Connection problems

[G Robin Edwards]

I don't know whether this will need to be sent, but at the moment I am
indeed having "Connection problems".

I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of attempts.
Voyager gives up trying after one minute.

The normal dial up delay is 30 seconds, or perhaps 31. This is very
consistent indeed, so my guess is that it has been programmed in for
some arcane reason, and I can not think of anything random that would be
so consistent. Strange, isn't it?

I don't think it's anything to do with my set up, so will just keep
trying.

Robin

[Paul Vigay]

Post by G Robin Edwards
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of attempts.
Voyager gives up trying after one minute.

Hmm. Has anyone else had this problem? i've had no support calls at all
related to this today, so I can only assume that you're the first person to
report it - at least since BT allegedly fixed something with some modems on
the dialup number a couple of weeks back.

Are you still having the same problem?

Paul

[Stanley Buchan]

Post by Paul Vigay

Post by G Robin Edwards
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of attempts.
Voyager gives up trying after one minute.

Hmm. Has anyone else had this problem? i've had no support calls at all
related to this today, so I can only assume that you're the first person to
report it - at least since BT allegedly fixed something with some modems on
the dialup number a couple of weeks back.
Are you still having the same problem?
Paul
Hi Paul,

I have been having this problem occasionly, the latest yesterday. After
three or four tries I manage to get through. A couple of months ago I had
to give up one evening and it was back to normal the following day.
Regards Stan Buchan

[G Robin Edwards]

Post by Paul Vigay

Post by G Robin Edwards
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of
attempts. Voyager gives up trying after one minute.

Hmm. Has anyone else had this problem? i've had no support calls at
all related to this today, so I can only assume that you're the first
person to report it - at least since BT allegedly fixed something with
some modems on the dialup number a couple of weeks back.
Are you still having the same problem?

Thank goodness, NO! It was rather frustrating while it lasted.

Something else I've noticed over the past couple of weeks or so is that
the difficulties I had with the system a few weeks ago - desultory
"Connect" response - has completely disappeared. It is a great relief.
I have done nothing at all to my system (as usual!) but the change just
occurred. Strange, isn't it?


Robin

[Paul Vigay]

Post by G Robin Edwards
Something else I've noticed over the past couple of weeks or so is that
the difficulties I had with the system a few weeks ago - desultory
"Connect" response - has completely disappeared. It is a great relief.
I have done nothing at all to my system (as usual!) but the change just
occurred. Strange, isn't it?

I suspect BT have done something (although they'd never admit it) because
I've been hassling them to look into the 0845 number for the past couple of
weeks (amongst doing all the other tasks I've been working on recently).

Glad it's all working ok for you though, so I hope it stays like it. :-)

[Tennant Stuart]

Post by G Robin Edwards
I don't know whether this will need to be sent, but at the moment I am
indeed having "Connection problems".
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of attempts.
Voyager gives up trying after one minute.
The normal dial up delay is 30 seconds, or perhaps 31. This is very
consistent indeed, so my guess is that it has been programmed in for
some arcane reason, and I can not think of anything random that would be
so consistent. Strange, isn't it?
I don't think it's anything to do with my set up, so will just keep
trying.

Everything is working fine here; ever since Paul Vigay gave the servers
a swift quick, and got rid of the dastardly 213.130.146.204 (RIP).


Tennant

[Nick Roberts]

Post by G Robin Edwards
I don't know whether this will need to be sent, but at the moment I
am indeed having "Connection problems".
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of
attempts. Voyager gives up trying after one minute.
The normal dial up delay is 30 seconds, or perhaps 31. This is very
consistent indeed, so my guess is that it has been programmed in for
some arcane reason, and I can not think of anything random that would
be so consistent. Strange, isn't it?

When you say "normal dial up delay", what do you mean? The time taken to
authorize, the time taken to dial, for the modem at the other end to
respond, or what?

[G Robin Edwards]

Post by Nick Roberts

Post by G Robin Edwards
I don't know whether this will need to be sent, but at the moment I
am indeed having "Connection problems".
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of
attempts. Voyager gives up trying after one minute.
The normal dial up delay is 30 seconds, or perhaps 31. This is very
consistent indeed, so my guess is that it has been programmed in for
some arcane reason, and I can not think of anything random that
would be so consistent. Strange, isn't it?

When you say "normal dial up delay", what do you mean? The time taken
to authorize, the time taken to dial, for the modem at the other end
to respond, or what?

I mean the time that the dial operation takes before it actually
connects with 0845 1231621. When the connection is made Voyager reports
its estimate of connection speed, for example 45333 CPS and downloading
then starts, presumably because the modem the other end has been reached
by my modem.

Robin

[Nick Roberts]

Post by G Robin Edwards

Post by Nick Roberts

Post by G Robin Edwards
I don't know whether this will need to be sent, but at the moment
I am indeed having "Connection problems".
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of
attempts. Voyager gives up trying after one minute.
The normal dial up delay is 30 seconds, or perhaps 31. This is
very consistent indeed, so my guess is that it has been
programmed in for some arcane reason, and I can not think of
anything random that would be so consistent. Strange, isn't it?

When you say "normal dial up delay", what do you mean? The time
taken to authorize, the time taken to dial, for the modem at the
other end to respond, or what?

I mean the time that the dial operation takes before it actually
connects with 0845 1231621. When the connection is made Voyager
reports its estimate of connection speed, for example 45333 CPS and
downloading then starts, presumably because the modem the other end
has been reached by my modem.

This is still not terribly specific, but assuming you mean the total
time from clicking on the connect icon to full connectivity being
achieved then I'm amazed that it is so consistent. At least one stage
in the process (the time for the remote modem to respond to the
dial-in) can vary considerably, depending on the load on the bank of
modems.

As for being "programmed in" - no, it can't be. It should be fairly
obvious that there is nothing that Voyager itself can do about the
time taken for the remote modem to respond.

The final authorisation stage also seems to be subject to local
vagaries - in the past, some people have posted to this NG saying that
it was consistently taking 15 to 18 seconds to authorise, while for me
(and others) the same process is completed at around the 6 second mark.

[G Robin Edwards]

Post by Nick Roberts

Post by G Robin Edwards

Post by Nick Roberts

Post by G Robin Edwards
I don't know whether this will need to be sent, but at the moment
I am indeed having "Connection problems".
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of
attempts. Voyager gives up trying after one minute.
The normal dial up delay is 30 seconds, or perhaps 31. This is
very consistent indeed, so my guess is that it has been
programmed in for some arcane reason, and I can not think of
anything random that would be so consistent. Strange, isn't it?

When you say "normal dial up delay", what do you mean? The time
taken to authorize, the time taken to dial, for the modem at the
other end to respond, or what?

I mean the time that the dial operation takes before it actually
connects with 0845 1231621. When the connection is made Voyager
reports its estimate of connection speed, for example 45333 CPS and
downloading then starts, presumably because the modem the other end
has been reached by my modem.

This is still not terribly specific, but assuming you mean the total
time from clicking on the connect icon to full connectivity being
achieved then I'm amazed that it is so consistent. At least one stage
in the process (the time for the remote modem to respond to the
dial-in) can vary considerably, depending on the load on the bank of
modems.

I find it very strange too. The time of 30 seconds is from when I click
on the connect icon to Voyager displaying its estimate of download
speed. This evening it again took 30 seconds!

Post by Nick Roberts
As for being "programmed in" - no, it can't be. It should be fairly
obvious that there is nothing that Voyager itself can do about the
time taken for the remote modem to respond.
The final authorisation stage also seems to be subject to local
vagaries - in the past, some people have posted to this NG saying that
it was consistently taking 15 to 18 seconds to authorise, while for me
(and others) the same process is completed at around the 6 second mark.

My Authentication time is also 6 seconds, and has been since Paul
commissioned the current system. Before that it was always 9 seconds -
unless there was some sort of disaster, when authentication totally
failed :-(

Robin

[Dr J E Hurley]

The recent changes to servers and, I presume, the work of BT engineers seems
to have sorted the original problems. After a couple of days teething
problems with the new set up, all seems to have settled down to the high
quality of service which we have enjoyed since the transfer from Argo.
Points to note however are:

1. I have made no changes to Voyager which rules this out as the cause of
the problem even if we all know it is a bit clunky.

2. It is not possible to say for certain whether it was a server or BT
problem which caused the inconvenience as both factors have changed
together.

3. It remains likely that the intermittent and geographically specific
nature of the problems point to the telephone/internet infrastructure. I
recall in argonet days that when I had problems with argo connections I
often had similar difficulties with my PC ISP which also used the pipex
backbone.

Let us hope that normal service is resumed for a good length of time now.

[Robin Edwards]

Post by Nick Roberts

Post by G Robin Edwards

Post by Nick Roberts

Post by G Robin Edwards
I don't know whether this will need to be sent, but at the
moment I am indeed having "Connection problems".
I cannot connect to 08451231621, having made quite a number of
attempts. Voyager gives up trying after one minute.
The normal dial up delay is 30 seconds, or perhaps 31. This is
very consistent indeed, so my guess is that it has been
programmed in for some arcane reason, and I can not think of
anything random that would be so consistent. Strange, isn't it?

When you say "normal dial up delay", what do you mean? The time
taken to authorize, the time taken to dial, for the modem at the
other end to respond, or what?

I mean the time that the dial operation takes before it actually
connects with 0845 1231621. When the connection is made Voyager
reports its estimate of connection speed, for example 45333 CPS and
downloading then starts, presumably because the modem the other end
has been reached by my modem.

This is still not terribly specific, but assuming you mean the total
time from clicking on the connect icon to full connectivity being
achieved then I'm amazed that it is so consistent. At least one stage
in the process (the time for the remote modem to respond to the
dial-in) can vary considerably, depending on the load on the bank of
modems.
As for being "programmed in" - no, it can't be. It should be fairly
obvious that there is nothing that Voyager itself can do about the
time taken for the remote modem to respond.
The final authorisation stage also seems to be subject to local
vagaries - in the past, some people have posted to this NG saying that
it was consistently taking 15 to 18 seconds to authorise, while for me
(and others) the same process is completed at around the 6 second mark.

Well, it's nearly seven months later than when the above was posted.
Things are remarkably the same with connection timing - and always have
been. Currently, however, (and unfortunately) the occurrence of speeds
like 45000 CPS are becoming rare events. Just now I downloaded 36 news
items, taking just under three minutes, with an average download speed
of 579 CPS.

This just isn't enough. My modem lights indicate prolonged total
inactivity during the "download" process, often failing to blink for
times varying between a very few and twenty - sometimes more - seconds.
Why this should be is beyond me. The phone line is good, the time of
day around 11pm, the computer working very well, as always, and yet
there is a speed problem. It must be somewhere remote from here.

Just thought I'd report this, in case others have experienced the same
problems and have learned how to overcome them.

(I know! Go broadband! Well, it seems to be a longish process even
when one has taken the decision).

Cheers,


Robin

[Paul Vigay]

In article <***@argonet.co.uk>,
Robin Edwards <***@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
[Snip]

Post by Robin Edwards
This just isn't enough. My modem lights indicate prolonged total
inactivity during the "download" process, often failing to blink for
times varying between a very few and twenty - sometimes more - seconds.
Why this should be is beyond me. The phone line is good, the time of day
around 11pm, the computer working very well, as always, and yet there is
a speed problem. It must be somewhere remote from here.
Just thought I'd report this, in case others have experienced the same
problems and have learned how to overcome them.

There were no problems with any of the Orpheus-side equipment last night,
so any problem is likely to be down to local exchange and/or Voyager (and
I'd tend to suspect the latter).

What sort of speeds do you get using NewsHound instead of Voyager?

[Robin Edwards]

Post by Paul Vigay

Post by Robin Edwards
This just isn't enough. My modem lights indicate prolonged total
inactivity during the "download" process, often failing to blink for
times varying between a very few and twenty - sometimes more -
seconds. Why this should be is beyond me. The phone line is good,
the time of day around 11pm, the computer working very well, as
always, and yet there is a speed problem. It must be somewhere
remote from here.
Just thought I'd report this, in case others have experienced the
same problems and have learned how to overcome them.

There were no problems with any of the Orpheus-side equipment last
night, so any problem is likely to be down to local exchange and/or
Voyager (and I'd tend to suspect the latter).

You may be right, but then I wonder why sometimes (and indeed most of
the time) it works perfectly, and exactly as expected. It is all way
beyond my ken :-( This evening, for instance all went well, and the
average speed recorded by Voyager was over 4000 CPS, with the reported
connection speed at connect time 40000 (bps I presume).

Post by Paul Vigay
What sort of speeds do you get using NewsHound instead of Voyager?

I've not used Newshound. Guess I should try to download it. Best site?

Cheers,

Robin

[Paul Vigay]

You may be right, but then I wonder why sometimes (and indeed most of the
time) it works perfectly, and exactly as expected. It is all way beyond
my ken :-( This evening, for instance all went well, and the average
speed recorded by Voyager was over 4000 CPS, with the reported connection
speed at connect time 40000 (bps I presume).

How bizarre? I'm assuming you don't have anything else in the house which
could periodically use the phone line and perhaps impact on the modem -
such as a Sky box or fax machine or anything?

I've not used Newshound. Guess I should try to download it. Best site?

You can download it from http://www.heenan.me.uk/distrib/newshound/ and you
want the latest one (150)

[Bill (Adopt)]

Post by Paul Vigay

You may be right, but then I wonder why sometimes (and indeed most of the
time) it works perfectly, and exactly as expected. It is all way beyond
my ken :-( This evening, for instance all went well, and the average
speed recorded by Voyager was over 4000 CPS, with the reported connection
speed at connect time 40000 (bps I presume).

How bizarre? I'm assuming you don't have anything else in the house which
could periodically use the phone line and perhaps impact on the modem -
such as a Sky box or fax machine or anything?

I've not used Newshound. Guess I should try to download it. Best site?

You can download it from http://www.heenan.me.uk/distrib/newshound/ and you
want the latest one (150)

Ah hah! Explains it .. ;)) ..I've only got the 43-32pre3
installed..

errr.. dunno what that's supposed to mean, though.. ;))

..for Robin, Newshound is easy if not too intuitive in
first setting up - mainly to do with writing in those bits
that you wish discarded such as spam headers, etc ..but
it's an absolute doddle when running. You'll be more than
pleased.

Incidentally, it can also run - see Nick's site for the
VIX file(s) ??- within the !Voyager icon-bar, if you wish...

I have mine running in the !Voyager icon bar, together with
!POPstar, although neither are actually connected to anything
in the !Voyager internals as such.

Just makes for an easy manner of keeping 'net things together
in one place, with other useful proggies collected in the same
line-up...

hh :))

Bill ZFC

[Alan Griffin]

Post by Robin Edwards
Well, it's nearly seven months later than when the above was posted.
Things are remarkably the same with connection timing - and always have
been. Currently, however, (and unfortunately) the occurrence of speeds
like 45000 CPS are becoming rare events. Just now I downloaded 36 news
items, taking just under three minutes, with an average download speed
of 579 CPS.

The same happens with me. Sometimes the downloads are at a few hundred
CPS, while at other times it reaches 50,000.

Alan Griffin