Horrible line attenuations + line noise

[biltong]

Over the past week our phone line has been getting very clicky, and as a result, my Downstream line attenuation is 40+db and upstream is between 25-30db. Upstream hasn't changed, but downstream certainly has, it was always about the same level as upstream.

This is affecting my gaming, too. I can play tf2 for about 30 seconds, then my ping skyrockets to 800, then over a minute slowly comes back down. Sometimes I simply time out. I reported the fault to telkom but if anything will be done about it I'm not sure.

What can I do?

 

[Pada]

40dB should be fine for a stable 4Mbps connections. Are you perhaps using a uncapped IS account?
My latency on my OpenWeb uncapped account skyrocketed to 1500-1800ms this morning and its now back to 300-400ms, instead of an acceptable 50ms.

 

[biltong]

This is on 384k not 4meg. I'm on telkom

EDIT:
Downstream Upstream

SNR Margin 34.0 26.0 db

Line Attenuation 45.5 27.5 db

Data Rate 384 128 kbps

more detail

 

[Pada]

Those SNR margin values are very good, and the line attenuations values are more than enough to have a perfectly stable 384kbps connection.
I doubt that your ADSL problem is related to your line at all. You should try another (and unshaped) ISP account for your gaming.

 

[biltong]

Ok, I see I am n00b. Higher SNR = better?

Also, why have I only had these issues this week? Before I never had any issues.

 

[ponder]

Ok, I see I am n00b. Higher SNR = better?

Yes, signal to noise ratio.

 

[Pada]

Here's a topic that explains both SNR margin & Line attenuation: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?186156-Understanding-SNR-and-Attenuation-Rates

Again, I'm fairly sure that your problem is with your ISP account, rather than the line quality.