Mathew1034
join:2008-01-13
 ·Embarq
edit:
January 21st, @12:42AM
| Embarq Finally Fixed My Daily Interuptions of DSL Service
I am thrilled that my DSL service is fixed. I am dissatisfied with Embarq's tech support. The following is my account (as posted on Broadband Reports.com) of what it took for Embarq to finally fix my daily interruptions of DSL service.
January 13, 2007
I switched from cable high speed internet to Embark DSL since I wanted a land line phone and the DSL package was a little less expensive. However, I had no idea this change would require me to lose high speed service for 1 minute 2 or 3 times daily. The modem reboots 2 or 3 times daily for no apparent reason. Normally this interruption in service is nothing more than a nuisance and excuse for me to take a break from being online. However, tonight's service outage coincided with the last 90 seconds of an eBay auction I was bidding in, which cost me the auction and a $20 to $40 loss.
So I called Embarq and the lady helping me was polite and apologetic. She said she had never heard of anyone having such frequent outages as I had been experiencing. She suggested the problem could be due to my longer than normal telephone line to my modem - 25' long. That sounded ridiculous to me. And she suggested it more likely could be a problem with my modem. After attempting to update its firmware online and failing three times, she shipped me a new modem. I should receive it in a few days.
I then swapped the 25' long line for a 14' line between the modem and DSL filter, and put the 25' line between my phone and DSL filter. However, now my telephone did not work. I traced the problem to the connection on Embarq's filter which plugs into the wall jack. Three times I made certain the line was plugged into it OK, but somehow it was not making a good enough connection. I then moved the filter around a little so the line was pulling against it with tension. And that got my phone working again.
January 14, 2007
The service interrupted again today as usual, which means the problem was not corrected by using a 14' line between the modem and filter that plugs into the wall jack. I then decided to switch out the 14' line to the modem with a 6' long line. However, the 14' line from the modem was stuck in the filter. I tried several times to pull it out, but could not for fear I would break the filter. So I called Embarq and was told that a telephone line sometimes does get stuck in the filter, but it will come out if you pull hard enough. I then pulled even harder as if to attempt to break it and it did come out. So now I'm using a 6' line from the filter to the modem.
And then while I was on the phone with the tech, he and I heard very quick dialing tones, "cross-talk", like someone else was sharing my telephone line and trying to dial out with speed dial. I only have one line and one telephone so it was an external source. This repeated about 5 times for a total of about 4 minutes, and each time it happened I lost internet service service and then regained it within one minute. After this happened the first couple of times the tech had me unplug the telephone line from the modem, and the dialing sounds soon repeated. The tech then had me turn the power off to the modem, and the dialing sounds soon repeated. The tech concluded that the modem is not the source of the problem and made an appointment for a tech to come out and check my telephone line. I then was advised not to install the new modem since the one I have works fine.
January 17, 2007
A tech came out in the morning of January 16, 2007, removed the filter to the wall jack and installed a line splitter, which connects one line to the modem and one to the telephone. This was done at no charge and is somehow supposed to be better than using a filter. I explained the problem of interruption of DSL service and the troubleshooting that had been done to the tech as he performed the installation. I also asked him what the problem could be if the splitter does not correct this, and he said it could be my telephone. Once finished with the installation the tech asked me to call Embarq again if the splitter does not correct the problem. I told him that if the splitter does not correct the problem, I would first swap my telephone with my neighbor's and see if the problem continues. That way I would have a better idea of whether my phone could be the problem. And if my DSL service still interrupts, I would call Embarq and make another appointment.
And then in the evening of January 16, 2007 the DSL service interrupted again. I swapped phones with my neighbor, but in the morning of January 17, 2007 the DSL service interrupted again. My telephone is an AT&T and my neighbor's is a GE. I called Embarq and made an appointment for a tech to come out on January 19, 2007.
January 20, 2007
A tech or someone from Embarq called me on January 19th during my appointment time of 12:00pm - 2:00pm and said work would be done on my line somewhere down the street and I would lose DSL service for up to one hour while repair was made. I lost service for maybe 30 minutes sometime around 3:30pm, and then I later received a call from a different tech who said the problem is fixed. He said something about there being a short in the line and a spur to the building or bridge or lines that needed to be shortened or blah blah. I took notes while he talked and asked questions to get exactly what he said so I could relay it here, but now can't find my notes. The bottom line is this repair completely fixed my repeating interruption of DSL service problem.
I tolerated this problem for so long in part because I felt it would be more of a hassel than it was worth. The only thing that changed my mind and prompted me to call for repair was when my DSL service interrupted during my eBay bidding and cost me an auction and a $20 - $40 loss. I estimate having spent 6 hours in all related to getting this problem fixed, which included 6 to 8 telephone calls with Embark that in all took over 1 hour. Plus, I've had to adjust my schedule on two different days to accomodate appointments with Embarq techs. I hope future Embarq customers somehow may benefit from the account I have made here, and that it possibly will prompt Embarq to step up their tech support.
1. The problem was not the length of the line between the modem and my phone.
2. The problem was not the modem.
3. The problem was not the DSL filter that spits a line to the modem and another to my phone.
4. The problem was not my phone.
5. The problem was somewhere down the street where telephone lines reside in a box, and it only took a tech to look there to find and fix it.
Another thing in case this helps someone. To determine whether my DSL service was interrupted at any time day or night, I streamed online radio with WinAmp as the player 24 hours a day. And so any time my DSL service interrupted, WinAmp lost its connection with the online radio station and could not automatically reconnect. I had previously noticed this to be the case several times over the past months. This technique allowed me to easily and reliably determine every single time my DSL service was interrupted, without continually monitoring anything. It worked kind of like a mouse trap, except it caught the rodent every single time. |
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RainWind
join:2000-10-20
Van Wert, OH
| Glad they got it figured. Their tech support is nice enough, but when it comes to problems like these they try to throw a new modem at it. I had a similar issue, except to this day I don't really know what the true cause was. I assume faulty hardware.
My DSL went out every single night around 8 p.m. and would be down for 30 mins to 1 hr along with other random outages. Logged into the modem and saw that my connection would sync up for an exact amount of time before bouncing.
One tech suggested I order a static IP and get moved to new equipment. Rather than them taking steps to fix it they wanted me to pay for something I didn't want to fix a problem on their end I shouldn't be paying to fix.
Well, I did order a static IP and that fixed most of the problems. The rest cleared up over time. Sucks that it cost me a one time fee and $5/mo to fix it. |
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MrMoody
Liberal Capitalist
join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC
 ·magicjack.com
·Embarq
| I had a similar issue last summer. First call, they sent me a new modem and told me to call back if that didn't fix it. Second call, they rolled a truck and fixed the DSLAM. Problem solved in 3 days from 1st call, no hassle.
Modems do fail, particularly from lightning damage so it's not unreasonable for them to try that.
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The public is a poor business manager. |
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gatorkram
Spelling and Grammer impared
Premium
join:2002-07-22
Winterville, NC
clubs:
 ·Suddenlink
 ·Cirtex Hosting
| reply to Mathew1034
You might want to edit your post, and fix the year. When I first started to read your story, I was like, wow, that did take a long time...
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Give me bandwidth or give me death!
»/testhistory/661871/4f240 |
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Mathew1034
join:2008-01-13 | Right, that should be 2008. I'm not able to edit my first post. Thanks |
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Imohtep
@embarqhsd.net
| reply to Mathew1034
Im having the same issues with Embarq, except I have had techs to my house 5 times. First it was the modem, then it was my phones. They installed a splitter and now the phones go dead periodically. The last tech that came out said it was my computer. My response was all 3?? Im not satisfied with Embarq at all but unfortunately where I live they are all I can get. |
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Hazy Arc
join:2006-04-10
Greenwood, SC
·Embarq
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
 ·Dish Network
·Northland Cable Te..
| said by Imohtep :
Im having the same issues with Embarq, except I have had techs to my house 5 times. First it was the modem, then it was my phones. They installed a splitter and now the phones go dead periodically. The last tech that came out said it was my computer. My response was all 3?? Im not satisfied with Embarq at all but unfortunately where I live they are all I can get.
Send a PM to one of the techs on the board and they will get you fixed up. That would require you to register though, so better go do that first. |
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skj
Welcome to the far side of reality
Premium,Mod
join:2002-04-04
Atlanta, GA |  (topic move) Embarq Finally Fixed My Daily Interuptions of DSL S
Moderator Action
The post that was here, has been moved to a new topic .. »Embarq Problems |
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