No upstream or downstream connection

[Harrowman]

Hi all,

Our internet went down 2 days ago, and after going through all the troubleshooting over the phone with sky still nothing. Its been forwarded onto the next level, but wondered if there was any help to be gained from here.

After logging into my router, I can provide the following modem stats.

Modem status: Connecting
Downstream connection speed: 0 kbps
Upstream connection speed: 0 kbps
VPI: 0
VCI: 0

We have the Netgear DG834GT router.

Any help would be much apreciated.

[Scubbie]

I'll run through some basic checks, but if you still have no connection stats, then you really ought to get back on the telephone and politely ask for someone to send a replacement router or get BTO out to look at your line and connection in the telephone exchange. Please forgive me, but most of these should have already be specifically gone through.

Connect a corded telephone to the Test Socket. Do you have a dial tone? If not, then you have a line fault and BTO should be dispatched.

Using the Test Socket, a microfilter and the short grey lead supplied with the router, connect your Sky router to the telephone line. Check your router's stats.

Swap the microfilter for another if you can and check the router's stats again.

If you have a non-Sky ADSL2+ router, please can you connect this to the same socket. Although it may not connect Sky's servers, provided that you set it up correctly (see below), you should be able to get some connection stats.

Settings to use:

• PPPoA
• VPI = 0
• VCI = 38
• Multiplexing Method = VC based (aka VC-Mux)
• DSL Mode = Auto

Do remember to swap the PSUs when trying different routers!

Next, if you have any friends who can help, please take you router to their home. If they have a Sky connection then it should be able to connect to the Sky servers on their line. Also their Sky router should be able to connect on your line.

Essentially from these tests you can show whether it is your router which is or is not working. From there you can politely ask for the appropriate action to be taken.

It seems that CST has a backlog of calls at the moment and waiting 72 hours is not always suitable.

[Harrowman]

Thanks for the quick response.

Unfortunately we don't have a test socket, it was mentioned in the phone call. I did however plug the telephone line straight into the single socket and it does give us a dial tone.

Again the second test we can't do due to no test socket.

The third test of swapping the filter returned the same result.

We don't have another router, we've only ever had this one from sky, we will however try and test it with somebody elses sky broadband as soon as possible.

Sorry if that's not much help.

Thanks

[Scubbie]

No problem. Not everyone has a Test Socket.

Just in case though, could you confirm that you are using the Master Socket please? If you remove the faceplate you will find a yellow capacitor the size of a AAA battery behind the faceplate if it is the master socket.

It is very possible that you don't have an NTE5 socket which has the test socket behind it. It is also possible that you have a hidden master socket elsewhere in your home.

There is another alternative as well (for newer homes). This is a large grey box on the outside of your home. This is known as an External NTE5 (XNTE5).

Why do we ask this? Your line provider is responsible for the telephone line from the telephone exchange to the test socket or master socket, which ever is first. After this point you are responsible for the wiring. Any faults after the test socket are your responsibility to pay for any repairs.

As for trying your router on someone else's connection, this will help to quickly confirm whether you have a faulty router or line. The quicker this can be identified, I believe the quicker Sky can arrange for this issue to be resolved.

Normally their first step should be to send out a replacement router, but if it is a line fault, the it just delays things.

[Harrowman]

Between the last post and now Sky have been in touch saying they are working on the problem now. We'll see where that gets us.

I can also confirm that it is the master socket.

[Scubbie]

No problem. Let's hope that things can be resolved soon.