Cybersmart ADSL Issues

[gerritcar]

Hi all,

I'm a newb here so apologies if I'm asking stupid questions...

I've had a Cybersmart 384kbps account for just over a year. It used to work like this: I plug the router in, the ADSL link light blinks for about 30 seconds, and once it's solid, the internet works. Now, I went to a LAN earlier this year (about August/September) which totally screwed my PC up (I had to reformat and reinstall Windows), and since then I've had weird issues with my internet connection.

Part of my recovery included rebooting the router, and I think this is where everything started going wrong. I'm suspecting that I haven't entered all of the settings correctly after the reboot, although I've done everything as per the 'General ADSL Router Setup' instructions on Cybersmart's website (I have a bog standard Cybersmart issued Conexant GS8100 Vulcan / Mecer 4 port ADSL router). Anyway, after the reboot, I entered my default gateway address in Firefox and I set my router up as per Cybersmart's instructions. It then reported a 'Link Down' error, stating 'Auth Failed'. I phoned them and they informed me that there is a port error on their side, and they fixed it (I've had this happening randomly a few times in the past couple of weeks). The connection then worked again.

Now, while it does work (sort of), I'm experiencing the following:

- When I plug the router in and the ADSL link light goes solid, I have to wait about 2 extra minutes before I can use the internet. I checked the router setup and the PPP screen is showing 'DHCP' under 'Oper Status' while I'm waiting for the internet to start working. I never used to wait for an address to be acquired from the DHCP server - once the link light was solid, the job was done.

- When the internet finally starts working, it works for about 10 minutes (this varies) and then the connection just goes 'dead' - not like the lights are going off, the connection just isn't doing anything - I can see that packets are being sent, but none received. After about 5 minutes (this also varies) the connection suddenly works again (for about 10 minutes), etc etc.

I phoned Cybersmart about this, and the guy said he doesn't really know what's wrong, but he did give me DNS addresses which I entered on the router setup and in the Control Panel/TCP-IP settings screen (thus I'm obtaining an IP address automatically, but not a DNS address). It doesn't seem to make a difference at all though.

Not sure if this is the problem, but on the router setup screen, under the 'Routing' menu, there are 9 different routes between which the router hops. Shouldn't there only be one destination address?

If anyone has any ideas whatsoever as to what my problem could be, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[hyperian]

- When the internet finally starts working, it works for about 10 minutes (this varies) and then the connection just goes 'dead' - not like the lights are going off, the connection just isn't doing anything - I can see that packets are being sent, but none received. After about 5 minutes (this also varies) the connection suddenly works again (for about 10 minutes), etc etc.

That happened with me while using Cybersmart (for about 3 years). Sometimes it would go hours before the connection died, so I thought it was my line. But I've been using Afrihost for a few months now and the connection dies only once every few days.

 

[laurie]

Hi all,

I'm a newb here so apologies if I'm asking stupid questions...

I've had a Cybersmart 384kbps account for just over a year. It used to work like this: I plug the router in, the ADSL link light blinks for about 30 seconds, and once it's solid, the internet works. Now, I went to a LAN earlier this year (about August/September) which totally screwed my PC up (I had to reformat and reinstall Windows), and since then I've had weird issues with my internet connection.

Part of my recovery included rebooting the router, and I think this is where everything started going wrong. I'm suspecting that I haven't entered all of the settings correctly after the reboot, although I've done everything as per the 'General ADSL Router Setup' instructions on Cybersmart's website (I have a bog standard Cybersmart issued Conexant GS8100 Vulcan / Mecer 4 port ADSL router). Anyway, after the reboot, I entered my default gateway address in Firefox and I set my router up as per Cybersmart's instructions. It then reported a 'Link Down' error, stating 'Auth Failed'. I phoned them and they informed me that there is a port error on their side, and they fixed it (I've had this happening randomly a few times in the past couple of weeks). The connection then worked again.

Now, while it does work (sort of), I'm experiencing the following:

- When I plug the router in and the ADSL link light goes solid, I have to wait about 2 extra minutes before I can use the internet. I checked the router setup and the PPP screen is showing 'DHCP' under 'Oper Status' while I'm waiting for the internet to start working. I never used to wait for an address to be acquired from the DHCP server - once the link light was solid, the job was done.

- When the internet finally starts working, it works for about 10 minutes (this varies) and then the connection just goes 'dead' - not like the lights are going off, the connection just isn't doing anything - I can see that packets are being sent, but none received. After about 5 minutes (this also varies) the connection suddenly works again (for about 10 minutes), etc etc.

I phoned Cybersmart about this, and the guy said he doesn't really know what's wrong, but he did give me DNS addresses which I entered on the router setup and in the Control Panel/TCP-IP settings screen (thus I'm obtaining an IP address automatically, but not a DNS address). It doesn't seem to make a difference at all though.

Not sure if this is the problem, but on the router setup screen, under the 'Routing' menu, there are 9 different routes between which the router hops. Shouldn't there only be one destination address?

If anyone has any ideas whatsoever as to what my problem could be, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

There is compatability issue with the connexant chipset and some of the exchanges. Email me your username to [email protected] and I will get the router swopped for a different model. Also if you could let me know who you spoke to on the helpdesk

Regards

Laurie

 

[gerritcar]

Thanks Laurie!

It's just weird that it started happening only about a year after I got my account originally. So could Telkom have changed something on the exchange?

Or, perhaps my router is dying...

I'll mail you my details.

Thanks again

 

[ponder]

I must say great post for a noob

Really, you did not rant and rave. You gave a detailed description of your problem and everything you have tried so far in a nicely laid out manner which was easy to read.

We need more noobs like you

 

[chickenbeef]

^+1. kudos to the OP

 

[kilobits]

There is compatability issue with the connexant chipset and some of the exchanges. Email me your username to [email protected] and I will get the router swopped for a different model. Also if you could let me know who you spoke to on the helpdesk

Regards

Laurie

Nope. Not in this case...

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=194646

Cybersmart INSISTED it was a faulty router.

NONE of the Mecer routers work on her line. They did not work then and still do not work now.
Her router is working on my line 100%.
Cybersmart NEVER offered the above. Had to replace the router on her line another. Cybersmart INSISTED that the Mecer router's FAULTY.

So, now, can I send Cybersmart her Mecer router... will Cybersmart exchange it for something with a compatible chipset?

Hmmmm. I won't hold my breath.

 

[matewis]

After similar issues earlier in the year cybersmart exchanged the mecer router to a Tenda one, that worked a lot better