Forced into (NET) silence . . .

[daveejhitchins]

Monday morning, the 11th January 2021. Mrs H. informs me she can't access the internet (in a grumpy voice ). I verify the no internet issue and do the usual - switch-off the network apparatus and then switch on again . . . 10min. later, still no internet. OK, I say give it an hour or two and I'll try again. Mrs H. now panicky

After lunch - still no internet - so I decide to investigate further. Hmmmm! BT DSL terminator dead! Check the power supply - dead. On opening it up I see several black components and a very large sooty inside cover!

OK, this is where keeping all the power supply units from disposed of equipment pays off - Just fish one out from my spares draw (12V DC at 1A). BT unit now working again.

But what's this . . . The router turns on, lights all the indicators then turns off. BT box shows it's connecting OK - But, nothing. I tested the router on another system (next door ) still not working. Use their internet to order a new unit.

Mrs H. now in panic mode

New router arrived yesterday (Amazon) Mrs H. stops taking the Valium

I used my phone for a while, however, we live in a hollow and have an extremely poor signal, so it was a miserable experience. Usually we use a Power Booster for our phone calls - but that uses the internet

Technology . . . . . . . .

Dave H.

[flaxcottage]

How did we get on without the internet?

[leenew]

Dunno? I'll Google it

Lee

[guesser]

I used to have an old router configured as a PPPoA bridge lying around as a stand-by after the first time my modem died, but since we moved to VDSL I'm operating with no standby
I shouldn't have said no to the crappy ISP modem when we switched just because the one I already had was capable of VDSL

I run my modem and wifi access point off my server PC's power supply, which in turn is on a UPS, so I think my internet connection is as resilient as I can reasonably make it (lack of standby hardware aside).
The last few outages have all been phone line/interference issues outside of my control

[1024MAK]

I used to have a PC running on a UPS. But one day the PC died. Turns out the UPS was no longer producing an output despite what it’s charge state indications were showing...

So I had to dig around the back and bypass the UPS, otherwise known as unplugging cables and reconnecting them in a different configuration

Mark

[guesser]

I used to have a PC running on a UPS. But one day the PC died. Turns out the UPS was no longer producing an output despite what it’s charge state indications were showing...

That exact thing happened to my first UPS. Just randomly died one day for no apparent reason. Then I ran the server with no protection for ages because I couldn't face having to research things again ugh.
Eventually after enough crashes from RCD trips and mains brownouts I finally got a new UPS, and of course didn't have another power cut for months or years
It's like carrying an umbrella so it never rains.

[BigEd]

I have good enough phone signal here that I will usually swap to mobile data when my broadband goes down.

But I wonder: does anyone have good enough neighbour relationships such that borrowing the neighbour's wifi would be a solution?

[Pernod]

My ASUS router has a USB socket that I can connect my Android phone to, which then allows tethering to use mobile data which is fed to my home network via powerline and wifi.
It's not something I want to do often though as my son wiped out my data allowance in an hour with watching YouTube on his iPad, or it may have been the various laptops and PC's suddenly getting internet again and updating themselves!

[1024MAK]

I have good enough phone signal here that I will usually swap to mobile data when my broadband goes down.

But I wonder: does anyone have good enough neighbour relationships such that borrowing the neighbour's wifi would be a solution?

The snag with that is, you do need your neighbours to actually have broadband and WiFi, and for them to be close enough to your home.

My closest ‘neighbours’ are permanently relaxing in the graveyard that’s behind my home. And I can only pick up one other good WiFi network other than my own, and I don’t know which property that’s from. And as it’s a secured network I would have to ask to use it (or hack it).

May well be an option if you do have good relations with one of your neighbours though.

Although the mobile telephone signal is not wonderful where I am, it’s just about good enough to use. Failing that, I’d have to use my employers network when at work to get a partial internet experience (‘gaming’ and ‘video’ sites are blocked ).

Mark

[guesser]

Yeah my dad has a little 4G wifi modem thingy and I have a smartphone, but we'd only use that for checking emails a couple of times a day and ordering a new modem if the internet was totally fried. Pointing the usual firehose of multiple computers at it the data would be chewed through in seconds.

He always makes sure to update everything on the laptop he can think of over wifi before he goes out with it.

[IanS]

SMARTY 4G unlimited data for £20 works well for me in a 4G router - http://referme.to/4PAp3Vx (blatent referral link)

[BeebMaster]

I've often worried about what happens if the modem does actually break down and you have to wait for a new one. But I don't usually worry about it for that long, as I think so what, no internet for a bit, well I can just start watching Dr Who again from 1963 till it comes back. I didn't have the internet until 1999 and managed to live my first 22 years without it.

I think two or three days without the dishwasher or tumble drier would be worse.

As it happens I am changing internet providers tomorrow (mainly because of this) if the new kit arrives, if it works...so I may be eating my words re: the above if it doesn't go well!