Minute by minute sync loss/gain

[Hamstah]

I've been happily using my Netgear DG834GT to connect to ADSL for the last month now, and for the last 36 hours, my router has been following a repetative pattern: it loses sync for a couple minutes then gets sync for about 30 seconds to a minute, and then loses it again. If I am lucky, in the sort period of time that it gets sync, it will get a connection to the web, and I can download a web page or my email inn that short time - but I have to be quick on my feet, and it doesn't always get that internet connection before it loses sync again.

I have the router standing on its side, and it does not feel hot. I have also updated the firmware to the latest version as supplied by netgear, and I have plugged the router directly into the wall socket.

My Line attenuation when it does manage to get a sync is 36db down, 19.5db up
the noise margin is 27.8db down and 12db up

I am completely at a loss right now, and would love some advice on the matter.

Thanks

 

[Style]

Hey man, Im having the same problems. Same router/modem too. My line attenuation stays at 52db down.....but my noise margin when its 100% is around 14db (I get 430k/sec max)...these days it sits at about 10 and slowly goes down lower until it loses sync but then comes back. Dont know whats going on. What could it be?

Style

 

[pip]

It is most likely the line from your router to the DSLAM ( I get this problem frequently with other routers! ). Log it with Telkom and get a reference number ( they invariably "test the line" when you call them and invariably the line is syncing at that moment - so INSIST on a reference ). Bug them to flag it as URGENT. Then follow up frequently.

 

[Peter_J]

See this if you want to be depressed :
http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=540626&postcount=1

After reporting the fault 8 times over the last months it now seems fixed, and I have the cell no of a superb Telkom tech who will help if it happens again.

 

[bullfrog]

To get a head start report the fault and cancel 8 times in one day. Then after that it should be smooth sailing...I think.

 

[Darth Garth]

Ask them to monitor the line for at least 48 hours ... they made some adjustments on their side when I had this problem with my GT a few months ago.

 

[Hamstah]

Tech: - is the line working?
Me: - at the moment yes
Tech: - So I can log this as fixed?
Me: - no - it is an intermittent fault
Tech: - well I can't help unless it is not working
Me: - how then do I get an intermittent fault fixed?
Tech: - report it when it is not working
Me: - but then it will take you a week to come out and it will be working again
Tech: - yes, but I can't fix it unless it is not working
Me: - well give me your number and I'll call you when it drops
Tech: - no we can't do that
Me: - well can you put a monitor on it so you can diagnose it when it happens
Tech: - no we don't have such equipment
Me: - well how do I get it fixed?
Tech: - report it when it is not working
......
......

Ahh - sounds all too familiar... had a similar chain of conversations with telkom when I was trying to get the bloody thing installed

I have reported it as a fault, but you know telkom's speediness... I'll try asking them to monitor the line - thanks

 

[bullfrog]

If someone is too dumb to help you then just kindly ask them to pass you to the next phone operator or phone in again. There's bound to be one guy on duty who knows what you're talking about. It's like the lotto to be honest, some days you're lucky and some days you aren't...the difference being the odds are more in your favor when you play the lotto :/

 

[jacobstone]

Ah man, I have these synch losses too - but _really_ intermittent. My router log looks something like this (ommitted extra stuff).

---
Tue, 2006-10-24 03:49:59 - Loss of synchronization :3
Tue, 2006-10-24 14:38:42 - Loss of synchronization :4
...
Tue, 2006-10-24 22:20:22 - Loss of synchronization :5
...
Tue, 2006-10-24 22:23:52 - Loss of synchronization :6
...
Wed, 2006-10-25 09:40:05 - Loss of synchronization :7
...
Thu, 2006-10-26 22:15:19 - Loss of synchronization :8
Thu, 2006-10-26 22:15:19 - PAP authentication success
---

So you see from yesterday morning, 9am until this evening 10am I had not had a single loss of synch. Also this last one at 22:15, I didn't even notice, I didn't lose my MSN messenger connection or anything. How does that work?

I'm still suspecting the really old 3 prong phone connections in my house and possibly the telephone wire to the street pole that's kinda got wrapped around and twisted by this crazy-ass plant.

Anyway, suppose I'll just begin another arduous journey into the inpenetrable fortress of Telkom and try have someone sort it out.

 

[jacobstone]

Hey man, Im having the same problems. Same router/modem too. My line attenuation stays at 52db down.....but my noise margin when its 100% is around 14db (I get 430k/sec max)...these days it sits at about 10 and slowly goes down lower until it loses sync but then comes back. Dont know whats going on. What could it be?

Style

Only thing I've read that sounds like it could vaguely resemble this is on an Aussie forum where they spoke about moisture affecting the quality of the line in such a way that the ADSL router begins to use a smaller spectrum of frequencies on the wire so as not to lose the connection completely. This would effectively slow down your transfer rates and gradually decrease your noise margin until the router is forced to lose sync and reconnect. If it reconnects when the situation on the line is better then it will use a greater noise margin and things should pick up again.

So I donno, does it happen on rainy days?

At least that's my layman understanding of what I read. Can't remember the URL.

 

[Style]

Hey Jacobstone,

think you are spot on there. It sounds exactly like wht you have described. Its been raining here in East London for like weeks man...rain monday to fri..sat = 30 C beach day (go figure) and then sunday evening it starts to rain again. I am sure that all this rain has made the lines etc damp. today is a nice day and the noise margin is back up to 13.3db so i will give it a test and see

Style

 

[Hamstah]

The problem I'm suffering is a bit different - it's been constant for the last 2 and a half days - 30 seconds of sync for every 2-5 minutes of lost sync, over and over and over again - NEVER maintaining sync for more than a minute

 

[pronutro]

Hi Guys (and gals),

Similar problem here - been fighting it for months now..

Been thru 2 Microcom ADSL Routers, now onto a Billion BiPac 7300G.
The connection stays up for about a day, but in the evenings it drops completely, or reconnects several times before dying.

I am running through a UPS, microfilter is on and OK, ISP cannot find any problems, Telkom are consistently monitoring the line and have changed DSLAMs - whatever that means!

MTU at 1492 - should I have "PPPoE relay" enabled? Might this affect matters?
Last I checked the connection is down, but I get replies when I ping the modem externally! How can it be connected and replying on an IP address, yet no internet traffic can get through?

I am lost here...

 

[bullfrog]

I am running through a UPS, microfilter is on and OK, ISP cannot find any problems, Telkom are consistently monitoring the line and have changed DSLAMs - whatever that means!

What is the microfilter on?

It MUST be on the telephone but MUST NOT be on the adsl router's phone line!

 

[pronutro]

Sorry didnt elaborate there!

The filter is on the fax that shares the line - the ADSL router plugs directly into the telephone wall socket.

Telkom thought they were clever and told me I had the microfilter the wrong way round on the fax line - even when they flipped it over the problem persisted.

Unless the Microfilter is actually faulty - even then though the line would reconnect once a fax call completes surely? (connection is set to "Always On")

 

[koffiejunkie]

We had the same thing happen at the office. It started (coincidence) around the time our line was upgraded to 4mbit. I could see the router just losing sync every now and then - sometimes after 30 seconds, sometimes after 20 minutes. Telkom said the line tested fine, I thought maybe the old POTS modem can't handle the 4092kbit, so I got a Netgear DG834 - same story. Line sync-ed at about 2mbit, and still lost sync every couple of minutes.

Eventually, after lots of going back and forth, Telkom sent a tech to our office. He hooked his kit up to the line, and got the same result. He then went to the comms box in the building, hooked his kit up toe the line there, and got a full 4096! Turns out somehow the cable going from the comms box into our office itself was damaged.

 

[pronutro]

Stumped...

The weird thing right now is that I can ping the router from where I am, and I get replies!
But if I check the webmail server where it downloads mail from, there are messages in the queue so its obviously offline.... yet its replying to pings?
How is that possible?

I know that the ISP once told me that the router had 2 simultaneous connections established at the same time, with the same IP address... once again I am stumped - gotta be an IP / DSLAM thing from our friends at Telkom.

 

[jacobstone]

Not such a cool problem this it seems - very hard to pin-point. The synch losses that I'm having don't really even bother me, as far as I'm concerned I don't even lose my connection. But it bothers me that my router is logging them They're not supposed to happen so I want it sorted out!

The wiring in my house is super old, I'm sure that's got something to do with it. Anyway, logged it yesterday with Telkom, so we'll see how that goes, they're first going to run a series of tests from their side remotely before coming out here.

Currently I have not lost synch for like a day and a half.

Funny - as I was typing that I thought I'd check the log again and I had _just_ lost synch again. Notice the time between though, weird!

Thu, 2006-10-26 22:15:19 - Loss of synchronization :8
...
Sat, 2006-10-28 12:23:35 - Loss of synchronization :9

 

[Vilerat]

I have the exact same modem and as of 2 days ago it refused to sync. Any other modem works fine but that particular one is having difficulties for some reason for me. How bizarre.

 

[Hamstah]

So, telskum tells me that the port I am connected to is dead - so I say to them, it can't be dead, I get a connection once every few minutes that lasts around 30 seconds, there is no way it can be completely dead.

Their response is "oh well, it is faulty"

They apparently marked it extremely urgent (this was on friday) and assured me that technicians would be looking at it over the weekend... likely story.

I've also noticed that my phone has a feint crackling and buzzing in the background - I think that is why my router can get a connection but not hold it.

Is there any way of increasing my router's tollerance for the noise? Perhaps a way of convincing it to sync at a lower speed or something?