adsl gurus please help!

[Dc]

Can somebody please help! I am trying to help a retired, widowed lady who lives alone, has no transport, no tv (everything is English so won’t work), radio only picks up one station  and only exists on a meagre  pension with her adsl  connection with wanadoo/orange. The story goes as follows:

 

Friend of lady installs livebox via usb connection with fairly old pc but windows xp home edition and system works intermittently for a few days and then phone packs up along with internet connection.

Wanadoo engineer called, when he arrives examines set up and tells lady system not synchronizing because both filters included in box don’t work and to get new filters. Cost of call out 50+ euros.

Lady buys new filter and installs. Same problem, no internet, phone gives engaged signal, disconnect livebox and phone works ok.

Knight in shining armour arrives (me) re-installs software and box, no improvement. Take filters and livebox to my house and firstly connect all filters to my system and prove that these are all functioning ok. (so much for wanadoo engineer).

Then attach livebox to my portable and install system using lady’s software and passwords etc but on my line. Same errors no internet and my phone with engaged signal. I think this suggests the livebox is broken?

Tried my portable at her house in case its to do with the line ie fixed to her telephone number as I don’t understand how adsl works but still same problems.

Ring Wanadoo  helpline and eventually speak to somebody and use my better than basic French to explain problem. Nice lady at wanadoo gives me a special number to enable exchange livebox for a new one, but tells me I must go to nearest France Telecom shop to make the transaction.

5 days later off we go to Rochefort  (35 mins away) on my trusty steed ( well, in the car anyway) park up and find shop. Queue in shop for twenty minutes before wanadoo employee tells us to go to after-sales shop next door.

Man in shop exchanges livebox for new one and a queue of 5 people forms behind me all clutching livebox ready for exchange. I was only in there 2 minutes, and asked man if they were having problems with livebox, he grunted and I left with my new Qrange box.

Drove Lady home and arranged to meet lady and install new Orange box 2 days later.

Arrive 2 days later full of confidence but on reading new instructions read that Orange recommend connection via Ethernet cable.

Unperturbed I look for an Ethernet port (rj45) in the back of computer and guess what there isn’t one. So of course I try the usb method and guess what exactly the same problem, only this time xp tries to repair the network but still no internet connection and phone gives engaged signal.

I have spent about  12 hours trying to make this work, loads of petrol and what little hair I have left I have pulled.

So please can somebody help me to improve this lady’s existence here in France and tell us what we doing wrong.

 

Regards

Dc

[Ron Avery]

I would be more concerned about what an old lady is doing in France living alone on a supposed meagre pension with no transport than what her PC can or cannot do, how does she get food afford heating etc????

However, on the PC front a couple of possibilities,  her phone line may not yet be set up for ADSL,  if Orange contacted her to change it can take up to 10 days for the line to be set up for ADSL.  Also  old PC 386/486 will not operate Windows XP and does not have USB ports which are essential for having ADSL, you cannot connect the dongle which talks to he Livebox without them ot a convertor cable..  The problem may therefore be with her computer not being up to the job, not the Livebox.  Were there any indications when loading the Orange software that the PC had sufficient memory to cope with the software?.

[Eslier]

Firstly, old lady doesn't need a Livebox and shouldn't have been rented one in the first place. I'm sure she could find better things to do with the extra 3€ per month she is paying to rent it.  Get back on to FT/Orange and tell them she doesn't need it and would like to exchange it for the simple adsl usb modem - for which they make a one off charge of just 1€ and no ongoing monthly costs.

Once you have this, the next thing to do is delete all the Orange/Wanadoo software from her computer. Install the driver for the modem manualy and then manualy configure the computer to connect to the internet. Whatever you do, don't install the Orange software.

Good luck.

PS when you've done that then see if you can get her to buy a satelite kit for you to instal which,if you point it to pick up UK TV, will work fine with her old UK telly.

[Iain]

Hi,

You could buy a ethernet card for the PC (around €10) and see if it works with that... Older PCs (I think generally over - what - 5 years old?)  had slower USB ports than more moden ones. This could be the problem.

Would have to agree with previous poster - a Livebox is possibly a bit of an overkill for her situation.

Iain

[Bob T]

I would never have a livebox in my house! If you want a WiFi modem router then buy a Netgear or similar. Only connect it via ethernet or Wifi and under no circumstances put any Wanadoo software on a PC. If you do then download and run A squared spyware checker and it will remove the wanadoo software. With a decent modem router all you do is click on your web browser and you are on the internet.

[Ron Avery]

Its so good to see that you are so concerned about whether she has a livebox or not in her house, rather than whether this woman should be living alone in France with only the help of people who have taken pity on her.There are some prority isues here but whether she has a Livebox or netgear is not one of them!!!!

[Bob T]

Sorry Ron, but I thought that you posted a question about liveboxes on an open forum for all to answer.

[Gyn_Paul]

Dc,

How easy would it be for you to take your laptop and your ADSL router or adaptor to her house and try to set yourself up on Wanadoo  (I'm assuming you're not a Wanadoo customer) using her line and her coordinates? (control panel/network connections/internet wizard etc.)

This seems to me to be the only side of this 'wheatstone bridge' of swap-to-test which you haven't explored yet.

then the only remaining option is to find another Wanadoo customer with a working ADSL line where you can try your portable with her Livebox to confirm that you haven't got another rogue box (not beyond the bounds of possibility if that queue is anything to go by!)

I agree with other posters, she needs a simple ADSL adapter like the Sagem  F@st 800 which wanadoo used to issue before the advent of the liveboxes.

p

[Bones]

Hi Dc.

The problem you describe is not uncommon.

Basically I would advise anyone against a livebox unless they are pretty handy with PC's or are willing to learn. The problem is that Wannadoo - like most places these days - present these products as lifestyle choices and then proceed to churn out some very shonky hardware.

They know full well what they are doing, we spend even more money trying to discover solutions to the installation problems and it's not a nice feeling having to pay for the privelledge. The tech support (expensive call!) are trained to delay the issuing of new equipment until as late as possible into the call(s)- yet the result is always the same!

The last time I checked you should avoid Invantel systems like the plague and insist on a Sagem box AND dongle AND the latest filters: if you were near Carcassonne you could try the LeClerc FT shop - they have one young man there that actually insists on giving Sagem's out!

Tips: make sure you FULLY uninstall EVERYTHING LIVEBOX RELATED before attempting a reinstall (go to add/remove programes in control panel). Get at least 512 mb of RAM (the right type for your pc) - you can pop this stuff in yourself - it's like lego!

I would also advise that you absolutely bollock Wannadoo: that engineer's charge has to come off your friend's bill or you will cancel the contract: we had a similar problem and they promised us a 'commercial gesture'. (I don't know anyone in fact that has had a problem free install, how bad is that??).

Ethernet is considered more reliable than wifi, yes, but what's the point in having a livebox that needs wires?? Whoever advised using a 'simple modem' is quite correct in this case.

You can PM me whenever you like if you have any questions and I'll try and use my bitter experience to help!

Good Luck.

[Bones]

[quote user="Gyn_Paul"]Dc,

How easy would it be for you to take your laptop and your ADSL router or adaptor to her house and try to set yourself up on Wanadoo  (I'm assuming you're not a Wanadoo customer) using her line and her coordinates? (control panel/network connections/internet wizard etc.)

This seems to me to be the only side of this 'wheatstone bridge' of swap-to-test which you haven't explored yet.

then the only remaining option is to find another Wanadoo customer with a working ADSL line where you can try your portable with her Livebox to confirm that you haven't got another rogue box (not beyond the bounds of possibility if that queue is anything to go by!)

I agree with other posters, she needs a simple ADSL adapter like the Sagem  F@st 800 which wanadoo used to issue before the advent of the liveboxes.

p

[/quote]

I've tried this for someone -- they advised the procedure then found an excuse to contradict the (inevitable) results! I'm telling you, it's a racket they run!