So, we had a customer who said that their father had been having issues with their Internet connection after having a new modem/router. I assumed it was something simple like the Wireless Access key or the PPP authentication.

However, when I had got there i was told that they’ve just had the new modem because of the Internet connection not working before – and that they’re were charged £35 for having the router replaced.

After checking all of the wiring on the modem to the telephone network – I got into sky’s control panel for the modem, which seems to have a lot of different settings – however you could not change anything related to the actual adsl or the PPP connection, there was a DSL sync but no PPP, it was showing as “connecting” on the status page.

One of the family members called sky’s support telephone number (an 0845 number) where they were took through the usual turning things off and back on again – which I knew likely wouldn’t fix the problem (especially rebooting the computer).

After doing this, which I had already done they asked if they could call back on another number to perform a few tests on the line – they gave my mobile number.

Once explaining to them that i was technically minded, the same support representative was also able to understand the technically information that i had told him. They conducted a few more tests and came to the conclusion that there was a problem with their equipment in the exchange.  Without asking, they asked where they could issue the refund for the modem to.

The only residential broadband support I had heard before was some foreigner trying to tell me to turn it off and leave it for 24 hours!

I’d like to thank sky for their great help in getting an answer within the hour

I was hoping to play with it soon – but they claim I wont get it until the end of april/may

I also ordered a crystal oscillator so the Atmel ATMega processor will run on its own (separate to the arduino board)

I’ll likely be putting some updated tutorials on here for ZNC, UnrealIRCd, etc again as they were quite popular but outdated.

Also happy birthday to my good friend tje!