AOL Woes

[chrisg22]

Hey everyone,

Could do with a little help with my AOL BB, my girlfriend recently moved house and she only had dialup with AOL in her old house, so we asked AOL to get her broadband upgraded from dialup to the AOL Platinum package and we recieved this email on the 10th Feburary saying it had be activated...

*************
Dear AOL Member

Great news! We are pleased to confirm your telephone line has now been upgraded for AOL Broadband Platinum.

Within the next three working days you will receive your AOL Broadband Easy-Install pack at the delivery address you specified when you ordered AOL Broadband Platinum. This contains everything you need to install AOL Broadband Platinum on your computer, including an Easy-Install Guide to help you get online.

If you wish to track the progress of the delivery of your pack or have any queries with regard to the exact delivery date, please click on Broadband Delivery and this will take you straight to the Royal Mail Web site.

Your price plan has now been switched to AOL Broadband Platinum and on your next billing date, your first month's subscription fee for AOL Broadband of £24.99 will be debited from your payment method, in addition to a proportionate daily charge covering the period between your AOL Broadband Service being enabled and your first billing date on your new AOL Broadband price-plan.
*************

So we recieved the package and setup the router (SpeedTouch ADSL Router), and the DSL and Internet lights are not coming on, on the router. My first thought was the router could be dead so I tried the another router, it's a Netgear DG834G Wireless ADSL Firewall Router and that was showing the same thing, it just said connecting on the status page. I checked the logs and it came up with this lot...

Sun, 2002-09-08 13:58:11 - LCP down.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:58:19 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:58:19 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:58:22 - LCP down.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:58:31 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:58:31 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:59:03 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:59:03 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:59:07 - LCP down.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:59:15 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 13:59:15 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:00:16 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:00:16 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:01:16 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:01:17 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:02:17 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:02:17 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:02:52 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:02:52 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:03:44 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:03:44 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:04:44 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:04:44 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:05:45 - Initialize LCP.
Sun, 2002-09-08 14:05:45 - LCP is allowed to come up.

You guys got any idea to whats happening? You think the line just isnt activated yet?

[Michael]

Ahh yes, common problem I believe. The fix is usually using a "proper" ISP.

[chrisg22]

He he yeah I have been telling her that for awhile... but she wants to stay with them... So you think its not been activated then... god damn AOL, damn them to hell lol

[Stompy]

Have you changed the MTU size? I believe you need to for AOL broadband. Can't remember what it has to be set to, google it

[chrisg22]

Just did a quick google, came up with the following...

* 1500. The largest Ethernet packet size; it is also the default value. This is the typical setting for non-PPPoE, non-VPN connections. The default value for NETGEAR routers, adapters and switches.
* 1492. The size PPPoE prefers.
* 1472. Maximum size to use for pinging. (Bigger packets are fragmented.)
* 1468. The size DHCP prefers.
* 1460. Usable by AOL if you don't have large email attachments, etc.
* 1430. The size VPN and PPTP prefer.
* 1400. Maximum size for AOL DSL.
* 576. Typical value to connect to dial-up ISPs.

... So I'm guessing that 1400 would be ok? I'll try and give that a try tonight, see if that does anything.

[Stompy]

Yup 1400 rings a bell. I believe this needs to be set for it to work.

[chrisg22]

Would that account for the fact that the DSL light isnt on at all?

[Agent]

Nope. MTU size is somthing totaly different.

If the light isnt going solid, your not syncing with the exchange - plain and simple.
It might be worth phoning and making sure its not been activated on the old line - it wouldnt supprise me.
Got all your microfilters in place ?

[Stompy]

A common mistake I find is that the router is on an extension from a socket/splitter that has been filtered to the phone port of the filter so the ADSL signals are not present.

[chrisg22]

Well it came up sometime early in the week, she just woke up and founda all the lights were on!

Its actually been ok, some good downloads speeds!

Thanks for all the help anyway guys

[nvening]

Get onto the correct section of AOL phone help and they can actually help you