Help: ADSL Disconnects - stuck between Telkom and Mweb

Ecco

Ecco

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Hi guys,

I been having a daily disconnect of my adsl connection for a good couple of weeks now. Only way I get my internet up and running again is to reboot the modem and router.

I been doing the below a good few times when it disconnects:
1.I call up Mweb, my ISP, they check my account, re-auth it, tell me to switch off the modem and router and all should be good after. I do it, everything works
2. A day later, line disconnects again. Call up Mweb again, they check and say nothing is wrong on their side, maybe the noise (53db) and sync speed is not correct, must call up telkom to resolve.
3.I call up telkom, they hear my story as per Mweb feedback, they recreate the port, and say everything should be in order.
4.A day later, line disconnects again.

I repeat steps 1 through 4 again and again. Mweb thought my router is the problem, I connect up another router, same story, repeat steps 1 through 4. No joy.

How do I resolve this issue? Any ideas what the problem could be?
 
Do you have a D-Link ADSL modem?
Could you please post your ADSL stats (line speeds, line attenuations and noise margins in particular)?
 
Pada said:
Do you have a D-Link ADSL modem?
Could you please post your ADSL stats (line speeds, line attenuations and noise margins in particular)?
Click to expand...

I have a linksys modem, and the routers i tested with that modem are the Linksys WRT54G and a TP-Link WDR4300.

Line speed i can test for you and will post shortly. How do i get the attenuation and noise margin stats?
 
South African:
Test conducted on 25 February 2013 02:06:26 PM
Download Speed: 675 kbps (84.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 193 kbps (24.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 547 ms

International:
Test conducted on 25 February 2013 02:07:56 PM
Download Speed: 868 kbps (108.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 350 kbps (43.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 210 ms
 
You should be able to get the stats when you log in on the ADSL modem's web interface. The Linksys/Cisco modems may not have that option in their menu, so you'll have to use a direct link depending on the model you have.
 
Pada said:
You should be able to get the stats when you log in on the ADSL modem's web interface. The Linksys/Cisco modems may not have that option in their menu, so you'll have to use a direct link depending on the model you have.
Click to expand...

I dont have any stats or attenuation or noise margin on the routers interface. How do i "use a direct link"
 
Ecco said:
I dont have any stats or attenuation or noise margin on the routers interface. How do i "use a direct link"
Click to expand...

Or do i need to call telkom or mweb for these details?
 
Details courtesy of the ever friendly Mweb Guy:

ATUC SNR 11.7 dB The signal level compared to the noise level. A value above 6 dB indicates sufficient signal strength. The higher the signal value, the better. Does the customer have an electric fence? This could cause an increased in noise levels resulting in a reduction of this value.

ATUC Attenuation 30.5 dB Attenuation refers to resistance. If this value is high, then the signal quality is low, and vice versa. Is the customer far away from the exchange? Long copper lines could be the cause of attenuation. A value above 55 dB is of concern (bad).


ATUR SNR 12.5 dB The signal level compared to the noise level. A value above 6 dB indicates sufficient signal strength. The higher the signal value, the better. Does the customer have an electric fence? This could cause an increased in noise levels resulting in a reduction of this value.

ATUR Attenuation 53.5 dB Attenuation refers to resistance. If this value is high, then signal quality is low, and vice versa. Is the customer far away from the exchange? Long copper lines could be the cause of attenuation. A value above 55 dB is of concern (bad).
 
Your downstream line attenuation of 53.5dB is quite high, but seeing that your SNR/noise margin is well above 6dB (12.5dB to be exact), your downstream connection should be fine. The same goes for your upstream connection, if you take the fact that with ADSL the upstream attenuation is about half the value of the downstream attenuation.

Do you have any telephones, fax machines or alarm system connected to your telephone line? If so, then you may have a faulty filter or one that is incorrectly installed.
If you can remove these telephonic devices completely, and just plug in the ADSL modem directly to your Telkom telephone line - and the connection then remains "stable", then it is highly likely due to the filter being faulty or incorrectly installed.
 
Pada said:
Your downstream line attenuation of 53.5dB is quite high, but seeing that your SNR/noise margin is well above 6dB (12.5dB to be exact), your downstream connection should be fine. The same goes for your upstream connection, if you take the fact that with ADSL the upstream attenuation is about half the value of the downstream attenuation.

Do you have any telephones, fax machines or alarm system connected to your telephone line? If so, then you may have a faulty filter or one that is incorrectly installed.
If you can remove these telephonic devices completely, and just plug in the ADSL modem directly to your Telkom telephone line - and the connection then remains "stable", then it is highly likely due to the filter being faulty or incorrectly installed.
Click to expand...

Just have two telephones on the line. Been like that since i hooked up the adsl without issue.

I cant remove the phones, they get used. I will try remove the POTS filter and connect the ADSL directly to the line and see what happens.
 
Its fine to remove the POTS filter that sits between the ADSL modem and the Telkom telephone line, BUT you'll need to let the telephones be filtered! Either you need to first filter and then split the connection to the 2 telephones, or you'll need to have a splitter and then separate filters for the 2 telephones.

All that the POTS splitter filter (one that has a plug for the Telkom line and 1 port for a telephone and another port for ADSL) does is connect the modem port straight onto the Telkom line, but filters the telephone port with a low pass filter (meaning that it will filter out the higher frequencies originating from the telephone that may influence the ADSL modem connection).
 
Pada said:
Its fine to remove the POTS filter that sits between the ADSL modem and the Telkom telephone line, BUT you'll need to let the telephones be filtered! Either you need to first filter and then split the connection to the 2 telephones, or you'll need to have a splitter and then separate filters for the 2 telephones.

All that the POTS splitter filter (one that has a plug for the Telkom line and 1 port for a telephone and another port for ADSL) does is connect the modem port straight onto the Telkom line, but filters the telephone port with a low pass filter (meaning that it will filter out the higher frequencies originating from the telephone that may influence the ADSL modem connection).
Click to expand...

There are separate filters for both the phones.

Latest update, i logged a fault for a technician to come out and investigate. The telkom guys dont even want to come out and physicallly check, they reporting that they can see everything is fine. I thought at least if the technician comes out and checks everything i can actually eliminate one of either telkom or mweb from the problem.

I am really having no luck here.

What has been the approach by others in this situation to resolve problems like this?
 
Last edited:
Update

Telkom technician comes through to my house (i wast there), plugs in his router, sees the internet light go on and immediately says my router is faulty.I have two routers at home, and have tested on both and both have the same issue.

I try and explain this to the guy, and he simply cannot understand 1, how to connect my older router, and 2, that the routers can't be at fault because the same issue exists on both.

Its also obvious that the internet light will burn on his router, because the problem is not that i don't have a connection, its that it drops every single day.

Really dont know what else i need to do to solve this problem.
 
I asked them to check the sync speed noise levels etc and adjust if required. They did this yesterday, and actually made the situation worse - no connection for practically the whole day. When i got home, i called them up, they re-created the port (as usual) and line was still down for about an hour. Eventually it started working by itself.
 
Dammit. I was hoping I'm the only one. Same problem here.
Had it since last Sunday. Torrent runs like a banshee, but anything HTTP only works for a few hours after restarting the router.
Mweb just told me to phone Telkom and ask to recreate my port...
 
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