Verizon - grinding to a halt?

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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The broadband internet service has been dire for the last two or three weeks. Some sites are almost impossible to navigate, including gmail and BBC news. Mercifully DR1 has so far been spared, it appears.;)

This morning it seems even worse than ever. Seeing as gmail has been rendered practically useless, I've been forced to revert to my Verizon e-mail account (internet.net.do - mercifully spam-free compared to the verizon.net.do address) as a back-up, and today even that is letting me down.

Is anyone else having similar problems? It's the Verizon server that's to blame, according to those who know about these things.
 

planner

.............. ?
Sep 23, 2002
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It is horrible here in Puerto Plata. We have DSL and the signal gets so bad that we get bumped off our wireless constantly! I spend more time reconnecting then being on line. YOu can complain till you are blue in the face and nothing changes.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
 

Tuan

New member
Aug 28, 2004
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You're in the 9th month of a turnover from the Americans to the Mexican state-sponsored company, Telmex. The PRD Congress put a spoke in the wheels of the deal to extract US250M capital gains tax from a deal that was $2B buyout on a $2B cost basis. Go figure. Result is rats leave thesinking ship, the cable lots are probably being picked clean, repair trucks being repainted and sold, whatever. Then comes the Monday morning when the Mexicans arrive at the office to which power has been cut.....

Personally witnessed it twice in Venezuela. Monday morning the cable and truck lots were bone empty, computers and copiers gone, etc. etc. Takes years to recover. But the fat guys in the legislature all have new jeepetas.

Oh, and if you think you've got problems now, wait until Pancho takes over.
 

macocael

Bronze
Aug 3, 2004
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Hold on. First of all if you are using a wireless setup in the house it could be that an adjustment to the wireless network you have created is needed in order to facilitate downloading of certain sites. For example, about a month or so ago I noticed that I could no longer access my gmail account or any google-related site, and I went nuts trying to figure out the problem. I called Verizon,a nd they claim there is no problem with their server (but I dont believe it, because the problem is intermittent). I wrote to Google, and they said that I needed simply to clear my cache a couple times and try then. Wrong. So then I noticed that while my desktop computer, which is directly connected to the DSL line, can download gmail, it is only my laptop, which is connected via wireless over NETGEAR, that really has the problem, though occasionally even the desktop has trouble. From which I concluded that there were two aspects of the problem: Verizon does indeed have trouble, but that in turn could have something to do with the fact that Google's servers for Latin America are located in Argentina and perhaps are slower than the States or insufficient in some way. I notice that the google sites are usually inaccessible during the peak hours of use. However, the wireless setup will also pose problems. NETGEAR was quite prompt and efficient in their response: apparently certain sites do in fact pose a problem for wireless networks, Yahoo being one of them (though I have no problem with yahoo). So they recommended that I make certain adjustments to the account in order to allow for such sites as Gmail to download properly. I never actually got round to making those adjustments, because I decided to use Thunderbird as my basic email program and I have all my domain mail and gmail forwarded automatically to Thunderbird (There are other such programs, Outlook, Entourage, etc). This solved the problem immediately.
 

planner

.............. ?
Sep 23, 2002
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Thanks Macoceal, I will investigate further. HOwever the other individual also on the network has the same issues. I get bumped off constantly. Just purchased a booster to see if that will help. IF not, I will remove the wireless and go to direct connection. Just less convenient.

Tuan you raise a good point. I have no idea exactly where we are in the process of the turnover. Anyone know?
 

riravaga

New member
Feb 24, 2005
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Im in El Seibo and here at work the ADSL is working perfect, but 2 weeks ago one day the service was intermitent one day.
 

riravaga

New member
Feb 24, 2005
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That and electricity 24/7! El Seybo sounds like the place to be. :)

jajaja yes, but sometimes to get some things here turns very difficult, maybe you know how is life in small towns, but yes, since Sept. 28 no more electricity cuts for us.
 

macocael

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Aug 3, 2004
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It depends on the wireless setup you have. I use NETGEAR. I admit it is a pain in the neck but this particular change is pretty easy. HOnestly, though, if I were you folks I would simply set up a POP mail box in Thunderbird. Download the program from Mozilla/Firefox, and follow the instructions for forwarding mail from your gmail account (and others). The free Yahoo mail accounts cannot be forwarded, btw. Once you get used to Thunderbird you will like it. Otherwise, you need to get in touch with the company that sells your particular wireless setup and ask them what to do.

One other thing, occasionally the Verizon connection does indeed fail. You need to reboot the system. You turn off the little black modem box, then turn it back on again and wait for all the little signals to come back on and stabilize. Usually that works, but sometimes Verizon has problems back at the plant, and they have to work on it there. A few times this year my sector was without connection because the technicians had to fix something at their end.

Btw, I thought the sale to Mexico was nixed -- didnt I read that on DR1.com?
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
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dr1.com
I have never heard of a wireless network differentiating between websites.
Clearing the browser cache, yes, that could help.

Make sure you have both the Verizon DNS servers IP's in your DSL settings.
They have had lots of DNS problems of late and often this is the problem when some sites are slow, others fast etc etc.

Verizon DNS settings:

196.3.81.132
196.3.81.5
 

macocael

Bronze
Aug 3, 2004
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LEt me clarify another point: the wireless I am talking about is that which I have set up myself in my house so I can access the internet via laptop wherever I be in the house ( it is encrypted so no one else can ride my wave). But Verizon does offer their own wireless setup, and if that is the wireless that you are using, then the problem is indeed with Verizon, and the computer whiz I know up in Cabarete who also uses it told me that the problem is they havent caught up to the demand, so their servers are inadequate. This is true. When I covered the elections for Clave Digital, we used Verizon's wireless service to transmit. I was suprised that we could get signals almost everywhere we went, but there were huge problems with the service: painfully slow and there was a long outage at one point that interrupted all our coverage. I remember years back a similar thing happened in NYC when ATT first offered cell phones and the demand far outstripped their ability to provide service to everyone who was connected to their network, so inevitably lots of calls were cut off or you couldnt connect at all. Verizon here is having the same problems with their internet services, I imagine.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
17,850
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The sale to Mexico is being held up because of a dispute about the amount of tax, as far as I know.

Macocael, I'm going to try the Thunderbird option. I already use Firefox as my browser and am very pleased with it. It makes sense being able to access e-mail when offline, as opposed to the web-based option.

I have a Linksys wireless router - but the question is why some sites and not others? Is is because of the server being in Argentina and not in the US? The Google search engine is more reliable than gmail, although there have been days when it's also been slow.
 

macocael

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Aug 3, 2004
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Yes, Robert, I was going to add that it could be a problem with the IP address as well, but apparently my problem was different, because as I stated my desktop could receive gmail while my wireless-linked laptop could not. Here is the explanation/correction provided by NETGEAR:

From your enquiry I understand that you are unable to access the gmail account.

I would request you to follow these steps.

Log in to the router configuration page from the wired computer to the router.

Open Internet Explorer or any other browser and access the site: http://---------
By default, the username is ---- and password is -------

Click Wan setup under advanced
Check Disable SPI firewall
Change the MTU size to 1300
Apply the setting

Apparently the problem is the MTU setting, which has to be changed in order to allow easier access to the Gmail site. I have no idea why, but you may well understand it better.
 
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macocael

Bronze
Aug 3, 2004
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Hereis more on MTU:

MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) is the largest packet a network device transmits. The best MTU setting for NETGEAR equipment is often just the default value. MTU is sometimes presented as something that can be easily changed to improve performance, but in practice this may cause problems. Leave MTU unchanged unless:

1. You have problems connecting to your ISP, or other Internet service, and either the technical support of the ISP or of NETGAER recommends changing MTU. These may require an MTU change:
* A secure Web site that won't open, or only displays part of a Web page
* Yahoo email
* MSN
* AOL's DSL service
_______________

Now that does not mention gmail, but the solution I posted above was in response to my query about not being able to download gmail, so it ought to work. As I stated, however, I did not bother with it, I left the MTU at its default setting because I am now using Thunderbird, and I like it alot.
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
2,239
168
63
For what it's worth, I had a perfect internet flash until the last month or so... First there was a whole day without connection, and since then, every once in a while, speed just drops...
I have the Plan Basico 2, with 768up & 128down... It is now quite irregular... I had to reset the router every now & then... It is unpleasant... It indeed gives the feeling that no one gives a damn at Verizon, since it is changing hands, and the new owners won't bother since they are being over-charged with the dominican taxes...
 

Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
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www.rockysbar.com
For what it's worth, I had a perfect internet flash until the last month or so... First there was a whole day without connection, and since then, every once in a while, speed just drops...
I have the Plan Basico 2, with 768up & 128down... It is now quite irregular... I had to reset the router every now & then... It is unpleasant... It indeed gives the feeling that no one gives a damn at Verizon, since it is changing hands, and the new owners won't bother since they are being over-charged with the dominican taxes...
I wanted to send you a PM or email, Squat, but you have neither option selected.
I may have a solution for you.
How can we get in touch?
Marco.
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
2,239
168
63
Rocky, I'll activate the PM option... Thanks...
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i have verizon at home and it seems to work perfectly well, but at work it goes all pear shaped, why? mind you i work within walking distance from home. life is strange ;-)