Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of moorhouselondon
moorhouselondonFlag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

asked on

BT

One of my clients is having an impossible time with BT.  The story is they took out Option 1, which is a 1Mb service, in December of last year.  For one reason or another, no attempt was made to use the service until mid-June of this year.  I setup a Netgear router, plugged in the given username, password and it was saying Broadband existed at 1Mb/s, but there was a problem with Authentication.  Spoke to BT, who told me that the Username and Password I had did not relate to the Login for the Router.  Fine, so what *is* the correct User Name and Password?  Which is where hysterics set in:  To paraphrase BT "The service you are using is obsolete, but for a small additional fee, you can move up to Option 3, which has more Mb/sec...  The fact is that we cannot give you a Username/password for the service you are [attempting to] use."

After considerable heated discussions with BT, they have agreed to *give* the client Option 3, and have set the Username and Password that she has already.  (I note that the download speed is still shown as 1Mb/s, so I take this with a huge pinch of salt).  I have retested since then, but still the problem remains.

My question is:-

Can someone who has or had this "antiquated" Option 1 service please let me know whether they have had similar difficulties, and how they were resolved.  
Avatar of ChrisMacleod
ChrisMacleod

As far as i was aware the username format for BTBroadband is firstname.surname@btbroadband.com no password required.  To be honest i think you can actually use anything@btbroadband.com.

BT ISP Settings are as follows for you router.

VPI = 0
VCI = 38
Auth = Chap
Encap = VC MUX
Connection type = PPPoA

Avatar of moorhouselondon

ASKER

Thanks for your reply.  I know the ISP settings are setup in the way you mentioned - always good to confirm these things though.

The address I have been typing in is of the form xyz123@btinternet.com.  I will give your suggestion a whirl, hopefully tomorrow.
T1 to the router should have the authentication provided by BT. Router to PC is a seperate set-up. Follow your netgear instructions for your connection to it. What model is it?...Booda2us
The router is a Netgear 834.  The Router to PC setup works fine, I have configured this and can access the Netgear Control Panel.  The problem is in the fields on the Netgear which say "My connection requires a Logon" (can't remember the exact wording), the Netgear default is Guest, with no password.  I have changed this according to the documentation BT supplied in the form of two emails.  One containing the Username, one containing the Password.  

It has to be said that my client has a French laptop, so I have to be careful I am pressing the right keys.  The way I am doing this is to open up Notepad and type the password into a Notepad document.  I then copy/paste it into the Password field to make sure it's correct.

The interesting development is that before I was getting Chap Authentication error, regardless of what combination of user names/passwords were used (BT changed the password a few times, plus there was some dispute about whether the password contained all lower case chars, or mixed case), now when I Disconnect and Connect, I get the Disconnect message constantly.  I think they have cut the line, except that I am getting an Upload/Download (1Mb/s and 288kb/s) speed shown.
What kind of Modem do you have connected to the Netgear router?  
T1--->modem--->router--->network
The router has an ADSL Modem built into it.
Hmmm...are the protocols configured correctly? Am I correct in saying that the router connects/ but the laptop doesn't?
I mean its hard to understand how it can show 1Mb/s if its not connected...
I have encountered many situations with a variety of routers where "the lights are on, but noone's home".  The service provider's first box on their troubleshooting flowchart is to get the end-user to reboot the router (for instance, a "stale session" where handshaking has somehow become one-sided).  The signal is there, but no invitation to login or authenticate is offered by the remote party.  
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of ChrisMacleod
ChrisMacleod

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Chris: This is the sort of info I have been seeking.  I need to go in to see this client to run these tests.  (BT were supposed to ring me today with a progress report on the line tests they are doing, but they haven't).

---
The answer to your question is: no, this particular user has not been given an address of the form @hg..., thanks for reminding me of this possibility...

This problem is apparently being bounced between my client and BT at present, but the information that Chris gave is the info I was looking for.  Thank you for your help.