Up for 30 days, down twice this evening :O

Bat · Mar 04, 2008, 22:38:59

Hi,
No not my underwear!

My broadband! SN margin has always hovered around 13 to 16, not the best

This evening I've had 2 disconnections and my sync has dropped from 5700 to 4600 ( rough numbers )
Checked exchange info on that "pantsnet" link nothing reported....
BT fixed something a month ago when the phone line went down, but the phone was ok this evening....
Any ideas?
Cheers,
Gavin

Simon · Mar 04, 2008, 22:41:29

BT did some work last night, but I wouldn't have thought it was a hangover from that. I expect one of the techies will be along soon to ask some questions, Gavin.

Bat · Mar 04, 2008, 23:01:13

Hi,
Just got disconnected again

SN margin has been down to 1.5 this evening
Sync lower again 4288

Why can't stuff just work? I seem to spend most of my life fixing something!

Cheers,
Gavin

plugwash · Mar 04, 2008, 23:59:21

that is the nature of max like products, when you are allowing ADSL to run as fast as it can (rather than fixing it to a conservative speed like the older home 2000 products do) any changes in line conditions or environmental noise are going to cause changes in speed.

Rik · Mar 05, 2008, 00:06:23

Hi Gavin

Can you dig out some stats from the route for us, please? Downstream sync speed, noise margin and attenuation are the ones we need. Tell me a bit about your phone wiring, do you have multiple extension, how many phones, Sky boxes etc are connected to the line.

Bat · Mar 05, 2008, 18:32:38

Hi,
Stats:
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:   448 / 4,704
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:   11.5 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:   31.5 / 38.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:   24.0 / 13.0
Only one extension rewired about 2 months ago with the proper BT spec cable, no sky

Has worked without fault for 30 days since phone line repaired by BT, no phone no BB.
Phone was still working on all 3 occasions last night and BB has now been up for 19 hours.....
Cheers,
Gavin

Malc · Mar 05, 2008, 18:34:59

ANIMAL YES......

back to the topic.....

Rik · Mar 05, 2008, 18:35:10

Hi Gavin

It looks like your line is susceptible to noise, and probably has a target margin of 12db. Given you re-synched late last night, your margin now is almost certainly a bit above target and will fall during the evening.

Have you removed the ringwire at both sockets (terminal 3)?

Bat · Mar 05, 2008, 19:44:24

Hi,
Never connected the ring wire when I put the new cable in

Just 1 pair on 2&5?
Malc:

Cheers,
Gavin

Rik · Mar 05, 2008, 19:46:41

It looks like you've just got a line that's susceptible to noise then, Gavin. Could you use a filtered faceplate and run a Cat5 cable to the router?

Bat · Mar 05, 2008, 21:08:57

Hi,
Well I could if I wanted to, but I've not long replaced the internal wiring and routed it away from other cables as best as possible.
However, I don't understand how that would explain 30 days up and then down 3 times in 2 hours

Cheers,
Gavin

plugwash · Mar 05, 2008, 22:23:23

Quote from: Bat on Mar 05, 2008, 21:08:57
Hi,
Well I could if I wanted to, but I've not long replaced the internal wiring and routed it away from other cables as best as possible.

What cable type and wiring structure did you replace it with?

Rik · Mar 05, 2008, 23:40:51

Quote from: Bat on Mar 05, 2008, 21:08:57
However, I don't understand how that would explain 30 days up and then down 3 times in 2 hours

The logical explanation is either a line issue, or a new source of noise in the area. It's a matter of trying to isolate which it is before involving BT.

Bat · Mar 06, 2008, 17:57:07

Hi,
I've done a screenshot from Routerstats, so this might be of some use hopefully

The long downward spikes are new, I've not seen that before. The rest is fairly normal looking on a day to day basis...
Cheers,
Gavin

Rik · Mar 06, 2008, 18:01:36

I can't reading the timings, Gavin. What time of day did those sharp dips occur?

Rik · Mar 06, 2008, 18:11:20

Just been to look at the source, Gavin. The worst dips were just after 18:00, earlier than I would expect, but still within the 'night-time' period. However, overall, you have a 14db noise margin swing, which is huge. If you're satisfied that it's not your own equipment or wiring, talk to IDNet with a view to getting an engineer out.

Bat · Mar 06, 2008, 18:35:44

Hi,
Well I think I've got it all covered from the last time I had a problem when my sync was down to 1400

I fitted a new Speedtouch router and all new internal wiring, for the last six months it's been ok.
A couple of weeks ago the phone went off, BT owned up and fixed it but no more problems until now...
I think I can hear some noise on the phone

Cheers,
Gavin

Rik · Mar 06, 2008, 18:37:09

Dial 17070 and select option 2, quiet line test, Gavin. If that's noisy, report a voice fault.

Bat · Mar 10, 2008, 21:20:11

Hi,
Reported noise on the line on a voice call to BT

They told me to check sky boxes, extensions and internal wiring then report back to them

The next day I get a text message telling me an engineer is repairing the fault!

Guess I'll have to wait and see if there's any improvement....
Cheers,
Gavin

Philip · Mar 10, 2008, 21:43:59

let's hope it works Gavin

Lance · Mar 10, 2008, 22:12:18

Nice of bt to send out mixed messages!

Rik · Mar 11, 2008, 00:07:16

Not to mention text ones.

Bat · Apr 17, 2008, 21:39:17

Hi,
Me again! As you can see from the date of my last post I've had no problems for some time.
Day before yesterday and yesterday the BB was down 3 times a day.
Things are now returning to normal, my current sync is 3712 and noise margin 15.5 however the speedtest I did gave only 1987 compared to previous of 4371.
BT speed test wouldn't complete but said throughput was 2000.

My connection is dead slow, scrolling down a page takes forever!

Any suggestions please? Having read about other drops outs recently I don't know what to do for the best, should it have affected the throughput that much?
EDIT: at 3.26 this morning another drop out followed by a 2 minute period where the noise margin was over 20!
Cheers,
Gavin

Simon · Apr 17, 2008, 21:55:54

Several people had PPP dropouts yesterday, Gavin, as you may have seen here, and it seems that BT sent a late notice to IDNet of engineering works. One of the techies will confirm or deny this, but my guess is that your line will recover over the next day or so. If not, the best thing might be to get on to IDNet, and they can check things out for you.

Cookiemonster · Apr 17, 2008, 21:56:42

As your connection ended up re-syncing there's a high chance that your profile dropped and now your stuck at 2000 like you said. Once that raises in a few days you'll see a rise in your throughput. Confused on how you managed to get a speedtest of 4371 with only a sync of 3712

Bat · Apr 17, 2008, 22:36:14

Hi,
Jester ... I had a higher sync too! But thats gone out the window with all these drop outs

I think it was 4838?
Cheers,
Gavin

Cookiemonster · Apr 17, 2008, 22:39:40

Oh that explains it then!

Sebby · Apr 18, 2008, 00:30:41

One thing that doesn't seem to have been tried is the test socket. If feasible, could you run the router for a few days connected to the test socket. If you still have problems, it's worth getting IDNet to raise it to BT. Unfortunately, even though you've put new extension wiring in place, it could still be this wiring that is picking up these random noise bursts.

Bat · Apr 18, 2008, 18:56:08

Hi,
I don't really fancy the idea of having wires running all over the house for a month or 2.

I did try a new router in the test socket for a weekend and everything was fine. That was the reason for replacing the wiring and buying new router.

I've routed the wiring through the garage into the airing cupboard and around the edge of the loft to try and reduce noise problems, I also used the proper BT spec cable too.

Cheers,
Gavin

Rik · Apr 18, 2008, 18:57:49

Have you done a quick compare of your line stats at the test socket and your normal extension, Gavin?

Bat · Apr 18, 2008, 23:11:00

Hi,
Rik ... Not recently, guess I should.
Having no BB again I decided to use the test facility on my router, it said;

DSL .. ok
ATM .. No ATM activity detected on your line
PPP .. Disconnected because idle time out reached

Does the fact DSL is ok mean the wiring is in order and the fault lies elsewhere?
Cheers,
Gavin

Sebby · Apr 18, 2008, 23:19:23

It looks like a sync issue, though I don't think it's entirely clear from the above. The fact that DSL is ok could just mean that DSL is detected on the line. What router do you have?

The "PPP disconnected because idle time out reached" interests me, as I know some routers have a setting to disconnect when the connection has been idle, though I think that may just be throwing us off.

Bat · Apr 18, 2008, 23:25:03

Hi,
It's a Speedtouch 546 v6
I kept getting idle time out reached whilst trying to connect

Cheers,
Gavin

Sebby · Apr 18, 2008, 23:40:14

Which firmware version are you running? I know that version 6.1 had an idle timeout problem, so I'd say it's worth updating to 6.2.

Bat · Apr 18, 2008, 23:59:24

Hi,
I'm on 6.1.4.6
I'll hang fire on the 6.2 for now as I don't want to update incase something else is causing the problem.
Cheers,
Gavin

Rik · Apr 19, 2008, 08:51:20

Can you borrow a different router, Gavin?

Bat · May 13, 2008, 20:02:27

Hi,
Well, touch wood, getting better.
Up for 14 days, then had a re-sync.....
Now running 5378 @12.5 db

I've done nothing!

Cheers,
Gavin

Rik · May 13, 2008, 20:09:23

We'll blame BT then, Gavin.

Sebby · May 13, 2008, 20:31:38

Glad to hear it, Gavin.