Livebox

[johnv]

no matter what i do i can't connect wireless to this (new) orange livebox .. hard wired ethernet is straight in. if i go through the recommended setup, i can't get further than the livebox name and the WEP code .. I have entered them every which way, but it keeps saying that they're wrong ...

If i try to connect normally to the secured wifi network, i would expect it to ask me for the wep code, but it comes back saying that the network has 'gone out of range' or something equally fatuous

anyone else had this prob?

thanks

[snoopy]

Hi, we are having the same problem. Two weeks trying to sort out, get as far as 'Error 9' thats it. We have even been to France T, they have failed to sort it. Help. Perhaps its my brains age and not LiveBox!  Snoopy

[tenniswitch]

[quote user="snoopy"]Hi, we are having the same problem. Two weeks trying to sort out, get as far as 'Error 9' thats it. We have even been to France T, they have failed to sort it. Help. Perhaps its my brains age and not LiveBox!  Snoopy[/quote]

Forgive me if you've already done this, but have you looked here? http://help.orange.co.uk/searchResults.do

(the page resulting from typing Error 9 in the search box at Orange's Help and Technical Support page)

[snoopy]

Many thanks for your email. Have contacted Orange, waiting to hear from them. Fingers crossed. But I might take up Wills idea to connect from UK as a "Holiday" visitor, as we do travel quite a bit.  Thanks, snoopy

[Ron Avery]

The wep code can be a real pain as you have to put it in twice!! Type the number off the side of the box or CD cover without spaces and as written caps as well, it will work.  The biggest problem is not making any errors on 26 digiits,  twice as you cannot see what you are typing[6].

[tenniswitch]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]The wep code can be a real pain as you have to put it in twice!! Type the number off the side of the box or CD cover without spaces and as written caps as well, it will work.  The biggest problem is not making any errors on 26 digiits,  twice as you cannot see what you are typing[6].[/quote]

Typing code like that is a pain.  But after you got it correct once, did you try using ctrl c and ctrl v to copy and paste (easier to do if you first type it into something like an Excel spreadsheet so you can see what you're typing)?

[Ron Avery]

I think you will find that it is not possible to copy and paste the WEP code into the second box when entering the code.

[johnv]

thanks for the replies, sorry not to have acknowledged earlier

ron .. yes , I have definately typed it in correctly, but to no avail .. back in the UK now, but I'll tackle it again when I get back

[snoopy]

Hi Ron, many thanks for the further info. Sorry not to have replied sooner. Did type in all numbers correct, several dozen times! If France T.C. can't understand whats happening, no chance for me then. We are also back in UK now, will take it up again on next visit, soon. Thanks.

[snoopy]

Hi Tenniswitch, thanks for the info too. No, didn't use the ctrt etc, will give it a try though. Will let you all know if I succeed and how I did it!!!! Snoopy

[snoopy]

Hi Johnv, have you cracked the problem with Livebox yet? We are back in UK at the moment, so have got no further. Here's to a happy problem return!. snoopy

[Coco]

I wish I had my Wanadoo 56kbps dial up connection back.  It may have been painfully slow but it worked!!!!!  We got our Livebox last Thursday (our commune can only cope with the 1Mega connection but we thought, well that's a lot better than 56Kb - HUH!)  After clocking up 20 euros worth of 34c a minute talking to the helpline even she gave up on me and fobbed me off with telling me to unplug our phone and try the line without a phone plugged in.  Apparently cordless phones .... can you BELIEVE this!..... may block the wifi signal!!!  Anyway, after spending almost two days on it an typing that WEP number in twice at least 20 times we were finally up and running but get intermittant connections because the signal ranges non available to excellent on a constantly moving scale (usually very weak to medium).  Today the problems all started up again when I tried to download email and couldn't get a connection.  We have now managed to get the wifi connection talking to the Livebox and the Livebox says it has an excellent signal but when we try and go online we are told something about "recuperation de l'adresse IP est intervenue au temps" Does this mean that there is something wrong with the IP address we have or does it mean that the Orange server is down?  I have connected at the moment by an old UK dialup that I still have, which is costing a fortune, so I won't be staying on line long. 

When I tried via the lIvebox I couldn't get any sites up but can get everything with my Freeola dialup, including the Orange homepage an my emails via the internet so I'm a bit concerned that there is still something wrong at our end.  If it's the Orange server I suppose I'll just have to be patient.  Though if we have too much more unreliability we may have to try and cancel the contract and go with someone else.

Can anyone help in answering any of my questions?   PLEASE?

[fulcrum]

Can you borrow a standard ethernet ADSL modem from someone just to see if that improves things.

[johnv]

have you tried connecting with an ethernet cable direct .. take the wi-fi bit out of the equation?

[Owens88]

johnv wrote the following post at 24/08/2006 14:49:

have you tried connecting with an ethernet cable direct .. take the wi-fi bit out of the equation?

That seems a good thing to try.

The following snippet might also lend some clues. Having worked, fruitlessly until somebody got into the hard code, on a Tosh wifi router preconfigured for hotspot use I can undesrtand the frustration.

Apparently both Orange and Free (telcos'/ISP's) in France now sell their connection complete with a Livebox (orange) or equivalent that is a modem/router, wifi distributor and media box etc.Unknown to most people the 'livebox' is a Mesh box which is also propagating a mesh for the operator

- e.g if on the Free network in Paris you can effectively surf or roam with a wifi phone near seamlessly.

The operator charges their customer for use of the wifi hotspot but the 'host' doesn't even know it is happening.

 

 

 

[Coco]

Well we uninstalled it all and reinstalled using the ethernet connection an here I am - back in touch with the outside world.  I've since discovered that several people locally have had the same problem and due to thefrustrations of getting nowhere with France Telecom have reverted to using the Livebox with a cable connection and forgetting about the wifi.  For the time being we'll live with that, but it's not really the deal that they are selling!

Owens, we had some Parisians here at the weekend (whilst the wifi was working for all of 24 hours) and they tried to use it but couldn't.  That WEP number encrypts it and stops other people using your system.  They told us of that story, that a while ago you could pull over to the side of the road in Paris and use your mobile or laptop by homing in on some unsuspecting person in one of the surrounding appartments but now more an more people are encrypting their computers it is becoming harder to do.

[Owens88]

Owens, we had some Parisians here at the weekend (whilst the wifi was working for all of 24 hours) and they tried to use it but couldn't.  That WEP number encrypts it and stops other people using your system.  They told us of that story, that a while ago you could pull over to the side of the road in Paris and use your mobile or laptop by homing in on some unsuspecting person in one of the surrounding appartments but now more an more people are encrypting their computers it is becoming harder to do.

 

Hi. I would secure (wep or mac authorsation) any wireless router, anyway. BUT the story I heard was that Orange were re-selling the landline capacity to their customers passing you, outside of your domestic netwoek but using your feed. Invisible to you. BUT only to Orange customners.

[Bones]

All the problems listed above are due to crappy liveboxes and their adaptors, maybe even the installation cd's...

Invantel boxes - and all their associated parts - are RUBBISH!

Insist on a Sagem box (everything Sagem - dongle the lot) and try again...

trust me, I've had about three boxes in 9 months, even the guy in France telecom told me he never personally gives invantel systems out.

Due to a storm I am currently using a sagem box with an 'orange compatible with everything' dongle -- it was nigh on  impossible to install the new dongle due to the WEP (there's an inherent conflict)  but the box still  worked with the ethernet connection: I got around it eventually, but what a blinking pain!

Tell them you want new equipment or you will cancel the contract, the help line guys just run off a checklist that inevitably ends with you running around like a fool and paying tons of phone charges: don't let them fool you, they are not supplying you with decent equipment but raking it in anyway... They commonly don't know enough to advise you properly, and Orange could care less.

I've just had to plug a friend's livebox into my phone line to prove that it's the box that is to blame - not the friend's adsl line - how stupid is that? You're paying for the privelledge!! Stand firm and tell them where to go if they won't back down - you're better off without to be honest.

Good luck.

[Cassis]

Problem is, Bones, ever tried getting out of a contract with a French ISP?  I think the only grounds for cancellation are your death.  Failure to provide a service does not count. Their contracts stink, that's why some get away with crummy-to-non-existent customer service.

[fulcrum]

I was interested in a Livebox and visited a dealer who supplied Liveboxes. He told me to rent and not buy. His explanation was that if you rent and the Livebox doesn't work then you have grounds for getting a replacement box whearas if you buy outright then you are on your own.

I have since lost interest in a Livebox as I now have a Thomson Speedtouch that works fine with my ADSL 1Mega setup.