Problems with Club Internet

[Martin963]

After an excellent and impressive start with Club Internet a few days ago I've now run into problems.

This afternoon the internet seemed rather erratic and slow,  and then I noticed that the VOIP telephone service light on the box had gone out and we were without that facility,  although the FT line (we have kept) is fine.

Since then either the ADSL or the telephone have been in a non-functioning state (for a quarter of an hour at a time often),  often both,  although at the moment they are both now on again.   I've restarted the box several times with mixed results,  one or other service comes on;  rarely both.

There is the odd distant rumble of thunder,  very far away.  

Is this a regular problem,   a Sunday overload,  or just one of those things?

And it was working SO well.................. 

[tracteurtom]

Hi Martin,  I also use club-internet (on dial up) and find that the service is somewhat irratic at weekends and early evenings.  I assume this is system overload as it can take several attempts to get a working connection.  We are still too far away for a broad band connection and I think this is not helping my connection, other than that, the service is fine - just dont go over your alloted hours (it hurts the wallet!).

[Clair]

I had a similar problem with Neuf and they suggested changing the ADSL filter for a spare one (they supply two filters with their package).

No problem since...

[Martin963]

Well it's all started working again a few minutes ago,   but I would think very carefully now in the light of this experience before dumping the FT line rental..

@ pcwhizz - do your allotted hours apply only to a dial up connection.   I thought that the ADSL I'd signed up to was unlimited...   (Haut Debit but no TV in my case)

Thanks both for your advice

[Danny]

Martin

you are connected all the time (in theory!) so no time limits. Sorry to hear about the line problems. If the adsl is working and the (phone) service light is not on, it should come back on if you reboot the modem. If you have no adsl light and the 'alarme' light is on, it normally means it is a Club Internet problem and it will connect as soon as it can. Just leave it switched on. It is a pain but...

I have had CI for nearly a year with virtually zero time outs until the last few weeks when the service is just unavailable for an hour or so in the morning. Sunday morning is a favourite but no problems today. I have had no desire to call up and pay for the privelege of waiting and then being told it is not working at the moment...

You have a point about the FT line and I am still in two minds about stopping it or not. I am not too bothered about the occasional lack of service - everything needs a little tweak from time to time. My major concern is if there is a line problem ...who will take responsibility ? Customer service here is not great at the best of times. mmm

good luck with the connection

Danny

[shimble]

we  are too on clubinternet and yes it can be a bit tempermental especially at the weekends when everyone is on the internet and also between the hours of  six and ten in the evening however we are happy with the service free phonecalls and 24 hr internet we have found the wifi more stable and quicker than the ethernet cable connection and make sure the modem is configured online with your set up and that the firewalls on your system are configured for the router modem it took a bit of messing about but now is stable if you restart the box you may need to reconfigure the modem online your telephone light on the box will only be on when you are using the phone and we have been using the internet without the service light and no phone access i think a lot of it boils down to usage saturation but in general its stable oh and danny thanks we sorted our p2p problems again i think it boiled down to the p2p software beeing saturated and also our poor config it all works now we dont bother using it when we know the net is busy as indicated above

[Clair]

Shimble, please, can you try to use the return/entrée key on your keyboard to make your posts easier to read?

The odd paragraph and full stop would help so much in making sense of your helpful posts...

Thanks in advance [:)]

[shimble]

whoops

desolee

chastised

[Martin963]

Thanks for the further info;  I should have (more accurately) stated that it was the "service" light that had gone out;  as J&D have said this suggests a CI fault,  particularly as the ADSL light was intermittent too.

Obviously this is the sort of thing you only discover after they've locked you into a one-year contract,   but it makes a bit of a mockery of the young lady at CI who was suggesting I dump FT because CI's tel service was so reliable.

Still,  apart from yesterday afternoon the service HAS been excellent,  so the jury will remain "out" sipping its tea for a while longer yet..

Thanks again to all who advised.

[Clair]

[quote user="shimble"]

whoops

desolee

chastised

[/quote]

Much better! Many thanks [:D]

I did not mean to chastise you and I apologise publicly if my post made you feel that way.

My request was made to make in the hope of making your helpful comments easier to read for all.

[tracteurtom]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]

@ pcwhizz - do your allotted hours apply only to a dial up connection.   I thought that the ADSL I'd signed up to was unlimited...   (Haut Debit but no TV in my case)

[/quote]

Yes dial up in France is very much a secondary service these days.  You pay a 50 hr or 100 hr / month contract and they have the cheek to charge you 5 cents / minute if you go over your allocation.  Not my fault I cant get ADSL is it!  [:@]

as the lady at FT said to me - you shouldn't live in the countryside!

[shimble]

clair T'inquete je rigole

[Joric]

Hi

I am just back on line at home after being without phone and internet since 15 December.Like an idiot I thought why not save the FT line charge with Club Internet.If you are thinking of doing it and are in the countryside , think long and hard. We are 6.1 Km from the server and 2.4 mega is what the system came up with.After waiting in for the I.T France technician to come and set us up the first time ( no show) , we phoned and another appointment was made for one week later (it could not be sooner). They phoned us on that day and said the technician had broken his leg and another rendevous could not be arranged for another week (probably due to the call centre being in Tunisia and the person there just having a list of appointments to fill in).

Anyway we eventualy got connected to broadband and telephone around the end of January which worked intermitently for a couple of days and on ringing the "Ot line" or should it be Hotline we were told to fit a filter and it has not worked since.As our only contact with Club Internet and the outside world was by mobile we have a bill just for contacting the hot line from our mobile of about 400 euros HT and of course they took the abonnement every month and charged the 90 odd euros fee for the technician to set it up.

After so many phone calls and promises and "interventions" some FT engineers turned up one day to check the line between us and the serveur and informed us that the line would only take 1 mega.

To cut an even longer story short we spoke to the supervisor on the CI stand at Carrefour and she suggested that we should ask for our FT line back and start all over again with whoever we choose as our service provider.Of course it is to our cost to get our line back and we have lost our original number which could go with us to Club Internet but not it would appear, the other way round.

That is what we have done and in fairness she said that we would be re-imbursed with all charges paid to them and if we send the copies of our bills for our portable calls that CI would pay those as well.We shall see if their head office agree with her.

So yes I feel a complete fool for letting the line go before knowing if the ADSL would be a good connection just for the sake of a few Euros, and would suggest that people think carefully before doing what I did.

Sorry if I have gone on a bit

Richard

 

[Danny]

Richard,

Who have you gone with now? Have you had any subsequent problems? Hope it all got sorted out,

Danny

[Joric]

Hallo again

I just thought that I should make clear with reference to last nights post that this could have happened with any of the internet service providers as they are all in the hands of FT when it comes to quality of line and the use of the equipment in the exchanges so I am told. You can also get your line back in 2 to 3 days with FT, it was my fault that I took so long to do it as I really would like ADSL and kept on thinking just another week and it would be sorted.

I am now going to try Teleconnect as I have dealt with them before and do appreciate their having an english speaking and free customer service line even if it is only open during office hours,as,if I am having problems with internet connection at the weekend,I still have a phone line.

My previous post was only to show the danger of letting your FT line go before knowing if your connection is stable. I did not want to name and shame anyone-I don't want to get my knuckles rapped

Yes I know I was stoooooopid

Richard

[Martin963]

What a ghastly histoire,  and it's just the sort of thing that this forum is so useful for,  ie when "victims" are kind enough to relay their experiences.

I was talking last night to some friends who have had terrible ADSL set up probs - again FT saying it was all OK and a computer "geek" our friends had hired saying that the computer part was fine too.   Enfin bref,  our friend got so desperate that at 4.00 am one morning she ripped out all the old (very old!) telephone wiring in the house and re-started from first principles;  and lo and behold it all began working.

Much the same thing happened to some Devon friends - they had endless trouble (BT summarily cut their phone off to give a neighbour ADSL,  when it was eventually reconnected it was poor in all technical aspects).   Having surrendered our second line when we got ADSL we asked BT to wire it on to our neighbours,  which (amazingly) they did;  even then things weren't right so I went down and inspected their wiring and found TWO primary sockets in use,  one of which was killing off ADSL on all outlets wired on from it;  (the house at one time had two lines,  one of which had been retired).   I removed the offender and the whole thing burst back into life.

I'm relating all this to emphasise how the internal wiring can profoundly affect a telephone service and ADSL in particular.

I do sympathise with you Joric (Richard) and I hope you get something sorted out.   It's a great pity that there seems to be no way of testing ADSL at home for a trial period before being signed up for a year's contract....

[suein56]

[quote user="Joric"]

My previous post was only to show the danger of letting your FT line go before knowing if your connection is stable. I did not want to name and shame anyone-I don't want to get my knuckles rapped

Yes I know I was stoooooopid

Richard [/quote]

I don't think you were stupid at all - just unfortunate on this occasion. You believed CI when they said your line could take 2.4 mega and why shouldn't you? I am new to Adsl as well and I was lucky that my FT Livebox and connection work well - though there are those here who think it is a rubbish set-up. For me FT has provided a gentle beginning to broadband and I have learned a lot, and if or when I choose to move to a different provider I shall have had the benefit of other peoples' experiences.

Sue

 

[Martin963]

Just to report that yesterday there were no problems with our Club-Internet connection and phone;  (I was particularly watching for any outages as the previous problem reported on the original post to this thread was on a Sunday), so I'm hoping that it was a one-off.

Apart from that one instance the service has been fine,  particularly given that we are 6.4 kms from the exchange.