Paul P

Has anyone signed up to the Unlimited Freeserve connection?

If so what is the service like?

I have just set my pc up at the weekend to run the unlimited freeserve connection. During the day time, I had no problems logging on, however yesterday evening, it took me 2 hours just to get connected!

Is anyone else experiencing problems with this service?

Before I get in touch with Freeserve to complain, I thought I had better ask to see if anyone else has similar problems?

Your comments would be appreciated...

Thanks,

Paul.

chiark

See

ROBERT BARNES

hi rob here i'm in durham and have been with freeserve for 2.5 years and on unlimited time for 4 months its getting worse freeserve say the more ISP's that fail the more custom they are getting and cannot keep, with the added problem that the north of england has a techinical problem and access is harder from this area.
they told me it was to be sorted at the end of august and it was'nt so then they said september and so on and i spoke to them the other day and now they reckon in october,it also takes me over a hour or an average of 70 dail ups to get online which also totally does my head in.
i an thinking of trying out BT or AOL is any body on with these and how long does it take to get online as trying to check e mail takes at least 1 hour this is taking the biscuit..very mad bob

whizzer

I've tried the free ISPs and concluded that the service on the most part is pure pants . Most of the time you can't connect and when you do you usually loose the connection or the connection slows down to nothing within 10 minutes .

I now pay for my internet access and only use the free service isps for emergencies , ie never .

My advise is if you'r a low end user of the internet , ie just surfing around then free isps are okay . If you're a high end user , ie downloading lots of files online for long peroids of time , you need to pay for the service .



[This message has been edited by whizzer (edited 09 October 2000).]

Mr.Cookie

I never ever have a problem connecting to my NTL account , i use a download manager to get round the 2 hour cut of time and yesterday downloaded roughly 180 meg . The only thing that can be annoying is a 10 minute dissconnect if not doing anything and that unless your phoneline is either BT or NTL(not available in southhampton or portsmouth on NTL lines)you cant get it or have to change phone company.

Simon

Mick

iTrader: (1)

I have trouble now logging on to freeserve on the normal pay as you go number. It's put me off going for a surf-time type account.

Mick

Andy H

I also use NTL and have had no problems at all.

Simon, to get around the 10 minute time out just set your email to check for new mail every 8 minutes when connected. Solved the problem of disconneting if you are reading a long post on the BBS

Andy H

Mr.Cookie

Hi Andy

Not meaning to sound rude but have you read the clauses in contract, cant remember exactly where it say it but basically says don't set email programs to check every 8 minutes,use a pinging prog or open a refresing web page and leave open also says dont allow download managers to dial up etc etc...

Cheers
Simon
Ps I did use to do all of the above mind you icq seem to keep connection going

Paul P

I managed to get on to Unlimited Freeserve last night after 11pm!!!!

Before then it is a matter of re-dialling the number until the connection is made. Between 6pm and 11pm, my modem never can connect first time. When it re-dials, I get the message 'modem is in use, not installed or not working. I then have to click on the connect button again on the dial up network connection box and try again, hoping that the modem can dial up!

I think when the modem tries to dial up, it cannot cope with the reply it gets, is unable to close the connection and when the pc re-dials, it gets into a muddle.

After several attempts to get connected by pressing the connect button, I get in. If however I move to another pc application, I get a small screeching noise through my modem and the connection is terminated!!

I am then back to the task of re-dialling the number over and over again until I get in. I think they system is always busy between 6pm and 11pm and us modem users don't seem to be able to get a connection first time.

Oh well, at least when we get in, it is free!!!!

Can anyone solve the modem is in use, not installed or not working problem? Or is it because the line is busy and the modem cannot re-dial until the connection is lost. Sometimes I have to re-boot the pc as I cannot get the modem to dial up because of this message!

Thanks,

Paul.

Lee

There must be a huge difference between ISDN and modem users.

myself, steve dunton and scoobysport all use the freeserve tenner a month plan.

I'm on it constantly from 7am to midnight as is steve and i'm sure scoobysport use it a lot too.

Been on it for about 4 months, never had a problem connecting, speeds good, I would recommend it to any isdn user.