[Brian Blessed]

I am using a toshiba sattelite laptop with 32bit Vista and a mobile broadband dongle, I have been having a problem where my connection keeps dissapearing whilst the modem is still "connected" the icon showing local access only, I've tried using an older 3 modem but the problem reoccurs.

Searching the net I can see its a common problem with vista, Can anyone advise me of what to do? I can't afford the calls I am making to toshiba, microsoft and three.

[ism3]

there must be a problem with your isp

[vicks]

Have you tried to update the drivers for the dongle?
vicks

[Brian Blessed]

Three are refering me to toshiba and microsoft, they say its a known issue with vista and that I will need to contact micosoft. The drivers are up to date. I can surf for a few minutes and then the connection shows local only.

[Brian Blessed]

Hello again, I have had an awful weekend due to this problem, spent over £30 on phonecalls, three, toshiba and microsoft are sending me round in circles and I have vowed not to phone them again. Can someone at least explain why this is happening? Is it my isp?

[vicks]

I would contact the ISP and see if they can diagnose a problem from their end....
I will see if I can find more information about the the problem. I am travelling and right now have a pretty good wifi connection.
Vicks

[Brian Blessed]

After reading alot of sites I have found that doing a constant ping through the command prompt has solved the problem, Anyone reading this who is having the same problem this is what you do.

windows icon+r opens the command prompt then ping a site of your choice repeatedly by typing for example; ping www.bbc.co.uk -t

Now I really need an explanation as to why this is happening, I have begun to realise this happened while I was reading or replying to forums with 5mins between posts and when watching youtube it would download the track quickly but as soon as I moved on the connection would show limited connectivity. Just simply surfing google was the worst because I can't read sites as fast as they load up, I literally clicked a link turned my back for 30 seconds and then it was local only. I was playing youtube in the background to keep it running.

The command prompt window is annoying but it costs alot less on pay as you go. I will be changing isp, I can't afford a new computer, thank god I didn't have a contract, I would have had little choice but to get a new computer.