No Brainer

I usually enjoy using the Internet, but there are times when I just can’t stand it! And right now is one of those times!

The Internet brings a plethora of things to our home, good and bad. But the bad stuff is not what I hate so much right now. Of course, don’t get me wrong, I do hate the bad stuff. But right now, what I hate so much is the fact that the Internet isn’t working!

I don’t know why, but sometimes I cannot get any Internet. I have tried solving this issue, but never found a remedy! I’ve called my ISP and asked them tons of questions, at which time they asked me equally if not more questions. In the end, neither of us ever found the answer we were looking for. I’ve even had them call NTT to ask them if they were experiencing problems on their end. Once they found a problem and resolved it. But since then, they’ve said there were no problems on their end or mine and have never helped resolve my problem.

I’m actually writing this post using Windows Live Writer so that when Internet does come back for me, I will have this written and ready to post. So if you can read this, then Internet came back long enough to post this. Which can also mean, you may be able to read this, but I still can’t because the page won’t load on my end! Sometimes uploading is okay, but downloading information just doesn’t work!

Have you ever had problems with your Internet? Ever experience downtime, either short or long, called your ISP and phone company and found the answer to your problem? If so, then let me know. I’d love to hear how you resolved the issue. Maybe I can use the answer to your problem to solve mine! So then I can get back to doing something I enjoy like surfing the Internet and actually reading and seeing stuff instead of twiddling my fingers waiting for the bytes to come pouring into my computer!

I have been an Asahi-Net patron for almost 10 years now, since when there was only dial-up, because they’ve always had great customer service and have stayed up with technology as fast or almost as fast as the big guys, Yahoo.

When Yahoo came out with broadband, Asahi-Net came out with it. When Yahoo came out with 8 Megabit modems, Asahi-Net did too. And when they came out with faster ones, so did Asahi-Net. When fiber optics came on the scene, both companies came out with the service about the same time.

In the beginning when ADSL was becoming popular, if I remember correctly, Yahoo had problems. They campaigned tremendously, but couldn’t keep up with demand. Friends of mine complained Yahoo was taking several weeks to install their ADSL service. Some complained it was taking longer. And once they were installed, many were complaining about staying connected. On the otherhand, my Asahi-Net installation was quick and painless. That could have been because I opted to install it myself so I never had to wait for a technician, but nevertheless, I got ADSL quickly. I never experienced any problems getting disconnected.

After a while, everyone stopped complaining as they started seeing faster download and upload times. The download and upload times at my church were blazing compared to mine. I’m on top of a mountain and very far from NTT. My speeds seemed more like I was connected to ATT.

When the faster 50 Megabit modems came on the market I immediately opted for one of those, especially when Asahi-Net offered it as an upgrade at no extra for the same monthly rate as my slower 8 Megabit one.

Asahi-Net quickly sent me my modem and installations instructions within the week. Once I got the modem, I installed and waited for my plan to kick in, which only took an additional day or two.

My most recent addition to my Asahi-Net plan is an IP Phone line. I had my IP Phone service up and running also within a week.

But these days, after only a few months of IP Phone service, problems are starting to develop.

In March of this year, I suddenly started losing Internet connections. At first I thought it was Asahi-Net. But when I checked the phones, I found out I had no phone. There was no dialtone; only a hollow echoing sound. Unfortunately, when I called NTT, the man I was talking to either couldn’t understand my Japanese or my Japanese was just not right. I eventually apologized and told him I’d end the call. He graciously said goodbye.

I quickly called Asahi-Net and got in touch with their English-speaking support department. The guy I talked with was really helpful and patient. (To this day, I’ve never had poor customer service from them. They’re always patient and helpful.) The tech ran me through a process and we found out that NTT was the cause of my problem. They contacted NTT for me and a technician came out within a few hours, found the problem and fixed it. Some of the wiring on the outside of the apartment building was aparently fautly.

My Internet was restored and working fine.

However, recently I’m experiencing similar problems with the Internet. My Internet speed is very slow. My upload speeds are faster than my download speeds - 67 kbps downloading and 362 kbps uploading. I’ve tested my connection speeds several times using several different tests and they’re all consistent.

Since the problems I’m having seem similar to my previous connection ones, I figured I’d go straight to the source. I called NTT using their English support and was told that they show I’m currently connected and not showing problems on their end. The technician the lady in English support was talking to with me on the other end of the phone remembered me and the problem. So I felt assured they were telling me the truth, thanked them for their time and hung up.

I then called Asahi-Net…over and over. Apparently, the English support they have is not set up to answer any number of calls. If you call and all the support techs are busy, you get a busy signal on your end of the phone and have to keep dialing until you get someone. This is a pain in the butt! I’d rather sit connected to some elevator music waiting with my phone on speaker mode so can do other things instead of hitting the redial button over and over again!

Finally, after about 20 minutes of calling - 20 minutes of hitting redial over and over - I got through. I asked the tech about their calling technique, but didn’t touch on the subject much since my greater concern was getting my phone back up and working along with my Internet. In case you are wondering, my call is with my keitai (cellular) phone.

The tech checked to see who I was, if I was really who I was saying I was; normal procedure. Then he checked to see if the computer system there was showing I was connected or not. He said I was connected. So I unplugged my modem to let it reset.

Now, I’m not saying NTT or Asahi-Net lied to me, but miraculously, after being without phone or Internet for over 24 hours, Internet and phone were back working. (There is no support for NTT or Asahi-Net on weekends.)

I asked the guy if he did something to his computer over there and he assured me that he had done nothing. I heard no hesitation or any reason to believe him otherwise, so left him at his word.

We then went on for about 10 or 15 minutes talking about the causes of problems similar to mine. This is where he started to seem vague, especially when the subject of eAccess came up. He started talking more like a lawyer and less like a techie. It made me feel like there is something more to my connection speeds being so slow.

From what we talked about or didn’t talk about from this point sounded like eAccess may or may not be the cause based on the problems I’m having with my modem, line or computer.

eAccess provides Asahi-Net with the ADSL lines. Asahi-Net sells the service and connects users to the Internet through eAccess lines. “ADSL eAccess Course (50M) is an ASAHI Net ADSL connection service that uses the ADSL lines of eAccess Ltd.” They claim the maximum download speeds for my plan are “up to 50Mbps and maximum upload speeds of up to 5Mbps will be possible.” They also have a disclaimer saying, “ADSL is a “best-effort” service, therefore factors such as line conditions and Internet congestion may cause the speed to lower: there is no guarantee for the actual speeds that will be achieved through use of this service.”

In which case I was told I should be more aware of my connection lights on my modem, check my phone to see if NTT is causing the problems when the green lights on my modem are not working properly by unplugging my phone line from my modem and plugging it into the wall socket directly to see if there is any phone ring tone and then call or hit redial until I get through to Asahi-Net to try once again and resolve my problem. To say the least, I am currently seeing no connection to the Internet for the umpteenth time as I type this blog article out on my desktop computer using Microsoft Windows Live Writer. Unfortunately, I cannot do anything right now because Asahi-Net is not open yet. It is 8:41 am and they don’t open until 9 am Mondays thru Fridays. There is no 24-hour support in English or Japanese!

I’m going to get to the bottom of this problem eventually, but it is going to be painful and slow, especially if I have to hit redial more than once. And if things don’t change at Asahi-Net, I may have to endure more pain changing ISPs…something I don’t really want to do!

Ahh, I can post this now. I have Internet!…