ADSL Down

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JayKay

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I have been happily using my 192k Telkom ADSL connection with a Netgear DG834GT wireless router/modem for months now.

On Saturday, I lost the ADSL connection. The modem lights show that it sees the line, I can use the line for voice and internet dial-up. I therefore assume that the cable is intact.

I then tried different PCs to make sure that something had not changed on the software side.

Lastly I had Telkom come out to check the line. (I had to wait 4 days for this!). They said all was fine with the line, which apparently is connected to the Bellville exchange. The fault was obviously with the modem. (not from Telkom, you see).

So I upgraded and downgraded the firmware, surfed the support forums, rebooted and hard reset the modem, reinstalled the settings, etc. No difference.

Then I took the Netgear to Duxbury. They hooked it up to their ADSL line and it worked fine. We could browse, etc. I then took it to my office, plugged it into my laptop (which I use at home) and into the office ADSL line. Lo and behold it also worked fine.

Excitedly I took the same laptop and modem home, but to no avail.

Any suggestions?
 
Line seems to be intact....but what about your ISP?

Is your account still active?
 
That is very odd ... which Bellville exchange are they talking about ???

What is the first 3 digits of you phone number ???.
Mine is 919 and I am using a DG834GT without problems ... is the sync light on ???.
What does the router logs say ??? ... does LCP come up ???.
 
tibby my first three digits are 919 as well, you have any idea where exactly this exchange is ?

Oh... well it seems everything is still fine there cause I can VPN from work to home :)
 
My phone number starts with 558. I tested the ISP account from work and at Duxbury. Eject/IS also tested it.

It stops when trying to bring LCP up.
 
This happened to me a while back when ADSL exchange went down i n JHB area. After that my router would also not sync. Telkom hooked up a POTS modem and obviously could connect, suggesting that it was my router. Took it to supplier which swopped it out and still had the problem. Called Telkom again and after some more testing, because I now insisted that there is nothing wrong with the router(ICASASA approved as well), We found out that the microfilter had a problem. After replacing that-no more problems. Also note that you must have a microfilter on each extension used for telephoning. You might have some trouble getting hold of them, but go to customer services of Telkom and insist that they supplied the original. Otherwise buy from www.jump.co.za(i think)
 
I have also disconnected all the phone extensions. Still nothing.
 
JayKay said:
My phone number starts with 558. I tested the ISP account from work and at Duxbury. Eject/IS also tested it.

It stops when trying to bring LCP up.
Click to expand...

So you are in Bothasig ;).

My understanding is that your modem has successfully synced to the exchange and is now trying to connect to your ISP by starting up the PPPoE (LCP) layer.

The only difference is that at work and at Duxbury you used a different line/DSLAM port and not your own one at home.

Did Telkom actually come to your home and connected with their router using your line ???.
 
I am in Edgemead.

Yes, they came to my house and tried their own router.
 
Now this is getting very odd indeed.

Do you want to try out another router perhaps ???.
 
Strange indeed...I still suspect your line has developed some kind of condition that does not "agree" with your router...often these routers can be fussy about the attenuation etc. on the line.
Run some diagnostics on your line - upstream/downstream noise, ATM status.
Compare to your business line results...maybe forward to Duxbury for them to scope out?

When the Telkom guy came round, did he prove that he could surf through the modem??
If he merely showed it synched, that aint enough.
 
I am on the 988 exchange in Cape Town - since sunday I get 169.xxx.yyy.zzz IP when I connect - strange thing is that when setting up the PPPoE account - it picks up the blv-esr-1 server - but will not connect. The above posts all connect to the same server in Bellvile, although from different local exchanges - is there perhaps a problem at the Bellville esr-1 server I wonder. Having reag many forums on this issue (search google) this may be a cause of the problem.
 
My downstream line attenuation is 11.5db, downstream is 7db. Noise margin downstream 30.2db upstream 18db.

Is this normal?
 
JayKay said:
My downstream line attenuation is 11.5db, downstream is 7db. Noise margin downstream 30.2db upstream 18db.

Is this normal?
Click to expand...

I'm having similar problems the last 2 months, had the Telkom okes out here about 5 times already. My values are:

Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin 23.3 12.0 dB
Line Attenuation 36.2 21.5 dB

Since this is quite different from above, what is good/bad and does anyone have a pointer to a document/link that can explain these values?
 
Line Attenuation.

Line attention is in relation to the "loop loss" on your line.
The further you are away from the exchange the higher your attenuation figure will be as the signal loss increases.
The lower your attenuation figure the more chance you have of getting the faster speeds.

SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio).

The SNR margin can only be measured from your own property and therefore to be measured correctly may need an engineer visit to check this figure from the BT test socket behind your master phone socket.Your SNR figure can fluctuate on a day to day basis and may vary depending upon local equipment, conditions and interference.
An upgrade in speed often causes the SNR to decrease by up to 5 dB.The higher your SNR figure then the better your line quality and therefore a higher chance of getting faster speeds.

Line Length.

Ideally your line length should be below 3.5km from the exchange to get a 2Mb connection.
At the present time the general public has no way of checking themselves this figure.
However, you may be able to get an indication by using Sams checker.

Enter your postcode and click the "locality" link.

Please note that it measures your distance between your home and the exchange "as the crow flies" and due to cable routing your line length in relality will be longer depending upon BT's routing.

The Results.

When determining what speed you can get the following figures may be used as a guide.
Remember you must use the downstream figures. :-

Downstream Attenuation

0-43 dB - 2Mbps
43-60 dB - 1Mbps
> 60 dB - 512kbps

If you already have adsl enabled you can add an extra couple of dB on those figures e.g. 45 dB would be the limit for a 2Mb line.

There is a supposed soft-cap of about 70dB, but BTw wll try connect anythng up to 75dB attenuaton

Downstream SNR

Should be at least 10 dB to get adsl - ideally above 12dB.
Anything less than this will see frequent disconnections and other problems.

As previously stated these figures should be used as a guideline as it is possible to have a very good SNR but poor attenuation figure and vice versa.
 
I have had exactly the same problems with the same router. I took the router the Duxbury and there is nothing wrong with it. What I have found is that it is almost as though the settings are not being accepted correctly. I have to retype the account details and more specifically the password and apply it again. After I have done this it connects within a minute.

The only reason why I tried this is I have a number of different accounts. One with SAIX and others through IS. The IS accounts seem to have this problem. It is resolved each time by retyping the password.
 
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