Technology marching backwards in Benoni?

W

Wendy

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When ADSL arrived in SA I was one of the very first people who applied for the service. As I have a company based in Edenvale I set up ADSL for both the office there and a small branch in Benoni. Initially I was not able to get service in the suburb of Farrarmere in Benoni but eventually with much nagging I got a 1 mb connection. After finding that I had many problems with the line and constantly had to have the techs out I applied for a 4mb upgrade in January of 2008. Even though I had been assured that it would work it didnt and I had to be put back to 1 mb immediately. SInce then I have been on the 1 mb conenction. The last 2 months I was away and on my return I discovered that the 1 mb that I htought I had was acting like an analogue dial up and I called faults once again. Techies came out with the attitude that it must be runnign at too high a speed and I must be lieing to them that I have always had a 1 mb connection. They then put me back to 384k. After much fighting and phoning I eventually managed to get a tech to try for better and I was made to feel that I was getting a huge favour by having 584k put on my line. What??? How do I start off many years ago with 1mb and end up with 512k?? And then the line drops so often that I cannot even download small programs and updates! (The repairs department seems to think that the issue has been resolved!) Has no improvements been done in Benoni in all that time? While the rest of the world is talking about 100 mb lines I shuffle my feet and hide behind the door so as not to have to mention that 512 is the best I can get? 3G in Farramere is just as bad as they have not allowed a tower to be set up in range for us. Please can anyone advise me on what alternatives there are available as I have totally given up on Telkom. If this is how fast technology moves with Telkom maybe it would be better to just move country ....
 
My suggestion:

Sounds like you have a business line, which means you should deal directly with Telkom Business: 10217.

Speaking from experience. The Business department/call center is much more clued up than the residential side 0800375375

Since you have had endless problems as mentioned, I also suggest rather signing up with WebAfrica and have your complete line moved over to them, including ISP account:
www.webafrica.co.za

That said, let WebAfrica deal with the line issues, take the burden off yourself. Point WebAfrica to this thread as reference by sending them an email to support(at)webafrica.co.za

Ciao ;)
 
I would go to the technical side of things 1st as the 1024 line had been running fine for x months!

Look at things like the router's :

-current sync speed down and up
-Signal to Noise Ratio down (SNR) *1
-line attenuation down values. *2

Those values have to be within a certain range - SNR above 10 (6 forces a resync) and line attenuation below 60!

Have your technical support people/telkom tried other routers/modems and filters with that aswell?
 
Intersting post. I was quite surprised to read this on mybb. I stay in Rynfield,Benoni and have exactly the same problem. Had a 4Mb/s line since 2008, which started losing signal and disconnecting so frequently that cybersmart suggest i downgrade to 3Mb/s. That didnt help, now im back on 512kb/s. This is insane things are really going backwards @ Telkom. The support on their side is non-existent.
 
Same problem here, I live in Lakefield and the lines are getting worse. My line used to switch off during the day and turn on again randomly between 4pm and 9pm - It seems to be running again at 4mb after about 60 calls and 5 different faults.
 
Either Telkom has made changes to your line, connecting to a cable pair that offers alot of
attenuation or some moisture has got into the line Lightning strike.

Check for line noise - mains humm, crackling

As I said today on the other threads - I now its going to cost money
apply for another line - then apply for ADSL service - to see what that attenuation,
signal to noise ratio as [OUPA]MrNutz mentioned. Very frustrating and then take it
up why has the loss improved on the new line where it is bad on the old line
 
Exact same thing here. I've had ADSL in since 2003. I was on 512k at that stage and performance was spot-on. Upgraded to 4mb and performance was perfect for about 2 years (give or take). Now, as more customers join the network, Telkom seems to think that the existing infrastructure will be adequate for the rest of eternity which obviously is not the case. They're also quite open about telling you that there are many users on your exchange and that's why you could be experiencing problems.

My problems - constant desync and more recently I have times of BYTES per second downstream. Apparently EVERYTHING humanly possible has been done to resolve these issues. "You're too far from the exchange for 4 meg" is their favourite line. So, did the exchange get up and walk 5km down the street or what because it USED to be fine!

So ya, that is exactly it. Things certainly are marching backwards (and it pisses me off to no end).
 
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Flanders said:
So, did the exchange get up and walk 5km down the street or what because it USED to be fine!

So ya, that is exactly it. Things certainly are marching backwards (and it pisses me off to no end).
Click to expand...
LOL
Maybe you need to contact other subscribers (local newspaper, local shop notice board) with similar problems and
lodge service complaints at your local Shop or via the call center or corner a techie and ask him why the DSL service
has degraded. Maybe you will get an honest and correct answer.
 
Thank you all so much for your advice. Yes this is a small branch that I have of a larger one in Edenvale. Although Telkom calls us a "Corporate" account it seems to make no difference to their service. Ditto for 10217 who dont seem to be any more helpful. In fact on one call the lady told me she was filling in forms in order to escalate the repair and kept me listening to her sitting doing her nails as it was obvious she was not typing! It was at this stage that I started shouting and eventually was allowed to speak to her supervisor who was similarly not interested until I mentioned we spend voer R300000 per year on our telephone bills with them. However once it left him it fizzeled out very fast. (Incidentially the branch in Edenvale runs fine and, touch wood, we have had no unusual problems so far with it.)

I am not sure what the technical notes mean but this is what I get off of my Linksys modem control panel:

DSL Status: Connected
DSL Modulation Mode: MultiMode
DSL Path Mode: Interleaved
Downstream Rate: 506 kbps
Upstream Rate: 256 kbps
Downstream Margin: 11 db
Upstream Margin: 12 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 62 db
Upstream Line Attenuation: 22.5 db
Downstream Transmit Power: 10 db
Upstream Transmit Power: 18 db

Hoping you know what this means and if any of it can show what may be the problem?

I have also written to WebAfrica so hoping they can help. Since I was in Canada for the last 2 months using their basic line at 14 mb it is surreal to come back to find this!

Again thank you for your help, much appreciated.
 
Wendy said:
DSL Status: Connected
DSL Modulation Mode: MultiMode
DSL Path Mode: Interleaved
Downstream Rate: 506 kbps
Upstream Rate: 256 kbps
Downstream Margin: 11 db
Upstream Margin: 12 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 62 db
Upstream Line Attenuation: 22.5 db
Downstream Transmit Power: 10 db
Upstream Transmit Power: 18 db
Click to expand...

Unfortunately those line statistics are very bad. The downstream line attenuation figure of 62dB suggests that you are approximately 62/13.81 ~4.5km from the exchange. First try to ask Telkom where your exchange is located to see if this estimate is correct. If the exchange is much closer then you may have a line fault but if it is roughly this distance away then you may not even be able to get a reliable connection at 1mbps. The maximum speed on ADSL is greatly dependent on the length of your telephone line and when the distance exceeds 4km the maximum speed rapidly deteriorates. Try to drive to the exchange via the shortest route by car and use your odometer to measure the distance rather than calculating the shortest direct route off a map as the telephone network tends to follow the road network.

This online tool can give you an indication of the maximum speed that your line can currently support using the statistics which you provided above (506, 62, 11 - in this order) ...
http://212.23.23.177/ADSL/default.aspx

If that DS attenuation figure of 62dB is correct, it might be possible to do some maintenance on your line so that you are able to reach speeds of 1mbps again but it's quite likely that you will have to downgrade again as the line deteriorates due to aging and weather damage etc. You could also experiment with a different brand of router to see whether this helps as some of the chipsets perform better on long noisy lines than others. You need to first determine your distance from the exchange before you try anything else.
 
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I'd seriously try another router - one that can change the modulation to g.dmt - billion 7300G-RA

G.dmt gives a line about 10-15% breathing space in terms of SNR/line attenuation.

Also that interleaved mode tells me something in the local dslam is not 100% .

Disconnect ALL telephones/faxes/alarms sharing the ADSL line - even the filters...and try the line stats again with everything removed and also with another router..
 
Yotch said:
Unfortunately those line statistics are very bad. The downstream line attenuation figure of 62dB suggests that you are approximately 62/13.81 ~4.5km from the exchange. First try to ask Telkom where your exchange is located to see if this estimate is correct.
Click to expand...
The Benoryn exchange serves that area IIRC. That would easily be 4+ km from Farrarmere.

There were some street side cabinets in Farrarmere but I have no idea if they have mini DSLAMs or just voice switching.
 
Hi Wendy,
Look at this thread too
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?p=3367030


ambo said:
here were some street side cabinets in Farrarmere but I have no idea if they have mini DSLAMs or just voice switching.
Click to expand...
When you drive around the neighbourhood you might find some of the Telkom boxes
Denneoord installation
In my humble opinion I reckon this is what these cabinets are from left to Right
1) Siemens DLU (extension of the Siemens EWSD exchange)
2) Street Distribution Cabinet (Blue green) (cable pair connections to Exchange & to subscriber)
3) UMC1000 & DSLAM (extends Fiber to the Curb)
4) SA Post Office mailbox (snailmail) :)
 
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Telkom told us flat out that the exchange in our area will never be upgraded :( We're forced to use 3G.
 
I dont have any equipment attached to my ADSL line and have a separate line for calls. I spoke to one of the many techs who have been out here and he said that there are no DSLAMs in this area! Oh would that I could use 3G! I ordered Telkom 3G and bought the most expensive modem they had only to find that there was no coverage at all despite the sales department having told me it was covered. So after all these years of being on a slow speed and after having been assured for all of that time that Telkom was upgrading, I have to be downgraded as the lines have deteriated so much that I am lucky to be getting 512k? WebAfrica tell me there is nothing they can do as it is Telkom lines and they can only take over my line and the rehire it back to me but with no guarantees that they can get an improvement. IBurst doesnt have coverage in my area as well. If my next move is to get MTN or Vodacom 3G does anyone know if it will it work? To hang with the cost I will do anything to be able to get some work done!
 
@Wendy - two other possibilities exists

1. Move to another location with good coverage.
2. Join a Wireless Users Group.
 
I sent the Iburst rep a pm with link to your thread. Really sad that WebAfrica did not step up.
 
@Wendy: Maybe you could ask Telkom to also activate ADSL on the line that you are currently using to make telephone calls for *testing* purposes. This would confirm that the problems with your current line are entirely distance related and not due to any wiring fault. Move the router from your current ADSL only line and check the line statistics on the new line to see if they are not better than your current ADSL exclusive one. If you are lucky it might be able to handle 1Mbps speeds. You could then ask a technician to switch the two lines around in the office. If you request a self-install then you should be able to get the ADSL activated free of charge. If the performance is similar or worse then tell them to disconnect the service again as you are not happy with the speed and will not be subscribing to the service.

Maybe you could make use of two or more 512Kbps lines to achieve faster effective speeds?

There are also bonding solutions where slower lines can be aggregated together to achieve higher speeds. This option is quite expensive though. Somebody else might be able to suggest a cheaper bonding type solution ...
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/7848.html
http://www.bondedadsl.co.za/broadband/corporate/adsl-bonding
http://www.lino.co.za/?p=8
 
EASTRANDSCREAMER

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Contact us and we will do a test for you to give you an altirnitave solution.

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