Re: Something must be wrong ....
Provider7
Contributor - Level 3

Have any changes been made to the router settings?  Have you tried hitting the reset on the back of the router?

Message Edited by Provider7 on 02-13-2009 12:15 AM
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Re: Something must be wrong ....
Provider7
Contributor - Level 3

If you tried the registry tweaks and they made no difference, have you tried Verizon's optimizer?  I've heard it work on some machines and not on others.

Message Edited by Provider7 on 02-13-2009 12:15 AM
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Re: Something must be wrong ....
Provider7
Contributor - Level 3
The program your using to check your POP3 accounts, there is usually a setting that allows you to set up accounts through your internet provider.  Has Cox been removed as a provider?
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Re: Something must be wrong ....
Provider7
Contributor - Level 3

I hope you don't mind if I add one more.  I found this nifty article on the Microsoft site: 

It takes much longer than expected to download an e-mail message from a POP3 server in Outlook 2007

It brings us back to TCP Window Scaling in Windows Vista.

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Re: Something must be wrong ....
cincyreds
Newbie

>> Have any changes been made to the router settings?  Have you tried hitting the reset on the back of the router?

Yes - tried many many changes, etc. I did not reset the router because I don't want everything returned to factory defaults.

The only change I've made is changing the subnet from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.0.1 which was necessary in order for my network media player (a TVIX 4000) to connect. I've also assigned static IPs to each of the devices connected (the TVIX, Xbox 360 and the 2 STBs) to ensure consistency.

Frankly, I'm not too impressed with the Actiontec router and as a last resort I may try to use my D-lInk DIR-655 instead (the 655 is a tremendous router). However, the Actiontec has coax capabilities and the fact I live in an apartment building prevented me from setting everything up via ethernet (which may have been a better option).

>> have you tried Verizon's optimizer?  I've heard it work on some machines and not on others.

Yes - it told me my connection was already optimized.

>> The program your using to check your POP3 accounts, there is usually a setting that allows you to set up accounts through your internet

>> provider. Has Cox been removed as a provider?

I use Windows Mail for email and yeah - Cox has been removed and Verizon's SMTP servers are in place. All accounts have worked at one point or another. The problem isn't in the configuration (I've been able to send and receive). It's that the speed is unbelievably slow and unreliable.

Since my last post, speeds are even worse. Web browsing is so slow you'd think I was on dialup at times. Posting to this forum takes about 15-30 seconds to display each page.

However, what's baffling is that my raw file download speeds seem fine. Speed tests still produce around a 19.7 download speed and 4.6 upload.

I'm hoping it's maybe a hardware problem somewhere. I'm also having problems with FIOS TV. When I try to search, I constantly get error messages saying the STB could not communicate. Basically, searching is impossible. OnDemand programming is also very hit or miss and the lag time when using the remote is sometimes unbearable (30 second delay between keystrokes). Other times it seems to work fine. Very strange.

To be honest, I'm getting really frustrated with the whole package. Although I'm happy with the quality of the FIOS TV picture and the channel lineup, I'm annoyed with the connectivity problems and in my opinion, the UI for the TV guide is poorly implemented. Not a showstopper, but I don't think the UI is quite ready for "prime time" - lots of little annoyances, glitches and usability issues.

I was so excited when FIOS came to my neighborhood and the tech told me I was actually the first person they hooked up in my area. I'm wondering now if there are issues beyond my configuration.

Thanks for all the followup.

🙂


Dean

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Re: Something must be wrong ....
cincyreds
Newbie

@Provider7 wrote:

I hope you don't mind if I add one more.  I found this nifty article on the Microsoft site: 

It takes much longer than expected to download an e-mail message from a POP3 server in Outlook 2007

It brings us back to TCP Window Scaling in Windows Vista.


Yeah - saw that article and, after running some diagnostics discovered that the Actiontec router apparantly does NOTsupport scaling.

However, virtually everything I've read about Vista's RWIN autotuning seems to indicate that even though it sounds good in theory, it is problematic in "real world" use.

I've tried changing the autotune parameter to everything from "disabled" to "experimental" and nothing seems to make a difference.

Unfortunately, Vista does not allow manual configuration of RWIN values, so even when autotuning is disabled, RWIN is set to a max of 65535.

Regardless of all this, I never had these issues with Cox. If the problem is Verizon's choice of the Actiontec router and that router happens to work poorly in Vista, then I guess I'd have no choice but to cancel FIOS.

I'm hoping the tech who comes out Sunday knows his sh*t and fixes this once and for all. Although the install tech was a nice guy and did a neat job of everything, I knew right away he really didn't have much technical knowledge because when I asked him if the Actiontec router supported gigabit LAN he had no idea what I was talking about.

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Re: Something must be wrong ....
Zoinks
Enthusiast - Level 2
Just a suggestion - when the tech comes, have him run ethernet (cat5) from the ONT to the router (the default is to make the connection with coax).  With a cat5 run, you can switch out the Actiontec router with your own router later on.  If you need to have internet over coax (for the STBs), buy a Motorola NIM100 on ebay and hook it up on your LAN.
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Re: Something must be wrong ....
Provider7
Contributor - Level 3

@Zoinks wrote:
Just a suggestion - when the tech comes, have him run ethernet (cat5) from the ONT to the router (the default is to make the connection with coax).  With a cat5 run, you can switch out the Actiontec router with your own router later on.  If you need to have internet over coax (for the STBs), buy a Motorola NIM100 on ebay and hook it up on your LAN.

Hi Dean,

You realize your last two posts changes the whole dynamics of this conversation?  I was going to suggest something similiar to what Zoinks wrote. One thing to note is that with this setup you don't need to buy a Nim100, the actiontec router will do the same thing.

This brings up new questions.  Is your router connected to the actiontec?  ie: did you set up a bridged connection?  If so, did you disable the wireless on one of the routers and disable the Dhcp on one also?

Is the Actiontec fed by coax or ethernet?

Before you made the changes to the actiontec, were getting errors to the stb's and how was the data flow to the computers?

I would like you to look at a post and tell me if you think this setup would benefit you?  This custom scenario is where a customer used his own router connected to the ethernet port of the our Ont.  He then ran a from his router cat5 to the actiontec and had the coax connected also.  He used his router to distribute the ip addresses and the wireless.  The ethernet connected from his router to the actiontec from would then act a medium for feeding ip addresses to his computers and the STB"s

CLICK HERE to see that post...

A couple things to note, the actiontec routers aren't bad and for a standard installation and works just fine for 99.9% of the installs.  However when you get into situations such as yours they have their limitations it seems.  The techs aren't typically trained for scenarios such as yours.   However there are some that  go beyond the fray and learn to work with unique set-ups like your facing here. 

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Re: Something must be wrong ....
cincyreds
Newbie

OK, here's the final update on everything:

After an absolute NIGHTMARE with the worst Verizon rep I've ever spoken to on the phone, Verizon sent a tech out to switch me back to my old Cox internet service (I'm keeping FIOS TV, which I'm pretty happy with now).

The tech they sent made one more effort to fix things and was able to run ethernet from the ONT and switch me over to ethernet. For whatever the reason it didn't work. So, he rerouted my old cable connection through my now-disabled DirecTV cabling and I'm back with Cox cable for internet.

In short, he said they've seen this before and really can't explain why it happens.

My gut instinct tells me the problem lies with how the Actiontec router and Vista interact. I think it's probably more of a configuration problem than a hardware or wiring problem.

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Re: Something must be wrong ....
fiostvman
Enthusiast - Level 3

@Avenger wrote:

"I had a 15 meg plan with Cox and the same speed tests which produced 19.7 on FIOS gave me over 30 with Cox."

You had 30 mb with a 15 mb plan? Cox must be very people friendly.


Reason why he sees 30 megabit down with Cox is because Cox uses Powerbooast similar to Comcast.   Powerbooast only speeds downloads for a few  seconds. while FIOS internet is consistent.
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