Rich1972 Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Sorry about yet another FT Livebox question but it's really starting to get on my nerves. I use the wireless connection on my laptop which often works just fine. But sometimes the Livebox will go out of synchronisation and I lose both the internet connection and the telephone. Last night it happened for about three hours before automatically correcting itself. The Debit rate will drop to nothing and I'm unable to access any webpages at all. Is it a problem with i) the phone line or ii) the livebox? I phoned up FT a few days ago and the woman I spoke with said that the line is working perfectly. Could the line have an intermittent problem? I would phone up again but discussing technical details in French is way beyond my current capabilities. Any advice?Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Difficult (impossible ?) to diagnose at this distance but sounds very much like a dodgy livebox. Is it overheating? Is the power supply getting hot? Either of these things cause the speed to slow and then stop. After a while, it cools and off you go again. Some of the 'free' boxes are made, shall we say, less than optimally, and are prone to heating as are the power supplies. I had one (not a Livebox but an equally grotty make) once that I had to place on the windowsill outside before it could be encouraged to perform for more than an hour or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Hihave you accounted for the rain? although ours seems to work 99% of the time, when it rains it seems to mess up the connection so need to use the livebox restore facility, which basically reboots the livebox, this works but may need to be done more than once during prolonged wet periods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkster Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 We had the same problem and it went on for about a year. If your French is up to it, call FT and get them to do a diagnosis over the phone, as if you can prove it is faulty they will replace it. Unfortunately my French was not up to it, so I purchased a wireless router which is now plugged into my Livebox and have not had a problem since (about 2 years ago). In addition my Livebox used to make a sizzling noise, so I know it was faulty but FT would not budge or even let me take it to a shop without doing the diagnosis over the phone. I even offered to purchase a new Livebox and let them test the old one and give me a refund if it was faulty and they would not even agree to that!- Just re-read your post, do you have a friend who is French and could help you out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich1972 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Share Posted May 26, 2008 Thanks for all of the replies!It's (sort of) good to know that other people have had the same problem. Re. the rain, and we've recently had three or four days of almost continuous rain on the Charente/Vienne border so perhaps that's partly responsible. The overheating issue could be to blame too as the Livebox is on constantly, although it's been absolutely fine this morning with no problems at all. I will monitor the situation and see what happens. I know people who are French but unfortunately I'm not sure they'd be much help on the technicalities. If it does it again for a protracted period of time then I'll bite the bullet and call FT. Living in a rural area I feel lucky even to have any broadband (and my connection is slower than AOL was providing in the UK!), but I can't be doing with it going out of synch for hours on end and not being able to use the 'phone. I tried resetting the Livebox last night and it made little difference. The lights flashed and then the @ light just flickered for hours. Will report back later this evening!Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Worth trying to find out whether other people in the village have the same problem at the same time. Although it's better than it was, our first year of ADSL was at times very troublesome, with long periods where ours - and most other people's - were down. Mostly evenings.That's why I wouldn't part with my analogue baseband (ordinary) phone line - ever - not if I could afford to go on paying for it.Problem is finding which of the troubles you actually have.Stormy weather doesn't help - the carrier frequencies used for ADSL are plagued by what I think are called sferics, if a medium wave radio is crackling then your ADSL is going to be "under siege" (assuming you're fed by overhead lines).What sort of rate do you normally get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 [quote user="Martinwatkins"]Stormy weather doesn't help - the carrier frequencies used for ADSL are plagued by what I think are called sferics, if a medium wave radio is crackling then your ADSL is going to be "under siege" (assuming you're fed by overhead lines).[/quote]Are these related to atmospherics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkster Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 [quote user="Rich1972"]I know people who are French but unfortunately I'm not sure they'd be much help on the technicalities. Rich[/quote]I was more thinking they could be with you when you phone FT. This is what they suggested to me on the English speaking helpline, but I could not think of anybody at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Actually I see from Wikepedia that Radio Atomospheric and Sferics are the same.With which I disagree - atmospherics are (I thought) generally the term used to describe interference to radio signals caused by all sorts of natural phenomena, this can include tropospheric inversions, meteor show reflections, etc etc which have nothing to do with lightning.Still, no doubt Wiki knows best eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Ours goes off and on intermittantly with the rain. Every time I've tried to watch a football stream it happens. Sunshine all day, then as soon as the match starts, down comes the rain, off goes the livebox and wait for 20 mins to reconnect the stream. I've missed so many goals this season[:'(] It's like little Amelie is up there pulling the plug.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich1972 Posted May 27, 2008 Author Share Posted May 27, 2008 Well I thought it was the rain, but alas no!! It was a very clear evening last night and yet the connection went dead from about 10pm to at least 12pm (when I went to bed it was still off!). This morning I wake up and it's all working again, and despite heavy rain outside at this very moment it's still working ok. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and phone FT. Clearly something's not right, and if it can't get sorted out then I'll try and cancel my account with them. I'm not paying for a service which periodically disappears for hours on end!Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 Rich1972,See here, under unsatisfactory service: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1076170/ShowPost.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich1972 Posted May 27, 2008 Author Share Posted May 27, 2008 Thanks Clair! Very useful information.I will certainly return to that page if I get no luck from France Telecom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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