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Dr. Boogie · #1

The other day, my DSL connection quit working mysteriously. A call to Verizon revealed that they were experiencing outages in my area code, and that the problem would be fixed shortly. It wasn't.

I've got two Win98 computers and my own XP PC hooked up to a single hub, and now only one of the computers (one that isn't mine) has a DSL connection. Several long, drawn-out conversations with the finest tech support people that Verizon's India branch could offer revealed that apparently, Verizon has stopped supporting hubs. One of said techies even tried to convince me that there never was any support of hubs, and I'm not the smartest man in the world, but I assume that the device that takes the single cable from my DSL modem and splits it into three is a hub.

In short, is there anything I can do, or do I just have to start looking for a new DSL provider?

ziggytrix · #2

Hub or router? There's an important difference.

http://www22.verizon.com/about/commu...1020%2C00.html

If you only have one IP address (static or dynamic is irrelevant) you NEED a router to handle translation of local network IPs (192.168.x.x) to your IP address in your internet provider's network. If you had multiple IP addresses in their network, then a hub would work fine, I think. So I'm guessing if you haven't changed anything at your end, and you are indeed using a hub, then they've changed their setup to limit you to one IP address. You can get around this by putting a single port router between the hub and their line, but I'd recommend getting a multiport router to replace the hub entirely. Linksys and Netgear are the brands I'd recommend.

As far as support, generally you have to pay extra to get networking support from an internet provider, but there is little they can or will do to tell if your line from them goes into a LAN via a router or into a single PC. If they don't "support" it, that doesn't mean you can't do it; it just means they won't fix it when it stops working.

Chojin · #3

You can also get a access point/router that plugs directly into your DSL outlet from them.

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Verizon so far.

Which reminds me that I need to call them to get them to put the dialup service I ordered on my business account. Originally we had no internet at all while we waited for them to turn on DSL, so i had to get dialup. Luckily, it was already on my business plan. Unfortunately, my business plan was not registered with their computer. So, I had to buy a dialup service using the number from my father's house. Now I have to call up and get it merged to my business account before they charge me. The phone rep said I could do this. Who wants to join me in betting that that was a lie?

ziggytrix · #4

Reps and lies go together like sales and commissions :/

Dr. Boogie · #5

Well, to make a long story short, I bought a fancy Linksys multiport router, and that failed to work. I went through the little step-by-step-instructions, and everything looked good, but then when I tried to open IE, I get a message saying that there's no internet connection, and the little LED for the one computer that was connected to the router went out.

Several annoying, contradicting tech support calls later, they send us a multiport router of their own, which also fails to work. One of the tech support grubworms said that the system that we had set up for the shared internet connection at my house was too old, and wouldn't work with the router that another techie had sent to us. Though that too could just have easily been a lie, I suppose.

Do any of you guys have any idea what is going on? It's looking more and more like I'll have to simply thumb my nose at these a-holes and pick out a new ISP.

El Blanco · #6

Maybe you had to adjust your connection settings. Your computer may not be set to use the router as the gateway.

Chojin · #7

'Your computer is too old' is complete bullshit. Hilarious bullshit, but bullshit nonetheless ;< Your rep probably meant 'your computer is too old for me to waste my time configuring it' ;<

If you're using XP, go to start -> control panel. Go to Network Connections. Right-click on the connection you have hooked into this router and go to 'repair'. Do this after you have everything hooked up like you're supposed to. This should get you a new IP and do some other diags that don't matter ;<

If IE still can't connect, go to start -> control panel. Go to Internet Options. Go to the Connections tab. Click setup and follow the instructions.

If you aren't using XP, you're going to have to manually repair this, and other versions of Windows are famously awful with networking in general.

And you should drop Verizon on the grounds that I hate them.

ziggytrix · #8

Win2k was easier for me than XP, but that was prolly just cuz I learned on NT.

DementedElf · #9

Well do you have a user name that you have to connect with, or do you just turn your pc on and it's connected, if it's not through a hub or router? Depending if you are DHCP user or a PPPOE user verizon should handle the call a bit differently, but their support boundries are really tiny so there is not a lot they will help with.

What kindof a DSL modem do you use? Though it is possible there was a network outage, you seem to not be getting sync with the CO as they call it.

Yeah most of the tech support monkeys don't really want to help, cause lets face it their jobs suck.

AChimp · #10

With XP, all you should have to do is plug your DSL modem into the wall, plug the router into the DSL modem and then plug all your computers into the router. Make sure that the DSL is hooked up to the WAN port on your router. Run the Internet Connection Wizard and pick the option that best describes your situation (it's on the second page I believe). After that, everything should work correctly after rebooting.

I don't really remember how to set up Windows 98 machines anymore. You have to ensure that the appropriate protocols are installed and bound to your network card (of course, if it WAS working with the hub, it's probably already done). You need to make sure they're using DHCP to obtain their IP addresses, because that's what the router will be using to assign them to computers on your network.

It's possible that the computers that aren't working are holding onto old IP's that they recieved directly from the Verizon network when you were using the hub. In this case, the router won't know what the hell to do with it, and therefore won't do anything.

ziggytrix · #11

guys, if he didn't get this resolved 2 months ago, he should probably be switching ISPs.

Dr. Boogie · #12

We did wind up getting it resolved.

After numerous failures on their part, Verizon finally sent us a hub that worked. Also, I decided to put XP on that computer, and after doing so, I got to spend a week cleaning all the viruses off of it. Did you know that there are viruses that lay dormant in 98, and activate once XP is installed? I didn't, but there they were, all over the freakin' place.

Anyway, now the computer is working just fine, and will hopefully continue to do so until the next time Verizon fucks up.