aDSL Modem Blues…

Here is more on my adventures with broadband!

…. As a part of the touchtel package, we get a USB DSL modem on rental basis (Rs. 49 per month, included in the Rs. 700)

Initially, I was given a modem from beetel!…..

It had a beetel logo on it!. The installation went on without any problems…. And I was online in just a couple of mins. Was online for around 10 mins without any issues when the tech guy was around.

That night, I connected, and to my surprise, I got disconnected every 2 to 3 mins !….the connection was not at all stable.

Called up the tech guys again, and told them about the problem. They came down immediately the next day, checked the wiring etc., and finally, found the bug. It was got something to do with some settings on the server side, which was corrected, and after that no more disconnects !

Then started the real fun!…….. Now, I had stable connections without any disconnections!…:) => time to open up shareaza and make full use of my bandwidth :)………..

Started shareaza, and with a couple of mins after running shareaza, I got the blue screen of death on windows XP!. Boooom…….. Did major research on the net, and found that this was to with the modem drivers.

Tried to search for the latest version of the drivers,… and in the process came to know that the modem is actually manufactured by a Japanese company! and actually, its called TERA 100U !!..with a globespanvirata chipset. …the entire site is in Japanese. no english!., but still managed to get the drivers, and found that they are the same version as I had ! Then searched for some generic globespanvirata drivers!,…only to find that the company is taken over by conexant and could not find anything significant at conexant!

Only option left was to get back to tech guys!.. And to my surprise, the tech guy was really helpful and understanding. Without questions, he straight away replaced the modem. This time, a modem manufactured in Delhi!! with a proper conexant chipset. No more blue screen of death!.

Now all P2P programs rock!

Actually, this problem is more noticeable while running any P2P programs. i.e, its got something to do with the way in which these program work ! (may be opening up lot of connections..etc). Infact, I was able to reduce the frequency of the crash by changing the connection settings in shareaza. But could not avoid it altogether. But now, with the other modem, no problems at all. Not seen the blue screen of death since then.

All I can say is, the touchtel customer care is pretty good., and very responsive. Keep it up guys!

89 comments | August 18th, 2004 at 01:48pm