Connection issues

[CathJ]

Hi all,

I need some help with my adsl connection - so of course I'm turning to the experts at MyBroadband

Problem 1 is that my router frequently loses connection with my ISP, and I need to reboot it to get it to reconnect and authenticate (this happens at least daily).

Problem 2 is that frequently the lights on the router indicate that everything's fine, but the connection is just so slow that it looks like it's disconnected. I can't even load google's website, and if I ping www.google.com, I'm losing 50% of the packets.

I don't really know where to start looking for the problem. It's not my laptop, because the same thing happens on my phone. And it's not my ISP, because while it seems to be worse if I'm using my fnb connect account, it also happens a lot using my afrihost account. It's not the wifi signal from the router, because it's on a channel that doesn't overlap any of the neighbours, and the signal strength is good.

It seems to happen the most during peak evening time, but then that's because that's when I try to use it the most.

Could it be my router? The adsl/pots filter? The cable connecting the router to the phone jack? I get a LOT of crackling on the phone connected to that jack; could it be noise on the line? Is it just that both ISPs get overloaded during peak time?

According to my router stats, the noise margin is 6.9, line attenuation is 58. Could that be causing the problem, and is there anything I can do about it? It never used to be this bad - and even now, there are times when everything's just perfect and there are no speed issues at all.

It's so frustrating! If someone could at least point me in the right direction to start investigating...

 

[OMB]

have you contacted Telkom to reset your port?

 

[Pada]

If your line attenuation is that high, you'll most likely won't be able to get a stable 1-2Mbps ADSL connection. 6dB noise margin/SNR is the bare minimum, so try to get it to at least 9-12dB!
Could you perhaps tell us what your modem's speed is that it is connected at? I suppose it is like 2048kbps?

If you know that you aren't more than 4km's away from the Exchange/DSLAM OR that your downstream line attenuation value used to be much lower (like sub 50dB), then you could ask Telkom to check for corrosion/poor connections...

Lastly, Telkom is usually pretty fast at solving voice related issues, so if you can hear crackle/noise over your telephone, then first report that and then often they also fix your ADSL issues

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

I agree with Pada your noise margin is not all that great and the attenuation way below 50 would help.
Get Telkom to sort the noise on your phone first. Nothing worse than trying to talk on a phone that sounds like Mr. Bell's first connection.
If you suspect your router, see if you can borrow a newer one from a friend to see if the stats improve.