Did something just go pop?

[Niall]

I've had a rock solid connection for about 4 weeks, but at 18:08 it dropped and my upload is now 696 where it was just under 1100 and my download has dropped from 14000 to just over 8mb speeds.

Did something just break?

[Glenn]

my connection is fine, still sync'd at 2.7mb

[Niall]

I bet it's those bloody BT workers having a drink with their sunday lunch

[Niall]

I rebooted my router and synced at just under 14000 again, then my line dropped again, and it now UNDER 8mb which it's never been. This is a little bit concerning

As I was typing this, my line dropped again. Hmm. Showing just under 14000 again too. I expect this will last about 2 minutes again 

[Niall]

It seems it's dropped again while I was downstairs and is once again at under 8mb.

It's getting irritating now. I think I'll turn router off for a bit to see if that solves anything.

[Technical Ben]

All I can think of at the moment, is to rule out the router first. Baring in mind it's a Sunday. Hope you get it sorted!

[Niall]

It's flakey as hell. I've just restarted my router and my line is now 6mb which is the lowest it's ever been, that I can remember. Something is definitely knackered somewhere.

[Rik]

Solid here, Niall.

[Niall]

My sisters line is fine too, although in my experience their line does completely different things to mine. I've had 14mb speeds when theirs is constantly dropping. Looks like the shoe is on the other foot now.

It hasn't dropped since I've rebooted the router after powering down for a while, so I'll reboot it again in a mo to see if it resyncs at a higher speed. Although the last time I did that, it started rebooting over and over.

I'm off all week so I can play around with it when I'm bored

{edit} Rebooted again and now it's back at 14mb and seems to be stable. Web pages are loading faster too. That being said, I have just changed my network settings from auto detect, to specific IP and DNS, although I can't see why that'd have an effect.

Still, so far so good

[Niall]

Balls, just went down again. Suppose I'll have to ring support tomorrow if it's still doing it then.

ADSL Link                   Downstream     Upstream
Connection Speed    11466 kbps    992 kbps
Line Attenuation       31.0 db            18.6 db
Noise Margin            6.4 db            6.6 db   

This is what it's showing now. As I typed this it went all flakey and wouldn't post.

[Niall]

Now posting by phone as my connection is completely knackered. It connects then drops over and over. Ah well, vodka and TV it is

[Bill]

It connects then drops over and over. Ah well, vodka and TV it is

That happened to me once. A router reboot cured it, but shortly afterwards the router went belly up.

Nowadays I make sure I've always got a spare router, all set up and ready for a swap-out.

[Niall]

It's dropped over and over since my last post. I tried posting again while it was briefly up but it died as I was typing. The odd thing is, if I keep a download running the connection doesn't seem to drop, although that could just be coincidence at the moment.

My connection is showing as 13k as I type and things seem almost normal, but it's been doing that for 30 minutes then dropping constantly for an hour then coming back with 11k, then dropping to come back at a silly low figure (for this line) of around 6-8mb and then dropping constantly again.

It wouldn't surprise me if BT are doing work and haven't bothered to tell anyone, other than the people doing the work.

[Niall]

Well, in my usual tempting fate way I shall say that it seems to have stabilised about 20 minutes before my last post, and hasn't done anything nuts since.

[Niall]

Yep it just died. Ace.

[Bill]

Can you hear any noise on the line when it drops (Dial 17070, select option 2)?

[Niall]

I'll check that when it goes again. It seems that the problem is ongoing.

ADSL Link               Downstream     Upstream
Connection Speed    6654 kbps            993 kbps
Line Attenuation            33.5 db            19.5 db
Noise Margin            8.7 db            6.8 db

I'll reboot now and see what happens.

{edit}

ADSL Link                Downstream     Upstream
Connection Speed    6652 kbps            1100 kbps
Line Attenuation            31.0 db            18.3 db
Noise Margin            6.9 db                5.8 db

Well, something somewhere has gone all squinky (ace word ). I'll wait to see if the line drops, but hopefully it will just slowly increase as time goes by.

[Niall]

Can you hear any noise on the line when it drops (Dial 17070, select option 2)?

I've just tried that quiet line test now and one thing's for certain, quiet it is not! There's a lot of crackling on the line. I've always had a bit on my line, but this is similar to an issue I had years ago.

I wonder if the line is degrading. Hmm. It wouldn't surprise me as it's been there for over 30 years. I have had BT out to check the line about 8 years ago, who had to do repairs. Maybe the repairs are failing again.

[Rik]

Time to phone your voice provider...

[Niall]

Do what now? You mean phone IDnet support? I don't know much about solving problems with this sort of thing as I VERY rarely have problems.

Oh and on a side note, if I was to set up wireless, which of the following is best?:


WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key)
WPA-802.1x
WPA2-PSK(Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 with Pre-Shared Key)
WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK

[Rik]

If you have the phone with IDNet, then yes, phone them. I tend to use WPA2-PSK. WEP is a total waste of time.

[Niall]

As you can see, I know lots of stuff

[Niall]

Oo you know what, something has just occurred to me. My mum said to me yesterday that her phone isn't working. I assumed it was her actual phone, but it may just be a line fault. She said all she could hear was a loud whining noise when she picked up the phone. She can receive incoming calls that leave messages (she missed a VERY important call about her pension too!), but not the call themselves.

Why this has only just occurred to me I don't know. I'll go and check her phone now, and try it with my phone too, then report back. Arming myself with all the info I can, can only help!

[Bill]

Do what now? You mean phone IDnet support? I don't know much about solving problems with this sort of thing as I VERY rarely have problems.

If you pay your phone bill to IDNet, phone them. If you pay it to BT, phone them (150 I think).

If it's BT, tell them you have a noisy VOICE line, DO NOT mention broadband or ADSL or you'll be going around the houses forever.

[Rik]

She said all she could hear was a loud whining noise when she picked up the phone.

Have you tried a new filter?