December 3, 2005

For the last couple of months, Road Runner has been starting to experience bandwidth problems.  What that means to you is that with a lot of people downloading and doing things, the service is starting to slow down.  ADSL has always had problems, here in Maui, going off completely or varying speed when downloading, but until recently, Road Runner has been pretty stable.

I spoke to a technician in Honolulu and he told me they have been having problems and they are trying to get it fixed.  Many customers have called saying their Internet and email stopped working, and I have also experienced these problems myself.

Here's what you should do to fix the problems as they happen. DO NOT start making changes to your computer settings, it won't help, and then you'll probably need to have someone reset everything for you.  If you can't see the Internet with your browser and your email doesn't work, shut down your computer.  Unplug the power to both your router and cable, or ADSL modem.  Wait ten seconds, then plug the router back in.  After it resets, plug the modem in and wait for the ready light to come on solid.

Now start your computer and everything will be OK.  Also, DO NOT push the reset button on your router.  All that will do is wipe out any security settings you made and put it back to the factory default settings.  Both the cable company and the phone company have been telling customers they don't support the setup using a router, since they didn't install it, and they when they have customers plug the modem directly into the computer and reboot, it works.  That's because the reboot fixed the problem, then the customer doesn't know how to reinstall the router.

If you just follow the simple reboot of the whole system, as described above, everything will be fine.  YOU MUST, call Road Runner (871-7303) every time you have a problem so they can log them.  It's the only way we will get the problems fixed.

ALSO REFUSE to make configuration changes or shut down firewalls, etc.  These are not the problem.  When they run a test to your modem, everything will look fine to them because the problems are intermittent and only happens for a few nano-seconds.   We are also seeing problems with mail programs being able to check mail upon startup. 

If you are having problems with mail, leave the mail program running, click on Internet Explorer, and once you see your Internet start page, go back to the mail program and do a send and receive.  It should then work OK.

If you have any questions or comments, click