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Talk Talk - Wireless Broadband

D

davethesailor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 11, 2005
16
0
Hi There,

I've convinced my Dad to buy a new Macbook. He really likes it. His broadband supplier is Talk Talk. He has been using it as his ISP on his old emac (OS 9) for months without delay.

The problem is, he can't get connected to his new Macbook. Today he bought the Talk Talk wireless system. He still can't get connected. He was on the phone to Apple for over an hour and I have just went through it with him to the best of my ability. He has tried calling Talk Talk all day for assistance but the number he needs is always engaged.

Can anyone offer me any help. I really don't know what to do next? I mean is it possible that Talk Tall are not sending the right stuff down the line??

Please help!!!!


Dave
 
I have been back on to Talk Talk today and they were just useless. They just keep on saying that it 'should' be working.

Haqs anybody else had experience with Talk Talk broadband?

Dave
 
Had some issues with my Mum's new Mac Mini and Talk Talk. Found out that their supplied modem didn't have Intel drivers for the Mac. It was very frustrating, and they were pretty rubbish because I made sure they were informed that the machine was an Intel-based Mac, and not a PowerPC one.

They state on they website that they support Macs, but if you look at the small print it says the following:-


The modem we supply has drivers for all versions of Macintosh from OS 9 up to 10.4.4. (but no drivers for Macintosh OS X 10.4.5.
Unfortunately, our modem drivers do not support Macintosh OS with Intel Processors.

Seeing as I'd informed them at the time of placing the order that the machine was an Intel CoreDuo Mac Mini, I went into a TalkTalk store and demanded a refund for the £29.99 modem they charge for and supply. I used this money to buy a cheap third-party router and got the following information off of the support site.

Most ADSL routers sold in the UK will be ready to connect to TalkTalk Broadband. The settings should be as below. If you have any problems with your router, please contact the manufacturer. We can't offer any support for hardware we haven't supplied.

VPI = 0
VCI = 38
DNS settings (primary) 62.24.199.13
DNS settings (secondary) 62.24.199.23
Authentication = CHAP
Encapsulation mode = PPP over ATM (PPPoA). VC-MUX

You will also need your TalkTalk Broadband username and password. You'll find these in the welcome letter we sent.


It worked absolutely fine, and she's had no problems in the 3 months she's had it so far. Hope this helps. I personally wouldn't go with them again becuase their customer service was rubbish. Ah well, lesson learned I suppose.
 
thworple said:
I personally wouldn't go with them again becuase their customer service was rubbish. Ah well, lesson learned I suppose.
Click to expand...

I was considering Talk Talk but I'm now thinking otherwise as the support just can't cope. I have a mate who works for them and he says the boradband service is way more successful than their projections and the infrastructure can't cope at the moment.

NTL (who I'm with currently) suck so I'm looking for an alternative.
 
emotion said:
NTL (who I'm with currently) suck so I'm looking for an alternative.
Click to expand...

I'm with Virgin (now joined with NTL), and despite the muck that gets slung at them, I've never had a problem with them in over a year of connection. I've moved house in that time too, and the switch in addresses was simply painless. They even gave me a courtesy call to make sure everything was ok for me after the move.

But if you're dead set against anything connected to NTL, then I suggest trying Zen. Many people I know with Macs use them, and they've been real solid.
 
thworple said:
But if you're dead set against anything connected to NTL, then I suggest trying Zen. Many people I know with Macs use them, and they've been real solid.
Click to expand...

NTL BB has been just ok but is 1MB for 26 quid for me which is silly money. The TV service is unusable for me.

If I go with freeview and some other BB I'll save a minimum of 20 quid a month (!).

Thanks for the tip.
 
Hi Thworple,

Thanks for getting back to me. Well it's clear that the modem Talk Talk supplied for my Dad's new Macbook is not compatible.

Can you suggest which router my Dad should buy instead?

Thanks,


Dave
 
emotion said:
I have a mate who works for them and he says the boradband service is way more successful than their projections and the infrastructure can't cope at the moment.
Click to expand...

Yup - sounds about right. I phoned them up when they first started advertising (may/june time?) and they were already overwhelmed. They said they could connect me in late september, but meawhile i'd have to pay for the callplan (so i stayed with homecall; now pipex - 8mb for £25 per month)! I guess because the broadband is 'free' they don't have to provide that good a service...
 
davethesailor said:
Can you suggest which router my Dad should buy instead?
Click to expand...


I can't for the life of me remember which one I bought for my mum, but any ADSL router should work, as most of the setups for them are done through an internet browser as opposed to propriety software (which is the reason the TalkTalk supplied modem doesn't work).

I personally use a Belkin wireless router for my Powerbook, and its been good to me over the last year. Netgear routers are usually pretty good too, and you can pick them up for around £50 (ask for the refund for the £29.99 modem TalkTalk give you, like I did). Should have no problems using any of them with the Macbook.
 
Hi Again,

Right, I'm going to send my Dad off to PC World to buy the cheapest ADSL Router available. Does he need to ask for any particular spcification or will anyone work?

Regarding setting it up, is it best to click onto system Preferences/Network and then follow the set up wizard?

Thank you so much for your help.

Dave
 
emotion said:
NTL BB has been just ok but is 1MB for 26 quid for me which is silly money. The TV service is unusable for me.

If I go with freeview and some other BB I'll save a minimum of 20 quid a month (!).

Thanks for the tip.
Click to expand...

you'll find that actually you have a 2mb line not a 1mb, they recently upgraded that service

hugh
 
The saga continues.....

My dad has now exchanged his Talk Talk router and bought a shiny new Belkin router. He has been on the phone to Apple for 1 hour and they have been unable to get him connected. He then phoned Belkin and they tried for half an hour.

Both Apple and Belkin get as far as entering the Talk Talk username and password but that's where it fails. The Macbook will not save the settings.

Belkin have now told my Dad he has to phone Talk Talk and get a new username and password suitable for a Belkin router. Dad is on the phone to Talk Talk now but in all honesty, I'm not holding out much hope!!!!!!!!!!!!

The weird thing is, my Dad can still connect through his old router and Talk Talk to his old emac OS 9 but after three days has still failed to get connected to his new Macbook.

Has anyone got any other ideas?

Dave
 
HughJ said:
you'll find that actually you have a 2mb line not a 1mb, they recently upgraded that service

hugh
Click to expand...

Unfortunately all speedtests suggest otherwise (around 950kbps) and the bill states 1MB service.

As for th Talk Talk setup I was going to go with this but now I'm pretty much decided I won't bother.
 
Breaking News!!!!!!

It's all working, my Dad is now connected.

Thanks for all your help especially Thworple!

Dave
 
emotion said:
Unfortunately all speedtests suggest otherwise (around 950kbps) and the bill states 1MB service.
Click to expand...

ntl only have three speeds, 2mb, 4mb and 10mb, until recently their slowest speed was 1mb (aside from dial-up)
 
what did you do?

davethesailor - just wondering what you did.

My story is almost EXACTLY the same, and my dad is having problems - Macbook, talk talk and Belkin router/modem from carphoneWH.

Can you tell me how you sorted the problem - would save a LOT of grief and make an old man happy!

Thanks
 
TalkTalk are bloody rubbish - Do NOT make the switch to them, many of my friends have done it and regretted it.

NTL is the best - IF you can get Cable, you should!
 
no cable available

Thanks, but he doesn't live in a cable area.

It would appear that the internet is working (when connected via the ethernet cable), but can't get airport to connect wirelessly to the router.

The annoying thing is that there is also a PC in the house and that connects... he's rapidly loosing faith in Mac, not good.

Any ideas? My problem is that he lives 500 miles away, so I can't nip round and have a go myself!

Jay
 
wireless router for G4 and NTL

Hi!
I was wondering if someone might be able to help me:confused: ? I am trying to set up both my G4 Mac’s to connect to wireless internet, however I am uncertain which wireless router is compatible or works well with both NTL cable (uk) and my G4’s.

G4 400 (AGP Sawtooth)
G4 533 dual (digital audio/clockwork)

I have just recently purchased the original airport cards for each of these Mac’s, which I have yet to install. But at this stage I wanted some advise, as it has already been a costly and timely process and I don’t want to purchase a troublesome router by mistake.

Also I may upgrade to a G5 soon, so I’d like the router to have faster connection capabilities for then if possible. Also the computers are situated on separate floors of the house so I’m hoping to get one with a good strong reception.

Hope someone out there has the answers

Thanks
Helen
:)
 
Helenmather said:
Hi!
I was wondering if someone might be able to help me:confused: ? I am trying to set up both my G4 Mac’s to connect to wireless internet, however I am uncertain which wireless router is compatible or works well with both NTL cable (uk) and my G4’s.

G4 400 (AGP Sawtooth)
G4 533 dual (digital audio/clockwork)

I have just recently purchased the original airport cards for each of these Mac’s, which I have yet to install. But at this stage I wanted some advise, as it has already been a costly and timely process and I don’t want to purchase a troublesome router by mistake.

Also I may upgrade to a G5 soon, so I’d like the router to have faster connection capabilities for then if possible. Also the computers are situated on separate floors of the house so I’m hoping to get one with a good strong reception.

Hope someone out there has the answers

Thanks
Helen
:)
Click to expand...
i would always recommend Netgear routers every time, the best thing to do is go along to any electrical retailer like PC World, Curries, Comet etc and have a look on the packaging, it will always state what service it can be used for either ADSL (via BT line) or DSL (Cable)

Hugh
 
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