/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2009/10/04/#ubuntu-classroom.txt

=== bdmurray_ is now known as bdmurray
qwebirc14139what's this?09:54
qwebirc14139hello?09:55
=== a1g_ is now known as Guest90778
=== Guest90778 is now known as a1g
=== rafael_carreras_ is now known as rafael_carreras
=== jimmah is now known as pak33m
=== yofel_ is now known as yofel
starcannonHello23:00
soundrayHi SealedWithAKiss23:03
SealedWithAKisssoundray, hey.23:03
SealedWithAKissPM?23:03
soundrayHow are you connecting to your router?23:03
soundrayNo, this is not used for anything else atm, so we're fine here23:03
soundrayEthernet or WiFi?23:04
SealedWithAKisssoundray, I was using a wireless router but right now I have my NIC connected directly to my modem to eliminate the wireless router as the problem.23:04
SealedWithAKissSo a direct wired connection.23:04
soundrayGood thinking :)23:04
soundrayDoes your router have a Web interface for configuration/management?23:04
SealedWithAKissOf course, 192.168.1.123:04
soundrayCan you get to a status page there?23:05
SealedWithAKissI'm not connected to a router though, I am connected to a modem. Unless your referring to a modem, I don't know what terms you use outside of the UK.23:05
SealedWithAKissI can yeah.23:05
SealedWithAKissThat's 192.168.100.123:05
SealedWithAKissI'll check it out now.23:05
SealedWithAKissI'm logged into the console.23:06
soundrayYour ADSL modem acts as a router, too. We'll call it modem if you prefer.23:06
SealedWithAKissTo avoid confusion, I would prefer to use the term modem. Let me thank you in advance for offering to help.23:07
soundrayCan you get status information about the line?23:07
soundrayWhat we're particularly interested in is a value in dB, for the downstream signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, line noise or similar23:07
SealedWithAKissWould you like a link to a screenshot? Makes things much easier, I can upload to imageshack. If you prefer I can try to find the relevant information.23:08
soundrayScreenshot is fine23:08
SealedWithAKissOkay, instead I will paste some text to pastebin. It should serve the same purpose as the screenshot.23:09
SealedWithAKisshttp://pastebin.ca/159320723:09
SealedWithAKissThat's for downstream.23:10
SealedWithAKissPlease let me know whether you need any more information.23:10
soundray39.5 dB23:10
SealedWithAKissThat's the value.23:10
SealedWithAKissMeans nothing to me, absolutely nothing.23:11
soundrayThat's not terrible, and the "symbol rate" isn't too bad, either.23:11
soundrayIf you have a poor splitter, or you're too far away from the exchange, those values go down23:12
soundraySo no easy hardware solution. Give me a minute23:12
SealedWithAKissWell I am paying for what was advertised to be 8MB broadband.23:13
SealedWithAKissEarlier my download speed dropped as low as 1.6Mb/s and my upload speed as low as 0.02Mb/s.23:13
soundrayI take it you've looked for troubleshooting info on virginmedia.com?23:13
SealedWithAKissI have tried troubleshooting using the most common troubleshooting methods.23:14
soundrayWell, they advertise an unrealistic maximum. When you read the smallprint, you'll find that they don't promise that :(23:14
SealedWithAKissI have also tried technical support, but these guys are just continuously disconnecting me.23:14
SealedWithAKissI understand that the service is advertised as 'up to 8MB'. Meaning that they're covered for anything below that value.23:15
soundrayYou're renting the line from BT, right?23:16
SealedWithAKissVirgin Media is the only British ISP that doesn't require you to have an existing BT line. Virgin Media also supply my land line telephone connection.23:17
soundrayYikes23:17
soundrayYou were saying that your speeds came down recently. Before that it was good?23:18
soundrayI think the cause of the trouble could be contention23:20
SealedWithAKissMy speeds weren't anything near 8Mb, but they were satisfactory for browsing/e-mailing/downloading music etc.23:20
SealedWithAKissEssentially, it wasn't noticeably slow.23:21
SealedWithAKissSince booting into Ubuntu my browsing speeds have significantly improved.23:21
soundrayIf contention is the problem, your downloads will be faster in the early morning, when other users are presumably sleeping23:21
SealedWithAKissThough www.speedtest.net is reporting a similar results in both Ubuntu and Windows eliminating the OS as the source of the problem.23:22
SealedWithAKissTotally, but right now it's 11:22 PM and Monday tomorrow. I would expect many people to be in bed already, preparing to be awake for work etc.23:23
soundrayAnyway, I'm sorry I can't seem to help you on the technical side23:24
SealedWithAKissI have had a similar problem before, as it goes. Only last time it MUCH worse. I was only hitting 10 kb/s when downloading. After a modem reboot the connection would perform optimally for a few minutes, and then just sink. The modem needed replacing on that occasion.23:24
SealedWithAKissThat was a SB5100 I think.23:25
soundrayRegarding Virgin Media support, try there geographic number: 01752 30030023:25
soundray*their23:25
soundrayThere are a few more listed on saynoto0870.com23:25
soundrayRinging those sometimes gets you through to a higher support level23:26
SealedWithAKissI am already pissed about the customer service, so would prefer to use 150 from my land line which is free. They're already robbing me.23:26
SealedWithAKissOn one occasion, I asked the advisor to connect me to 2nd line support.23:26
soundrayYou don't have a call package with free UK landline calls?23:26
SealedWithAKissHe said that nobody was available. Then I asked him to transfer me to a colleague, apparently none were available. Finally I asked to speak to his manager/supervisor and again, it wasn't possible. After that he hung up.23:27
SealedWithAKissI only have incoming calls on my land line because the bills were too expensive.23:27
soundrayOkay23:27
soundrayYeah, these guys are trained to take the mickey out of you23:28
soundrayOne thing that helped me once was to ring the press officer in a particularly unhelpful company.23:29
SealedWithAKissTo say that the technical support personnel were incompetent would be an understatement.23:29
soundrayShe gave them hell, and I had the most courteous and competent ringback :)23:29
SealedWithAKissSounds like that one worked out particularly well for you!23:29
soundrayYes, unexpectedly so.23:29
SealedWithAKissThey appear to think that my current connection is acceptable. You know, I know that many of these guys get a hard time. So I'm nice on the phone, and always very polite. It just so happens that the 'nice guys' are usually the ones that are easily pushed aside and walked over.23:30
SealedWithAKissWhen I ran the speed test in Windows I was also getting ridiculous ping response times.23:32
SealedWithAKissSomething in the region of 2000 ms.23:32
soundrayThey must also get the most annoying callers. But if they were any good, they'd be able to distinguish stupid from smart requests.23:32
SealedWithAKissI guess yeah. Well this guy was adamant that my browser/P2P software was to blame.23:33
SealedWithAKissHow my P2P software came into it I don't know.23:34
soundrayYou probably don't want to spend any extra money on the problem, but if you did want to invest a little, you could book a "personal secretary" (usually also from India) to ring them for you.23:34
soundrayThey might be more successful than you, since they know their own kind :)23:34
SealedWithAKissWell they're not usually Indian. They're Scottish. I don't know what has changed.23:34
SealedWithAKissPerhaps, yeah. Nice suggestion.23:35
soundrayAnyway, that's all I have for you... not much, sorry.23:35
soundrayWhen I lived in the UK, I had a similar problem, but mine was solved with a splitter upgrade23:36
SealedWithAKissOkie doke, well thank you anyway. I think that you did everything you could to diagnose the problem.23:36
soundrayDoesn't apply in your case, I know.23:36
SealedWithAKissWhat exactly is a splitter?23:36
soundrayIt separates voice from data on an ADSL line23:36
soundrayso does not apply to your cable modem situation23:37
SealedWithAKissOh right, I see.23:37
SealedWithAKissYou seem as though you've worked as a network engineer at some point.23:37
soundrayYou might get a little more from #networking as Slart suggested23:37
soundrayNo, I'm just a hobbyist23:38
soundrayI'm a professionally trained diagnostician, though :)23:38
SealedWithAKissIt appears as though the hobbyists usually turn out to be more technically knowledgeable than those with the fancy pieces of paper.23:38
soundrayHobbyists' knowledge tends to be highly specialized, though23:40
soundrayI've been through all this ADSL stuff, but my son asked me a question about IPv6 the other day, and I had to pass23:41
SealedWithAKissI am quite the hobbyist myself, though I am also training for various IT related qualifications.23:41
SealedWithAKissAh I see. Now I could tell you a little about IPv6 and a little about IPv4 but my knowledge doesn't run too deep.23:42
SealedWithAKissThough in other areas of networking I could probably tell you quite a lot. So yeah, sounds about right.23:42
soundrayAnyway, it's an hour later here, and I'm working tomorrow... need some rest23:44
soundrayHope you find a solution!23:44
SealedWithAKissSure, sorry.23:44
SealedWithAKissTake care, and thanks for your help!23:44
soundrayNP :)23:44
soundrayBye23:44

Generated by irclog2html.py 2.7 by Marius Gedminas - find it at mg.pov.lt!