1dB Noise Margin?!

[rulerofiron99]

Hi guys

So my internet went mad today.

The past week it hasn't dropped once, Line Atten and Noise Margins at 34 and 23 dB respectively, noise varying +-5 dB.

Today, noise margin was at its most amazing ever: 31 dB. Didn't take a screenie.

More recently, though:
System Up Time 35:01:24
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoE 68933 61653 0 10363 5964 00:41:45
LAN 100M/Full 2172653 1945391 0 12667 2728 35:01:22
WLAN 11M/54M 208105 152522 0 1259 288 27:47:57

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1024 kbps 512 kbps
Line Attenuation 34 db 17 db
Noise Margin 1 db 13 db

Noise Margin has been sitting at a constant 1 dB for the past 20 minutes or so, with the internet being online for 40 minutes.

-- While writing this, it just disconnected again, briefly reconnected with 26 dB noise margin and still reporting 40 minute uptime.
System Up Time 35:03:45
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoE 147 134 0 1085 621 00:00:24
LAN 100M/Full 2174962 1947881 0 12656 2729 35:03:43
WLAN 11M/54M 208402 152911 0 1258 288 27:50:18

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1024 kbps 512 kbps
Line Attenuation 32 db 16.5 db
Noise Margin 31 db 14 db

So my question is, is my router going mad? Or is this problem more likely to be on the Telkom infrastructure side?
My router is a Netgear DG834G, and I've had it for about 5 years.

-- Right now it's alternating between showing actual connection, line atten and noise data for one ticker, and then 0, 0, 0 for the next.

Thanks

 

[stroebs]

lol that's terrible.

On a more serious note though: Your router is old and it may be time for a replacement. I replaced mine with a slightly newer version and it's working much better - faster too.

With you having already phoned Telkom to get your line rectified, it may still be something on your side causing the deficit of margin or instability of connection.

We shall await the likes of Pada to respond

 

[Pada]

Hehe Stroebs

It sounds to me like an issue with Telkom's infrastructure.
Did it perhaps rain heavily recently?

I had to replace my church's Netgear DG834GUv5 with a D-Link DSL-2500U, because the Netgear was just too unstable, even though it also showed rather high noise margins.

If you can, see if you can't borrow a friend's D-Link/TP-Link or Netgear DGN2xxx series modem. This way you can be assured that the fault doesn't lie with your own modem. Please just take note that there are TP-Link ADSL modems that uses a different ADSL modem chipset than Broadcom, which doesn't work that well on Telkom's network, and these models typically end their names with a 'T'.

Lastly, I'd also suggest that you test your ADSL filter by picking up the phone and perhaps even making a call with it to like a tollfree number and then checking if your ADSL modem loses its connectivity. If your ADSL modem drops its connectivity there and then, then you ADSL filter is faulty or incorrectly installed. There are some rare situations where it could be a fault at Telkom.

 

[rulerofiron99]

It would appear this was an isolated incident; WAN is currently at 12 hours uptime.

It did not rain, though.

If the problem persists, I'll try those routers you recommended.

Thanks!

 

[Edduck]

I am connecting to my landladies Belking wireless N router ( ) and it is also dropping constantly. I can see the wifi, I can enter the WPA2 password but can not connect Time for an upgrade to a TP-Link I think.