tldr: Telkom annoys me, my modem won't sync properly and the line is beyond "noisy", how the hell can I get their attention and actually speak with someone who knows what they are doing!
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My internet has been terrible for the last two weeks or so. It has nothing to do with Seacom though - just old buddies from Telkom.
I have a relatively good understanding of signals from my studies, and today whilst messing around with my router trying to get it to sync for the 50th time, I checked the stats on the router. My SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) was at.... 0.6. The lowest I've EVER seen. In fact, I didn't think it was possible to get that bad, I really didn't. That effectively means what? I have more than 60% noise on my line, that's just unbelievable.
Now, I'm not far from the closest DSLAM - maybe 1km, max.
For the last week I've had either no sync, to absolute crap speeds of about 50-100kbit/s. Bits, not bytes. This is dial-up and no better, really.
I opened a new fault with Telkom, and explained in great detail what my problem was.
A Telkom friend appears on the weekend:
"I'm here about your no dial tone problem".
"What? Nono, we have no sync on our modem."
"Oh, let me check the exchange then."
*never comes back*. *no contact* *sigh*
I phone again, asking them to please check the fault is recorded right - it is.
Then why did this techy have the wrong info? Why on the website does it say the problem is "No dial tone". Who knows...?
How can I get some service from Telkom after all this? I have NO internet now, the modem will not sync. (Strangely, if I take the phone off the hook it syncs but still is too slow to load Google; I assume the dialing tone is providing some kind of feedback and once removed clears some of the attenuation? Can anyone explain this?) Phoning Telkom just gives me "I will escalate your problem.” (sure you will), going into a Telkom store gives me "We are looking into it". A 0.6 SNR is beyond ridiculous and it surely can't be a problem with the exchange; as if it was then the whole of my area would be in an uproar. It's tough to even hear people on the landline at the moment.
I use MWEB uncapped 4MB. Also tried on Axxess and Openweb prepaid. It's pretty clear to me that it is attenuation so ISP really should have noting to do with it, but I thought I'd throw that info in too.
As a further note, I do have filters on my line, I'm not stupid. ^^
I am located in Ferndale, Randburg. I would be interested to know if anyone else is experiencing this in the area.
________________________________________________________________________________
My internet has been terrible for the last two weeks or so. It has nothing to do with Seacom though - just old buddies from Telkom.
I have a relatively good understanding of signals from my studies, and today whilst messing around with my router trying to get it to sync for the 50th time, I checked the stats on the router. My SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) was at.... 0.6. The lowest I've EVER seen. In fact, I didn't think it was possible to get that bad, I really didn't. That effectively means what? I have more than 60% noise on my line, that's just unbelievable.
Now, I'm not far from the closest DSLAM - maybe 1km, max.
For the last week I've had either no sync, to absolute crap speeds of about 50-100kbit/s. Bits, not bytes. This is dial-up and no better, really.
I opened a new fault with Telkom, and explained in great detail what my problem was.
A Telkom friend appears on the weekend:
"I'm here about your no dial tone problem".
"What? Nono, we have no sync on our modem."
"Oh, let me check the exchange then."
*never comes back*. *no contact* *sigh*
I phone again, asking them to please check the fault is recorded right - it is.
Then why did this techy have the wrong info? Why on the website does it say the problem is "No dial tone". Who knows...?
How can I get some service from Telkom after all this? I have NO internet now, the modem will not sync. (Strangely, if I take the phone off the hook it syncs but still is too slow to load Google; I assume the dialing tone is providing some kind of feedback and once removed clears some of the attenuation? Can anyone explain this?) Phoning Telkom just gives me "I will escalate your problem.” (sure you will), going into a Telkom store gives me "We are looking into it". A 0.6 SNR is beyond ridiculous and it surely can't be a problem with the exchange; as if it was then the whole of my area would be in an uproar. It's tough to even hear people on the landline at the moment.
I use MWEB uncapped 4MB. Also tried on Axxess and Openweb prepaid. It's pretty clear to me that it is attenuation so ISP really should have noting to do with it, but I thought I'd throw that info in too.
As a further note, I do have filters on my line, I'm not stupid. ^^
I am located in Ferndale, Randburg. I would be interested to know if anyone else is experiencing this in the area.
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