TRENDNET Router TEW-658BRM

[pedruid]

Hello, My line keeps on dropping loads of times during the day.
Can anyone advise me if there is a window which will allow me to see the frequency of my dropped line of a given period of time.I know where to view the current logs but need to find out the total time i am off line so that i can stick it to Telkom who keep telling me that they have fixed the problem.
My router is only 2 months old.
I have tried sending the request to TRENDNET but when I check the status of the ticket they say that i haven't submitted one.

[Pada]

I would suggest that you start by checking your SNR margins and other ADSL line statistics first.

With ADSL, the faster your connection, the smaller the tolerances are for errors. This error tolerance is indicated by the SNR (or noise) margins. Typically I suggest to people to downgrade their line speeds till both their upstream and downstream SNR margins are above 10dB, and preferably it should be above 12dB for a very stable line.

The line attenuation values are an indication of your ADSL line distance between your home and the Telkom DSLAM (which could reside in the Telkom exchange). If the downstream line attenuation is above 40dB, then 4Mbps might be your limit.

So could you please post all your ADSL line statistics here. The important ones are the SNR/noise margins, line attenuations and line speeds. The modulation/mode (ADSL2+ or G.DMT) could also be relevant.

[pedruid]

Thanks Pada for your response. At + 75 yrs I'm not sure what you are talking about, but I will check these statistics in the next few days and advise.

[Tinuva]

I am coincidentally testing one of these at home on a 10mbit/sec line.

Here is an example of my stats (found under "Status" -> "Asdl Info"):

Status Up 
Total Time 15 hour 6 min 1 sec  
Modulation Type ADSL_2plus  
Standard Used G.992.5_Annex_A 
Standards Supported G.992.1_Annex_A,T1.413i2,G.992.3_Annex_A,G.992.5_Annex_A 
Link Encapsulation Used G.992.3_Annex_K_ATM, 
Link Encapsulation Supported  
Link Encapsulation Requested  
Line Encoding DMT 
Data Path L1 
Interleave Depth  
ATUR Vendor 5245544b 
ATUR Country 181 
ATUC Vendor 4946544e 
ATUC Country 181 
 Downstream Upstream 
Current Rate(Kbps) 10015 987 
Max Rate(Kbps) 18768 988 
Noise Margin(dB) 11.4 6.6 
Attenuation(dB) 27.5 15 
Output Power(dBm) 11.5 10

A screenshot of what the interface looks like: (Take note, I couldn't get this page to show properly in Google Chrome)
Link: Screenshot

As you can see, on a 10mbit/sec line I have a SNR of 11.4 for downstream, and 6.6 for upstream. Lucky for me, this line is rock solid stable on both this modem, as well as my usual Billion 7300RA.

[thisgeek]

Some basic things you can check... plug a land line handset in to your ADSL line. Meaning, unplug the ADSL line from your modem directly in to your handset lift the receiver, dial a digit and listen to the open line. It should be clear with no crackling (Although this doesn't necessarily indicate nothing's wrong - see below).

If there is crackling, check that all the connections to the wall socket are correctly plugged in. Unplug them, blow out any dust, plug them back in. Ensure the plugs are securely in the socket.
If you've done that and there is STILL crackling on the line, it may be caused by loose connections anywhere on the cable between your house and the exchange. After logging four or five faults at telkom for crackling issues, I eventually had a diligent tech take a look at all the connections, and found a box up a pole somewhere up the road that had loose wires. After he secured them, my line was 100% stable. Any subsequent crackling issues I've had have been related to my in-house connection points, but they were easy to fix, as above.

Even if you have no crackling, your issues MAY be caused by the lightning protection. My in-laws have a 1mb line. Connection was TERRIBLE. ADSL stats indicated CRC errors on the line like crazy, which usually was a sign of crackling or other interference. The line was crystal clear though. Many tickets logged with Telkom, it just didn't get resolved. Until one day recently, I popped over to replace their old Marconi modem with something a bit more recent. Their old Marconi power brick also had a lightning protection filter, so the phone line also passed through it. I decided to use the same cable via the lightning protection block for convenience (ie, I was too lazy to crawl under the desk). I ended up with pretty much the same issue - the line would sync, but terrible connection rate, CRC errors. It was so bad that the new ISP account wasn't able to authenticate. After checking all the connections, I decided to try a new phone cable, in case there was something wrong with the old one. Plugged in a new cable directly into the wall socket (and since it was a new cable, it bypassed the lightning protection/power block of the old modem), and everything worked! It seems that something (probably a power surge of some kind) had damaged the lightning protection unit. It still worked - at least in terms of passing some part of the signal through - but it was obviously messing with some of the ADSL frequencies, thereby causing a terrible connection. I could've kicked myself that I hadn't bypassed the lightning protection unit before this. You live and learn.

Anyway, hope this stupid story helps someone at least.

[titeroper]

I am the proud owner of this very same model and have been very impressed with its performance over the past few months.
First thing I would do is go to the Trendnet website and download the latest firmware version for this model.
I am on .18 and it is, overall,a more solid release in that one of the devices on my network has to connect at g-speeds and my connection would drop intermittently and now does not.