ADSL Line tests and conclusions, what to do next?

[Looney]

So anyways, my story is as follows:

Running a 4mb line

I'v been complaining to telkom since last year about intermittent ADSL problems. They as usual wanted to drop my line speed to 3mb and gave me their usual, "Your line cannot support 4mbs Sir" speech. I refused each time that they drop my line speed and requested that they would send a techie to run tests on my line and fix the problem.

Nothing was done about it.

I started to do some research into the causes of intermittent ADSL problems, and came to a very interesting discovery! LINE ATTENUATION AND NOISE MARGIN! WOOOOH! WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE!

back to the story. I researched line attenuation and noise margin, and compared my stats to the stats that I have found on mybb.

My line attenuation sits at 53dB and my SNR sits at 6.5dB

That is beyond AWEFUL!

So I complained again to telkom and requested they send a techie to come solve the problem and get my line att and snr to a reasonable number.

Nothing was done.

Lo and behold, a year later, after numerous complaints, faults logged and screaming and shouting, today I finally managed to get an ADSL Specialist to run tests on my line.

He has agreed that my line att and snr are shockingly aweful and is doing his best to solve the problem.
(he's trying to get my SNR to 19dB and line att to 41dB)

Here comes a BIG problem

The ADSL Specialist found that the underground copper cable that runs from the exchange to my area is "faulty" and hence causing a massive drop for the worst in the line att and snr numbers. This cable is roughly 3km's long. When questioned about getting the cable replaced, he said it is a massive job to do, and its not viable to do since there arnt many people experiencing the same problems as I am in my area (I think im one of the few that run 4mbs in my area)

So in the end, im stuck with a 3km cable from the exchange to my area which is obviously corroded and damaged and I dont know wat to do about it. The chances of Telkom replacing that cable is not good. Should I continue complaining and requesting that they replace that cable, just like I continued complaining and eventually got to where I am now. Or should I just give up? Your input needed!

 

[Prof.]

They won't replace a 3km cable. They just won't.

BTW You are in an aweful situation, really aweful. Isn't it just aweful people?

 

[Sting]

Should I continue complaining and requesting that they replace that cable, just like I continued complaining and eventually got to where I am now. Or should I just give up? Your input needed!

Get your neighbours and other households in the same area to pester Telkom and to report their lines as "noisy". If they have ADSL, then they must also report every dip in service.

This attracts management's attention as it will flag your area as a high fault rate area and it impacts on their targets. Especially repeat faults!!!

 

[ponder]

Get your neighbours and other households in the same area to pester Telkom and to report their lines as "noisy".

Via 10212 and don't even mention the word adsl, just refer to voice.

 

[Technically]

Problem is this, Telkom offer the 4Mb/s as an UP TO 4MB/s so there is no way you are going to get them to replace your line based on ADSL performace. The Voice part of this you might have a chance, but if you pick up your phone and its crystal clear you are going to have a problem explaining this.

 

[Looney]

Well the first problem is that there are only maybe 3 other people in my area that are complaining about this, since we are probably the only ones running 4mb, the rest are most probably on 384, so it doesnt effect them like it does me. I cant go to every single one of my neighbours and tell them to log fake faults when they are not experiencing issues. Im not asking them to replace MY LINE, im asking them to replace the underground cable that runs FROM the exchange to my area, where all the other phone lines are connected to. Its that cable that is faulty. The problem is, the way I see it, is that they have to do something about it. If the cable is faulty, then it needs to be replaced. It shouldnt matter how many people are complaining, what matters is that they have discovered a problem with that cable. Now how to get them to replace that cable is the question. In essence its also "future proofing" my area with ADSL, which to be honest should be done in anycase since its part of the "maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure". If its not done now, its going to have to be done sometime in the near future, and telkom are going to have to spend the money on it. The question on my mind is why are they delaying getting it done now if they are going to have to do it eventually. They are a multi billion rand company, they will anyway need to fork out the cash to replace the cables whether it now or in the future.

 

[Sting]

Problem is this, Telkom offer the 4Mb/s as an UP TO 4MB/s so there is no way you are going to get them to replace your line based on ADSL performace.

This is technically correct. If it is just you then you don't stand a chance.

 

[Looney]

and if its 3 or 4 people? do I stand a chance then?

 

[Tango]

They will not replace the underground cable - I was told by the Techie that installed my adsl that last year. After some testing he told me that my cable was also faulty - they found that I was running on overhead cable p) , yes that yucky old black stuff from those wooden poles. Maybe you can get them to do that for you

I think that is your only chance of getting adsl :erm: