Can a router cause high attenuation?

[killerbyte]

Hi

So for the last month I have had the Telkom techs running back and forth between the local box on the corner and the exchange trying to find the cause for my high attenuation (60dB). I should mention that I never paid much attention to the attenuation before I started having issues, and according to http://www.phoneworks.net.au/Residential_Services/adsl_troubleshoot.php my 60dB attenuation is normal since I know my exchange is 4km away.

Yesterday the tech for my area gave me a call while he was sitting outside my place, he had jacked into my line and was checking the ADSL from there since I wasn't home. He was getting low attenuation, low Speedtest.net pings (30ms) and an 8meg connection. He is now suggesting I replace my router (its 2+ years old) since he believes its the only thing that could explain my connection issues.

I am no expert in this tech so I am hoping someone who understands it better than I do can help shed some light on this issue. I suffer from disconnects when play BF3 and Dota 2 after 20 min of playing. A router reset does help matters, pings drop and I can play for hours without any issue.

 

[durbandave]

Hi

So for the last month I have had the Telkom techs running back and forth between the local box on the corner and the exchange trying to find the cause for my high attenuation (60dB). I should mention that I never paid much attention to the attenuation before I started having issues, and according to http://www.phoneworks.net.au/Residential_Services/adsl_troubleshoot.php my 60dB attenuation is normal since I know my exchange is 4km away.

Yesterday the tech for my area gave me a call while he was sitting outside my place, he had jacked into my line and was checking the ADSL from there since I wasn't home. He was getting low attenuation, low Speedtest.net pings (30ms) and an 8meg connection. He is now suggesting I replace my router (its 2+ years old) since he believes its the only thing that could explain my connection issues.

I am no expert in this tech so I am hoping someone who understands it better than I do can help shed some light on this issue. I suffer from disconnects when play BF3 and Dota 2 after 20 min of playing. A router reset does help matters, pings drop and I can play for hours without any issue.

How are you connecting the Console or PC to the router that is connecting?

Try pinging your local gateway to see if you are dropping packets to the gateway or whether you are receiving high latency.

If you are connecting via wireless you could be having issues on the wireless signal

Also is it just those two games you are experiencing issues with or is it a general issue? If it is the two games it could be an issue on the side hosting the sessions as well

 

[killerbyte]

Both PCs connect to the router via WiFi (802.11n). I will provide speedtest, pingtest and pinging results this evening when I get home.

When the connection drops I havent seen any issues on the local WiFi.

 

[ichigo]

Hi

So for the last month I have had the Telkom techs running back and forth between the local box on the corner and the exchange trying to find the cause for my high attenuation (60dB). I should mention that I never paid much attention to the attenuation before I started having issues, and according to http://www.phoneworks.net.au/Residential_Services/adsl_troubleshoot.php my 60dB attenuation is normal since I know my exchange is 4km away.

Yesterday the tech for my area gave me a call while he was sitting outside my place, he had jacked into my line and was checking the ADSL from there since I wasn't home. He was getting low attenuation, low Speedtest.net pings (30ms) and an 8meg connection. He is now suggesting I replace my router (its 2+ years old) since he believes its the only thing that could explain my connection issues.

I am no expert in this tech so I am hoping someone who understands it better than I do can help shed some light on this issue. I suffer from disconnects when play BF3 and Dota 2 after 20 min of playing. A router reset does help matters, pings drop and I can play for hours without any issue.

My exchange is also about 4 km away but get 3-8 attenuation to my box 800m away so it shouldn't be 60 if you say the box is down the road.

I would definitely try another router since I had a problem with my very old one saying 50 attenuation.

 

[durbandave]

How far away are the PCs from the router?

It is possible that it could be a wireless issue as you may be dropping packets through interference. You could try plug the PC directly into the router through UTP cables.

If it is a wireless issue try changing the channel of the radio to see if it makes any difference.

If that does not work then I would say try a different router (maybe try borrowing one before buying a new one)

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

Hi There,
You should try connecting directly to eliminate the wireless. If the high attenuation persists then see if you can borrow a modem.

If the Telkom technician was tapping in, where exactly did he tap into the line? at the junction box just outside your house or at a box just down the street?

Regards

Tim

 

[killerbyte]

Hi all

He tapped in at the box on the street side, its about 800m walking distance from my unit (in a complex). The lines were laid 4 years ago since the complex is only 5 years old.

The router itself is reporting the attenuation is 60dB and Mweb confirmed this reading on their side and so did Telkom. Since this is the case I do not believe the wireless network to be a problem.





According to those two tests my line is as healthy as an ox... I think at the end of the month the little D-Link 2500u that I have is getting replaced with a Netgear DGN2200 (had my eye on it since last month).