4mb ADSL Line Dropping

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Witman22

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Hi Everyone

I have a 4mb ADSL Line with telkom and 4mb Business Uncapped data from Afrihost as my ISP. My router is a Mega 105 (Old one I know) I have been using this combination for about 2 years now with no issues.

The last week I have been experiencing disconnection or line dropping. It is so bad that I get disconnected about 4 times in 10 minutes. But I must say that it is random. Sometimes it will work for a few hours with no disconnects and other times it will disconnect every few minutes. I phone telkom and they sent out a technician. He check all my cables and router and everything and it all was fine. He then went to the exchange and said that my port had some ants in it. He replaced the connector and moved my line to a new port. Still the problem continued. Phone telkom again they said they have tested the line and there is no noise and no problem on the line but they can see the line dropping and that maybe my ISP is the issue. So I phone afrihost. They did a few test and said all is ok on there side. Anyone have any experiance with this? Could maybe point me in he right direction.
 
Witman22 said:
Hi Everyone

I have a 4mb ADSL Line with telkom and 4mb Business Uncapped data from Afrihost as my ISP. My router is a Mega 105 (Old one I know) I have been using this combination for about 2 years now with no issues.

The last week I have been experiencing disconnection or line dropping. It is so bad that I get disconnected about 4 times in 10 minutes. But I must say that it is random. Sometimes it will work for a few hours with no disconnects and other times it will disconnect every few minutes. I phone telkom and they sent out a technician. He check all my cables and router and everything and it all was fine. He then went to the exchange and said that my port had some ants in it. He replaced the connector and moved my line to a new port. Still the problem continued. Phone telkom again they said they have tested the line and there is no noise and no problem on the line but they can see the line dropping and that maybe my ISP is the issue. So I phone afrihost. They did a few test and said all is ok on there side. Anyone have any experiance with this? Could maybe point me in he right direction.
Click to expand...

In you router look for "statistics" and paste it here. It should look like this:

3fb28b8a38.png
 
LOL @ Ants.

I'd say get a new router as well. Made a world of difference to my line quality - my Mega 105WR worked well for 10 years!
 
@Rickster thanks I will upload a photo later on.

@lcbxx will a new router make a big difference? I thought that I might have a router problem. I have no extra router to test it with.
 
Witman22 said:
@Rickster thanks I will upload a photo later on.

@lcbxx will a new router make a big difference? I thought that I might have a router problem. I have no extra router to test it with.
Click to expand...

Well, the statistics will show weather the router is shot or the line is bad.
 
Hi guys. This is what I have so far. Is this the stats you require Rickster?

2yjvnuo.jpg


13yfacp.jpg


2vuc6fc.jpg
 
Definitely looks like a line issue. There is a possibility that your router is faulty, but I would say it is safe to assume that you can log a fault with Telkom for your line.
 
The US and DS margings look very low for 4Meg. If Telkom says the line is fine, as they did with me as well, you are sitting with the same issues I had on my Mega 100 as well. The line also dropped sporadically, sometimes taking 3 hours for the router to finish training and sync. Replaced it and now the levels are 3x what is was: from 11 DS to 40 and from 10 US to 22.

Bought this: http://www.takealot.com/tp-link-td-w8968-router/PLID28719977+

Before you do take the plunge and buying a new router, remove anything that is between the router and the wall plug: Lightning/surge arrest, filters, etc. Those can also cause issues. If it doesn't help, get a new router.
 
Last edited:
I have logged about 6 faults this week. Everytime telkom tells me the line is sorted and working. Also can you tell me what to look for in those stats to determine if it is line or router and also what the stats should be? Just so I can learn :)

How will I know if this authentication issues will affect me? As afrihost said my account has no problem and all is good. @Vaper's Corner
 
Last edited:
Witman22 said:
I have logged about 6 faults this month. Everytime telkom tells me the line is sorted and working. Also can you tell me what to look for in those stats to determine if it is line or router and also what the stats should be? Just so I can learn :)
Click to expand...
You want to look at DS margin and DS Line Attenuation. The DM Margin is how "loud" your Exchange/FTTC is shouting at your router and the DS Line Attenuation is the muffling that dampens the shouting. A better router could facilitate "louder" communication from the Exchange or FTTC to you. In my case this was true.

Here is a tool to measure how much copper is between you and the Exchange/FTTC: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php
 
Witman22 said:
I have logged about 6 faults this week. Everytime telkom tells me the line is sorted and working. Also can you tell me what to look for in those stats to determine if it is line or router and also what the stats should be? Just so I can learn :)

How will I know if this authentication issues will affect me? As afrihost said my account has no problem and all is good. @Vaper's Corner
Click to expand...

From my experience, it's difficult to check where the problem lies until I have tested with another router. Your line stats definitely aren't good, check your phone, is it working properly when disconnections happen? Do you hear any noise on the line? This often happen if there is a dry joint or bad copper somewhere along your line.

This might help with explaining good/bad results: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/186156-Understanding-SNR-and-Attenuation-Rates
 
Witman22 said:
Hi Everyone

I have a 4mb ADSL Line with telkom and 4mb Business Uncapped data from Afrihost as my ISP. My router is a Mega 105 (Old one I know) I have been using this combination for about 2 years now with no issues.

The last week I have been experiencing disconnection or line dropping. It is so bad that I get disconnected about 4 times in 10 minutes. But I must say that it is random. Sometimes it will work for a few hours with no disconnects and other times it will disconnect every few minutes. I phone telkom and they sent out a technician. He check all my cables and router and everything and it all was fine. He then went to the exchange and said that my port had some ants in it. He replaced the connector and moved my line to a new port. Still the problem continued. Phone telkom again they said they have tested the line and there is no noise and no problem on the line but they can see the line dropping and that maybe my ISP is the issue. So I phone afrihost. They did a few test and said all is ok on there side. Anyone have any experiance with this? Could maybe point me in he right direction.
Click to expand...

Hey Witman22

Have you tried contacting our team to run some troubleshooting on this?
The stats you've posted don't look too great :(
 
lcbxx said:
The US and DS margings look very low for 4Meg. If Telkom says the line is fine, as they did with me as well, you are sitting with the same issues I had on my Mega 100 as well. The line also dropped sporadically, sometimes taking 3 hours for the router to finish training and sync. Replaced it and now the levels are 3x what is was: from 11 DS to 40 and from 10 US to 22.

Bought this: http://www.takealot.com/tp-link-td-w8968-router/PLID28719977+

Before you do take the plunge and buying a new router, remove anything that is between the router and the wall plug: Lightning/surge arrest, filters, etc. Those can also cause issues. If it doesn't help, get a new router.
Click to expand...

With his distance from the exchange the US/DS margins look very good and stable.
 
Thanks lcbxx. I think I have learned a bit now haha. So the louder the DS shouts back the better am I correct? And it should be muffled as less as possible?

@fingerprintz.mgr Yes I think a best bet is to try with another modem and see if I get the same results.

@AfriGuy thanks for your feedback. I have phone Afrihost and the did tests and told me that all is fine.

both telkom and afrihost could see my line dropping tho. Dont know if this makes a difference to figure out the problem. Could line dropping be due to a faulty router?
 
Witman22 said:
Thanks lcbxx. I think I have learned a bit now haha. So the louder the DS shouts back the better am I correct? And it should be muffled as less as possible?

@fingerprintz.mgr Yes I think a best bet is to try with another modem and see if I get the same results.

@AfriGuy thanks for your feedback. I have phone Afrihost and the did tests and told me that all is fine.

both telkom and afrihost could see my line dropping tho. Dont know if this makes a difference to figure out the problem. Could line dropping be due to a faulty router?
Click to expand...

Is there a ref# I can have a look at?
Might be worth trying a mates router, just to rule that out.
 
AfriGuy said:
Is there a ref# I can have a look at?
Might be worth trying a mates router, just to rule that out.
Click to expand...

Sorry I do not have a ref# from Afrihost. Have about 6 telkom ones haha.

Yes I will try and get a router.
 
Witman22 said:
Sorry I do not have a ref# from Afrihost. Have about 6 telkom ones haha.

Yes I will try and get a router.
Click to expand...

It could also be your distance to the exchange, or degraded copper in the area.
If your line is with us drop me a PM and we can push the sync down to test a few options.
 
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