Trouble with Neuf / SFR box

[dave21478]

I think I might have posted about this a while back? Cant remember....anyway...does anyone else have a SFR box that stops working at night?

My internet is terribly slow anyway....but most evenings, it slows right down then stops working altogether. Normally the main indicator light turns yellow and the "access" light flashes, which according to the manual means it is updating itself and is a normal operation - ok fine, I appreciate that these things might need to be updated occasionally but updating itself every single night for 5 or 6 hours is NOT a normal operation, leaving me with no net or telephone while this goes on. Resetting it, unplugging it...tried all that and it just reverts to the "updating" status.

I speak to the clowns....they follow their silly scripts and nothing gets done - their tests all check out ok with no faults found. I cant call them when the fault is occurring as the support lines are not open in the evenings.

I asked for a replacement box. "No. yours is not faulty".

fine.

An old USB lead and a car battery later and mine was definitely "faulty" ie frazzled, so they sent a replacement......same shit. still goes off every night.

Now what?

I am considering sacking them off and starting with a different provider.

[Quillan]

A quick question before I continue. When you say at night is the time it stops working getting earlier as the nights get longer?

[Chancer]

Cant help but just wanted to say I like the way you helped your old Neufbox on its final journey [:D]

Frustrating though that it didnt help.

[Quillan]

I was thinking dodgy connector in the outside line somewhere. Perhaps condensation or rain, condensation would be a good choice if it turns off earlier now the nights are longer. If that is the case then the OP will be in the old "its not us it's Orange/FT" ping pong  game with SFR and of course they will check the line during the day so it will probably look OK to them. My neighbour had a similar problem fortunately he is with Orange and it was fixed in a couple of days when the engineer came on site.

[Lehaut]

The USB trick made me laugh out loud too. We are with Neuf/SFR have had other problems but not the one you have. Is there any mileage in 192.168.1.1 ing the box, pushing the button on the front and interogatting the "Information de la ligne ADSL" page

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac55/yorkie_2010/neuf.jpg?t=1381916480

The link is to my info taken this morning. If you can take a series of readings during the day and when the problem begins, it may help in your case with SFR. Just and idea, a more tech savy person may be along to shoot it down.

[Mr Ceour de Lion II]

I think I would have kicked them into touch after 3 nights in a row of that. I'd go with another provider if I were you.

[dave21478]

I dont know what to make of it....

The fault usually occurs around 9.30pm with perhaps an hours variation either side. It normally clears itself sometime in the night, but some mornings it will still be stuck.

The condensation/damp idea has some merit as a few months back some numpty with an overly high load on his truck ran through the hamlet and pulled down the lines. The FT contractor (sedtel or something?) came round and "fixed" it with cable ties, sticky tape and some plastic bags, saying it was a temporary repair and they would be back in a few days to do it properly - obviously this never happened. We also have a genuine, proper village idiot..... "G" and "D" written on his wellies, dresses like a tramp and dribbles a lot....he likes running rope fences around his house - seemingly this keeps out evil spirits - anyway, he is often tying bits of rope to the phone lines, so that probably doesnt help either.

HOWEVER, when my fault occurs, it is not just a problem with ADSL signal - the box switches to this bloody "updating" status and refuses all connections on this side too. 192.168.1.1 doesnt work as the box switches off the wifi signal and refuses to talk via an ethernet or usb link either.

So, unless a line fault is causing the box to go into its updating status somehow (I have no idea if that is plausible) I don't know what else it could be.

Everyone else in the village is old and thinks that fax machines are the pinnacle of communications technology so I cant ask if they have problems, and the only other house that had internet is for sale and standing empty.

Just had a thought - if/when it happens tonight, I will unplug the incoming line and see if I can access the box.

I am leaning towards sacking it off and changing ISP though - next problem, none of the comparison sites, nor any of the main ISP`s own websites (including Orange) can find my address as none of the houses in the hamlet are named or numbered and my land line is a voip only line that is not recognised by any of these sites either. Looks like I will have to do without any comparison of available offers and drag myself the 45 minute drive to town and queue up in an Orange shop. Isn't technology grand?

[Jay]

I went for months with a similar problem with Alice. Internet and phone stopped working every night around 10ish, couple of hours at first then all night and eventually part of the day then sometimes all day as well. Problem was worse in cold and/or wet weather. 20 phone calls later (using a mobile) we gave up talking to the morons and changed ISP. A week with the new provider and the problem was found to be a FT junction box that had not been sealed and as Q pointed out condensation on a nightime or rain made the line go down.

As a footnote Alice received my router back (signed for) but a year later I received a demand from a debt recovery place in Paris for none return - needles to say I told them to go forth and multiply.

I can't understand why yours should try to update all the time but it must be linked to the line problem.

[Quillan]

I have to say that if I was in the same 'place' as the OP I would change to Orange. I know one or two have had a bad experience with them but I can truthfully say that I have been with them for 12 years (the first few when it was Wanadoo), only had two problems and have been dealt with quickly and efficiently. Two benefits is they have an English speaking help desk and they also own the line (because Orange and FT are now one and the same) so there is no back and forth between ISP and FT. Yes there may well be cheaper alternatives but service is the most important thing for me.

[mint]

Hm....can't say that I have anything constructive to say about poor Dave's box but I have to disagree with you, Q, about FT/Orange.

Hand on heart, I have found the service from Neuf/SFR to be better than the other lot by a factor of about 100+++++

[Quillan]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Hm....can't say that I have anything constructive to say about poor Dave's box but I have to disagree with you, Q, about FT/Orange.

Hand on heart, I have found the service from Neuf/SFR to be better than the other lot by a factor of about 100+++++

[/quote]

Strange isn't it my experience is different. Only one 'problem' with SFR, the unlocking of my old mobile phone. Several recorded delivery letters, about ten phone calls and six weeks to get it unlocked. Other than that one occasion I have never had a problem with them but then I only have my mobile with them. I would recommend them above orange for mobile phone coverage. ADSL and SFR, well I can only go by the experience of others and mine with Orange.

[dave21478]

Well, it went off at 8.30 last night.

Unplugging the incoming line didnt really tell me much, The light obviously stays yellow as there is no ADSL signal. I was able to connect to the router and access its diagnostics etc, which just said the line was not connected! As soon as I reconnected the line, the access light started flashing, meaning it was updating and it stopped talking to the computer completely.

I am wary of going to Orange as I have not had great experiences with them in the past - When I was living at the gites, Orange was the provider and they were less than helpful for the few problems I had there and a friend has orange who looses her connection once a month or so for days at a time so she comes to my house to contact them and spends literally over an hour on hold each time before getting anywhere.

[suein56]

[quote user="dave21478"]

I am considering sacking them off and starting with a different provider.[/quote]

Although I am not a fan of Orange in your case switching to them might just be the answer, in so far as they do own the lines. IMO I think others are right as it does sound as though you have a problem with a connection or water ingress somewhere along the line.

Otherwise you also have an additional problem in that you sound as though you are 'au bout du réseau' which is not helpful in your situation. In which case, unless you have a helpful Maire and quite a few other local people also anxious to connect to the Internet, then your chances of a superior connection are minimal.

When one of my friends had a serious problem with her connection - computer and box both fine - I used the SFR forum to post a query on her behalf and one of SFR's tame experts took the matter in hand and the problem was sorted in about 4 or 5 days IIRC. Do you have any savvy friends who could do the same for you ? Ringing SFR on a mobile is a no no as it costs far too much plus you can hardly ever speak to anyone who can help as the teccies are all engaged online sorting out problems, so catch 22.

That said I do genuinely think your problem sounds external.

Sue

[Pommier]

After years of service with SFR and no problems, when we moved into our new house we had terrible service (barely any at all) for months; lots of technicians visits (SFR and FT) lots of shrugging, saying "bizarre", daily phone calls, eventually about 4 months later they finally got it working sort of ok, slow but adequate. This last week it`s been dreadful again, only working at odd times so tonight I phoned up and the chap I spoke to said they`d turn up our speed. Sure enough it`s now working much better, and it makes me wonder if they could have done that ages ago.

[Quillan]

Just checked my emails before going to bed and have one from Orange. They are now offering a guaranteed fix within 24 hours whatever the problem. It does however assume that if it is your router that is faulty and they give you an exchange number you will visit the nearest Orange shop immediately and only covers working days. But then hey if you have had a problem for weeks or months even it might be worth a try (moving to Orange that is). If the OP wants a copy of the email then pm me with your emails address and I will forward it on. If they can't fix it within 24 hours (like it is the line and they can't get anyone out for two days)  then they will knock some money off your bill.

[dave21478]

Well, there is apparently nothing wrong with the line and nothing wrong with the modem. An FT chap was out to check the line a while back and seemingly all is well within expected performance - whatever that may be.

Oddly, tonight its 22.30 and the connection is still running - Through some trial and lots of error, it seems that if I have constant data flow, the connection will be steady all night, its only when it is idle that it flakes out. The solution is to connect to a streaming radio station in the early evening and the internet and phone will work fine for as long as I want.

If I stop the radio station and leave the computer idle for about 5 minutes, the connection will fail and it wont re-establish until the next morning.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="dave21478"]Well, there is apparently nothing wrong with the line and nothing wrong with the modem. An FT chap was out to check the line a while back and seemingly all is well within expected performance - whatever that may be. Oddly, tonight its 22.30 and the connection is still running - Through some trial and lots of error, it seems that if I have constant data flow, the connection will be steady all night, its only when it is idle that it flakes out. The solution is to connect to a streaming radio station in the early evening and the internet and phone will work fine for as long as I want. If I stop the radio station and leave the computer idle for about 5 minutes, the connection will fail and it wont re-establish until the next morning.[/quote] Don't know if this will help you dave but I have just got a new router from BT and it has a power saving facility that switches off the router between preset times if it is idle. To restart the connection you have to press a button on the router. Obviously this is not the same box as you have but it may have a similar facility. It coul be worth searching through the manual for power saving or similar to see if your box has the same problem. Good luck and I hope this helps

[psgrad]

Is she alone in the world?

I have a friend who has a problem, so being the nice guy that I am I tried to help.

Despite having very few problems over the past 5 years she has now had this problem on and off for several months and it is getting her down. She has a Neuf Box (supplied by SFR) with a big yellow light on it but she would prefer it to be a big green light because that is what makes her the most happy.  She has tried to get it sorted many times by ringing 1023 and talking at length to SFR but with no avail. A nice man from SFR (Neuf Box engineer) called one morning to help but only made matters worse because he thought that the yellow light was a nice colour and green was beyond his capability, for that he would need the assistance of his colleague 'Telecom French' who was currently way over worked and could not make it in the foreseeable future. Her yellow light is a result of her Neuf Box (modem) making continuous short  attempts to gain sync (accés) and not managing to do so due to the bad quality of the line. So here I am, Monsieur nice guy. Armed with a test meter and a piece of tin foil, off I go. A quick check on the line reveals no ground shorts and 54vdc. With the line shorted by the meter I get a current rising from 36mA and settling at around 50mAdc and believe it or not I get a solid ADSL sync light (accés) followed by a solid data light (traffic) but still a yellow light. So now for the fix. I folded up a small sheet of aluminium foil (tin foil) and plug it into the open phone socket on the ADSL filter (ADSL FILTRE PHONE) socket to short out all the connections. Once the line has settled for a minute, rebooting the Nuef Box modem (by unplugging the power connector) the light turned from yellow to green as if by magic and she was once again most happy. All was well with the world (Neuf Box), accés, traffic, tel, (no tv), wifi, (no alarme) and the big green light.

So my question is:

After over 5 years of good service why has this become a problem?

Why does shorting the line out and drawing 50mA or so make it operational?

Is the current draw improving the continuity of the line allowing the high frequency ADSL carrier to synchronise?

Is the short after the ADSL filter giving a better termination to the line and reducing reflections? Should the line have a 600ohm termination anyway?

Is the line current causing a heating/welding effect at bad line joints/connections?

In foggy/humid wet weather this does not seem to work, why?

So is the answer to short out your filter socket with tin foil to sustain a connection on a failing line???