Loss of service reports

pctech · Oct 21, 2010, 15:20:20

When I was on O2 I ran a couple of trace routes and the reverse DNS entries for the routers all referred to bethere rather than O2.

silverblade · Oct 21, 2010, 19:40:30

Still no connection here. Mailed and phoned support, was told that everything tested fine and to try different equipment/filter.

Filter swap made no difference, I took the modem round a friends place and it got a DSL carrier with no trouble at all. No luck with using the test socket either.

When I phoned I was assured that the outage could not have caused the problem I am now experiencing. Yet between the time I got home around 6 and the time of the outage yetsterday evening, I had a connection. As soon as I lost DSL carrier I checked this forum on my phone and found that other users had also lost internet connection. I seem to be the only person who has lost DSL signal at that point.

I'm sure that the equipment involved in this problem and the outage yesterday must be completely different pieces of kit and probably in totally different locations, but it just seems a little too coincidental...

pctech · Oct 21, 2010, 19:42:59

DSL sync is between your router and exchange, ring support and leave a message stating no connection, I'm pretty sure they'll come back to you.

I think you've been unlucky.

Rik · Oct 21, 2010, 19:50:07

Quote from: silverblade on Oct 21, 2010, 19:40:30
I'm sure that the equipment involved in this problem and the outage yesterday must be completely different pieces of kit and probably in totally different locations, but it just seems a little too coincidental...

There have been three outages reported, West Drayton, Druid's Hill & Peterborough.

I was affected by the West Drayton one, and lost about 1M in sync when the line re-connected. A re-boot this morning did nothing, but this afternoon it regained the speed. Support were aware of at least one other case of this speed loss through that MUX, but I've not heard of any connection losses there.

Any chance of testing another router on your line?

Technical Ben · Oct 21, 2010, 20:20:01

Is this a sign the entire infrastructure is falling apart?

Conrad · Oct 21, 2010, 20:22:33

I had a courtesy call from Miriam today just to check if everything was working! She also gave me some details about yesterday's outage. I like that.

Please send her my regards.

pctech · Oct 21, 2010, 20:40:47

Quote from: Technical Ben on Oct 21, 2010, 20:20:01
Is this a sign the entire infrastructure is falling apart?

Probably

silverblade · Oct 21, 2010, 22:42:45

EDIT: After another modem restart I now have a connection again...

Just had modem off for a couple of hours, turned it back on and it got a brief DSL sync before dropping again. The modem log seems to show that it was about to start making a connection but then lost DSL carrier again... Anyone have any idea on this? (clock is wrong, but I kept the times just for reference of how long carrier stayed up for)

Code Select


Apr 19 18:15:20 | DSL Carrier is down
Apr 19 18:15:40 | DSL Carrier is up
Apr 19 18:15:40 | sar read trained mode (5)(ADSL_2plus)
Apr 19 18:15:40 | ---}}} Start of connection delayed for 6 sec
Apr 19 18:15:40 | PPPoA launch delay.
Apr 19 18:15:46 | PPPoA Launch after conn delay timeout ...
Apr 19 18:15:46 | pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Apr 19 18:15:46 | Connect: ppp0 {--} 
Apr 19 18:15:46 | Couldn't increase MRU to 1500
Apr 19 18:15:50 | DSL Carrier is down

karvala · Oct 22, 2010, 02:48:58

Assuming the modem is okay (as suggested by the test at your friends, although more info on that would be useful; did you actually get as far as entering his details, getting a PPP layer and using the connection? What were the noise stats like in comparison to those on his modem?), and you've swapped the filter, then I guess the network cable connected to the modem to the test socket is the last thing to swap. If you could borrow your friend's modem for 10 minutes, that would be useful in definitively ruling out a modem problem as well. After that, I think you have a fair case for the problem to be escalated; it clearly couldn't be your equipment or wiring if it's all swapped over and you're connecting to the test socket.

I'm a bit puzzled by your description of everything testing fine as well: as I understand it, you haven't had sync (for more than a few seconds at at time) since the beginning of the outage, in which case that should certainly show up in a test. I'd ask for clarification on that.

Glenn · Oct 22, 2010, 06:09:49

Can you try your friends router on your line?

Rik · Oct 22, 2010, 09:20:05

Quote from: Conrad on Oct 21, 2010, 20:22:33
Please send her my regards.

Done.

silverblade · Oct 22, 2010, 19:09:41

Argh...

The connection came back up at about 10:30PM yesterday, after having the modem switched off for about 2 hours.
Looking at the logs it dropped the connection again at 3:22 AM for 1 minute after losing DSL carrier, then reconnected successfully again until 6:36PM.
Now the DSL light is just flashing again as it's lost the DSL carrier again.

I don't know if my friend's modem will work be compatible as I think it is just normal ADSL - I upgraded to the ADSL2+ service a while back and my modem works with both types. So, possibly the signal frequency may have something to do with it (somehow...)??

Rik · Oct 23, 2010, 10:42:48

A mis-matched crystal at one end or the other could be the cause, but that would be rare. Does the router get hot?

DorsetBoy · Oct 23, 2010, 10:46:38

Does the router offer "Auto negotiaiton " or is it just a choice between adsl,adsl2,adsl2+ ?

silverblade · Oct 23, 2010, 11:43:39

I have it set to auto-negotiation, and when it works the modem log shows:
Oct 22 03:23:04 | sar read trained mode (5)(ADSL_2plus)

I have tried forcibly setting it to the ADSL 2+ mode, and also changing it to a different mode and back again in case of a stale setting somewhere.

As for heat, the router gets fairly hot but it always has done. I would think if heat had some involvement it'd stop working during summer. Unless of course it's too cold for it now!

Rik · Oct 23, 2010, 11:46:13

Can you improve ventilation in any way, eg stand it on its side?

silverblade · Oct 23, 2010, 16:07:13

Well, I'm tired of faffing around with that modem.

Simon at IDnet had kindly offered to send me a test router, which I appreciate, but as it's the weekend now I'd imagine it wouldn't get here 'til the middle of next week.

So I've just gone and got a new combined modem/router. Previously I had a separate router, even though the modem itself could do routery things it had no wireless hence I had 2 boxes. So I figured I might as well reduce the complexity of things by just having one box that does it all.

Plugged it in, and it works fine. Unplugged it, attached the old one..... That also works fine!!

I have just noticed my downstream speed showing at about 2mbps, which is drastically lower than it should be. Swapped some cables around and now have 11mbps.

Rik · Oct 23, 2010, 16:08:50

That old black magic. Comms is like that.

Glad you're sorted.

silverblade · Oct 23, 2010, 16:57:54

Ok it turns out I am getting 1mbps downstream...

The BT speedtester shows:
Your DSL Connection Rate :11132 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 828 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 1000 Kbps

If I understand correctly, I could get a speed up to 11mbps, but probably because of the problems I've been experiencing, BT have given my line a 1mbps IP profile?
How long will this last / how do I get it changed?

Rik · Oct 23, 2010, 16:59:46

Should be a few hours but could take up to 5 days.

zappaDPJ · Nov 01, 2010, 23:22:41

Another complete loss of both ADSL and FTTC for me.

cs · Nov 01, 2010, 23:24:28

My FTTC line is ok

.Griff. · Nov 01, 2010, 23:37:57

My FTTC connection dropped a few times tonight which is unusual but it's ok now.

zappaDPJ · Nov 02, 2010, 05:43:09

FTTC has just come back but ADSL is still dead in the water.

I've noticed my FTTC speeds and ping have been pretty dire for the last few days e.g. from yesterday evening...

And this for the last 24 hours...

I don't really see how all these problems can be put down to exchange works or there would be reports from other users. Anyway, time for bed, I'll take another look at it later today.

zappaDPJ · Nov 02, 2010, 09:25:04

Looks like my ADSL line is now back as well.

I have a question.

I recall that there used to be a minimum level of performance set by BT on FTTC which I believe was around 12-13 Mb/s. Unfortunately when my FTTC is running at the kind of speeds indicated by my previous post the BT Speed checker mysteriously refuses to return a result. However last night it did after a massive delay and wanted to perform an additional test. As always, changing the login resulted in the additional test page not being found (it's done that for the last couple of years at least). That said, the preliminary test did show speeds well below the acceptable range.

Is this worth pursuing?