We have Verizon and the Green light on our DSL Modem is always blinking.

Knock on wood... we haven't had any problems for quite a while.

This stupid thing is driving me crazy.

Oh, I should mention that the telephone dsl line (for 5 years now) was not plugged directly into the modem. I have this really good surge surpressor with two phone jacks and I was told that it would ground everything in case of a lightening strike, so (up until tonight), the dsl phone line had been plugged into the surge suppressor, and I had another phone line coming out of the sure suppressor and THAT ONE was plugged into the modem.

Never changed this. But!!!! the day I got the new modem, I thought it would be okay to just unplug the electrical connection from the back of the old modem, and simply plug it into the back of the new modem.

I blew everything out. Tripped the surge suppressor, all things went dead.

I then unplugged everything, went down into the basement, re-set the circuit breakers, came back upstairs, and re-plugged everything fine.

Worked good for two days, then everything started blinking.

So today (even though I know the man is coming tomorrow), I replaced all telephone lines, and connections, and five minutes ago I looked at the surge suppressor and said "What if it's the surge suppressor that is doing this? (I HAVE NO IDEA) but I said 'what the heck"

So I simply took out the dsl line from the surge suppressor and plugged it into the dsl outlet in my modem.

Took out the other phone line from the surge suppressor and put it in the drawer.

I then turned the modem back on.

Working fine (but then it usually does for 15 minutes).

It's obviously connected correctly right?

I'm going to shoot this thing.

lol

Melody

Your light is always blinking?? See, this is why I get confused. Everyone has told me I should be seeing a steady green light (which is what I have seen for 5 years).

And the guy is not coming in my house first. He initially goes up a pole and checks out the Central Office (which is a little box on top of a pole), and he checks all the lines, and if he doesn't find anything, THEN he comes into my house.

Hate this, but have no choice.

It's hard to be paranoid but I don't like strangers.

Oh well. It is what it is.

Let's just hope this stupid green light doesn't go all nutty on me again.

Melody
P.S. And why did the internet light keep going off and stay red.

Only when I rebooted it (up until today, this was happening), only when I rebooted the modem, then the red internet light went green AND THEN EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

Bloooey!!
lol
Mel

I can't help you much on the modem /blinking lights - ours is in the other room and hidden behind stuff on the shelf , so I can't even see any of the lights.

Of course if it stopped us from getting online then I would dig it out and check everything..

did you see the modem light chart on Verizon website? not sure if you have the Westell or not , but you can find the right one to check it if this isn't yours.
http://www22.verizon.com/residential...sone/88092.htm

Hi.

I'll check on that link you provided. I have a Westell 6100.

And guess what? Last night after I changed all the phone wires, I took a look at the dsl phone line, I traced it back to the wall jack and I saw a piece of the wire that was all frayed. I said wow. But since Alan was having no problems last night, I went to bed.

This morning, I turned on Computer. Steady green light.

I then walked into the other room, went over the part of the wire that was frayed, picked it up, looked at it, went back over to the modem and guess what? IT WAS BLINKING. So, in my mind, my picking up the dsl line and handling the frayed part, made it blink. So what did that tell me? REPLACE THE DSL phone wire.

The dsl phone wire was a VERY LONG WIRE that went from one room to another, it was too long, so we had to pick up all the slack and it was nice and neat behind some piece of furniture.

So I got two other brand new phone wires, connected them together with a little conning thing that I already had, and VOILA, I had a brand new (much shorter dsl phone wire).

So a few minutes ago, (and the modem was blinking like crazy), I unplugged the one that was frayed, gathered it up, put it away and plugged in the brand new one that I just made.

No more blinking, and I'm not writing this post.

So whether or not I fixed my problem, I have no idea. The man will check outside later, and possibly come in and check all my connections.

To me, this is no coincidence. I pick up a frayed wire and my modem starts blinking??

We shall see. For now I'm on the internet.

lol

Melody

Sounds to me like you fixed it.

You have a different model DSL Verizon box than I do... that's probably why mine blinks and yours doesn't.

Any time I see a frayed wire on any phone line or electrical equipment I replace it. I don't want to take any chances.

Let us know if the technician finds anything.

Abbie

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE, MELODY HAS AN UPDATE. WOO HOO!!!!

I'm happy (crossing fingers that this is all settled). The guy came today.

He rings my bell and I said "Oh, you are the Verizon man, you've checked outside already??" and he goes "No, I am just arriving, I'm announcing myself so you know I'm not a stranger and you don't call the police".

I burst out laughing and said "Get in here". He came in (with his ID badge on) and all his equipment on his belt, etc.)

I bring him into the computer room and explain in detail what I had done and how the dsl line blinks green now and then, but comes back. He said "you want a steady green light". I said "I know".

He then goes into the bedroom (where I have all phone connections going into a multi thing and then into the phone jack). He then declares "Oh you have an octopus'. I said 'I have a WHAT??" He explains that when you have many phones in a multi switch and if these phones are sharing the same connection, you'll get a weaker signal.

Didn't know that.

So I unplugged the extra phones and the lines that go into the cable box so I can order shows on demand (which I have never done so I obviously don't need these phone lines).

Then I showed him that I replaced my DSL phone line cord with a new one, and I show him the 60 foot cord that I had been using, even though the distance between the modem and the wall jack was 20 feet.

The look on his face was priceless. He said 'Holy Cow, this cord is too long, you are only supposed to have 6 feet from the modem to the wall jack, but sometimes it can go a few feet more, BUT NOT 60 FEET, holy cow!!

Didn't know that either!!

Previously I didn't have a shorter cord so I just took up the slack and hid the extra wire behind furniture.


So he gets out his wireless thingees and he runs line test and EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

He said "It might have been the surge supressor (which I no longer have connected to the modem". He said "modems run slower when connected to a surge suppressor".

Didn't know that either either!

Then he sat down and we went on the computer and re-configured the modem again so it recognizes my IP address.

It was working fine he said. He looked at the screen information, pointed out things to me and said "see this, see that?" I understood it all. (quite amazing actually).

So we go outside and I said "I want you to check the phone box outside of my house". He goes 'no problem, but you are getting a 100% signal with no outage and I can tell" So far so good.

So we go outside of my house to look for the phone box. COULDN'T FIND IT.

He's going "What the heck, What the heck, where is the phone box?"

No phone box.

He did not go up the pole because he said "All that would tell me is that you are getting a good signal because I have tested your line 3 times. It''s working fine and so is your modem.

He then came back in the house, everything was working and so far so good.

So far it's been fine since 1 p.m. and it hasn't been this good in soooooo long.

Don't know what he did but he did SOMETHING.

Maybe I did something?? Who knows.

What we are going to do is move the computer into another room so it's closest to a wall jack and the guy told us it's better for the computer to be there than where it now is.

So when the weekend comes, Alan and I are going to move the computer.

Thank goodness I know how to do this stuff.

I think it's cool that I can learn new stuff and apply it.

It's all that Wheatgrass juice. I drink a little cup every morning.

Energy here I come!!

lol

So I thank all of you for listening to my tale of modem woe!!!

Melody

I don't think you ever mentioned having so much extra cord before or I would have suggested a shorter one. But probably the damaged one was the biggest problem.

Generally for anything - TV antenna, phone, modem and cords connecting any of those types of things - the shortest length is the best way to go.

All the extra length can degrade the signal of whatever is traveling thru it.

I recall reading about antenna cables and if they are coiled the current can jump and degrade that way- so maybe for phone/dsl it can do the same.??

If it is going red you definitely have a signal problem. That would be the line coming into the modem... my guess the one coming into the house. At the very least it's the one going into the modem.. there is an interuption in the signal.

It could very well be the surge protector. If your phone or electrical lines are experiencing surges then it is causing little "blinks" therefore the surge protector is constantly resetting... that would cause your modem to constantly reset.

If the green is blinking it's the DSL working. Ours has always blinked!! We run 3 computers off of one modem. I can tell when Dad is on his computer.. the light blinks faster.

I understand about not wanting strangers in your house!!! I'm the same way... we had to have the cable company in several weeks ago... all of the lines enter the house in my room... I hated that!!!

I wish you the best and hope they can figure it out without entering your house!!

Abbie

Our modem does not blink unless there are problems.

When you power up from a cold start, all the green lights blink a little as they come back. The last light blinks green when connecting to something on the net. It turns red when connection is lost. It blinks briefly when Hubby is connecting to something upstairs, and it blinks when I hit submit here, or search things. If either of us is just reading...the last light is not on at all.

There must be different types.

When our router was dying, the red light came on all the time and I stalled on the net. Sometimes it would recover and sometimes not.