Problems with Earthlinks PPP access

[Kimi Adams]

Hmmm, I wonder if there is a reason for all this.  All I know is that I 
don't have these types of problems with my company that provides internet 
service.  Just a thought...but doesn't having internet service mean that 
the customer should be on the internet instead of on a phone call with 
music for an hour to determine why they can't get onto the internet?  I 
thought so.

Kimi

At 6/18/01 07:04 AM, you wrote:
>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__
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