Having read some of the threads it appears that I have been quite fortunate up until now (started with Freeserve > Wanadoo > Orange).
PPP Server error began on Sunday. Rang Oranage yesterday and went through a number of checks with Technical Support (I use this term loosely - the guy did not know what a router was!!). After a number of line checks and re-setting my livebox it appears that the PPP server problem is a generic error ... brilliant!
Having a bit of an IT background I tried a number of things whilst on the phone to them (he was out of ideas - rebooted my PC 3 times!!). One of which was pinging the DNS server that my broadband is configured to. My PC (XP Pro SP2) successfully received replies.
On that note the tech support lad said try waiting a day and see if the problems are rectified over night (yes it appears I have been fobbed off).
Has anyone experienced this problem? If so was the what was the issue\solution?
Also does anyone know if there is a way of checking to see if an Exchange is experiencing problems? I think mine is either Middleton (Manchester) or Rochdale one.
I still have my old speedtouch adsl from wanadoo so if I am still encountering issues tonight then I may see if I can revert back to that (never encountered an issue through 2 years of using it). I will update this forum if I have any successes.
Essencially PPP Server Down means it's unable to contact the logon server so it can authenticate and give you internet access. In this state you have no connection to anything as such but the router is partially connected to the exchange.
With a Speedtouch they'll give errors 721 and 718 for this usually, though on some occasions other ones will pop up too, most mentioning PPP in some way.
Often it can be related to maintence work on the line, exchange problems or temporary faults and outages. If it had only just happened when you called them then it wouldn't be fob off as most of these just get corrected after a short time, sometimes very quickly or upto overnight.
I checked last night and it is still not working (now 3 days), however I had kept my Speedtouch (330) adsl from when I was with Wanadoo. So I attempted to re-install this to see if I could get a connection.
Thankfully it did. Although I was a little surprised as I would have thought that Orange would have cancelled my 'old' connection (or does the livebox use the same connection - in which case why does the speedtouch still work yet the Livebox doesn't?).
Anyway I am going to leave calling Orange until the end of the week, hopefully give the line\exchange enough time to get itself sorted. If it is still not working then I will re-contact them again.
I'm just glad that I managed to find a temporary workaround that didn't see me having to resort to going back to 56k dial up.
I hope this temporary solution can assist others that are having connection difficulties with the livebox.
They both connect to the same broadband signal that comes down the line. Thats how you can use practically any ADSL modem/router on most of these types of service. (A good exception is Sky, being a special case as they lock it to the specific MAC address of their router)
With the speedtouch working it'll mean line tests come back clear most likely. Call Orange, they'll probably replace the livebox after a few simple tests, get ahead of them if you like by trying the Speedtouch RJ11 and filter swapped to the livebox.
Joined: 20 Sep 2006Posts: 15Location: BRADFORD, WEST YORKSHIRE
My connection (or rather - lack of connection) also gives this response.
Using the latest PPP diagnostics (download the speedtouch optimiser from the Orange website) shows that a DSL link is established but as the error suggests I cannot get a logon to the PPP server.
The tech support contacts advised there was a line problem but I contacted the BT engineers and was told there was nothing wrong with my line!
Whan I challenged Orange on this point I was told that "no, the line is ok but it is the signal which is not getting through in the exchange. Subsequently I was advised that it is a software problem which has now existed for about 3 weeks but no-one seems to be able to resolve the isue.
At work we use "Entanet" as an ISP. There is absolutely no comparison when it comes to sorting out problems.
Entanet gets results. Orange fails to get results.
You could argue that you get what you pay for - Entanet is more expensive but on the other hand Orange is not inexpensive and having contracted with us at the prices they charge, they should deliver the service.
The engineers in the exchanges are likely to be the BT engineers so why does one ISP get immediate action and the other immediate inaction?
One has to ask whether or not Orange has paid its BT phone bill these last few months?
I have gone through 3 weeks of becoming more and more annoyed and frustrated at Orange's apathy. I have had enough and have requested a migration code.
They are now going to get all the adverse publicity I can bring about.
Companies like this are there to make money out of us - any luck in providing a good service seems purely incidental.
I had thought of opting for the combined mobile and broadband offer but I am not a glutton for punishment - they can forget that now.
At work we use "Entanet" as an ISP. There is absolutely no comparison when it comes to sorting out problems.
Entanet gets results. Orange fails to get results.
You could argue that you get what you pay for - Entanet is more expensive but on the other hand Orange is not inexpensive and having contracted with us at the prices they charge, they should deliver the service.
The engineers in the exchanges are likely to be the BT engineers so why does one ISP get immediate action and the other immediate inaction?
I presume Entanet provide business connections? If they do then they are usually backed by a contract that means they are insured for your loss of business if the connection goes down. Also they use business IPStream connections which BT guarantee certain levels of response time and fault clearence time.
If they're not business grade then it may just be their systems are better and theres better communication between them and BT.
Joined: 20 Sep 2006Posts: 15Location: BRADFORD, WEST YORKSHIRE
Hi there
Yes, Entanet are set up to provide the business community with Internet services. Whilst we have been using Orange only for the home connection, Customer Service have made it clear that in their terms and conditions they do not support businesses. Good job really as if a business were to suffer the downtime we see in these forum exchanges the likelihood is the business could fold.
Along with other business internet providers, Entanet's service attracts a premium and at the end of the day we have to weigh up the cost and the service. The decision is down to how critical your connection is.
This does not let Orange off the hook simply because their offering is cheaper. We should still expect to get the service albeit with not quite the same instant response we experience from Entanet.
This does not let Orange off the hook simply because their offering is cheaper. We should still expect to get the service albeit with not quite the same instant response we experience from Entanet.
Of course it doesn't let them off the hook. The engineers have certain service levels and response times to provide, although I bet they have a bunch of get out clauses for when major things go wrong. It's doubtful we'd ever get any firm details and figures of this from Orange though.
This has happened to me twice now, the first time was at 1pm in the afternoon and the net went off for 5 mins, i looked in my Belkin router and it sais "NO CONNECTION" i though what? then i exited the control panel and the net was working again, then the following evening it happened again but it lasted for nearly an hour, then it worked again then it went off 10 minutes later for another 45 mins then after that it was working fine
I've had the PPP problem since 31st August on the Undercliffe (Bradford) exchange and keep getting fobbed off and misled. No broadband connection at all for over a month.
I want to move supplier but don't know if this will solve the issue. The last thing I want is the hassle of changing email address etc without getting a connection.
If you're on LLU then moving will probably fix the problem. If it's on IPStream (BT's system) then changing supplier may fix this but it depends where the problem stems from. If's its an issue on the line itself then changing wouldn't usually do much to fix that.
I am on LLU, and I'm considering moving to Tiscali but really don't know where the problem lies. Just like Orange!
Spoke to customer services tonight and they've given me 3 months free and will reimburse me for the time I've been offline so far. I've even managed to get them to promise to call me with an update on Thursday. I'm going to give them another week before I give up.
Well I've cancelled now. They didn't call me back, and when I spoke the technical person he had no idea what was going on and could do nothing but escalate 'to the highest level' which has already been done to no avail.
Spoke to the customer care person when cancelling and he was the only person to admit that LLU has been causing a lot of problems and was by far the most useful person I've spoken to at Orange (and believe me I've spoken to a lot of them!) My requests for refunds and compensation have been passed to a team leader, so I suppose I'll have to keep chasing them for all the hassle and dial up costs that I've had for the last 5 1/2 weeks.
So I've gone for Tiscali. Tiscali don't take MAC codes from LLU exchanges so the process for anyone else wishing to cancel is to tell Orange, who then take their marker off the line, which takes up to 14 days, after which somebody else can take over. Tiscali's agent said she'd check my line every day till it was clear then send me the equipment. Plus their modem is USB but can take up to 8 meg which is a lot easier for me.
Some other good news is that I'll still be able to access my Orange email address via their website providing I log in every 90 days.
So my advice is stay away from all companies named after fruits.
I agree with you Steve. I had a nightmare experience with Worldonline before Tiscali took them over. From what I've read, Tiscali have just carried on the abysmal 'service' provided by Worldonline.
I successfully migrated from Orange to Zen, and what a difference! Real, helpful people who know what they are doing. AND I can connect at speeds far higher than Orange ever managed, AND without constant disconnects.
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