FAQs: Common issues, how to deal with them, how to get advice quickly

[Rik]

The IDNetters FAQs


Last revised: June 8, 2011


CONTENTS

ADSL Max FAQ

Sync speeds and resultant profiles

Internal wiring self-help guide

Speed tests

Exchange status

Curing high pings or stale sessions

Optimising your connection

Automated pinging

Further reading

Thunderstorms

Before you post - what we need to know from you

IDNet email addresses

How to change your idnet.com email password

Contacting IDNet

Setting up a Netgear DG834G router, including wireless security.

My email address is showing in my profile, but I've checked 'Hide email'

Alternative DNS

And finally, well almost...

Webspace configuration

If you are experiencing slow speeds

How to extract router stats from a Belkin N1

Performing diagnostics for support

Performing FTTC diagnostics

How to create a PPoE session from Windows



Please let me know of any errors, omissions or suggestions for additional topics by PM.

[Rik]

What is ADSL MAX?

ADSL MAX is a higher speed service from BT. MAX provides download speeds of up to 8Mb/s with upload increased from 256 kb/s (standard ADSL) up to 448 kb/s (Max) and 832 kb/s (Premium Max).

IPstream Max is a 'best efforts' product, and thus no guarantee is given that increased data throughput will be experienced over that of the IPstream Home/Office fixed rate services (i.e. IPstream Home/Office 2000).


Has my exchange been upgraded for MAX service?

The ADSL MAX service was launched on 31st March, 2006, with 99.9% of BT exchanges enabled to provide the higher bandwidth services. Please use the broadband availability checker to check the status for your local exchange.

Some exchanges are not currently scheduled for upgrade - including those without ADSL service or providing Exchange Activate service. View the list of exchanges not planned for upgrade via the SamKnows website.


What sort of speed might I expect?

For many users ADSL Max will provide an increase in line speed. However, users should note that MAX is a rate adaptive service and the actual speed that a user will experience will be dependent on the line length, line quality and other factors. It is quite possible for users in close geographical proximity to receive services with different speeds.

MAX provides download service at up to 8Mb/s. Although some users may experience line (sync) speeds at or close to this rate, the majority are likely to receive line rates no more than 6.5Mb/s, and many will experience much lower speeds, eg those who could only obtain a fixed 1Mb/s or slower fixed-rate connection.

Actual data throughput speeds will also depend on contention in the external networks and the performance of the remote server etc. Some users report actual throughput at around 50% of downstream line rate at peak times. Please note that it is highly likely that different speed tester servers/applications will report widely differing results and at different times.

BT do advise that IPstream MAX is delivered over a 'best efforts' network and that no guarantee is given that the line rate seen by End Users will result in throughput above that of the IPstream Home/Office fixed rate services (IPstream Home/Office 2000). Outside of busy periods, services may take advantage of any reduction in the core bandwidth utilisation which may be seen by End Users as an increase in throughput. Under network congestion conditions, a BT IPstream Office or BT IPstream Max Premium product will receive a higher downstream throughput than an equivalent BT IPstream Home or BT IPstream Max product.

BT IPstream Max provides a downstream line rate of between 288 kbit/s and 8128 kbit/s (rate adaptive)

Downstream TCP/IP throughput rates will be below the line sync rate - if line sync is shown at 8128 Kb/s then the absolute maximum payload rate will be 7150 Kb/s. Users with a sync rate of 4000 Kb/s will see a maximum throughput rate of 3500 Kb/s (see table below). Practical usage is likely to be below these values.


Will there be an immediate increase in speed?

There will be a minimum 10 day period whilst the maximum line rate is determined.

When a user upgrades to ADSL Max the system will attempt to synchronise the user modem/router and the BT exchange DSLAM to determine the maximum stable rate (MSR). ADSL Max is rate adaptive - the BT system will record upper and lower line rates. Data will be collected for a MINIMUM of 10 DAYS before the lower line rate is rounded down to become the MSR. The Fault Threshold Rate (FTR) will be set at a level 30% below MSR. There is likely to be some alteration to the line speed whilst the BT system undergoes 'training' to find the MSR. Once the MSR is set this will be the benchmark level for the lifetime of the connection.


Once the MSR has been set will the line always run at this speed?

The actual line speed will vary but should remain within a tolerance limit between the MSR and the FTR. ADSL Max is a more sensitive system than earlier ADSL and Random Electrical Impulse Noise (REIN) and third party interference may affect the line speed.

If the line rate becomes unstable the user's modem/router will establish a new line rate. This will require re-training of the connection, ie the DSLAM and modem/router will re-negotiate a connection, or sync, speed. Sometimes, this is higher than the previous speed as the modem picks up frequencies which are less 'noisy' for it.

Stability does depend on the quality of the users own internal wiring and on the physical line conditions. It is essential to ensure that all telephone sockets on the ADSL line are equipped with approved microfilters to reduce the impact of interference etc. (See the article below on tips to improve your signal.)


If the speed can vary, how will I know if there is a fault?

If the line (sync) speed should fall below the fault threshold - set at 70% of the maximum stable rate then there may be a fault with the line circuit. IDNet Customer Support will be able to refer faults to BT where the line speed (sync rate) has fallen below the FTR.

Where the line speed falls below the FTR, investigations will be initiated by BT to determine the reasons for the fall. These may indicate the line management procedures, including interleaving, may be able to increase the line stability to return service above the FTR.


What is Dynamic Line Management (DLM)?

Dynamic Line Management is provided for ALL ADSL Max services and offers automatic tuning of line performance to improve stability and service performance. The performance of the line is determined by counting the errors and re-trains each day. This will result in a performance score with a set of rules based on the line performance history then used to make an automated decision for re-profiling.

Re-profiling will typically cause a loss of service (20-60 seconds) but, as this will typically only be applied to lines with a poor performance record, the user is unlikely to experience substantial service deterioration. Interleaving may be recommended to improve line stability. DLM has blip logic built into it, and will recognise an isolated re-sync as just that, and will not act to tune the line as a result. However, repeated disconnections, particularly 10 or more per hour, will cause DLM to kick into action, and will result in a lower profile.


What is a profile?

BT does not adapt your throughput speed directly in line with your sync speed. In other words, if you gain a 128kb/s increase in your sync speed, you may not see any increase in your throughput. For the profile to change (it's full name is a BRAS, or IP profile), you must move into a new 'band' of sync speeds. These are set out below. For those connecting 'on the cusp' a re-sync can move them up or down by 500kb/s in throughput, as this is the increment which BT have decided to work with. You can check your current profile by running the BT speedtest here. Note that you will need to enter both your telephone number and your IDNet username, the one you enter into your router or use to access your customer account page, eg user@uk.idnet.dsl4.


What is Interleaving?

Noise on a line can cause interruptions to data packets. Interleaving is a process that spreads data over a series of packets so that any noise or other factor causing packet loss has less of an overall effect on the data traffic.

Interleaving will be set to AUTO by default. This will permit BT to adopt interleaving as a DLM tool to resolve issues with a line. Interleaving can be set to ON or OFF on an individual line basis.

Please note that Interleaving will increase latency within the circuit - typically between 20 and 40ms. For many users this will not be significant but for some applications it may be important (games playing etc.) Individual users will be able to request interleaving to be set to OFF for their line - although this may impact on line stability.

Where a fault condition occurs it may be necessary to switch line interleaving to ON to try to resolve the problem. It may be necessary to advise a customer that this should be left ON for improved performance - if the customer requires this to be left OFF then the original fault state may return.


Will my existing ADSL equipment work with ADSL Max?

Most ADSL equipment (modems and routers) will work with ADSL Max. Users with routers are likely to find fewer problems when regrading to Max services than users with USB modems, but it is worth checking the manufacturer's website for updated firmware periodically.

Many broadband (USB) modems support maximum line speeds of up to 4 Mb/s but may not support higher speeds. Users of USB modems should ensure that the latest drivers are installed (refer to equipment manufacturer's website). Some older USB modems may not be suitable for Max services - check the manufacturers specifications to check whether your equipment is able to work at speeds above 2Mb/s. Users with USB modems connected to USB1 ports are unlikely to see any benefit from a Max service.

USB modems are likely to require manual re-connection following any break or interruption to broadband service and require the computer to be switched on at all times.


What level of priority does ADSL Max deliver?

Home and Business up to 8Mbps services are delivered with BT IPStream Max level of priority.
Office Broadband up to 8Mbps is delivered with BT IPStream Max Premium level of priority. Under network congestion conditions, an IPstream Max Premium product will receive a higher downstream throughput than an equivalent IPstream Max product


Can I run VPNs over ADSL MAX?

VPNs can be created to run across MAX circuits - and many users will find the increased upstream speeds to be a benefit. IPStream MAX Premium products (Office 8000) will be particularly suited to VPN use, offering upstream speeds to 832 Kb/s and prioritisation of traffic flow during busy network periods.


Originally posted by Scott, July 2006. Updated March 2007.

[Rik]

The following is a list of the profiles, which determine throughput, you will achieve for a given, sustained, sync speed:

SYNC rate     Data rate

160 - 287      135 kbps
288 - 415      250 kbps
416 - 575      350 kbps
576 - 863      500 kbps
864 - 1151    750 kbps
1152 - 1439   1.0 Mbps
1440 - 1727   1.25Mbps
1728 - 2015   1.5 Mbps
2016 - 2271   1.75Mbps
2272 - 2847   2.0 Mbps
2848 - 3423   2.5 Mbps
3424 - 3999   3.0 Mbps
4000 - 4543   3.5 Mbps
4544 - 5119   4.0 Mbps
5120 - 5695   4.5 Mbps
5696 - 6239   5.0 Mbps
6240 - 6815   5.5 Mbps
6816 - 7391   6.0 Mbps
7392 - 7967   6.5 Mbps
7968 – 8127   7.0 Mbps
8128 - 9087   7.15 Mbps

WBC

9088 - 10207     8.0 Mbps
10208 - 11359    9.0Mbps
11360 - 12479  10.0 Mbps
12480 - 13631  11.0 Mbps
13632 - 14751  12.0 Mbps
14752 - 15903  13.0 Mbps
15904 - 17023  14.0 Mbps
17024 - 18175  15.0 Mbps
18176 - 19295  16.0 Mbps
19296 - 20415  17.0 Mbps
20416 - 21567  18.0 Mbps
21568 - 22687  19.0 Mbps
22688 - 23839  20.0 Mbps
23840+            21.0 Mbps

Note that actual throughput will be lower than the profile due to protocol overheads.

[Rik]

Introduction:

ADSL operates at frequencies in the Medium Wave spectrum. This makes it susceptible to noise pick up, both at radio frequencies and general electrical noise, which in turn can cause your line to become unstable, losing synchronisation with the exchange at frequent intervals, for example. Incidentally, MW signals propagate further after dark, which is why ADSL lines generally become worse at this time. They can also be affected by cross-talk, signals on adjacent pairs of wires interfering with each other.

The Max variant is much more susceptible than 'vanilla' ADSL as it is rate-adaptive. Loosely translated, this means that BT's line management software will push your line to go as fast as it can and still remain stable. This is why there's a 'training period' when you first connect to a Max service.

Note that it's an urban myth that the speeds established during the training period are set in stone, only one is - the Fault Threshold Rate, which determines whether or not IDNet can raise a speed-related fault on your line with BT. Otherwise, your line is continuously monitored by BT's Dynamic Line Management (DLM) software, and your throughput (or profile) will alter to match any significant changes in your synchronisation speed.

It's worth being aware that the DLM has 'blip' logic built in, so will generally restore your line speed quite quickly if you get a 'one off' low speed connection, but recover to your normal speed soon after. However, if you get a series of disconnections, the DLM will push your profile lower, and it will stay at that level until you have had three days of stable connection at a higher speed.

I should mention at this point that the trigger point for DLM to deem a line as unstable seems to be around 10 disconnections per hour, so don't manually keep forcing new connections every few minutes to try an achieve better speed, you are more likely to make things worse. It's also worth mentioning that it's generally better to remove power from your router/modem before disconnecting it from the phone line. That way, the DSLAM, the network device you connect to at the exchange, gets a 'last gasp' disconnection from you, and doesn't mark it as a sign of instability.

There's very little you can do to improve the quality of the line from the exchange to your house. Unless there's a major issue, BT are not going to run new cable for you, and they do not have a universal service obligation for ADSL as they do for voice, so it's pointless writing to BT or your MP demanding a higher speed.


How you can help yourself:

What you can do is to improve the quality of your internal wiring, by which I mean everything after the master socket. Please note that it's illegal, and potentially dangerous, to work on the wiring on the exchange side of the master socket. If you do, BT can cut your line off without notice.

The absolute first thing to do is to make sure that every device you have connected to your line passes through a filter. That includes all phones, fax machines, Sky boxes and analogue modems. It also includes any alarm systems which connect to the line, but you will probably have to get your alarm company to install a filter in that instance. Note that not all filters are created equal. Personally, I recommend the ADSL Nation xf-1e, but be prepared to try swapping filters to see if you get an improvement. If you must keep your Sky box connected to the phone line, eg you have a multi-room subscription, I've seen reports that using two filters in series can help.

The next thing to do is to make sure that you do not connect your modem or router using a cheap 'flat' extension lead of the sort sold by DIY stores. I'm not talking about the cable supplied with the router, but any ordinary telephone extension leads you may use. Flat leads are not constructed from twisted pairs (see below) and so can add to the noise pickup.

Make sure that any extension leads you do have, whether loose or hard-wired, do not run parallel to mains cables, where possible keep them physically separated and if they have to cross, let them cross at right-angles.

Hopefully, you will have what's known as an NTE5 master socket, like the first illustration below. If you have one of the older style of master sockets, there are still things you can do, so keep reading.

If you do have an NTE5, connect your router to the test socket, which is exposed by removing the faceplate. This disconnects all your internal wiring and leaves you connected directly to the 'exchange pair'. Note your line stats, and compare them to those you normally get. With vanilla ADSL, you are concerned with the noise margin and whether that increases significantly. With Max, you will be looking for an improved downstream synchronisation speed, with the noise margin remaining the same (that's how Max works). With Netgear, and many other brands of router, you can automate the gathering of lines stats using the free program Routerstats, available here.

If you don't have an NTE5 master socket, then check your figures with everything else in the house disconnected. You're looking for the same improvements as you would with an NTE5, but the results will not be as clear cut, as you are not disconnecting all your internal wiring.

If your figures do improve, then the chances are that your internal wiring, or devices attached to the line, are adding noise to your line. One of the most common causes of this is the so-called ring, or bell, wire. This wire is a hangover from the days when phones had physical bells, and needed a hefty current to make them ring. Modern phones do not generally need the ring wire, and the current required to ring a bell is generated by micro filters in any case. What the wire does do is act as a big antenna to collect noise and radio signals and, thus, worsen your ADSL connection. The only two wires you need are the exchange pair, which are connected to terminals 2 & 5.

The ring wire is connected on terminal 3 at all sockets, and is usually, but not always, coloured orange/white, you can see it on the second photo below, courtesy of forum member 'Jimbo'.

However, go by the terminal number, not the colour, and wriggle the wire out from terminal 3 at every socket, and then take another look at your figures from the socket where you normally connect. Have they improved? If so, pat yourself on the head as you've just mastered the art of getting the most from your line.

If they haven't, there's one final thing you can check for. I mentioned previously the use of 'twisted pairs'. A normal internal phone cable has six wires, which are configured as three twisted pairs. All this means is that, for example, the blue/white and white/blue pair of wires wind around each other in the cable. This twisting acts to reduce noise and interference pick up.

Sometimes, with DIY or builder-installed extensions, you might find a split pair. This occurs if you have, say, the blue/white wire on terminal two, and the green/white on terminal five. Because the wires are not twisted, both of them will also act as antennae and add to your noise levels. Rectify the wiring by swapping one of the wires to its paired colour. Normal BT wiring will use the blue/white and white/blue pair for a single line installation. The photo shows a correctly wired pair, albeit the ring wire is still connected.

If you do find the need to replace any of your wiring, do ensure you use a high-quality cable, designed for the purpose, usually referred to as CW1308.

If nothing here improves your line quality, the chances are it's an issue between you and the exchange. If it's sufficiently bad, contact Customer Services at IDNet. They will be able to test the line and, if the results indicate it necessary, they will arrange for a visit from an ADSL-trained BT engineer. Note, though, that his first act will be to check the signal at the test socket, or the exchange pair if you don't have a test socket. If that signal is OK, but the one on your extensions is not, there will be a fee payable.


Last revision: March 19, 2007.
My thanks to Jupiter for his comments and suggestions.
(C) Rik Bean, 2007

[Rik]

Speed tests

There are many speed test sites on the web. Of these, the BT tester is the most important, as it is this one which will enable IDNet support to act on any problems with your connection. This is listed first, with other popular speed test sites suggested by forum members below. Please remember that any speed test depends on many factors, including the condition of your line, the time of day, capacity at your local exchange and the load on the server hosting the speed test. Ideally, to get an accurate picture of your connection, you should run repeated tests at different times of day. Note that the BT tester is often slow to respond (early mornings seem best), and you need to have your IDNet user login as well as your phone number.

http://www.speedtest.btwholesale.com


http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/
http://www.giganews.com/performance.html
http://www.numion.com/YourSpeed3/
http://www.speedtest.net/index.php
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/default.asp


Thanks to Maxping, MoHux, Knock, Alan and Old Bill for these suggestions. If anyone has a favourite site they'd like to see added to the list, please PM me.

[Rik]

I hear people talking about exchanges being red or green, what does this mean?

From time to time, BT runs out of spare capacity at local exchanges, and congestion results. This does not affect everyone connected to a particular exchange, it is more likely to affect only one DSLAM. You can check the status of your exchange with the following checker:

http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/
courtesy of Maxping

Note, though, that the information given can often be out of date.

[Rik]

My pings are high, or I appear to be connected, but cannot reach any website

Sometimes this is caused by a 'stale' PPP session, when the BT equipment thinks you are still connected but you are not. The first thing to try is re-booting your router or mode. If this doesn't help then one technique to clear a stale session is to power your router off for 30 minutes or so. Maxping suggests a faster method, by logging in to the BT domain:

BT Speed Test login details

Change your username to : speedtest@speedtest_domain and leave the password as is.

Then simply establish the connection with the new details. Once the connection has been established, load up a suitable web browser and navigate to the following website address: http://217.35.209.142

You should eventually get the BT speed test page on screen.

Now go back and enter your IDNet username and connect to the internet and it should have fixed the high ping,if it doesn't try again.

I have been told this has the same effect as turning the router off for 30 mins but only takes a couple of minutes.

[Rik]

How can I achieve the best speed from my connection?

Since I first connected my own computer to another, way back in 1984, comms has always been a black art. Back then, the big issue was agreeing a communications protocol – my first modem had a choice of tones, and you had to find out what the remote computer was using before you had a chance of exchanging any information. Standards were adopted reasonably quickly, and, with the advent of the internet, life became much simpler in that respect.

However, ADSL brings with it a new challenge, that of 'tweaking' or optimising the settings on your computer to get the best throughput from your connection.

Let me say from the outset, there is no single set of values which is right for everyone. Each connection has its own characteristics, and a set of values that worked well with one ISP may not be ideal for another. In other words, if you want to tweak, you have to be prepared to experiment and test. It's also worth noting that the benefits obtained from tweaking are often, perhaps usually, marginal, so before you start, make a note of your present values, which the two utilities mentioned later will display for you.


So, what is tweaking about?

Essentially, it's about adjusting two values in Windows (sorry, can't tell you a thing about Macs ).

The first is known as MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit). This is the largest amount of data that can be transferred in one physical frame on the network. For TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) MTU can range from 68 to 1500 bytes. Larger MTUs provide for lower overhead (fewer headers) in most circumstances, but can lead to packet fragmentation and, therefore, more overheads. For more detailed information about MTU, visit Wikipedia here.

In theory, Windows adjusts MTU automatically, in practice this does not seem to happen. If you are sending a packet which is larger than the network can accommodate, it will become fragmented into two separate packets, and this will slow down your connection. To establish the optimal MTU manually, you need to run repeated ping tests to a website you use frequently (it is worth doing the test with more than one site, eg one in the UK, one in the States).

Hit Start > Run, then type CMD and press <ENTER>. You will see a DOS-like command screen. Here, type ping www.bbc.co.uk -l 1500 -f (note there is a space between the –l and the figure, and that it's a lowercase L not the figure 1) and press <ENTER>.

You will get a response that looks something like this:

ping www.bbc.co.uk -l 1500 -f

Pinging www.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.126] with 1500 bytes of data:

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Ping statistics for 212.58.224.126:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)

Repeat the exercise, reducing the value after the –l switch, until you get a figure which doesn't induce fragmentation:

ping www.bbc.co.uk -l 1458 -f

Pinging www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.224.126] with 1458 bytes of data:

Reply from 212.58.224.126: bytes=1458 time=54ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.58.224.126: bytes=1458 time=57ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.58.224.126: bytes=1458 time=55ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.58.224.126: bytes=1458 time=54ms TTL=250

Ping statistics for 212.58.224.126:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 54ms, Maximum = 57ms, Average = 55ms

In this example, 1458 is the optimal packet size. To arrive at the MTU setting, you need to add 28 bytes for the header, so an MTU of 1486 would be appropriate. When carrying out this test, don't use a packet size of more than 1472, as 1472+28 = 1500, the largest possible MTU.

Having established MTU, we now need to set Windows to use it (I advise always leaving your router 'wide open' at 1500, and control MTU from within Windows). To do this, you can either manually edit the registry or, better, use one of the free tools available on the 'net to do the job for you. There are two which are widely recommended, one is DrTCP, available here, the other is TCP Optimizer, available here. Of the two, I prefer the latter as it has a natty function built into it to discover the Maximum MTU, and thus save you doing all those manual pings.

The next figure to adjust is RWIN (TCP Receive Window). This is a buffer that determines how much data the receiving computer is prepared to get at one time.

An RWIN value that's too large will result in greater loss of data if a packet is lost or damaged, whilst an RWIN that is too small will be very slow, as each packet will have to be acknowledged before the next packet is sent. RWIN is one of the most important parameters in tweaking any TCP/IP connection. For more detailed information, see Wikipedia here.

In adjusting RWIN, you should look to use a figure which is a multiple of MSS (maximum segment size). The MSS is an important consideration in internet connections. TCP and IPv4 headers are 20 bytes long each, whereas an IPv6 header is 40 bytes long, so the MSS is equal to MTU - 40 when using IPv4 (currently the norm), and MTU - 60 when using IPv6.

Both DrTCP and TCP Optimizer will allow you to set RWIN, and both come from sites which will recommend figures, or ranges to you:

DSL reports

Speed guide.net

Again, I find the SpeedGuide.net site works better for me, and it has a bunch of other tools, including a security scan and key generator for WEP/WPA.

After arriving at your ideal settings for MTU/RWIN, I advise a visit to Netmonitor.org, to use their TweakTester. If this reveals packet loss, then you can usually reduce or eliminate the loss by reducing RWIN.

To find out how effective your tweaking is, you need to have recorded a reasonably large number of speed tests before you start, and then compare them to the values you obtain with your tweaking. As I've said, patience is required and the differences may be small.

(C) Rik Bean 2007

Edit: Corrected the text for manual MTU determination. Thanks to Jaydub for pointing out the error.

[Rik]

When you want to test pings to a site, there's nothing worse than having to repeatedly enter the ping command in a command window.

The utility Ping Plotter is available in various flavours, from free but simple upwards. It will not only repeatedly ping a site until you tell it to stop, but will also graph (and effectively tracert) the results.

Forum member ou7shined, has contributed the following two batch files. Pinger.bat will ping IDNet and the BBC, writing the results to a text file called ping.txt, in the folder from which it is run. Pinger+.bat will do the same thing, but adds a tracert, so takes a while longer to run. Its results go to a textfile called pingplus.txt.

Note that you should rename the original results files before re-running either batch file, as it will over-write the previous test result. Should you want to keep all your results in a single file, then edit the second line in each batch file, replacing the single > with a double, ie >>, as used on subsequent lines.

[Rik]

Further reading

I recommend users to read this mine of information, written by the legendary Yarwell from the ThinkBroadband forums.

Or the Urban Myths from BT.

[Rik]

All of us know the dangers that lightning poses to us. However, to suffer injury, we need to be the victims of a direct hit, or be very close to one.

Our routers and modems, however, are much more sensitive. There are two potential problem areas. The  first is that the electrical interference that a storm generates can affect your ADSL connection, possibly causing the modem/router to re-sync. As multiple re-syncs in short period of time might be seen by BT's line monitoring equipment as a sign of instability, you could find your profile being forced down.

The second area is much more significant, though. Because you may well be miles from your local exchange, in the event of a cloud to ground lightning strike, there is a real risk that the earth potential at the exchange and at your house will be different. If that happens, the current will flow through your modem/router and could well cause it to fail. A worst case scenario would also involve damage to your computer.

For this reason, I recommend that you disconnect your modem/router when there are storms around, both from the phone socket and from the mains. I know it's a nuisance, but it does ensure your safety, and the survival of your equipment. Ideally, you should unplug everything from your phone sockets.

Just when you should disconnect is a matter of personal judgement, though I have been told that, if you can hear the thunder, it's already too late. So, to help your decision making, you might find this site useful. It maps lightning strikes in real time, thus giving you advance warning when storms are headed your way.

(C) Rik Bean 2007

[Rik]

If asking for help with your connection speed or throughput, it will save time if you can provide the following information:

1 What speed is your connection according to your modem or router. If you're unsure of how to obtain this information, check the Kitz site here. A couple of additional routers for you:

Hidden stats pages on WAG160N
http://192.168.1.1/setup.cgi?next_file=adsl_driver.htm

While on the Speedtouch 585 v6
http://speedtouch.lan/cgi/b/dsl/dt/?ce=1&be=0&l0=1&l1=0

2. What make and model of modem or router are you using, and which version of Windows are you using? (Or even Mac OS number!)

3. What is your attenuation and noise margin both upstream and downstream. This information can usually be found in the same place as your connection speed using the information on the Kitz site.

4. If you feel you have a bad connection or poor speeds, check these figures again using the test socket found behind the BT NTE5 master socket, if you have one, as shown in this photo at the bottom of this post.

5. Check your line at BT Wholesale number checker  here. Please report exactly and completely the response from the checker.

6 Please try to run a speed test at the BT tester here.

Note that you will need your IDNet login name (the one you use to access your account information, and have entered in your router) to carry out the test. Report the entire result of the test, including the profile figure which it will give you. The BT tester can be slow, and at times, completely unresponsive. The best time to do a check is early morning. Note that we have also found that it seems to work better with Internet Explorer than other browsers.

Armed with this information people can start to provide possible causes and solutions as quickly as possible.

Last revision: May 12, 2007

[Rik]

Email addresses at IDNet

The format of IDNet email addresses is user@idnet.com and there is no limit to the number of addresses you can have. You can select your own email name(s) and, provided your chosen name has not been taken already, your email address will become available for immediate use. There is a 10MB limit to the size of attachments which you can send with messages, and 100MB on the size of your incoming (POP3) mailbox. Unless you leave mail on the server, this should not pose any problems. It is also possible to configure your email client to use the IMAP protocol.

To create an email account with IDNet, you first need to go to your account page at https://www.idnet.net/secure/, and login using your username and password as given to you by IDNet when you opened your account (although, if you have since changed your password, you should use this instead).

Once you have logged in, click on Email Setup at the left of the screen, and you will be taken to the email account page.

Click on the "Additional email addresses" tab. From there, you can choose an email address and password - I recommend the use of strong passwords, ie alpha-numeric, preferably of semi-random nature, but obviously something you can remember - and, providing the address is available, it will become active when you click on the "Request email address" button at the bottom of the page. (Note that, if you require the Secure Email service, you should click on drop-down arrow next to idnet.com, and select the idnet.co.uk domain. Full details of this service are available at http://www.idnet.net/securemail.jsp.)

If you have already created an email account it will be listed on the "Active email addresses" tab with your chosen name replacing 'user'.

Now, click on 'Setup info' and you will be presented with a screen with your chosen name displayed where this illustration shows 'you', and your password shown where the illustration shows 'password'. Note that you can also delete the email account from this screen.

On this screen, you can see the two required incoming (POP) and outgoing (SMTP)  servers for the email account, and the address of the web interface (this is a hyperlink, so clicking on it will take you to the interface - alternatively, bookmark http://webmail.idnet.com/. Note that there is no www in the address). If you are going to use the IMAP protocol, your incoming mail server should be set to imap.idnet.com or mail.idnet.net (the latter can be used for POP or IMAP).

You will need this server information to set up your email client.  If you are using the client to check other email accounts, such as GMail, Yahoo etc, you must use the IDNet SMTP server to send messages from those accounts. However to collect mail from non-IDNet accounts you must set your email client to the names of their POP servers, eg  pop.googlemail.com etc. If you have a hosted mail service that provides authenticated SMTP servers, you will be able to use these. Check with your mail hosting service for further information.


If you have an older, idnetfreemail, address.

You want to re-direct all your email to the new address, and thus make sure you don't miss anything which is sent to the old address? The fix is simple. Logon to the webmail interface for your idnetfreemail address, and select 'Account Settings' by clicking the + next to it. Select 'Forwarding' then click on 'Add' and enter the email address you want to forward the mail to. Uncheck the 'Keep a copy' box, and close the dialogue (I found this takes 2 or 3 attempts). You will then see an information box, indicating that forwarding is on, and the address to which mail is being forwarded.

Exit the webmail interface and repeat for any other email addresses you may have on the 'freemail' domain.

All your mail will now turn up in your chosen mailbox, and replies will automatically bear your new email address.

If you have any further questions, please post in IDNetter Help.


My thanks to Jupiter for his help in preparing this guide.

[Rik]

IDNet Technical Support and Customer Service hours:

Monday - Thursday  -  08:00 - 18:30
Friday  -  08:00 - 18:00

Telephone: 01462 476555 or 0800 331 7000

Outside these hours, you will be directed to an emergency number when you call.

You can email IDNet using support@idnet.com.

Please note that members of the forum will try to help and advise on any problems that you may have, but we cannot deal with major, equipment-related, matters, eg a line fault. We will, however, do our best to help establish the nature of any problem you experience.

[Rik]

While the principles are the same for any router, these instructions are specific to the Netgear DG834G v3, as supplied by IDNet.

To secure your wireless network, go to your browser (I recommend using IE for browser interaction, most routers seem to be coded to work with IE - especially when updating firmware) and type http://192.168.0.1 in the address bar. Hit Enter and you should be presented with the login for the router, this defaults to admin and password for 'shop bought' Netgears, but if you got it from IDNet, it will use admin and your IDNet password.

Check your basic settings (just below the wizard at the top left of the on-screen menu - see the illustration at the bottom of this post*). The 'Does your connection require a login' radio button should be selected, below that the connection should show as PPPoA (PPP over ATM). There you will see your login name and the password will be represented by stars or blobs. Make sure the Idle Timeout is set to 0, and that you have 'Get Dynamically from ISP' selected for Internet IP Address, and 'Get automatically from ISP' selected for DNS address, with NAT set to 'Enable'. Although you have a static ISP, these are the recommended settings for IDNet, and all this will probably have been done before the router was sent to you if it was supplied by IDNet - it is also the default state for a 'shop bought' Netgear.

Next, check ADSL settings. These should be VC-based, VPI 0, VCI 38, DSL mode Auto.

Now check your wireless settings. Change the SSID to something which you can recognise, but which is not immediately identifiable to anyone trying to hijack your connection. I use the last six digits of my phone number, which is ex-directory. The region should be Europe, channel 11 is a good place to start (only alter if you encounter interference) and set the mode to 'g & b'. In the wireless access point section, 'Enable Wireless Access Point' should be checked, as should 'Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID)'.

Many people will say that this should be disabled to improve security. This is a fallacy, all it does it make it harder for you to identify your own network, the SSID continues to be broadcast in other ways, which a hacker would soon find. Similarly, using MAC address filtering can be easily overcome by a knowledgeable hacker. It does no harm to use MAC filtering, but don't rely on it.

The third checkbox, 'Wireless isolation' is a "your call" setting. If you have two or more machines networked, and want to exchange files between them or share printers, do not check it. If this does not apply, then checking it isolates the wireless connection from other machines on your network, ie the wirelessly-connected computer can only access the net.

Moving to security options, you want WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK selected. If your wireless card supports WPA2 use that, otherwise use WPA. (The answer to your question is, I don't know, try it and see if it works. Use a complex key with a minimum of 20 characters. I'd suggest using a key generator, like the one here.

Next, go to the Logs page, and select the items which you want recorded. I usually don't bother to have reports of connections to the web-based interface logged - I know when I've been there, but you may feel safer, initially, to have all reports.

Now, move to Schedule, and select 'Every day', 'All day', GMT as the time zone, and check 'Adjust for DST' (if we are in BST at the time) and 'Use this NTP server'. Against that, enter 158.43.128.66, I find this more reliable than Netgear's own NTP servers. You can find other NTP servers with a quick Google. Remember to adjust the DST switch when clocks go forward or back!

Next, go to Email, check the 'Turn email notification' box, and enter your email address and SMTP server. If you're using an idnet.com address, that's smtp.idnet.com. Check 'Turn email notification on', check the three boxes under 'Send email alerts immediately' and finally, set a time for the routine log to be sent to you, I recommend this is done daily.

Go to WAN setup and ensure that 'Connect automatically as required' is checked. Then choose 'Backup settings' on the left, and save your configuration to file. This saves having to enter it all again.

NOTE: All wireless setup needs to be done with the computer connected to the router via a cable.

* The illustration is taken from my router. Obviously, I have blanked out personal data, but I have left my line stats there so that you can take pity on me.



If any member can contribute instructions for other makes or models or router, please PM me.

(c) Rik Bean 2007

[Rik]

I have to admit that this is something which puzzled me when I first joined the forum.

The board software requires that you have a valid email address when you sign up. In order to make it easier for you to check, without having to go into your profile settings, the software designers decided to make your email address visible to you on the 'front page' of your profile. To distinguish between a hidden and visible email address, they used italic type to indicate hidden, and Roman (normal) type to indicate a visible email address.

Similarly, you will see the email icon against your name in the members' list and when you post. These are not visible to other members though.

To check, take a look at my profile and posts. In my profile, you will see 'hidden' against the email address. You will not see the email icon in the list or next to my posts.

[Rik]

If you want to use an alternative DNS to IDNet's, the simple solution is to use OpenDNS. For most people, the switch is as easy as entering the OpenDNS servers into their router, 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

If you're having problems with a site, or web access generally, making this switch is always a useful diagnostic. If you can access the site after making the change, it suggests a problem with IDNet's DNS servers, so please contact support to let them know.

[Rik]

I was considering what happens when I die. I suspect that most of us here are the "techie" half of the relationship, and look after all things computing. That's certainly true for us, so what would happen if I died suddenly? Could Sue take over my IDNet account and keep everything running?

I'm pleased to tell you that this particular problem has an easy solution. All IDNet need is a copy of the death certificate, and they can transfer the account and, perhaps more importantly, release a list of the passwords used for login and email. IDNet may be the exception, though. If you use a service like GMail, your partner will have to jump through several hoops to get at the information to recover your mail.

So, along with making a will and taking out life insurance, perhaps we all need to take care of our electronic affairs?

I recommend that you look at one of the many utilities on the market that will store passwords and other data in a strongly encrypted database. Then, set that up and record every bank account, mobile phone contract, utility contract etc. Include contract numbers, account numbers and also contact phone numbers. In there, have your IDNet account details, including all the email addresses and passwords, together with any other online information, eg GMail, banking logons etc. Once you have completed the database, make a note to update it regularly, use a strong password to protect it and then create at least two copies on external devices, for example burn a CD and also store it on a flash drive. Include a copy of the software you have used to create the database.

Make sure your partner/executor knows where these copies are kept, and also knows that one password.

You may wonder why I am recommending external storage devices. Well, the answer is simple - what if your computer dies with you, or your partner/executor doesn't know the password to your computer? If you have both the data and the software available on external devices, the information can be retrieved by anyone with a passing knowledge of computers (put a text file on there with instructions for installing the software).

With a little planning, you can save your loved ones a lot of hassle at a time when they are not best able to handle it.

[Rik]

UPDATE from Martin at IDNet

An index file should have always been required - if it wasn't then that was a configuration fault on Trevor and has only been spotted and pointed out due to the extra focus the failure has put on the overall services offered.

The following index files should now be recognised

index.html
index.htm
default.html
default.htm
home.html
home.htm

I have also modified the server config so that those who know what they are doing can use a .htaccess file to enable auto indexing.

[vitriol]

Great news,

Thanks for the update Rik, goes to show that IDNet really do listen to their customers.

[Rik]

They try their best to give people what they ask for.

[psp83]

http://psp83.www.idnet.com/ <-- directory indexing off.
http://psp83.www.idnet.com/test/ <-- directory indexing on.

.htaccess file attached..

just put the .htaccess file in the root to enable indexing for all folders or just put it in the subfolder you want indexing on.

[Lance]

Thanks Paul - your input in this thread has been really useful.

[vitriol]

Just like to second Lance's post

Thank you

[psp83]

No Problem..

Don't forget. I'm a web developer and manage servers.

I do this sort of things on a daily basis