No Internet At House

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stewartlittle

Member
I've been with AT&T going on 3 years using a 2wire modem.
It went down sometime Thursday night and haven't had it since then.

I have hit the reset, unplugged it,restarted the computer and still nothing.
The DSL light blinks green a few seconds and the blinks red a few seconds, I've even took it to the box outside on hooked it up to test the connection and still nothing.

I did call AT&T and the guy said I need a new modem for only $100. I do have a NetGear wireless router I can use at the house in stead of a wireless modem.
He said we got internet all the way to the modem so that's how he came up with that it's bad.

Can I get one at WalMart, Best Buy or some other place? Or should I buy one from AT&T.
My thinking is if it's not working and I didn't get one from them, they'll say they can't help me.
 
Geoff

Geoff

VIP Member
You can buy modems at stores or online, usually for cheaper, you just need to make sure you get one that is compatible with your service. Your best bet is to call AT&T and ask what kind of modem you need, then look elsewhere for a cheaper place to buy it.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
You can buy a ATT dsl modem at Walmart for about $50. It's a Motorola modem. And then you can hook up your wireless router to it.
 
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stewartlittle

Member
Would I just hook it up like the old one and it'll be set?
Does it say on the box that it's compatible with AT&T?

One other thing, I am paying around $42/month with AT&T, should I look into another provider that's cheaper? Say-Charter?

Thanks,
 
Mattu

Mattu

Member
I was having a problem with ATT DSL not too long ago also.

When I upgraded to 6mbps from 3 mbps, I would loose a connection every so often. So after call after call to ATT (you know how that is.. lol), they agreed that it was indeed my old Earthlink Netopia modem going bad. So I found this modem off of Amazon for under $40: http://www.amazon.com/Actiontec-GT701D-Ethernet-Routing-Capabilities/dp/B001IYCUM8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327962924&sr=8-1.

After I installed that modem, low and behold, I would still loose connection every so often. Then gradually a few weeks later, it started to hold a connection for longer and longer until now (knock on wood) I have yet to loose connection since all that went down. (I did see also a lot of ATT trucks in my neighborhood at the time working on the line, so I'm convinced it was something on their end, even though they denied it.)

So, if your looking for a modem for under $50, that one mentioned above at Amazon should do the trick.
 
BlownFiveLiter

BlownFiveLiter

Member
Sounds like a common theme. I literally just replaced my parents' Motorola 2210 DSL modem for the third time today. The DSL light will flash red, then green, then go out, and the whole modem will apparently reboot. I think the last one worked for 8 months and probably a year out of the first one. I replaced it with the Motorola 3360 and hopefully it works longer than the last two. An odd thing I discovered was that I'm unable to have their router handle the PPPoE connection. It gives the option between PPP on the modem, or let the PC/router handle it, but it will fail to connect without the modem doing the authentication. Not a big deal, just thought it was strange. At least their internet works again after being down since Friday.
 
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stewartlittle

Member
The only one I seen there was a NetGear N300 Wireless + Model, more than I wanted to pay ($100) but I got it anyway.
Hooked it and couldn't figure it out so I called NetGear tech support and they told me what to do and it still won't work, they told me I have no DSL signal getting to the router.

AT&T called me back at 9:00 last night and told them that and said if they send out a tech guy and there is internet getting to the house they'll charge me $100. They did say that I could take the modems outside and check it myself and if there is not a signal then they might send someone, but they will have me go back inside to check everything all over again. I think it would cheaper on there end to just send someone out there instead of spending 3 hours on the phone trying to figure something out.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
BlownFiveLiter said:
Sounds like a common theme. I literally just replaced my parents' Motorola 2210 DSL modem for the third time today. The DSL light will flash red, then green, then go out, and the whole modem will apparently reboot. I think the last one worked for 8 months and probably a year out of the first one. I replaced it with the Motorola 3360 and hopefully it works longer than the last two. An odd thing I discovered was that I'm unable to have their router handle the PPPoE connection. It gives the option between PPP on the modem, or let the PC/router handle it, but it will fail to connect without the modem doing the authentication. Not a big deal, just thought it was strange. At least their internet works again after being down since Friday.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a very common issue with the 2210. I've replaced about 3 of them at various clients homes. I replaced same clients twice even. Lets hope the 3360 lasts longer the 2210.
 
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stewartlittle

Member
OK, lets review what's happened,
1 - No internet at the house since Thursday night
2 - Called AT&T Saturday night and they confirmed that my modem WAS BAD
3 - Bought NetGear Modem (Monday) and they said to call AT&T because there was no DSL signal getting to the modem.
4 - AT&T confirmed again that I had internet getting to the modem and that it must be bad because the DSL light was flashing RED.
5 - Called NetGear back and told them what AT&T said and they told me that if the DSL light is anything but solid green then DSL is not getting to the modem. There was nothing they could do until AT&T fixed it.
6 - Called AT&T back and asked for them to send a tech guy to make sure I had internet getting to the house. They assured me I had internet to the house and I would incur a $100 charge if they found internet getting to the house. They said the NetGear modem must be bad also.
7 - AT&T called me back to see if the issue had been solved. She said if I was a handy man I could take both modems outside and check to see if DSL light was solid green and that should determine if I have internet. Both were negative. Why didn't they tell me that earlier???????
8 - Yesterday I took both modems to my neighbors house that has AT&T internet and both show a solid green DSL light, so the modems are good and even logged on and it asked me to reboot my systym ( I didn't do it,though).
9 - AT&T called me again to see what I found out and I told the guy and he said that shows there is a problem. Funny thing is, he said he could not find a signal getting to my house but the notes from earlier said they had one, go figure. A tech guy is to come out today.

I hope someone can post an explanation that I can understand why AT&T was giving false info because I think they didn't want to deal with me and wanted to sell me a new modem that I don't need.
I wonder what their excuse would if I bought a new modem from them and still didn't have internet and then find out that I didn't need a new one. I would hope that they would not charge me for the new modem or any shipping because if they did I would probly drop them and go with another provider.

Sorry for this long post but that's about all that has happened. They did say they would knock off the downtime from the next bill, that's good.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Do you have filters on each phone extension that you use in the house? Not using filters will definately cause this type of issue.
 
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stewartlittle

Member
Never had it on a filter before, but yes, I ran it thru a filter just to see what happened and same results.

DSL is on a line all by itself on 1 jack in the room that the computer is in, no need for a filter from what AT&T told me when I first got it.

When we had a home phone it was hooked up on one line and the AT&T guy said the best way to do it since we did not have AT&T phone service was to put DSL on a line by itself. He told me what color wires they were and I hooked it up inside.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Ok, if you don't have an active phone line and using att's wifi internet that you can get through the phone line, then you don't need a filter.
 
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stewartlittle

Member
Tech guy fixed it, said there was a bad connection about a 1/2 mile down the road. He was late getting to my house but he said he found the problem and fixed it first instead coming to the to determine I didn't have and then driving back down the road wasting time.
Very nice guy and even went in the house and reset everything.
You already know how I feel about the people on the phone.
 
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