ADSL Connection dropping

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jsdd3

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Hi Guys,

I have a prob where my adsl conn drops. SOmetimes after 5 minutes, sometimes after 5 hours. I have tried both a netgear dm602 and billion bipac. The billion one drops connectionn every 2 minutes. I have tried them both at a site in bryanston and they work perfectly.

The telkom dude said im quite far from the exchange and maybe its that. He also said there is something he oculd do tho fix it, but he would loose his job if we did. Any ideas?

This is VERY irritating.
 
Starting to have this problem myself. Something I have noticed though is that I can browse the web, check my mail, even play online games for hours at a time and my line stays up no problem. Open an application such as Kazaa or transfer a large file from overseas and voila get disconnected. Sometimes in 5 min sometimes in an hour or two. Weird that it only happens when I do transfers internationally.
 
the dropping and hanging started again this weekend
after we had the marconi firmware adgraded by telkom about 1 month ago this is the 1st time we are having problems again
also the modem gets very hot and i believe locks up from the heat
 
mmm interesting one.

Im gonna go grab by bigass fan out the store room.

I'll let you know what happens
 
*Reposting this here as it is relevant*

OK here im my experience using a "Marconi" modem

I have a AR800AM Ethernet ADSL router.

After hours and hours of scouring adsl sites and shops I found it based on what it looks like. These are in fact manufactured by an indian company called Dax Networks. Here is a link to the product on their site.

http://www.apcomgroup.com/Dax/Products/Router/DaxADSL.htm

As you can see(If you have one) the modem is identical. I got them to email me the user manual and that is identical as well. It is in fact the same modem. It is also, in fact, a total peice of crap.

I decided to get a ethernet router/modem for ease of use and installation. These things are supposed to do NAT for you and handle all the dialup stuff. The telkom guys dumped it here and tested it using a "dialup connection" from their laptop and verified that everything was fine. In fact what they did was use the modem as a PPPoE device (PPP over ethernet). After spending some time with the support people on the phone I realised they had no clue as to how to set it up other than as a dial up device so I went about setting it up myself. The reason I got an ethernet modem was because I wanted it to route and dial for me not so that I could pay more.

Once set up the modem seemed to work ok, albiet that it had obscure terms like PAT for the NAT set up. Problem is it kept on crashing, and I had to keep rebooting it every now and again. Started crashing after about 18 hours and then every few hours after that. I noticed that the device got very hot so I assumed something was wrong with it and had telkom swap it out. (PS it does not handle LCP ip change requests very well, this is what telkom uses to cycle your ip)

My new modem had the same problem. Eventually I decided to hook it up to my linux machine and use it as a PPPoE device. The modem ran a lot cooler and has not given me a problem since.

In conclusion.

<ul><li>This router is broken (by design)</li>
<li>It should not be used as a router but as a modem. (as telkom seems to want you to use it)</li>
<li>If used as a router (the reason you pay for it) it overheats and crashes.</li>
<li>If used as a router it does not handle LCP(line control protocol) requests well and crashes.</li>
<li>If you need a router/modem solution get something else. Otherwise just get a cheaper USB version.</li>
<li>Ripped off again, thank you Telkom.</li></ul>
 
I originally posted in the older forums, but I have similar problems to you... It is not specifically related to anything I do, it could be random. The telkom techie also suggested it was my distance away from the exchange. What do you think he could do and get fired for?

<i><font color="blue">I have a big problem that has been causing me headaches for the last 4 months. I have logged numerous calls with telkom, they have run all sorts of available tests and I have had 3 different tech/fault teams try and solve the problem, all to no avail.

The problem seems to be getting worse and it seems that Telkom have no idea what is causing it and how to fix it, so maybe someone here either can help or has had the same problem and can solve mine.

I have a Netgear DG814 Router. When I go into the Netgear Gateway interface through my web browser and access my stats (see below), under the status it will say 'link down'. The link will stay down for a couple of seconds and then go 'link up' to a maximum of 14 seconds and then go down again. During those 14 seconds of 'link up'I can browse, send/recieve mail etc. This happens quite a couple of times during the day and can take anywhere between 2 mins and 1 hour to hold the link up status for a reasonable amount of time befroe resorting back to the link down status. While this happens I still retain my WAN IP address.</font id="blue"></i>
 
To try and cut out any problems with the router firmware try and use the modem as a dialup device. ie get your computer to use it as a modem not a gateway.

The netgear should support this.

I know from experience that my modem did not function well at all, as a router, but thats because its from a dodgy manufacturer. I also suspect that the way telkom changes and assigns your ip is not a standard implementation of the LCP protocol so some routers may have problems with it as mine did.
 
I have the same problem as superjuice. Using the router as a modem doesn't realy solve the problem. When my router wouldn't sync, I switched to bridged atm and dialed out manualy, this would allow me to browse, however it would browse in bursts and would be very slow.
 
This is actualy a problem with your port at the exchange, phone telkom and ask them to move you to a different port. Since the new port my adsl hasnt droped once in 5 days, runs beatifully.
 
Your ADSL line is veryintollerant to minor changes in line quality.

If you are in rainy Cape Town, it could (besides the port issue), be part of your problem.

Many moons ago I had same problem on two occasions.

1) First one. The last box (on pole) from my house, was not properly sealed, so when it was raining it was leaking water and my ADSL was not working.

2) Second one. A bunch of ants build their nest right on my wire connection in same box. Net result, ADSL not working.

In both cases my voice was working perfectly (allmost perfect, just minor cracks on line), but ADSL kept on disconnecting.

Are residing in a (current) raining area?
 
ItalicBold nailed it on the head, get em to change the port.
I eventually got them to change the port and I've had no problems since...
 
Hi guys, thanks for the tip, I've been having the exact same problem. I've reported it to telkom but they said they'd "test my line" before they even think about changing my port. I also got the whole "if your hardware is at fault, we will charge a call out fee" routine.

I think I should charge them a call out fee for every time they came over, I'd be a millionaire by now :)
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by jsdd3</i>
<br />Hi Guys,

I have a prob where my adsl conn drops. SOmetimes after 5 minutes, sometimes after 5 hours. I have tried both a netgear dm602 and billion bipac. The billion one drops connectionn every 2 minutes. I have tried them both at a site in bryanston and they work perfectly.

The telkom dude said im quite far from the exchange and maybe its that. He also said there is something he oculd do tho fix it, but he would loose his job if we did. Any ideas?

This is VERY irritating.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Are you perhaps sharing your internet connection with other machines on your network (if uv got one)? I've noticed that my router sometimes drops its connection whenever another machine on the network accesses the internet !?!
 
And now it's my turn to have this problem

I have a planet ADE 3000 ethernet modem, and it seems to be dropping the line more frequently in the past few days. it's impossible to get through a single map when playing online, and the connection just seems to drop whenever it feels like(even when there's no activity).

The ADSL light just starts flashing, which means its lost the connection to the central exchange, and then struggles to get back on. then 5 mins later it happens again... 30mins later...2 mins later...right now i'm watching it happen as I type this...

So I'll just stare at this box and make sure my spelling's alright untill I get back online...

ok better post this fast before it goes again :(
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pumba</i>
1) First one. The last box (on pole) from my house, was not properly sealed, so when it was raining it was leaking water and my ADSL was not working.

2) Second one. A bunch of ants build their nest right on my wire connection in same box. Net result, ADSL not working.

In both cases my voice was working perfectly (allmost perfect, just minor cracks on line), but ADSL kept on disconnecting.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

It's worth checking this out. This is the same problem I had initially with ADSL and after the Telkom techs replaced the cable outside and inside the disconnects and timeouts are gone.
 
I have also had a few ups and downs - but the LINK down scenario was definately a DSLAM port at the Exchange that was faulty.

The technician plugged his little tester in and everything tested fine. For the record, I am using a Netgear DG814. It started out a bit inpersistent but then became unbearable.

I made the tech bring in his own router and plug it in - it also did exactly the same. That convinced him that it was not my gear. It seems the testers they use are not as sensitive as our modems/routers. But after waiting a while his tester also started showing up faults.

Good luck
 
i also asked telkom to come check my line and replace if necessary..

and they say they'd charge min R100 for visiting and line replacement cost..

is it true?
 
Hi Guys

I've been having this problem for the past month. I'm running a Netgear DM602 and this is my 2c worth.

I've logged a plethora of calls with Telkom. I would list all my ref# here but seeing there isn't enough disk space on all the computers in the world, I'll spare that thought.

Ok, to get back to the problem. Once my router sync's up, I've got roughly 5 - 10 mins of surfing time before the router drops its connection. On querying the details through the gateway admin page, I notice that I'm transmitting packets but receiving nothing. Pinging anything but the router returns bugger all so I've been disconnected.

I called the Telkom techs in, they brought their router and plugged in. Sync'd in about 20 secs and no problem. It turns out that everyone has line attenuation (?? spelling). The normal level of line attenuation is generally around 56-58. The cut-off is 60. In other words, anything higher than 60 will cause problems with your connection. On plugging in the POTS router, my line attenuation is sitting at 58. When I plug in my Netgear, it jumps to 63. Although you can use it at values higher than 60, your modem will disconnect because the line is unstable.

How do we fix this??? Well, there's 2 ways of fixing it (and this is according to the telkom techies).

Fix 1 : use another router
or
Fix 2 : use another router :)

Surely there must a filter or something that you can plug into your line that can keep your attenuation at a certain level. I'm no electrical engineer and I have no clue what line attenuation is but if anyone out there can give some advice, please do so.

And by the by, I'm patenting this line attenuation stabilizer device :) unless its already been thought of before

My advice to anyone out there with the same problems, get telkom to check your line attenuation and if its over 60 and you get it working, please tell me what to do. I've just forked out for the netgear and I don't feel like forking out again for another router, especially the very cheap POTS router
 
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