IBB Ripwave problems

ironside · 05-09-2004 3:32pm #1

Hi there!
This is my first post on here so bear with me if I get it all wrong.

I'm in search of that most elusive of all things - the green light - Signal Strength - on Irish Broadband's RipWave modem. I started with a red light, usually flashing. Lots and lots of emails later to the company resulted in some progress. I now have an amber light. Having asked Irish Broadband if I could ever expect a green light on their modem, I was informed "I've never seen a green light on a RipWave modem".

Has anyone out there who is using IBB's RipWave got a green light. If so, will they please advise as to how they got it. It might also be a good idea to photograph it and send it to Irish Broadband as they "have never seen a green light on a RipWave modem".

Meanwhile I struggle on with the amber light, better than the red but the equipment does not do what "it says on the tin".

Any idea's

Ripwave · 05-09-2004 6:27pm

ironside wrote:

Hi there!
This is my first post on here so bear with me if I get it all wrong.

I'm in search of that most elusive of all things - the green light - Signal Strength - on Irish Broadband's RipWave modem. I started with a red light, usually flashing. Lots and lots of emails later to the company resulted in some progress. I now have an amber light. Having asked Irish Broadband if I could ever expect a green light on their modem, I was informed "I've never seen a green light on a RipWave modem".

I've seen a green light on a RipWave modem - while sitting in the car park of the Lamb Doyles, a couple of hundred yards from the transmitter.

Actually for a week after they had "IP address allocation difficulties" all day one Monday in August, I had a solid green connection light. But I lost connection one morning last week, and when it eventually came back, the connection was amber again.

ironside wrote:

Meanwhile I struggle on with the amber light, better than the red but the equipment does not do what "it says on the tin".

What sort of speeds do you get when downloading from the FTP site on mon.irishbroadband.ie ?

Kappar · 05-09-2004 6:29pm

I always have a green light on my Ripwave. I am on the Three Rock transmitter.

Ripwave · 05-09-2004 6:38pm

Kappar wrote:

I always have a green light on my Ripwave. I am on the Three Rock transmitter.

How close are you to 3Rock?

ironside · 05-09-2004 7:05pm

Can someone please photograph the green light. How far up the mountain or how near to the "mast" does one have to be?

I am a mere stone's throw from Guinness - maybe I should go in a get drunk. That way the amber light might turn green. If I had enough of the black stuff I probably wouldn't care anyway.

As I said in my first posting the product doesn't do "what it says on the tin" neither does it do what it says on the Navini site.

I wonder how the advertising by IBB and on the packaging "sits" with the trades description act.

Many IBB customers are seeing RED - even blinking red!

Ripwave · 05-09-2004 7:12pm

ironside wrote:

As I said in my first posting the product doesn't do "what it says on the tin" neither does it do what it says on the Navini site.

What does it do? The presence or otherwise of a green light has little or nothing to do with anything being advertised.

Ragewave · 05-09-2004 7:14pm

I'm seeing red, and a lot of blinking red this weekend, crashing my computer if I'm accessing a webpage. I wonder are they tinkering with the Guinness mast, as a lot of problems seem to emanate from there?
PS I haven't had the pleasure of seeing amber as yet, five days in. Does anyone know if there is a purgatory period before entering amber limbo and green heaven?

WaitingForIBB · 06-09-2004 11:02am

It's going back for tests tomorrow but I'm not optimistic. When I turn it on the signal light goes green then off then green again for a second then blinking red. Does that mean anything or is that normal for having no signal?

Ripwave · 06-09-2004 12:29pm

WaitingForIBB wrote:

It's going back for tests tomorrow but I'm not optimistic. When I turn it on the signal light goes green then off then green again for a second then blinking red. Does that mean anything or is that normal for having no signal?

That's normal - it does a self test for 5 or 10 seconds, and then takes a few seconds (10-20) to connect with the transmitter, and register itself.

Have you run the diagnostic software that comes with the unit? (I've never found it much use, but it will at least tell you whether you're getting a signal, but not registering, or whether you're not getting a signal at all).

Kappar · 06-09-2004 12:41pm

How close are you to 3Rock?

I am very close to the three rock in fact the modem is on my pc in the attic room and faces the window and has a line-of-site with the mast.

Ragewave · 06-09-2004 1:17pm

Ripwave wrote:

That's normal - it does a self test for 5 or 10 seconds, and then takes a few seconds (10-20) to connect with the transmitter, and register itself.

Have you run the diagnostic software that comes with the unit? (I've never found it much use, but it will at least tell you whether you're getting a signal, but not registering, or whether you're not getting a signal at all).

It doesn't seem to be on the IBB CD for some reason but you can also download Ripwave Monitor 2.3 from http://www.navini.com/pages/support/userdownloads.htm.
WARNING It's 7.5 Mb.
It gives signal strength and quality in live time. I believe the strength should be in the range -50 to -80, and the quality around 20. If anyone can comment on that it would be welcome.
Mine is currently signal strength -99 to -104 and quality 10 to 13 - a big improvement over the weekend when it went on blinking red every two hours, crashing my computer every time. No reply from email support since the automated reply at 11.36 on Sept 3, as of 14.20 Sept 6.

WaitingForIBB · 06-09-2004 3:53pm

I can't get the diagnostic software to my home pc. I've tried the ripwave monitor and it can't talk to the modem so there could be something wrong with it. (though it could well be my network card or setup).

Mutant_Fruit · 06-09-2004 4:23pm

Are you sure you have the cables connected correctly. Some modems have an "in" port and an "out" port, and can only be configured through one or the other. Make sure you have the cables set up right for configuring. (i assume the "in" one is what is used for setting up the modem". By "in" i mean the cable that goes out of your computer, and in the modem").

Then, are you using the right kind of ethernet cable? There are two kinds, crossover and pass through. Once again, i assume it uses the same one. But a friend of mine has a router, and it can only be used with a straight through cable.

Lastly, if its USB, try reinstalling the drivers. And try disabling all firewalls (if possible). Especially windows built in one.

WaitingForIBB · 07-09-2004 8:09am

There is only one port, and I'm using the cable that came in the box. Turned off zonealarm and the windows firewall was disabled for that connection.

I think I'm screwed.

Eglinton · 07-09-2004 11:54am

I've gotten as far as amber now. But only in late evening/night. Wave propagation improvement. Blinking red during the day. Does anyone know if you can move the receiver to other tranmitter locations or is each device assigned to a particular transmitter? ie. for taking it to work.
Also where can I get a battery for it? They seem to exclude a lot of info when ordering.

Ragewave · 07-09-2004 1:48pm

Ragewave wrote:

No reply from email support since the automated reply at 11.36 on Sept 3, as of 14.20 Sept 6.

Still no reply from support as of 14.50 Sept 7

Ripwave · 07-09-2004 3:03pm

Ragewave wrote:

Still no reply from support as of 14.50 Sept 7

I guess you aren't in much of a hurry, then, or you would have called them.

The number is at the bottom of every page on their web site.

Ragewave · 07-09-2004 3:40pm

Ripwave wrote:

I guess you aren't in much of a hurry, then, or you would have called them.

The number is at the bottom of every page on their web site.

Was just about to reply to you, Ripwave, when the signal dropped and my computer crashed again.
What I was about to say was that I've decided to see how long
goes by without a reply to an email support query, up to 5 working days. I've made one call
to them already, previous to the email query. Call me perverse, but bad as IOL Anytime, my previous provider, was, support replied to emails. And as this thread is about IBB Ripwave problems, my view is that lack of email support is one of IBB Ripwave's problems. If there's a consensus to the contrary I will of course stop mentioning it.

Ripwave · 07-09-2004 3:42pm

Eglinton wrote:

I've gotten as far as amber now. But only in late evening/night. Wave propagation improvement. Blinking red during the day. Does anyone know if you can move the receiver to other tranmitter locations or is each device assigned to a particular transmitter?

I've been meaning to bring mine to a couple of locations and test this, but someone from IBB did suggest that "roaming" would be an extra charge service.

Also where can I get a battery for it? They seem to exclude a lot of info when ordering.

Lidl had a portable power pack (7 Amp-hours) a few weeks ago that can be used to power a variety of electrical equipment. I've used it as an external power supply for a Ripwave unit.

(It's heavy - but then, so is a laptop :-)

Ripwave · 07-09-2004 3:57pm

Ragewave wrote:

Was just about to reply to you, Ripwave, when the signal dropped and my computer crashed again.

Ripwave didn't cause your computer to crash - you might want to get that problem sorted out. If Ripwave is dropping at the same time that your computer is crashing, I'd suggest that you might want to get a UPS that will "clean" your power.

Ragewave wrote:

And as this thread is about IBB Ripwave problems, my view is that lack of email support is one of IBB Ripwave's problems. If there's a consensus to the contrary I will of course stop mentioning it.

Given that many of the people complaining about Ripwave don't have any connectivity at all, I can't see that e-mail support would be that much use to them.

Having said that, e-mail queries should be replied to. But they are also self evidently not as "urgent" as a phone call - have you even sent a follow up e-mail? I can't say that IBB support were ever any use to me in sorting out signal strength problems, but responsiveness hasn't been a big problem, and when I couldn't connect at all, they were up front about telling me if the problem was at their end.

If you just want to slag IBB off, then sit and wait for a response that will probably never come at this point. If you want to get your problem sorted out, give them a call.

Ragewave · 07-09-2004 4:29pm

Ripwave wrote:

Ripwave didn't cause your computer to crash - you might want to get that problem sorted out. If Ripwave is dropping at the same time that your computer is crashing, I'd suggest that you might want to get a UPS that will "clean" your power.

Ripwave starts to blink and then my computer crashes, which it hadn't done for a long time prior to Ripwave, but I'll be delighted if you're right, and appreciate your suggestion. Can you explain what a UPS is?

If you just want to slag IBB off, then sit and wait for a response that will probably never come at this point.

I'm a busy man, with wide interests, and don't need to add slagging off to my workload or hobbies. I'm tired of shoddy service in Ireland, though. I see you expect that a response will never come at this point. Indeed. I'll take another half hour out of my life and ring them tomorrow, meanwhile deleting their email support from my address book.

Ripwave · 07-09-2004 4:51pm

Ragewave wrote:

Ripwave starts to blink and then my computer crashes,

Have you uninstalled the Ripwave Monitor software? If you're using ethernet to connect to the Ripwave modem, then there isn't even any Ripwave software on the machine. And I don't think that there have been any complaints about dodgy USB drivers either. Either way, a dropped Ripwave signal won't cause your computer to reboot. You can verify this by turning the modem off, or disconnecting the cable.

(Unless one of the viruses that are infecting your PC doesn't like being cut off :-) )

Ragewave wrote:

which it hadn't done for a long time prior to Ripwave, but I'll be delighted if you're right, and appreciate your suggestion. Can you explain what a UPS is?

Uninterruptible Power Supply. If you have two devices, both plugged into the same circuit, both flaking out at the same time, it strongly suggests that the quality of the power on that circuit is suspect. Perhaps if you plug a small incandescent lamp in on the same circuit, you might see if it flickers at all at the same time).

Ragewave wrote:

I'm a busy man, with wide interests, and don't need to add slagging off to my workload or hobbies. I'm tired of shoddy service in Ireland, though. I see you expect that a response will never come at this point. Indeed. I'll take another half hour out of my life and ring them tomorrow, meanwhile deleting their email support from my address book.

Take one of the half hours that you would have spent posting to boards. I'd be pretty certain that IBB aren't going to do anything for you on the rebooting issue, but I've never been on hold with them, so just stick with the flashing red lights, and see what they have to suggest. Perhaps moving the modem to a different location might help.

Ragewave · 07-09-2004 5:33pm

Thanks for all the suggestions. I notice you've helped a lot of people. Much appreciated.
When I say 'crash' I mean that the blue screen flickers, and then freezes. Then I have to unplug the computer and reboot.
I haven't uninstalled the Ripwave monitor because (a) this was happening before I installed it and (b) it's a kind of lifeline because if I notice that the signal strength is -107 or thereabouts it's borderline and I can save whatever I'm working on - otherwise, obviously, once the inevitable crash comes, it's lost.
I have a lamp plugged into the same power strip and haven't noticed any flicker. There was never any problem with dial-up modem. Also I have library-current AVG antivirus, AdAware AND Spybot Search & Destroy, so I hope a virus or malware hasn't got past that lot. I seem to recall a mention of a problem with a firewall (mine is Agnitum Outpost). Does that ring a bell? I have a USB connection to Ripwave, which I believe is standard.
I'll stick to the flashing red lights when I call IBB. They did skip over mention of crashes when I last called them. Thanks.

Ripwave · 07-09-2004 6:55pm

Ragewave wrote:

When I say 'crash' I mean that the blue screen flickers, and then freezes. Then I have to unplug the computer and reboot.

What OS are you running? (If it's Win2K or WinXP and you're getting a bluescreen, then the Eventlog might give some indication of what caused it, but it sounds like you're seeing a Win9x "blue screen"?)

Ragewave wrote:

I haven't uninstalled the Ripwave monitor because (a) this was happening before I installed it and (b) it's a kind of lifeline because if I notice that the signal strength is -107 or thereabouts it's borderline and I can save whatever I'm working on - otherwise, obviously, once the inevitable crash comes, it's lost.

Okay, that's a little different, and suggests that interference might be an issue, if you can actually see the signal change. I don't think you said whether this is a new or an old Ripwave install? Do you have the newer 3.5GHz equipment which shouldn't really suffer from interference problems, or the older 2.4GHz equipment that does.? (The 3.5GHZ modem is "chunkier" than the 2.4GHz unit - as you can see here).

Ragewave wrote:

I have a lamp plugged into the same power strip and haven't noticed any flicker. There was never any problem with dial-up modem.

Is the Modem placed very close to the PC? It shouldn't happen, but I wonder if the modem ramps up it's signal when it begins to lose connection, and if that might cause problems (I used to have an old Win98 machine that crashed a couple of times when my mobile rang, or I received an SMS - I was getting rid of the machine anyway, so I never really followed up).

Ragewave wrote:

I seem to recall a mention of a problem with a firewall (mine is Agnitum Outpost). Does that ring a bell?

Nope - never heard of it.

Ragewave wrote:

I have a USB connection to Ripwave, which I believe is standard.

I've only ever dealt with Ethernet - it's far more flexible, standard and reliable. I'd still suggest that you stretch the USB cable as far as possible from the PC, to see if it makes a difference, but if you had Ethernet, I'd suggest you pick up a 15 or 20 foot cable, and put the modem in the next room. (And I'd also suggest that you invest €40 in a NAT router, just to provide some protection from external attacks, even if you have no interest in sharing the connection. You can't do that with a USB modem).

nuttyboy79 · 07-09-2004 8:04pm

Hi folks I have had a ripwave since they launched them. I have to say apart from problems that the 2.4 GHz modem had (dropping signal etc.) I have had absolutely no problems with them. Especially since I changed over to the 3.5 Ghz there has been one glitch and that was my puter not picking up an IP address. As for the support they have been beyond excellent. I wanted to change from a USB modem to an Ethernet one (this stops the glitch mentioned above) this was done within 48 hrs of my request. As for the signal light I got a green one once and I am about 3 kms from 3 rock right under it. My download speeds are (compared to dial up and 2.4 GHz ripwave) are excellent. I have been in their offices once or twice and the phones are absolutely hopping so maybe the reason they are a while getting back to people is they are up to their proverbials. Anyway thats enough for now.

Keep the fayth

Nuttyboy :cool:

Ragewave · 07-09-2004 10:49pm

reply to Ripwave Today, 19:55 #24

I'm gobsmacked that you've gone to so much trouble and into so much detail. Many thanks.
I run ME (prefer it to XP, would like to have Linux but not practical right now).
The Ripwave modem is just under a week in my possession, so I imagine it's the 3.5GHz - the box I see actually says RipWave 3.4 USB model. Pack-out date 11-Aug-04.
(I had a two month delay getting it, apparently because of problems with the Guinness mast).
The modem is about 15 inches from the PC, but it's the only place I could get it to work, having tried all over the house. Mobile phones have never caused a problem with the computer (a Dell notebook, no ethernet so I'm stuck with USB), but I've made sure to keep them away from the Ripwave modem.

As the selling point for Ripwave (apart from its price) is that it's non line of sight, really we're searching for excuses as to why a technology isn't doing what its manufacturer and reseller claims it does. The bottom line is that the signal hasn't locked on to the modem, as it should. Perhaps in reality (as opposed to the hype) that takes a number of phonecalls to engineers who can then finetune it. That's what the guy I intially rang did, but it obviously needs another go. I'll ring them tomorrow and report back.
Again thanks for for your very generous help.

Mutant_Fruit · 07-09-2004 10:57pm

Not sure if ye all got the message or not... But this might give some of ye some faith in IBB:

Dear Irish Broadband Customer,

Due to required maintenance on the core of the Irish Broadband network a planned network outage has been scheduled.

Network services will be unavailable Wednesday 8 th August between the hours of 1am and 5 am.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this outage but reassure you that the work being performed is necessary. We will try and minimise the period of outage as much as is possible and hope that you will bear with us while we perform this work.

Thank you for your time.

Barry O’Connell

Irish Broadband Support

Ripwave · 07-09-2004 11:09pm

IBB wrote:

Network services will be unavailable Wednesday 8 th August between the hours of 1am and 5 am.

8th of August, or 8th of September?

ironside · 07-09-2004 11:11pm

What I'd really like to know is how many users of IBB's Broadband WiFi systems actually have that elusive green light on their modems.

You see, I was informed by a staff member in IBB that I was the "only" person for whom WiFi didn't work. This makes me feel very left out - alone - lost - isolated. Anyone else for whom the WiFi system doesn't work? Perhaps we could compile a list of people whose modems don't "do what it says on the tin" and forward the messages on to the powers that be in IBB

As I said in my very first posting here: the "sure it'll do" attitude so often attributed to Irish people must not be allowed continue. If we are getting a "half baked" service is it reasonable of Broadband providers to expect people to pay "full whack".

Ripwave · 07-09-2004 11:19pm

ironside wrote:

What I'd really like to know is how many users of IBB's Broadband WiFi systems actually have that elusive green light on their modems.

You see, I was informed by a staff member in IBB that I was the "only" person for whom WiFi didn't work. This makes me feel very left out - alone - lost - isolated. Anyone else for whom the WiFi system doesn't work? Perhaps we could compile a list of people whose modems don't "do what it says on the tin" and forward the messages on to the powers that be in IBB

It doesn't "say on the tin" that you'll get a green light. You don't need a green light to get 40K downloads on Ripwave. (In fact, the first time I had a green light, I could only manage 20K downloads).

ironside wrote:

As I said in my very first posting here: the "sure it'll do" beloved of the Irish must not be allowed continue. If we are getting a "half baked" service is it reasonable to of Broadband providers to expect people to pay "full whack".

The only thing that's "half-baked" is your understanding of the basic laws of physics. The further away you are from the tramsitter, the weaker the signal that you get is going to be. If you have a problem with that, then move closer to the transmitter.

Mutant_Fruit · 07-09-2004 11:22pm

Ripwave wrote:

8th of August, or 8th of September?

LOL. Considaring i only got the e-mail 3 days ago, i presume they meant september. But don't hold me to that

Ripwave · 08-09-2004 12:30am

ironside wrote:

Has anyone out there who is using IBB's RipWave got a green light. If so, will they please advise as to how they got it. It might also be a good idea to photograph it and send it to Irish Broadband as they "have never seen a green light on a RipWave modem".

I can top that - I've just taken a quicktime movie (7.2MB) of the signal strength light on my Ripwave unit switching from Green to Amber and back again as I move it back and forth past the kitchen window, where it has direct line of sight to the transmitter. The upstairs room where it normally sits has a tree in the way, but that's where the computer sits.

Unfortunately, Boards waited until it had uploaded the whole thing before it told me that it exceeded the 2MB limit on uploads. I'll try to post it on a website somewhere instead.

Ragewave · 08-09-2004 6:04pm

Ripwave wrote:

It doesn't "say on the tin" that you'll get a green light.

I tried to see what it says on the tin at http://www.navini.com/pages/press/videos.htm, but my Ripwave connection wasn't up to it. Perhaps those of you with amber/green lights can have a look.

Ripwave wrote:

The only thing that's "half-baked" is your understanding of the basic laws of physics. The further away you are from the tramsitter, the weaker the signal that you get is going to be.

Are Luas passengers to blame for the weak signal now?

Moojuice · 08-09-2004 7:26pm

i have a ripwave usb modem too. Posted about it before but in brtief it gets a signal (steady red light) and then starts flashing once it is plugged into the USB port. Waiting two weeks to get it picked up and exchanged for an Ethernet modem. Rang twice to see what the problem with getting it picked up was and still no call back as promised.

I hope the drivers or something are faulty and that if I do eventually get and ethernet modem that it works. Otherwise I am in Broadband limbo.

Moo

Mutant_Fruit · 08-09-2004 8:10pm

I've noticed an improvement on the 5.8ghz performance after last nights upgrades. Did ye ripwavers get any better signals?

Ragewave · 08-09-2004 9:14pm

I think I've discovered why my computer crashes when Ripwave goes on the blink. which it is still doing for me every few hours. This will only be relevant to those rare souls who still have Windows Millenium or before as their OS, and maybe also if you're using a notebook with that OS -
so if you have XP, Win2000, Linux etc, skip this.
I've at last managed a 'controlled crash' ie hit escape, then ctrl+alt+del . This revealed that Msgsrv32 was not responding.
Once I got the Ripwave connection going again, I googled the problem. The Microsoft Support refers to Win98, but ME
is a jazzed up version of same, or so I'm told. The gist of their solution is that it is a powermanagement issue ie, when a program or device
that msgsrv32 expects to be running stops running unexpectedly, it hangs. As this hasn't happened with any other program on my system, my guess - and I'm open to correction - is that when the usb port suddenly stops receiving the Ripwave signal the OS interprets this as the unexpected removal of USB device - verboten in ME at least. So Msgsrv32 hangs and the computer goes into flashing blue screen and eventually freezes.
If you're curious, the MS Support link on this issue is at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=169987. You have to alllow for different control panel design in ME.

damien · 08-09-2004 9:34pm

Ah crap, I thought Ragewave was someone that created an account to take a dig at the user Ripwave. Here was I finally thinking that Ripwave had reached the fame tipping point. You really have become a famous boards personality when someone loves/hates you so much that they create an account in your honour.

Next time rippy, next time.

Ragewave · 08-09-2004 10:10pm

damien.m wrote:

Ah crap, I thought Ragewave was someone that created an account to take a dig at the user Ripwave.

LOL No, I wasn't aware of the venerable Ripwave when I chose the moniker. As you've copped, I think, it was because of rage at my computer crashing every time the Ripwave signal went to zero (a LOT of times so far). When I reach amber/green nirvana, I will probably change to TranquilWave, or some such. Yup, I still believe in IBB heaven. Shame about the purgatory in between.

Ripwave · 09-09-2004 11:08am

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

I've noticed an improvement on the 5.8ghz performance after last nights upgrades. Did ye ripwavers get any better signals?

I'm back to a green signal again.

I've attached a photo for the sceptics :-)

Ragewave · 09-09-2004 11:30am

Ripwave wrote:

I'm back to a green signal again.

I've attached a photo for the sceptics :-)

I'm green with envy. A truly beautiful sight. Perhaps you could send it to IBB, as some of the support people there have never heard of a customer with a green light, or so friends of mine have been told.

ironside · 09-09-2004 12:00pm

Yippie for the photo of the green light on the RipWave Modem. That's a first, pity the quality isn't better. It would be nice to give a copy of it to staff in IBB who have "never seen a green light".

Call me a bit "slow" call me "sluggish" but I don't understand my MHz from my Ghz. The RipWave box has me confused: It refers to 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.5, 3.4 and 3.5GHz printed into the overall design of the box. Then there is a sticky label which says "RipWave 3.4 GHz .....".

As I understand it, CommReg issued licences for 3.5Ghz bands to IBB - what's with this 3.4Ghz and could the .1GHz difference be the cause of so few modems not showing the elusive green light.

One other thing: Have people seen the video on the Navine site where the "All American" guy says that all we have to do is bring our modems home, connect them to the PC. On comes the green light and its all go (not his exact words but they amount to the same thing). Does anyone know this guy? Wouldn't it be an idea to invite him to Dublin - maybe he knows something the rest of us don't.

For people interested in wishing to check out their modem speed - have a look at www.lancast.ie Click on ASDL and "give it a lash"

Ripwave · 09-09-2004 1:53pm

Ragewave wrote:

I'm green with envy. A truly beautiful sight. Perhaps you could send it to IBB, as some of the support people there have never heard of a customer with a green light, or so friends of mine have been told.

Until a couple of weeks ago, I would have said that you wouldn't get a green signal either. But I assume they can use a higher power signal on the 3.5GHz licensed spectrum than they were allowed to use in the 2.4GHz unlicensed spectrum.

Ripwave · 09-09-2004 5:29pm

Purely as a matter of interest, I brought my Ripwave modem into an office building on Leeson Street today. I normally connect to the 3 Rock transmitter, and I was interested to see whether I'd be able to pcik up a signal from the Digital Hub East transmitter - I've been told that Ripwave Modems are tied to a specific transmitter, but I thought it'd be interesting to see what happened.

So I stuck the modem on the windowsill, pointing in the general direction of the Digital Hub. Turned it on, and got a red signal, which was better than the flashing red signal I had been expecting.

When I plugged in a PC, and did a traceroute, to see which transmitter I was connected to, it turned out that I was going through 3 Rock after all! So even in the City Centre, just off Stephens Green, I could get a signal from 3 Rock!

I only stayed online for a couple of minutes (long enough to download a virus definition update and do a speed test). The AV files downloaded at 25KB/s, and the speed test reported about 20KB/s, which was pretty impressive under the circumstances, as far as I was concerned. Even a ping to www.irishbroadband was a fairly steady 120-140 ms. (a bit higher than normal for Ripwave, but I expected a lot more "jitter" than that).

Note that the Modem was in a window on the south side of Leeson street, facing north - in other words, the side of the building that faces away from 3 Rock! It was a 3rd storey window, so I don't know if it would work at ground level, but it was still an impressive result.

Ragewave · 10-09-2004 11:02pm

Five phonecalls later, I'm back online after 30 hours+ with zero Ripwave signal. Delighted to be back, of course, but when I asked if there was a process whereby we could get to a stage where I didn't have to keep looking at the red light in case it started blinking, I was told that the only solution was to have a courier take the modem back to IBB, without a replacement, to see if it was faulty. When I asked what I would do while it was being tested, it was suggested I fall back on dial-up. If the modem were to prove to be in good working order, then I'd get my money back, and we could discuss other options.
I don't think that's a runner, at least not unless I have a replacement while my present modem is being tested - but has anyone returned their modem to be tested, and if so what was their experience?
It seems to me that if I had a replacement modem, I could easily determine whether it was the modem or the signal which was at fault and save IBB technicians the bother.
On the question of support, though I had the same ticket (always ask for a ticket if you're not offered one) I spoke to four different people, the same person on two different days, which is okay except that there seemed to be a different approach in each case. One made sure I had a ticket, for example, while another never mentioned it. Each support person I've spoken to has been courteous. However, I was promised two phonecalls back but received neither. Incidentally, there was support available till 9.30pm tonight, and weekend support is expected soon. Maybe a system rather than the apparent ad hocery is coming together.

The new Ripwave coverage maps are at
http://www.irishbroadband.ie/htmdocs/coverage_maps/ripwave_areas_live.htm

G|N|T · 11-09-2004 3:47am

i agree with nuttyboy. You people talking about green signals.i get a red signal (sometimes amber) and i achieve around the 45k-50k mark, maybe spiking up and down. But its a non line of site bb.The only real way i'd say you'd get a green signal is by sitting under the highsite.

Ardent · 13-09-2004 9:38am

Ragewave - I'm having my USB Ripwave modem returned to IBB for testing. I had just received it last wednesday and the whole process of getting online with IBB has been one long nightmare after another.

I was a getting a strong signal (orange light) all Wednesday night and after much jigging around with XP I was finally able to stay connected for reasonable periods of time. Thursday morning was the same but the modem's ability to stay connected deteriorated to the point whereby from lunchtime on Thursday I was unable to pick any kind of signal whatsoever.

It's now Monday and still the red flight keeps flashing - no signal whatsover. Late last week, IBB customer support tried switching me from one transmitter to another and then, in desperation, setting me up on both transmitters in my area. No joy.

Personally, I don't think it's the modem. A modem doesn't work perfectly one night and then suddenly not work at all. I have a feeling an engineer from IBB has changed something and the support crew are too clueless to identify where the problem may lay.

(Also, don't get me started on IBB USB modems and Windows XP....!)

Ragewave · 13-09-2004 10:49am

Ardent wrote:

Ragewave - I'm having my USB Ripwave modem returned to IBB for testing. I had just received it last wednesday and the whole process of getting online with IBB has been one long nightmare after another.

Thanks for that, Ardent. I've decided not to return my modem. The signal improved significantly for me over the weekend, having had a similar experience to you mid-week. It's not quite amber light yet, and it has gone on the blink, albeit briefly, twice, but at least on the Ripwave monitor it got to -99 strength and up to 17 quality, which it hadn't done before, so like you I've concluded that it's not the modem. Strength and quality are a little less as I write, on average, but it's far enough away from the danger zone. I suspect I was left on the Digital Hub West mast when I should have been moved to the DH East in the recent changes. If you think XP is bad, you should try Millenium!
Anyway, I've decided to stick it out in the hope that another engineering tweak will boost my signal. I think that's what it comes down to. Hope your modem doesn't get lost in a beaurocratic maze, as the support I spoke to was a little hazy as to procedure.

Moojuice · 13-09-2004 2:51pm

ardent, I am having major trouble with my Usb Ripwave modem and Xp home. What problems are you having? I am sending it back in exchange for an Ethernet modem if they ever come to collect it.

What services did you have to fiddle with on XP to get the modem to connect? I get a signal on mine but when I plug it into the USB port it starts flashing again and I have no signal. What can I do to get it sorted? Any help appreciated.

Moo

Ardent · 13-09-2004 3:22pm

Moojuice wrote:

ardent, I am having major trouble with my Usb Ripwave modem and Xp home. What problems are you having? I am sending it back in exchange for an Ethernet modem if they ever come to collect it.

Moo

Moo, I have XP home too, here's what was happening for me:

1) Strong signal on the modem near the window, red/orange continuous light. No problems there.

2) Install the drivers as per documentation and the Navini diagnostic software (i.e., where it shows PC <----> Modem <----> Antenna with the green ticks/red crosses)

3) Try to access the web or ping www.google.ie and the modem goes from steady orange light to flashing red, i.e., lost signal. Also, in the diagnostic tool you can see the green tick between the modem and antenna turn to a red cross, sometimes this happens between the PC and modem as well.

4) Turn off the modem and turn it back on again. Steady orange light again and green ticks in the software. Ping google, get a couple of responses and the modem goes to flashing red again and the pings time out. Red crosses appear.

5) Reboot the PC, load up the diagnostic software, reset the modem. Green ticks. Do nothing and watch the diagnoctic diagram for a while. After a minute or so, green ticks turn to red crosses all over the shop and the light on the modem flash red yet again.

6) Repeat the above until you're blue in the face.

A mate of mine came over with his laptop and hooks up my modem to it (he's running XP Pro) and installs the same drivers and diagnostic tool. The modem works like a dream and he gets amazing broadband speeds with no dropouts. Very frustrating for me to say the least.

Hours later, I was finally able to get the modem to stay on a steady orange light with my PC by doing the following:

1) Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to being up task manager
2) Kill all non essential processes such as ctfmon.exe, soundman.exe, anything with ati (e.g., ati2vid.exe) if you own a 9800 pro gfx card etc etc.
3) While still in task manager, click on the memory column and identify the instance of svchost.exe that's using the most memory (mine was consuming around 17 megabytes of memory) and kill it.
4) Click start--->run----> and type services.msc
5) In the resultant list of services, manually start up Shell Hardware Detection, DHCP Client and Wireless Zero Configuration (don't know if the latter is required)
6) Reset the modem

I was able to get stable broadband access by doing all of the above with no perceptable problems. Because it was in the early hours of the morning before I had nailed this process of getting it to work, I wasn't able to test it for much more than 20-30 minutes. It seemed to be finally working for me and I went to bed happy.

Woke up the next morning and the modem couldn't get any sort of signal and this is still the situation as I write this. So even though I think I was able to sort out the XP home + USB ripwave modem issues I can't comprehensively test it because IBB have f**ked something up and my modem can't get a signal anymore. Sod's law.

If anyone knows what the hell all of the above is about I'd appreciate an answer!!

Slydice · 13-09-2004 4:09pm

out of curiousity, why is the digital hub just east and west? Why not North and South aswell?

Moojuice · 14-09-2004 10:48am

ardent, cheers for that. I have a XP pro on my desktop so Ill give it a bash tonight when I get home. I will also try everytjing you did. Hopefully when I exchange the modem for ethernet it will work.

At this stage though I am going to pay eircom 130 to get an engineer out to hook up my phone line and then go with Esat 3 month free trial. Hopefully Ntl will be then available in my area and I can go with them just as the free trial runs out. Then I can tell eircom to shove their line up their ass and disconnect it.

IBB Ripwave problems

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