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dr_phalange

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My internet connection died on the 1st of May for a good few hours - I thought it may just have been because Sentech screwed up our debit order (again) but it re-connected later.

It has been ever so slow since then, but working. Well, mostly anyway.

I haven't been able to access any Microsoft site since then not MSN / Live / Windows update / Office or anything!

Anybody experiencing the same problem?

Sentech's (useless) support team say everything is fine on their side, but somehow I'm finding it hard to believe them...
 
They've had a LOT of problems since last night: Authentication issues, disconnections, mail server issues, connectivity to International sites.

All seems fine now. Switch off your modem, then try a connection again.
 
The modem has been reset several times in the past few days. bdt did the installation, and it's currently running off a Linksys wireless router.

<sotto voce>
I hate to say it, but the thought of Telkom crossed my mind last night out of sheer frustration.
</sotto voce>

We cannot connect to:

Microsoft / Live / MSN
Telkom
Sentech
Ars Technica

Whereas the following work, but are slow:

Google / GMail
Facebook
SAIX
etc.

I think it's screwy routing combined with packet loss, but I'm guessing. Sentech Help Desk wants us to believe there's nothing wrong.
 
I picked up problems getting to local sites for an hour or 2 the other night, MyBroadband being one of them, but everything else has been hunky dorey. (touch wood)
 
I'll change the MTU tonight. Maybe that will fix the other international problems too, because DNS is resolving, and we get a connection reset on Microsoft's and Ars Technica's sites.

I don't know if this will work for Telscum's site though, because I don't even think it makes the initial connection. Semtex's site loads the main page, but none of the frames, so I get a pretty (awful) white box with lavender frame.

I'll let you know tonight. Why would this be sudden?
 
Yes I tried those. I've tried the IS ones, the M-Web (iafrica / QData) ones, the DataPro ones ... *sigh*. I don't use Sentech's DNS at all.

I'm one of Sentech's first customers, so I'm used to the "usual" stack of troubleshooting, hence the purchase at great expense of a high-gain flat panel antenna, and the need for bdt's installation in the first place (and again when I moved).

Anyway, I officially give up. I went to Sentech back in the day because Telkom couldn't install lines for a six month period in my area, and iBurst didn't exist. Then I didn't change to DSL because of the outlay for the high-gain panel, which didn't justify throwing away.

Right now, however, I'm gatvol, and I'm surveying my options. I see Vodacom is allegedly getting into broadband outside of the 3G space, and I've already considered Neotel and anxiously await user feedback.

I know Sentech is shocking, and I have gray hairs to show it. I acknowledge that Telkom ADSL is probably good value for money, but we can't get it in our area.

I want Internet that works, for goodness sake. I want to pay between R600 and R900 a month for 5GB or more, and I refuse to deal with Telkom. That's the bottom line.

(This reply was done in lynx from my UK box because for some reason, my WORK connection won't let me post now ...)
 
It's fixed now. We did nothing. It disconnected itself twice this afternoon alone, and just randomly started working now - not with a reconnect - randomly.

I give up.
 
There was a problem on the Microsoft network, where Microsoft were blocking all ICMP, which would break Path MTU Discovery.

Some ISP's have implemented work-arounds, and some bits of the Microsoft network have been fixed. But not all...
 
This was not just a Microsoft problem, as indicated in post #3, but thanks for the info daffy.

It doesn't help troubleshooting when there's more than one thing wrong at a time!
 
Sentech has been dead in Durban for a day or 2, but I see its back up again. Still cannot send email with my Ananzi account tho. I have to switch to my cellphone and connect to the internet with that as modem to send mail :(
 
We're on ADSL now. Goodbye Sentech. To keep everyone up to date, we were experiencing between four and ten disconnections a day, at random intervals, with no bearing on the amount of traffic we downloaded. So far, on IS DSL, we have only disconnected due to a swap-out of the modem with a new one.
 
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