Seriously it was bad.

So after all that they hung up on us for the second time and still there is no internet for our computers (except for now I'm stealing internet from next door - thank you next door people, I promise not to upload or download on your line beyond checking email and such)

Any suggestions as to why 2 computers suddenly won't work. I can connect to our access point (router) but it won't connect to the internet. Jo actually had her laptop plugged in to the modem and yet it still wouldn't connect. They had her reset her connection 3 times (each time refusing to believe it had been done before) and it would not connect to the internet.

Our thought now is there may be something with the actual router or something that says only 2 computers may be connected at once. We're not sure how to explore or how to fix that.

HELP PLEASE!

Comments

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it helps to sacrifice a small animal to Bill Gates. Or a large animal. Kicking and yelling do *not* help (but I do 'em, anyway).

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

LOL I'm betting my landlord had a rule against sacrificing animals in the apartment... ;)

[browncoat2x2]

Honestly, my guess would be that something is going on with the router...

I'm using bell sympatico, and 9 times out of ten, any trouble I'm having is because I need to reset my router... It happens every once in a while, and it is SO frustrating!!

You may have already done this, but what I usually have to do is shut everything down, including the modem and router... I turn on the modem first, and wait until the correct little green lights are lit up, then I turn on the router, (you need to leave about 40 to 60 seconds between powering down and powering back up with my particular D-Link modem, so you might need to do the same) and once the router is on with all its little lights flashing, then I turn on all the computers...

Keep in mind that every time you reset the router, it is likely assigning new IP addresses to each computer (mine uses the same three numbers, but likes to switch up which computer gets what...

Also, since I've had sympatico for a long time, when I switched to XP, I ended up not using any of their software at all, but only using the connection wizard that comes with windows, so I'm not sure if there's any software they gave you, but you might want to try *not* using it, and just using the wizard, set up to have your connection activee all the time.

Also, have you deactivated the Windows Firewall ??? It's crazy wonky, and I've always had better luck using my own firewall (I use Sygate Personal Firewall, it's free!)

It's finicky, and it has cost me hours of frustration in the past, so I understand your pain. I've never had Sympatico hang up on me, mind... that's unacceptable, and I'm surprised you haven't cancelled your 'service' already and just gone for Rogers... (I have my own personal issues with Rogers, which is why I'm with Bell, lesser evil, blah blah just my own thing *G*)

What kind of router do you use? It's possible that somehow more than one computer is trying to use the same ports or soemthing, which could be tying everything up.... I'm just guessing now, of course, but I thought I'd throw it out there... as I said, 99 times out of a 100, it's something screwy with my router...

*pets* I hope you have some luck, darlin! :o/

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

We've done the resetting the router... a lot. I'm used to that game with Sympatico. It's not working. But it's a good first step to try so thank you :)

Windows firewall was taken down when I got torrents since it messed with those. So I don't think that's the problem.

Conection is set to be active all of the time.

I'm still on whatever unsecure connection I found last night... and am starting to wonder if maybe it's linked to our secure connection since I've never seen it before when my wireless card was scanning for networks...

I was not overly impressed with sympatico when we used the unsecure connection as we'd have to reset it quite often. (which I'm wondering if that could be a feature of having a lot of computers running on one router... we did that game a lot at my parents house 'til I moved out, now my brother says it's way better) But they've insisted on the secure modem now that we've ordered faster and more expensive service from them... let me tell you how happy I am to be paying more for worse service :(

The problem with switching is Miguel is the one who ordered the service, he's the only one yesterday who wasn't on the phone with them, and he doesn't like Rogers because (from what I can tell) he's heard horror stories about them. I've used Rogers and had nothing but good come from that... I think internet depends a lot on location, sometimes different services are better in different locations. With Bell I've never had anything but problems so I do not like using them to begin with.

I'm having my brother come to look at the set up tonight, and I'll show him your comment to start him with some ideas. Thanks Mel :)

[browncoat2x2]

I figured you'd probably done the reset thing ;o)

I run three computers on my connection all the time, two desktops and one wireless laptop, and it seems to work fine. I haven't really had four going though. Weird...

My suggestion is to let Miguel get on the phone next time, and then he can decide if he still doesn't want to go with Rogers. :oD Not that I don't understand, I hate Rogers (did I tell you about the time Rogers called me up saying I owed them money?? I didn't have a single service with Rogers, and when I told the guy specifically that I didnt' have Cable, he was like "Why??" hehehe couldn't comprehend not having TV)

Location DOES play a role with Bell, proximity to their towers, the number of users in a given area etc.... I don't know any thing about this 'secure' modem (I've still got the original modem I got from them... 8 years ago???)

Honestly, I'd probably suggest switching to Rogers :o) It's faster anyway :o)

Good luck!

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I have no problem with people suggesting the obvious, if they sympatico tech support suggested it one time and moved on all would have been well, or at least less frustrating, the 3rd time we were told that we had to do the same gorram thing was getting a little much.

LOL to not understanding not having cable. That's a case of a really dumb employee. You can tell them "because I don't work for Rogers so my service isn't 50% off" that's a good answer.

The secure modem is one that has a pass key so only we can use it. Good in theory, not so much in actual practice lol.

I talked with Miguel yesterday, he has no real attachment to Bell so I think that I want to switch it over. I'll arrange it for when I get back from NYC. Rogers actually owes me $20 so I can use my credit to get set up again, although set up is free so that'll just pay part of the first bill :) yay.

[gonnashine.livejournal.com]

I used to have internet through Bell and had nothing but problems. I switched to Execulink and its wonderful. I've never had an issue, and their customer service is so much better than Bell's.

My suggestion, run away from Bell!

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

LOL I like your suggestion. I got out my angry letter writing skills as well. Seriously, one SUPERVISOR we spoke to couldn't figure out how to find an application in control panel. I figured that out when I was 12. It was absurd.