Connection keeps dropping. Help needed.

mackape said:
Over the last few weeks, the stability of the connection has become even worse and the speed has become less (from 150KB/s to an average of 70KB/s). Is everyone having the same problem?

I phoned the call centre and they said that there is nothing wrong with the base stations. They are of the opinion that the connection should not drop and there must be something wrong with the operating system or the download software.

Opinions please...:confused:
Click to expand...

Do you have another machine to test it on? That way you can shove that excuse of theirs where it belongs.
 
I have once again set up a persistent connection with Neotel (rather than dial-on-demand). I have up to 80 disconnections in a 24 hour day, sometimes as many as 20 in a single hour. Sometimes it stays connected for up to six hours or so. It has nothing to do with whether the link is idle or not.
This week I've started sending them daily logs, but I'm still waiting to hear from them. Perhaps I should start sending them logs in real-time.
If this is not resolved by the end of the month I am terminating my contract.
 
Monad said:
I have once again set up a persistent connection with Neotel (rather than dial-on-demand). I have up to 80 disconnections in a 24 hour day, sometimes as many as 20 in a single hour. Sometimes it stays connected for up to six hours or so. It has nothing to do with whether the link is idle or not.
This week I've started sending them daily logs, but I'm still waiting to hear from them. Perhaps I should start sending them logs in real-time.
If this is not resolved by the end of the month I am terminating my contract.
Click to expand...

It's like the public are alpha testers.
 
I am almost 100% sure the problem with the connection is the drivers. Hear me out and give feedback...

On Saturday, the connection dropped (the icon was showing that I am connected to the internet, but I could not open any web pages) and out of interest sake, I opened up the device manager (Windows XP) to see if anything funny popped up. Very interesting was that the DuPoint modem had an exclamation mark. I opened up the properties and noticed that "windows had a problem with the device drivers". I tried to update the drivers, but was unable to update the drivers because the drivers come with NeoManager, which is in *.EXE format....:cool:

So I went through the whole process of un-installing anything relating to Neotel, and re-installing NeoManager (as far as I am aware, there is no other way of installing the device). After installing the device, I tried NeoManager and changed the dial-up settings to "automatically reconnect if the line is dropped". Throughout the weekend, the connection continued to drop at regular intervals, requiring me to disconnect and reconnect.

I am of the opinion that there is a conflict in the drivers between Windows and the NeoManager.:confused:

I have tried to phone Neotel for a better understanding, but the call center is apparently busy. I have sent a mail and will see what response they give...
 
mackape said:
I have tried to phone Neotel for a better understanding, but the call center is apparently busy. I have sent a mail and will see what response they give...
Click to expand...

Summing up what I have been reading the last couple of days when i can get online is that your response will be something like... Sorry for the inconvenience, I am unable to help you and your response has been forwarded to the relevant department (namely I will get to it when I can think of a new excuse folder) :mad:

on the flip side i am noticing the same symptons and hope to find something.
 
Last edited:
mackape said:
I am almost 100% sure the problem with the connection is the drivers. Hear me out and give feedback...

On Saturday, the connection dropped (the icon was showing that I am connected to the internet, but I could not open any web pages) and out of interest sake, I opened up the device manager (Windows XP) to see if anything funny popped up. Very interesting was that the DuPoint modem had an exclamation mark. I opened up the properties and noticed that "windows had a problem with the device drivers". I tried to update the drivers, but was unable to update the drivers because the drivers come with NeoManager, which is in *.EXE format....:cool:

So I went through the whole process of un-installing anything relating to Neotel, and re-installing NeoManager (as far as I am aware, there is no other way of installing the device). After installing the device, I tried NeoManager and changed the dial-up settings to "automatically reconnect if the line is dropped". Throughout the weekend, the connection continued to drop at regular intervals, requiring me to disconnect and reconnect.

I am of the opinion that there is a conflict in the drivers between Windows and the NeoManager.:confused:

I have tried to phone Neotel for a better understanding, but the call center is apparently busy. I have sent a mail and will see what response they give...
Click to expand...

Maybe the drivers are compatible with Windows 95 or even 3.1 :eek:
 
I sent an e-mail and got no response. I ended up phoning Neotel and as expected, the drivers are not availably without the NeoManager.exe file. The operator said I should try and uninstall the NeoManager (Control panel - add/remove programs - uninstall) and the drivers should still be installed on the machine. I should then create a dial-up connection and see if the problem does not go away...watch this space...
 
I'm getting a bit fed up. Almost every time i check the pc that's got the neotel modem connected to it i have to reset the connection.
And if the line hasn't mysteriously dropped(even though i have 4 bars of signal). The speed is horrendous :/ and my pings are dropping like nazi's in brooklyn :(
 
The problem is not related to drivers. I am running Linux and am having the same problem. Because the disconnections are so erratic it is easy to think that something you did changed the state of affairs. I have not touched my setup, or even rebooted my PC. In fact, I've even been running the exact same ppp process for some weeks now. Some days I get 80+ disconnections and less than 10 on others...
 
Is there ever a day where the connection doesn't drop?

I would really like to know as I would love to get Neotel, but it isn't viable if it is going to be an uphill battle just to stay connected. If this is how this device/piece-of-junk is going to behave I won't be purchasing Neotel anytime soon.
 
I cannot recommend Neotel in its current state. If you have coverage iBurst is superbly stable - less than 5 disconnects per month. I've heard good things about MTN's 3G service, and I use Vodacom's HSDPA occationally without any issues. Many people have similar problems with ADSL as we are having with Neotel.
An on-line gamer friend of mine was all excited about his new ADSL connection. Unfortunately the line would drop in the middle of a game, more often than not. While he loved the quick ping times, he went back to MTN's 3G after being unable to get any technical support from Telkom.
 
I guess Neotel will (after some development) get to the point where Iburst, MTN and Vodacom is now. I remember when I first got Iburst in 2005. It was very unstable and the connection dropped very frequently. After a year or so, the connection became more stable. From a technical point of view, can someone please explain to me why Vodacom and MTN is more stable than Neotel? Does it relate to the signal strenght from the base station? If it is something as simple as that, why did Neotel not increase the signal strenght from the start?

I downloaded a 100MB file (using Vodacom HSDPA) and it took about 3 minutes. Now, if I got the same speed on Neotel, I would not have to keep downloading files over and over - therefore, reducing bandwidth usage.
 
Is it not perhaps a problem with the device itself?

I know they are supposed to be releasing a new router with a data-only package soon and I am very interested in that (the USB device is no good for me I'm afraid). I would very much like to see how the connections hold up on that device and make my decision based on that.
 
I agree...the questions still beckons, is the data only packages going to have an uncapped option? If not, what will our options be? Can we sue :p. I also believe this USB device is rubbish. After speaking to Neotel, they suggested that I should un-install the NeoManager and use Windows dial-up. Now, every time I startup my computer, Windows wants to install a "new device". I am not sitting with 5 installed Neotel devices. :confused:
 
I'm giving up on Neotel. I've had 109 disconnections today and the day's not even over yet. I've brought this to their attention seven weeks ago. If there's a problem with my device they should have diagnosed and replaced it by now. If there's a problem with their setup they should have fixed it by now.
After sending daily reports and calling their help desk just as regularly I still have had no (zero, nada) response from them!
They can take their service and shove it!
 
DAMN! 109 disconnections... thats utter shyte. Hopefully they will get better 6 months from now (apparently when they will start erecting BS's in Kimberley...
 
I have moved my modem from the Vista machine to the XP machine and the connection is much more stable. On the other hand, I am only getting 30kb/s as appose to the average 150kb/s when I started using Neotel. Going to phone them today and complain about the congestion at the Woodmead tower - to many users and to little bandwidth...

Even though the connection is a bit more stable, it still drops at least twice per day (and I only run it in the evening). I have also moved the device to another room which is in line of sight with the tower.

Is there anyone who has direct line of sight with the tower? Do you also have the same problems?
 
mackape said:
On the other hand, I am only getting 30kb/s as appose to the average 150kb/s when I started using Neotel. Going to phone them today and complain about the congestion at the Woodmead tower - to many users and to little bandwidth...
Click to expand...

Good luck with that, I'm also on the Woodmead tower and have been complaining till I'm blue in the face for more than a month - now I've just given up.
 
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