Spark ADSL connection problems. Getting nowhere with Spark support....

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark ADSL connection problems. Getting nowhere with Spark support....

TUDZNZL

14 posts

Geek

#293767 12-Feb-2022 13:43

Hi All,

Have been having a look through these forums for the past couple of days and notice the wealth of knowledge that gets passed around, so I thought I would try asking here...

I am on Spark ADSL (Fibre not available in my area, and no plans yet to bring it up my hill, also out of 4g antennae range for wireless BB but im not rural either.) and have been having major issues with my upload speeds. I have lived in the house I am in for around four years now (Cracroft, Christchurch) and have had technicians out numerous times to take a look. They usually do something to the line out on the road and internet usually comes back to life for a few months until having to call again. Technicians have been in my roof space looking for faults, but couldnt pinpoint where or if there was a fault in there at all. It eventually started working again so they just left it.

Around the end of December last year I have been completely dropping off my network and my download speed halved to a maximum of 3Mbps and upload speed dropped to a maximum of 0.1Mbps, pings all the way up at 1150ms. Previously, I was up around 5-7Mbps download and 0.5-1Mbps upload 40-100ms ping. Not the greatest speeds, but i understand the limitations of the old copper lines.

Since having this issue, I decided to make sure the fault wasn't inside the house and had an electrician come in and upgrade the old phone line cables. However still had speed issues...

So I emailled a spark rep that had helped me before and she created a ticket to look into it. Got the usual "restart router" "disconnect all devices" "use an ethernet cable" "change routers" "reset routers" etc. All had been done to no avail... She then said they they would monitor my line over the next 48hours and get back to me and that was a week ago.

With the upload speed dropping frequently to 0.01Mbps, it seems to trip my router up into thinking there is no connection and so everything restarts.

Anyways,

Just wanted to hear from anyone that has had any similar issues and managed to get it fixed or any suggestions on what to do next. Any help would be appreciated! honestly...

Thanks for reading :)

P.s If it takes me a while to answer anything its because my internet is crap lol

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#2866947 12-Feb-2022 13:47

Are you able to post your modem stats here?

RunningMan

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#2866948 12-Feb-2022 13:50

Can you post the line stats from the modem? Ideally looking for sync rates, attenuation, noise margin and error rates. They should give an indication as to what and where the problem is.

TUDZNZL

14 posts

Geek

#2866955 12-Feb-2022 14:03

TUDZNZL

14 posts

Geek

#2866957 12-Feb-2022 14:05

I hope this was what you asked for. Sorry, new to the whole forum thing.

RunningMan

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#2867011 12-Feb-2022 14:31

Yep, that's what we needed. A few provisional comments:

1) 43dB downstream attenuation signals a fairly long line, so don't expect massive improvements
2) Wait for 24 hours and report back with the error rates (currently very low but with an uptime of 2 minutes, it should be)
3) Upstream noise margin high (normally aims for 6dB not 12) and low upstream sync rate is often an indication of a wiring fault near or in the premesis.

Can you describe the phone line wiring in more detail? Do you know exactly what the electrician did? How many phone jacks do you have, how many in use, what filter/s are you using?

PJ48

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2867064 12-Feb-2022 14:44

Have you got a master splitter installed? Internal wiring reflections, even with new wiring, can cause lots of speed and reliability issues with ADSL. A master splitter isolates the ADSL signal as it arrives at the house and you end up with one dedicated ADSL port.

TUDZNZL

14 posts

Geek

#2867069 12-Feb-2022 14:50

I will post another screenshot in 24 hours because as you said the FEC count is slowly increasaing.

Ah, I couldnt be exact with the wiring that was in the house, it was quite an old white cable with several coloured wires in it with loads of splits in it from old alarm system and old jacks in the house. I CAN tell you that it was replaced with a CAT6 UTP cable and the electrition ran it from the entry point in my house to a single jack (which was also replaced).

So, currently i only have one jack in the entire house. Am not using any filters as I was told by the technician and the spark rep that it was not needed...

Thanks for your insight, im learning :)

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Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

RunningMan

8963 posts

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#2867075 12-Feb-2022 15:09

That sounds promising with the internal wiring - one final check though, are there any other jackpoints in the house (either in use or not) that still actually work? Is this a naked line, or is there a landline connected as well?

TUDZNZL

14 posts

Geek

#2867129 12-Feb-2022 15:29

This is a naked line. So no landline. No other jacks are wired up as we chose to eliminate that problem with just hooking up the single jack :)

nztim

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#2867229 12-Feb-2022 18:54

Sorry to chime in but Spark copper xDSL connections are NOT naked they actually have a voiceline attached to them with outbound calling blocked this is because they are billed via ICMS which needs a fully provisioned NEAX phone number for billing

There has been debates in other threads on if you need a Master filter or not in this scenario as you don’t have any phones plugged in - I say yes you should, others say No.

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Linux

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#2867230 12-Feb-2022 18:56

I agree you should

TUDZNZL

14 posts

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#2867233 12-Feb-2022 19:14

Dont be sorry! I appreciate your input!

Sorry if I was wrong about being naked but that is what it has said previously on my bill. Im pretty sure you're right though as I HAVE got a landline number associated with my plan, although have never had a phone plugged in. I can say though, there has never been a master splitter installed here. I think I will look at getting one put in next and see how it goes. Couldnt hurt to try I guess :)

Appreciate it

DjShadow

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#2867242 12-Feb-2022 20:07

Looks like your area has a bit of a common problem and if you are wanting more speed then Starlink could be your only option

Thousands of Christchurch households unable to get fast broadband | Stuff.co.nz

TUDZNZL

14 posts

Geek

#2867247 12-Feb-2022 20:29

Yup,

That's my neighbours trying to organise it. I know $3000 isnt much (and for alot of people around this area it isn't!), I myself have had bad health problems come up and money has become tight. Although, I also agree that it seems a bit unfair as I live less than 300m from the new subdivision with around 15-20 properties between and they wont bring it up :( sad guys ...

A few hectres were just sold across the road from me, am hoping it was bought by a developer that will bring it up :) but that could be a couple years away at least.

Goosey

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#2867286 12-Feb-2022 21:38

If I were the OP, id be getting in touch with the dude in the article and get some "engagement" going again.

If Enable can spend thousands on advertising per year (billboards, newspapers, web, billboard trailers, radio adverts), for what reasons we dont know other than self gratitude and shareholder love (but wait, the shareholders are somewhat the ratepayers)).

Id be pinging the guy who wants to be mayor (his slogan "gets stuff done") and see what that does.

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