Low speed connection and the frequent disconnects again...

[gyruss]

Figured it to be polite to open my own thread as i was aware i'd added my own woe's onto other folks threads.    It was asked if i could provide my noise margins and attenuation.   Those are below.  

I've just done a quiet line test and that truly does sound like a not quite tuned radio.  Quiet bouts, but in the main noise.  Oh and did i mention that the last time BT came out they fitted their own faceplate and some kind of secondary filter underneath that?   I had a good winter of connections, which is why I was generally quiet, but now.. its like i'm back to square one.  

ADSL Link Connection Speed     Line Attenuation Noise Margin

Downstream 5344 kbps 40.0 db 10.0 db

Upstream 864 kbps 23.5 db 11 db

For historic and further info:

After the demarcation point, i have the faceplate and extra 'filter' that the BT engineer fitted last year (replacing my ADSLnation faceplate in the process which i'd tried 2 of previously)



My router is a Netgear DG834 v5, and is connected on to this faceplate via a 1 meter length of twisted pair and then the pc's are upstairs and they are connected via a hub to share two pc's.  ALL twisted pair, and not a flat extention cable anywhere.

Oh and here is a half hour sample of my noise margin from routerstats lite:




In the process of my replacing bits here n there i have also entirely replaced every single bit of twisted pair cable also wiht the pro cabling sold by adslnation.

Hmm oh aye, more info, despite the filters n stuff, i get disconnections still when phone calls occur.. thought this was not meant to happen with the faceplate present.

I'm at a loss.  Wits end i suppose i'd describe it, all i want is some kind of stable broadband, given that, i don't have many more needs.

Help me obi-LAN kenobi you're my only hope !

[Glenn]

Jase, to me, it sounds like you have an external line joint problem. My BB line would drop when the phone rang, the BT eng re-crimped a couple of connections to fixed the problem.

[gyruss]

i was getting desparate for ideas as to causes, and i was thinking it could be something like when metal expands in heat.. (like train tracks do).  This external line joint, where is that exactly?  in the green/grey junction box ? in the box just outside my house (the round one), or at the exchange?

I seem to remember the BT engineer did some 'crimping' in the round one outside my frontdoor, last year, but thats all i remember him doing outside of fitting the internal faceplate.

[gyruss]

My Broadband Ping

Kept routerstates lite also pinging www.idnet.net  all night too, no idea if this kind of test helps in any way:




and noise margin monitoring from routerstats lite:

[Steve]

The variation in ping early evening I'm guessing is due to you using your connection, the noise looks ok until the resync at 9.24 do you know what caused that?

[Glenn]

If it is a poor joint, it could be anywhere between your home and the exchange.

[Ardua]

Jase, to me, it sounds like you have an external line joint problem. My BB line would drop when the phone rang, the BT eng re-crimped a couple of connections to fixed the problem.

Glenn - I had a similar problem when my PSTN phone rang and I followed advice on an Aussie forum and fitted an additional ADSL filter on my phone line even though I had just fitted a new ADSL Nation filtered faceplate.

How did you get OR to agree that there was a fault on your line?

[Rik]

It's easiest if you can hear it on a quiet line test.

[Glenn]

Glenn - I had a similar problem when my PSTN phone rang and I followed advice on an Aussie forum and fitted an additional ADSL filter on my phone line even though I had just fitted a new ADSL Nation filtered faceplate.

How did you get OR to agree that there was a fault on your line?

Ardua, An engineer was sent out, with the potential for a charge, but he tested the line and confirmed there was a problem. It turned out that the manhole where the joints were made,  was flooded, he cleared the blockage and re-crimped the line. He wanted to use the spare pair, but another engineer had already swapped them, as one was corroded badly and could not support voice traffic.

Since then, after another bout of noise on the line, my connection was sub 150k for a couple of weeks, BT arranged for a new line to be layed under my garden.

[Ardua]

Ardua, An engineer was sent out, with the potential for a charge, but he tested the line and confirmed there was a problem. It turned out that the manhole where the joints were made,  was flooded, he cleared the blockage and re-crimped the line. He wanted to use the spare pair, but another engineer had already swapped them, as one was corroded badly and could not support voice traffic.

Since then, after another bout of noise on the line, my connection was sub 150k for a couple of weeks, BT arranged for a new line to be layed under my garden.

Therein lies the rub. What level of hiss is normal? I was just wondering whether 'my internet disconnects when the phone rings' was a sufficient level of proof? I sense that I would hear the sound of a till rattling if I called OR out.

[Rik]

If you've gone to the test socket, tried a couple of routers and still get the problem, then you should be OK, but (once again) BT make the rules.

[Glenn]

I would think anything above a gentle background hum, or anything that interferers with a voice conversation should be enough for BT to detect. The problem on my line though, was the noise was intermittent.

[T_M_D]

It's easiest if you can hear it on a quiet line test.

How do you do a quiet line test?

[Glenn]

It's detailed here, http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t181.html

[gyruss]

The noise on my phone line is really more than audible when i am talking to a friend on the phone.   I did the ring back test on 17070 and the instant it rang me, my router in the hall went to 'Red Light'. (disconnected)

I think they've stopped the distance to exchange test method now haven't they? or at least they've pin numbered it?

My samknows test (uses google maps) lists my exchange in Chester to be 1322m away.  However, that distance may well be longer as thats just as the crow flies.

[Rik]

Is that a DECT phone or a wired one?

[gyruss]

Wired.  have tried 4 phones on this now, the latest one bought it brand new from maplin towards the end of last year.

[Rik]

There goes another possible issue. It sounds very much like a line fault.

[gyruss]

was fine all winter since that bt chap came out, it went this bad again around the same time the nicer and warmer weather started, but as my router is connected using a 1 meter twisted pair cable (also new and have tried 2 of these), and that it red-lights the way it does, then i can only believe it is a line fault.

but that is where the nightmare starts.. i'm not quite sure why, but BT have become horrendous to deal with over the years.  From the first call to their call centre you get the feeling they are trying to put you off making a fault call, but the last time i had these issues, the engineer who came said to order an SFI via my ISP, so i'm guessing that this would be a much better move to make now.. i've had this long enough now, nearly 4 years in fact.. i have patience, course i do, but even those limits have long since passed

[Rik]

BT are looking to keep their costs low, hence they show great reluctance to come out, and want to charge an arm and a leg when they do.

[gyruss]

Just connected to my router using router stats, noticed the noise margin was incredibly low..

ADSL Link Connection Speed      Line Attenuation Noise Margin

Downstream 4928 kbps 40.0 db 1.5 db

Upstream 832 kbps 23.5 db 11 db

[Rik]

Keep routerstats running, it will show you how low the margin can drop before the router resyncs.

[Steve]

I do sometimes wonder whether being re profiled back to adslmax would give you back some degree of stability but it won't cure the disconnects when the phone rings.

[gyruss]

Check my thinkbroadband graph above.. seems to be alot of dropped packets in the early evening area for today.

[gyruss]

has to be said tonight has been exceptionally bad connection wise.  I mostly use the net for gaming, but so far tonight its been disconnections every other minute or two..   I run a dual screen setup and the webpages are also unresponsive at these times too.

[gyruss]

just had to copy/paste and quickly post my previous post as was connection connection has timed out to idnet before i'd managed to type the post.. that was twice.. imagine how frustrating its got now

[Rik]

What does the router log show?

[gyruss]

Just an update on my internet situation... and.. a conclusion   

A few weeks ago, had another fault which happened while I was at work and my other 'arf was at home.  She rang me in work using her mobile phone to let me know our phone line was down, so I duly logged a fault with BT immediately foolishly without having been home first, but when I got home indeed tested the phone even with the test socket and the phone was not working.

Connected the filtered faceplate back in, and then tested my phone handset at a friends house.  It worked, so it wasn't the handset.

Got home, went upstairs to my pc with the intention of just tinkering with my photo library, and i noticed i was not getting any warnings about my internet connection.. and my antivirus updated normally too!  yayy!! internet!!!

So tested phone again.. no phone working.

did a search on the somewhat slower internet connection but was glad it worked and found that its quite possible for internet adsl to be working as that can work on 1-wire, but phones need 2-wire.. so with that in my mind i gladly waited for BT to send someone out which turned out to be the wednesday of the following week as i'd reported the fault on the previous friday.   (i cared not of the wait as the net was up and i was not getting pestered by cold callers/canvassers.

Anyway, i was in work (again) and other 'arf was at home, and engineer did whatever he did and when i got home did a 17070 quiet line test...

Crystal Clear.  Not a single crackle.. nothing.    Sweet!!! (check my previous posts for history)

So then did the phone call test to see if it red-lighted my router. did the test 4 times..  not once did my connection reset or red light.   (also sweet!!!)

So since that BT visit, my broadband has been up my profile hasn't dropped to anything i'd complain about and its been like this ever since.   So one of my lines had some sort of fault, and all my other 'arf got told was that he'd fixed it , experienced some problems then did some further work at the box then came back and did a final test.

silence IS golden... especially where noise is concerned

[Niall]

There seems to be a lot of phone problems going around at the moment. My mate had problems about a month ago, my mums line went dead totally, I've had massive noise on the line, my sisters phone had immense noise and eventually stopped working.

It really seems like BTs network is so old, and they're spending all their money on trying to roll out broadband, that there are more and more faults on degrading equipment/lines and exchange side faults. I really wish the government would do something about the piss poor state of our networks

[gyruss]

Agreed, i put up with this bad internet connection with noise issues since i moved in here 4.5 years ago.. and only now despite having 3 BT visits in recent times has it got fixed.. and the best thing was that i'd logged it as...

a voice fault