telstra and new Thompson Speedtouch 536
I’m setting up a new ADSL connection for a customer (very standard setup… laptop and a speedtouch 536 modem).
I’ve done lots of these, so I didn’t think I’d have any problems.
I do the standard Bigpond CD install, but part way through, it tells me it cannot communicate with the modem.
Now this is just not true! I can ping the modem, and I can ping the DNS servers beyond the modem.
Anyway, I figure I’ll do it my usual way: web interface to the modem.
I go to the “broadband connection” menu, and the DSL connection icon shows a green tick, but the internet icon shows a red cross. Ok, I click on the connect button. and it seems to connect correctly.
But still no internet access. The modem has all 4 lights on (power, dsl, ethernet, internet)
I do a connectivity test, and it fails on the last test (internet).
Since the modem probably doesn’t have the correct username / password, I search the menus for a screen that allows me to enter the correct logon info.
But I cannot find it anywhere…
I call telstra technical support, and the technician deduces that the line must be locked by another ISP. I doubt it, but its not worth arguing, so I let him pass me to the activations department… But they run their tests and can see no locks, and the line is setup for telstra. So I get passed back to technical support.
A different technician now tries to guide me through setting up the modem, but what he sees on his instructions is slightly different to what I see…
We eventually decide to try hitting the internet disconnect button, then the connect button. This time, I’m presented with an adsl username and password prompt (woo hoo!).
I enter the details, and I’m finally on the net.
Outlook express doesn’t want to connect to the email server, but a laptop and modem restart soon fixes that problem.
Given the customer is an elderly lady, she asks that I increase the text size. So I change the appropriate settings in the display control panel, in IE, and in OE.
Yeah thats standard procedure for 536 modems, you have to disconnect to get a username + pass box
I had to completely re boot my computer because of some weird behaviour with int exp7 when I rebooted with installation disc provided by bigpond my usb light now doesn’t come on but I am connected to the internet. does this mean anthing? before all lights were on on the thomson 536?
Dee: sounds like you had both the usb and the ethernet cables plugged in to the modem.
One led is for power, one indicates an internet connection, one indicates an ethernet connection, and one indicates a usb connection.
Its possible to have 2 PCs using the internet over these modems… one connected via USB, and one via ethernet.
Some people mistakenly believe that then need to connect both USB and ethernet from the modem to their PC.
In those cases, the PC picks one or the other.
I try to avoid the usb, as usb speeds are lower than ethernet, plus usb requires custom software running on the PC, in order to get a correctly running internet connection.
I’d say don’t worry about it.
I recently paid $70 to irradicate what I could have removed with Ad-aware then found that my yellow cable still had the sting of no conductivity.. the blue cable was option 2 according to Big Pond guy – which worked.. not AVG nor Ad-aware can find viruses or corrupt files yet my yellow cable is defunct even after reloading Big Pond ad nauseum.. if my blue works my yellow should too!
Cafuffle to usb being slower – the yellow cable is not as much steel contact otherwise just as fast.. if not faster.. than the ethernet..
ADSL speeds are:
1.5Mbps
0.512Mbps
0.256Mbps
Usb can go:
1.5Mbps (usb 1.0)
12Mbps (usb 1.1)
480Mbps (usb 2.0)
ethernet speeds are:
10Mbps (hardley used anymore)
100Mbps (most popular)
1000Mbps (becoming increasingly popular)
As you can see, usb1.1 can handle the fastest adsl and still have 10Mbps of bandwidth left
Likewise 100Mbps ethernet can handle the fastest adsl and still has 98.5 Mbps of bandwidth left in reserve.
Anyway, its not the speed I’m most worried about, its the software that make a usb port “pretend” to be an ethernet port. If it fails to start, is shutdown, or gets affected by spyware, then you are much more likely to lose your internet connection, compared to ethernet (software is built in to windows)
your problem is likely a defunct ethernet port (either with the modem, or the PC).
If you are happy with usb, then keep using it.