"Call drop because echo reply not received in time"

[avaratz]

Hi there,

I've searched all over the internet, and can't find a solution that fixes this problem.

I went to Joburg last week, and return to Durban yesterday only to find my ADSL acting up. It was working perfectly when I left, so I'm a bit confused. Here's the error that I'm getting on the system log. I'm on a Billion 5200S btw.

4/8/2010 21:9:28> MPOA Link Up
4/8/2010 21:9:41> ppp_ready: ch:8049fbf0, iface:803ed020
4/8/2010 21:9:41> SNMP TRAP 3: link up
4/8/2010 21:9:41> Accept() fail
4/8/2010 21:9:41> Accept() fail
4/8/2010 21:19:47> Call drop because echo reply not received in time
4/8/2010 21:19:47> SNMP TRAP 2: link down
4/8/2010 21:19:58> MPOA Link Down
4/8/2010 21:19:58> mpoaChannDown: ch<0> null iface
4/8/2010 21:20:1> MPOA Link Up
4/8/2010 21:20:17> Call Failed
4/8/2010 21:20:48> Call Failed
4/8/2010 21:21:7> Call drop because echo reply not received in time
4/8/2010 21:21:18> MPOA Link Down
4/8/2010 21:21:18> mpoaChannDown: ch<0> null iface
4/8/2010 21:21:21> MPOA Link Up
4/8/2010 21:21:38> Call Failed
4/8/2010 21:21:51> ppp_ready: ch:8049fbf0, iface:803ed020
4/8/2010 21:21:51> SNMP TRAP 3: link up
4/8/2010 21:21:51> Accept() fail
4/8/2010 21:21:51> Accept() fail

Ad infinitum. My SNR margin and line attenuation are as follows:

Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin : 19.5 19.0 db
Line Attenuation : 33.5 9.5 db
Data Rate : 4096 512 kbps

After reading your SNR/Attenuation guide, I've come to the conclusion that my line is fairly decent.

My question is this: Is this a problem on my line? Or an external problem (cable theft etc)? I also haven't counted out the problem of my router. It's not the best quality but has performed adequately for the past 6 months.

Any advice will be appreciated.
On a side note, I live in Durban North. Glenashley to be exact.

Thanks in advance

 

[ponder]

If you pick up your phone do you notice any noise or 'hiss' on the line? If 'yes' report a fault.

Google search this inclucing the quotation marks: "Call drop because echo reply not received in time"

 

[avaratz]

Yes, there was - until I removed and replaced one of the filters. That's taken care of the crackling on the line. But the ADSL continues to drop... I've googled the error and read about 40 pages off various tech forums, all of which seem to have no real reason for the problem apart from a "line fault".

I'm skeptical about reporting a line fault, as Telkom may just decide to drop my 4mb to 1mb. As they usually do.

The problem seems to be happening less often now... my line is staying up for 4 hours at a time as opposed to 30 minutes. Which may indicate that removing the old filter did something, or that it's purely a problem on the Telkom side of things.

 

[ponder]

Remove all filters and devices from the line, leave only the telephone connected. If you have hiss or noise on the line report it faulty.
Do not even mention ADSL to Telkom, just say your voice line has lots of noise on it.
The filter is just masking the noise at the moment by the sounds of things.

 

[avaratz]

Thanks for the help, I seem to have fixed the issue.

The problem wasn't the line - after doing the isolation test you mentioned, there was still noise on the phone line. I noticed that the noise increased every time the cable from the phone to the jack moved, and decided to try a separate handset - which lead me to discover that doing so lead to having no noise whatsoever on the line.

Removing the faulty handset seems to have stopped the issue. I'm not sure how, but the ADSL seems to be running fine now (I don't know how the phone affected the ADSL line as it was plugged into a filter - I assume it was just generating bursts of noise down the line every time the handset was used). The ADSL has been up and running without a problem for about 3 hours now, and displaying no errors in the log at all... whereas before the line would keep sync for 4+ hours at a time, but the call would still "drop" every now and then.

Thanks for all the help, I'm glad I could sort it out.

 

[Pada]

Just remember that each phone, fax & alarm system must go through an ADSL filter, as well as the ADSL modem itself.
You can have more than 1 phone on 1 ADSL filter, but then you would have to split the cable after it went through the filter.

 

[ponder]

Glad you came right

 

[EchoZA]

Sorry, but it's a long way too run from the bedroom to the office to answer the phone

but... glad your problem is sorted now