Problems with Earthlinks PPP access

[Craig White]

Jason, I sympathize - that is just one of the problems with analog dial-in.

What I used to do in the pass is 'hop' the bad modem in question by dialing
in on my other phone line manually via telephone, then connecting with my
modem and then hanging up the manual dial. Thus it sometimes takes two phone
lines to make a connection.

Craig

> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Jason
> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 12:05 AM
> To: PLUG Discussion
> Subject: Problems with Earthlinks PPP access
>
>
> Firstly, let me make it clear that I never chose to conduct business
> with Earthlink Inc. Earthlink seized control of my Mindspring account
> over a year ago, including the email address I used at mindspring...
>
> Lately, more and more often, the server on the remote end of the
> Earthlink system is flat-out refusing to identify itself with a valid
> IP address. Of course, this makes pppd crash and burn after sending
> the error message (in text) "Unauthorized remote IP address" back to
> Earthstink's system. Then my end hangs up...
>
> This is only a problem some of the time, which leads me to believe
> they've got a few bastard systems hanging around in their cabinets or
> something. Anything that can be done on my end to force their system
> to behave correctly (doubt it.. but..)
>
> Lately, however, its not resolved itself in a few minutes - it took a
> few hours last night. Its the middle of the night now (10PM), and the
> hold time is averaging 15 minutes _anyways_ ... these peoples customer
> service is CRAP compared to what I was used to with Mindspring...
> Nevertheless, I feel a deep need to at least yell at someone, so I am
> writing this while I listen to classic music (violins and shit, not
> talking 80s rock heheh). I'll send it if or when I ever get back
> online.
>
> Earthlink should have sent everyone who was forced to migrate to their
> service a speakerphone. My ear hurts.
>
> Now both ears hurt. (I switched a while ago, its been way more than 15
> minutes.)
>
> I think I'll take a stab at just disabling IP authentication if I
> cannot convince the technician that a problem exists. Only one
> phoneline free in this house though, and sacrificing my painfully
> earned position in the hold que is a non-option. Besides, this song is
> better than the last dozen or so. Im not sure if this opens any cans
> of worms or not. Anyone?
>
> It just occured to me.. is the current average hold time really 15
> minutes until you speak with a Live Technician(tm), or is that the
> average time people wait before bailing out because theres actually no
> one there at all right about now?
>
> Hey, I heard a click!
>
> Their CD player must have reset - Ive heard this song before. Its the
> one with a single out of place note that sounds suspiciously like the
> Windows 95 default error chime. I wonder if they inserted that. Or
> maybe its the new Microsoft On Hold? Do they sell that? From what I've
> heard about MS support, they've probably made one.. do they sell
> copies? They probably do, and Earthlink would eat something like that
> up...
>
> Hmmm... How long do I have to wait to speak to a DEAD technician? I
> promise I'll be seriously impressed if he or she is able to speak
> back, even if they cant help me. Unless they really arent dead.
>
> 38 minutes and counting here. 30 to be fair, and allow for dialing and
> navigating their automatic operator.
> slick:~$ ls -l /tmp/ppp-raw
> -rw-r-----    1 root     root         1345 Jun 17 22:42 /tmp/ppp-raw
> slick:~$ date
> Sun Jun 17 23:19:49 MST 2001
>
> I am twice as stubborn as the average victim, who hung up long ago.
>
> If only I had bought a DVD player, I could have watched half a movie
> by now.
>
> OK - its 23:34 and Im done. I reported the problem to them, and have
> obtained two alternate access numbers that connect to physically
> different machines. When I get stuck at the stubborn machine in the
> dialing rotation, I can try another server. The technician said he'd
> send a note to a supervisior with what I had told him about their
> systems sending an invalid IP address, along with the time and dialin
> number I used. Hopefully the machine I connected and logged into will
> be in their logs, and they can figure out what is wrong with that
> sucker.
>
>
>
> --
> jkenner @ mindspring . com__
> I Support Linux:           _> _  _ |_  _  _     _|
> Working Together To       <__(_||_)| )| `(_|(_)(_|
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