Re: My battle with Earthlink

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Author: JD Austin
Date:  
To: Main PLUG discussion list
Subject: Re: My battle with Earthlink
In the past when I suspected my modem was rebooting I'd set up a continuous
ping to my internal gateway address logged to a text file. Easy to rule it
out that way.

On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 8:57 PM, Derek Trotter <>wrote:

> It's supposedly new. It arrived a few days before the earthlink service
> was switched on. That was in October.
>
> On 02/17/2013 08:42 PM, JD Austin wrote:
>
> My guess is your DSL modem is rebooting; how old is it?
>
> On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 8:02 PM, Derek Trotter <>wrote:
>
>> For several weeks I've had a problem with my earthlink dsl service.
>> Anytime I'm doing something that uses all or most of my downstream
>> bandwidth, all data coming into or going out of my apartment stops. At the
>> same time I'm downloading something a series of updates for kubuntu and
>> listening to streaming audio, both stop. If I'm using my windows box to
>> download something else, that too stops. After a pause lasting anywhere
>> from a second or two to 15 or 20 seconds, the downloads resume. A few
>> seconds later, there's another pause. This cycle repeats itself until the
>> download is complete or I give up.
>>
>> Each computer has two nics. The problem persists no matter which one
>> either machine is using for it's internet connection. If I remove the
>> router, connect the dsl modem directly to either computer, the problem
>> persists. I even went to the closet and got the modem when I had dsl from
>> AT&T. I set it to work with the earthlink service and the problem persists.
>>
>> Saturday an AT&T technician was here, checked the line from the cord that
>> plugs into the dsl modem and says the line is in excellent shape and noise
>> levels are very low. This is not surprising since I live less than 1/4
>> mile from AT&T's local office where all their equipment is.
>>
>> Since I've tried two computers, 4 nics, two dsl modems and removed the
>> router, and the problem still persists, I'm guessing the problem is
>> somewhere at earthlink's end.
>>
>> Tonight at 21:30 EST, an earthlink tech support person from somewhere in
>> India called to tell me they had fixed the problem. While he was on the
>> phone I tried downloading something else and guess what. The problem was
>> not fixed. As near as I can tell, the dsl connection does not go down.
>> The earthlink people say it stays up. The lights on the modem that are on
>> when the connection is up never go off or blink.
>>
>> The man asks me what dns settings I use. I tell him 8.8.8.8 and
>> 8.8.4.4. He says I should try earthlink's dns servers. To humor him I
>> changed the settings on the windows box and guess what. The problem did
>> not go away.
>>
>> Maybe I'm missing something, but it's my understanding that once the
>> download has begun, that dns has already done it's job and has no further
>> role to play. One more thing. If I use a VPN connection, I have no
>> problem with it.
>>
>> Any idea what's going on? If you were to venture a guess, would you say
>> the problem is at my place, with AT&T or with Earthlink?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Derek
>>
>> --
>> "I get my copy of the daily paper, look at the obituaries page, and if I’m not there, I carry on as usual."
>>
>> Patrick Moore
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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> --
> "I get my copy of the daily paper, look at the obituaries page, and if I’m not there, I carry on as usual."
>
> Patrick Moore
>
>
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