Connection Issues, Round Two!

Ruerin · May 12, 2013, 13:54:56

A few months ago, I posted a thread about connection issues. In the end I called up support and they suggested that it could be REIN.

It's like this:

- Sudden, constant and unexplainable drops in connection
- There are two lines at my house, a TalkTalk one (where the router's connected to the master socket/test socket) and my BT/IDNET one
- Both of the lines drop out at the same time for the same duration
- Tested my own line with 3 different routers (2 Belkins and my current Netgear DG834)
- All (expectedly) produce the same issue

Surely REIN would produce discrepancies in sync and SNR? I've had RouterStats open for the past 12 hours and through a bunch of really harsh disconnections over the past two - the SNR and sync have remained stable throughout, at an average of 10.6, minimum of 10.5 and maximum of 10.8. The sync speed is stable at 8128kbps. All routers show a red light when the connection drops - latest firmware on all of them, and recently fitted new filters and bought new cables. There is a TalkTalk filtered faceplate fitted on that master socket and the same thing happens to that line. I can't vouch for the SNR and sync of that line, but we have had TalkTalk engineers in and they've found nothing that could be causing any interference.

I've really had enough. I'm not one for complaining but it's just absolutely ridiculous, there seems to be just nothing that indicates a problem. Maybe my exchange is just horrible? I've not seen any BT work or scheduled maintenance for here. I'll give IDNET another call tomorrow and see what they say but any more help in the meantime would be appreciated.

e: I'm now actually seeing some SNR discrepancy, so I guess there's nothing anyone can really do. :< So frustrating as it's dropping every 5 minutes.

Steve · May 12, 2013, 14:19:27

I don't think you'll see any great change in SNR following a resync as to me it looks like a relatively short line on adslmax, not that that's any help, however something is causing a drop of sync on both lines it could be nearby as your on a different dslam at the exchange.

Ruerin · May 13, 2013, 12:42:24

Indeed, it's very strange. I did some double checking and my SNR fluctuations seem to be fairly normal. Both lines are indeed short as I live just across the road from my exchange.

If it starts to play up beyond the occasional drop or two again I'll give support another call. I don't think there's too much support can do as it's out of their hands, but it might eventually shed some light on the issue. Yesterday was really bad, it basically got caught in a cycle of desync/resync for an hour which makes me think there's something much more to it than REIN.

Ruerin · May 13, 2013, 15:34:42

Just had a particularly long drop - no cycling of sync this time, just flat out nothing for about 45 minutes.

I've taken a snapshot of RouterStats (the disconnection started at 14:45 or so. I switched on the PPP monitor to show what it does):

http://i.imgur.com/y6UhaBq.png

This doesn't look like REIN to me. The spikes seem to coincide with it trying to resync.

Perhaps of interest, the drops seem to only happen in the early morning or afternoon. It's perfectly stable otherwise.

Doubly out of interest I noticed there has been cable damage in Diss, which is fairly near to where I live. It's not my area code but perhaps I am being inadvertantly affected by maintenance, if that's even possible? It would explain a lot of things.

Ruerin · May 15, 2013, 19:27:23

Sorry for triple posting but I really don't know what to do.

I've had a bunch of long disconnections today with no identifiable cause. No weird spikes in RouterStats yet again, noise is stable between 10.5-11.3db. Yet both lines go out and nobody seems to know why.

I sent out an email to support with RouterStats graphs attached. I have a hard time believing REIN would knock me offline for nearly an hour at a time without any change in sync speed and noise.

Steve · May 15, 2013, 21:18:21

I don't think you'll necessarily see a change in sync on the adslmax line as it's short so a max sync is easily achievable, what's the TalkTalk line showing regarding sync?

Ruerin · May 18, 2013, 11:34:24

It's also at 8128, exchange is quite literally across the street so I'd assume it's the same thing.

Seems to have stabilised again for now, must have been affected by some BT maintenance as a line test at the trouble times turned up negative (as expected I guess!). I'll see how it goes and get in touch with support if I have any more trouble.

nowster · May 18, 2013, 11:49:04

Could be some form of common mode impulse noise.

Ruerin · Jun 01, 2013, 13:10:09

Mhm, I'm not really seeing anything to indicate a problem. Line test turned up negative, as expected. Not risking getting a REIN specialist out because I'm not willing to pay if they can't find the fault (which is likely).

I've pretty much given up, I've exhausted everything I can do. My line is so short that if it is REIN, it's undeniably local (which is good at least). The fact that it is so short has made it impossible to actually find out what's wrong, because none of the traditional signs of interference seem to apply, it just drops out for a bit and resyncs fine. Graphs show no prolonged low SNR/downward spikes. Tried all my routers, same issue, changed filters, same issue, test socket, same issue.

The worst part is I have 14 days of stability and I think it's gone and then it comes back with a vengeance. Intensely frustrating.

Steve · Jun 01, 2013, 14:27:57

I'll bet it is, very frustrating.

Ruerin · Jun 05, 2013, 14:46:55

Yeah, really the only comfort I have is that my line isn't 2.5+km long going through various places. I've done a check with a radio and I can't really find anything, but if it gets bad again I'll definitely check. I'm almost willing to bet that it's something in the house playing up intermittently which knocks both lines out - and it wasn't playing up when we had the TT engineers out, so they found nothing.

I've been fairly stable for a while (since the BT issue), my router seems to hold on at the moment even when it seems to be bad. I get the occasional timeout but it's a small price to pay compared to huge losses of connection. I'm really glad I bought a DG834 now. Holds on a lot better than the Belkin and other Netgear (DGN2000) I have.

I'm actually pretty glad my exchange isn't planned for 21CN right now, I'd imagine the full 20000+ sync I'm estimated would make everything far worse than it is right now.

Ruerin · Jun 06, 2013, 12:58:51

Also possibly of note it's started to drop without the TalkTalk line going out lately; starting to think there may be something else afoot, but I'm really just grasping at straws for any sort of non-obscure solution right now. I'll keep an eye on it over the weekend and give support a call on Monday and see what they've got to say about it.

Ruerin · Jun 22, 2013, 16:02:59

Pretty much exactly 2 weeks after it cleared it's back again. It always seems to get worse after BT faults.

Perhaps I just get the short end of the stick after all, as the TalkTalk is also DSLMax and not LLU. That would certainly explain the lack of any indication of a bad line. 2 weeks of flawless stability, some faults creep up and it's trash again. Too much of a coincidence.