ADSL Gurus?? 4mb line drops randomly - advice plz

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fxit_man

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Hey guys

Ok so I'm hoping there are some ADSL gurus here like we have in the iPhone section :D

Could someone pleaase help me! This is driving me nuts!

I'm getting random drop outs of Internet for the last year or so.

But the router lights both stay on?? So it seems it's not losing sync as such, but the net just stops working!? To fix it i just pull the phone line out, and wait for both lights to go off, then put it in again and let it reconnect.

I've been on 4mb for a few years now syncing on the 4096/512k profile.

Router stats:
Noise Margin (db): Down = 14,4 Up=7,0
Output power (dbm): 18.5 down, 11.9 up
Attenuation (db): 46.0 down, 28.0up

it was working for the first 2 years or so, but now it's doing this :/

Could it be my router that is causing the problem?

I have two routers connected via Ethernet (downstairs and upstairs). One used as a modem, the other as an Access Point.
The one I was using as a modem was struck by lightning through the phone line. Got that replaced, but am using the other one that was downstairs now as the modem, and the new replacement as just an AP.

I suspect maybe the lightning damaged this old one somehow as they were connected via Ethernet when the lightning struck, and this is what's causing it? Maybe I should try the new replacement one as a modem instead?

Other things:

I have 3 phones all with filters and 1 fax machine with a filter.

What you guys think it could be??
Thanks for any help guys!
 
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Call Telkom on 0800 375 375 and ask them to:

- Test your line
- Do a port reset

Let us know what they say :)
 
you can also try force your modem to use "G.Lite" or "G.DMT" modulation. it helped me. because by default your router try's to use ADSL2+ modulation. and telkom's network seems to support it now,
 
Thanks guys.

@TRLTech: I'll do that thanks, I have a feeling they will say everything ok though, because it only cuts out at random times.

@hummercellC: thanks, Will look for that, but I don't think I have that option. I'm
using a Belkin G+ Mimo router.
 
Might sound obvious but did you log into the router when your connectivity dies and check your line info then? That might give you better indication of whether it is a problem down the line or a problem with the router getting stuck.
 
AnimateX said:
Might sound obvious but did you log into the router when your connectivity dies and check your line info then? That might give you better indication of whether it is a problem down the line or a problem with the router getting stuck.
Click to expand...

Hmm yeah I do that, everything seems fine, all stats are displayed and the line is still Synced. Says "Connected" in green too which makes me think it's a problem with the router too, not the line :/

@RSKeens - I will check that out when i experience the next "freeze" (rather than disconnect). Good idea!

At the moment, in the security log I see loads of these with different IP's.
Code: 
kernel: Intrusion -> IN=ppp_8_35_1 OUT= MAC= SRC=41.133.219.x DST=41.133.206.x LEN=52 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=123 ID=41641 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=22077 DPT=445 WINDOW=65535 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

Dunno if these are threats or not.. Should i turn ON WAN ICMP Ping blocking maybe?

Thanks fellas :)
 
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Hmm.. those are TCP connections not ICMP but it never hurts to turn on blocking of pings from the outside world unless you really need that. It is not uncommon nowadays to get lots of connection attempts from outside comprised machines but those connections should be getting blocked, I can't tell if yours are.

I'll leave that for the more technical guys here.
 
I'm not a guru or nothing but i have had a similar problem, it had to do with the actual lines, they had experienced wear and tear and weren't 100%.
maybe with the lightning strike u had some of the lines aren't healthy.
If all else fails try getting telkom to come around and check the lines.
Well thats my 5 cents
Good luck
 
!! I will not settle for less! :D

but seriously, it works fine most of the time, and was working for about 2 yrs with no probs :(

don't wanna get dropped to lower speeds!

Touch wood since I posted this thread, it hasn't dropped yet! Which is why I think it's not that my line can't support 4mb, but that it is something else causing the net to lock up.. I've still got a funny feeling it might be the router..,

but I'm waiting for the net to "freeze" again and then i try what you guys mentioned!
 
My friend and I in PE are having a similar issue. The only difference is that we don't have to pull the phone line out or anything for it to come back, it comes back by itself. The router itself doesn't indicate that the connection has dropped. It's like the quality of the connection temporarily degrades enough for all the TCP connections to drop, but not enough to lose sync.
My friend claims that when the drop happens, his attenuation jumps up really high for a short period of time. It is usually quite low.

We are both on 4Mb ADSL. His problem coincidentally happened when he upgraded from 384k to 4Mb, mine only happened a year or two after having 4Mb working fine. He has called Telkom a number of times, and they don't know whats wrong. It's rather annoying when you are trying to play games online!
 
It's weird...It seems if im playing a game or whatever, and the net freezes, that connection stays open... But if i exit the game for e.g. and open up my browser, it won't browse? Same on all PC's..

So if there was an existing connection open before the "freeze" then it stays open... But new connections don't work like if i try to go to goole for e.g...

My Attenuation also stays exactly the same when it freezes, no fluctuation there..

I looked in the router logs, and nothing is logged at the time of the freeze...
 
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Seeing as that router was just an access point for a few years it might always have had a problem but it never cropped up before. Check if there are any firmware updates for that model: http://en-us-support.belkin.com/app/product/list/q/routers/

I suppose you could always put that router back downstairs like you suggested and use the new one to see if it's the modem part. That would remove the challenge of fxin' it but would at least it will give you something to test against ;)
 
Hey guys, so I haven't contacted Telkom yet, or managed to try out the other router, but i just noticed this in the log after the net "froze" (router lights were still on though)

<lots of kernel intrusions before this which i am told is normal - the fact that they are logged means the firewall blocked them apparently>
and then:
May 24 17:32:45 critical pppd[414]: Clear IP addresses. Connection DOWN.
May 24 17:32:45 critical pppd[414]: Clear IP addresses. PPP connection DOWN.
May 24 17:32:48 critical pppd[414]: PPP server detected.
May 24 17:32:48 critical pppd[414]: PPP session established.
May 24 17:32:50 critical pppd[414]: PPP LCP UP.
May 24 17:32:50 critical pppd[414]: Received valid IP address from server. Connection UP.

Despite it saying the connection is UP, on all PC's i could not ping any website, or visit any sites:

>ping google.com
Ping request could not find host google.com. Please check the name and try again

Pulled phone line out, waited till light went off, put phone line in and let it establish connection again, and it was fine again..

Router is a Belkin G+ Mimo router btw.
 
AnimateX said:
Did you look for a firmware update?
Click to expand...

Thanks for that beauty of a comment!

It is the latest firmware, but while seraching for my model no, it led me to some other results such as:

http://forums.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=7179

That's my exact router and a lot of people are having the same problem! Back this thing goes! Should still be under warranty :)

Thanks guys, hope this sorts it out!

Will let you guys know!
 
Do a ping to 196.25.1.1 when your connection drops, if you can still ping its a DNS issue. Switch your DNS servers to 196.25.1.11 and 196.43.1.11 on your pc/notebook and not your adsl route's address.
 
Thanks bravo will try that.

Currently, the two DNS servers in my router are:

Primary DNS Server 196.28.80.140
Secondary DNS Server 196.28.80.139

Which are obtained via the "Get automatic from ISP" DNS setting in the router.
 
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