HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THIS PROBLEM??? Internet works until like 7pm then won't afterwards.

[jinjen]

My friend is having the above strange problem.

IE works fine, then all of a sudden, won't allow surfing
around 7~7:30pm until way into the night. And when he
tries again the next morning, it works again. Then it won't
around 7pm.

This has been going on for the past week and it is driving
him nuts! The ISP provider's (Verizon DSL) tech support
can't seem to isolate the problem.

Hardware issue? Software problem? Don't know where to start...

WHAT CAN HE DO???????????????????

His environment:

Dell 2400 Dimension (new computer. problem occurred first day)
win xp home
384mb ram (one 128 pc2700, and one 256 pc2100 ddr ram)
80 gig HDD
Verizon DSL with Westel 2110 DSL modem

 

[augiem]

Does he have a router? Some have the ability to set time-based web access control (for parents or whatever). Or if you can log in to that modem, check its settings. Also might want to check if any of the Dell installed software has time lock options too. (firewall, maybe anti-virus, maybe task scheduler?)

Augie

 

[SpunkyJones]

Had the same issue with Verizon, they had to dispatch a tech to my house and found the signal was bad from the street, which along with the increase of traffic at night, knocked me off at night. Get Verizon to look at it harder!

 

[Carbonadium4]

i had that same problem too.. at night my pings were just horrible... its either over subscribe or as said, problem with wires outside..

 

[jinjen]

Thanks for the replies.

He does not have a router connected to it.

One local tech person told us that he encountered
the same issue before and that it may be
due to a newly introduced virus that "gradually
eats into it." He advised to reinstall win xp.

I'll keep you guys posted.

In the mean time, more inputs are appreciated.

 

[subflava]

He advised to reinstall win xp.

Pfft...that guy is a moron and he's reaching for a solution. I hate techs who do that. Re-installing the OS is a huge pain in the ass and would be a last resort type of thing.

First thing he should do is ping his gateway when he's having the problem (or whichever is the closest hop he can ping on the Verizon network). See if he gets any response. My guess would be that this is a Layer 1 (physical) problem and he won't get any response.

DSL is sensitive to interference on the line and in my previous experience working for a DSL provider, I've seen problem causes ranging from home appliances to street lamps. Actually, your friend's problem would fit with street lamp interference...ask him if the street lights in his area turn on around 7:00pm every night.

Anyways, reinstalling the OS as a first troubleshooting step is a stupid idea.

 

[augiem]

Well, for one thing, he could try hooking the DSL to a different computer. If it still goes out at night, then the computer has nothing to do with it.

Reformat XP my eyeball...

A

 

[Rookie]

Having worked on DSLAMs for a couple years, keep pressing the local carrier to do their job... it's probably a problem in the copper