Telecom Broadband: 8-10 Dropped Connections a Day is 'Industry Standard'

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom Broadband: 8-10 Dropped Connections a Day is 'Industry Standard'

NetPromoter

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#66883 25-Aug-2010 11:24

We recently moved into a new flat in Grey Lynn, Auckland. We've had all sorts of problems getting the phone and broadband connected. After three weeks and many calls to the helplines, the phone works and the internet is on, but it drops the connection at least three times a day and displays a message to call Telecom support.

So, Telecom monitored the broadband connection for 24 hours and confirmed that it dropped out three times. But the customer support rep told me that they'd only send somebody out to fix it if it dropped the connection 8-10 times a day. Anything under that is considered an acceptable level of service.

I told him that I was amazed that they were trying to pass off 8-10 disconnections a day as acceptable service. He claimed that this was an "Industry Standard". I couldn't find any mention of this on the Telecom Terms of Service. He said it wasn't published anywhere, but was "common knowledge" in the industry. He also said that his broadband at home gets disconnected all the time and it doesn't bother him at all.

In the end he said don't call back unless I get 8-10 disconnections a day. I don't consider this to be an acceptable level of service and if this is Telecom policy then they should publish it on their website so people know that they are signing up for a shoddy, third world service.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has encountered this from Telecom or any other broadband provider.

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167 posts

Master Geek

#372553 25-Aug-2010 11:33

Try a new modem.

grudge

266 posts

Ultimate Geek

#372555 25-Aug-2010 11:34

Yup that is pretty much the case, most fault technicians will not look at the fault with 3 disconnections a day, this goes for any ISP that works with Telecom Wholesale as well.

NetPromoter

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#372572 25-Aug-2010 12:03

Just a further note:

I am using the Telecom supplied Thompson TG585 v8 modem.

I asked the first customer support rep if Telecom could send me a new modem so I could check if that was the problem. He refused to send one out because he said the service was within their acceptable level, i.e. not 8-10 dropped connections a day.

I eventually spoke with a manager who finally agreed to send out a new modem. So, I will try that and I hope that it works.

Interestingly, the manager also said that his broadband at home dropped out regularly and he doesn't mind. He also said that my dropped connections could be caused by passing trucks or roadworks. We live at the end of a dead end street. No trucks, no roadworks.

Three disconnections a day is one thing, but my point is that they have told me not to call back unless I have 8-10 disconnections a day.

raab

262 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#372577 25-Aug-2010 12:11

What are your line stats?
Is anyone doing p2p when the line drops?

Try get a modem with a broadcom chipset such as netcomm nb6plus4wn, dynalink rta1025w, rta1320 etc etc

They tend to be a lot more stable

Behodar

10513 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#372578 25-Aug-2010 12:13

8-10 per day is ridiculous. Even one per day would frustrate me incredibly so although I can't help, I do feel for you and hope that you get it sorted out.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#372584 25-Aug-2010 12:16

There is about a 90% probability that the issue is caused by dodgy internal wiring in your house or an alarm. While Telecom might be your point of contact the issue is probably unlikely to be caused by them.

Do you have an alarm in the house? If you do and don't have a master spitter installed this could well be ringing out to the monitoring company 8 times per day which will cause a disconnection.

If you don't have an alarm do you have a faster splitter or plug in filters? If they are plug in have you tried removing all filters and phones and see if this still occurs?

lastly what are your ADSL sync stats from your modem? If these are poor it could indicate poor internal wiring as the cause of the issue.

If you pay wiring maintenance Telecom will fix any wiring issues in the house. If you have an alarm and this is the cause you'll need to pay for a master filter to be installed.

NetPromoter

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#372586 25-Aug-2010 12:18

Raab, thanks for your advice.

No, nobody is using P2P when the line drops.

I will try the new modem from Telecom and if that doesn't fix the problem, then I will look at buying a new modem with one of the chipsets you suggested. If these Thompson modems are defective, then I don't think Telecom should be sending them out in the first place.

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NetPromoter

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#372591 25-Aug-2010 12:29

@Sbiddle,

No, we don't have an alarm.

We use plug-in filters supplied by Telecom. I have tried unplugging the phone, plugging the modem in to different jacks, using different filters and no filter. None of that helped.

I don't have the ADSL sync stats on hand, but I will take a look at them.

We do pay the wiring maintenance fee. When the Chorus man came out to fix the phone line for voice calls, he said that he thought it had been struck by lightening at some stage. So I wouldn't be surprised if there is something wrong with the internal wiring.

Telecom will not send somebody out to check the wiring unless I get to the magic 8-10 dropped connections a day.

wreck90

780 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#372592 25-Aug-2010 12:31

NetPromoter: Just a further note:

I am using the Telecom supplied Thompson TG585 v8 modem.

You poor b*****d. The Thompson modem is one of the worst ever.

I went through 3 , all were dropping connections frequently , and rebooting whilst losing custom settings.

The final modem broke the camels back, I went and bought a telecom 2-wire and it has dropped out maybe twice in the last 4 or 5 months.

I've owned many modems, DSE, belkin, Netgear, Thompson, and 2-Wire. Netgear and Thompson have been the worst, 2-wire is the best by far. Probably you will get people saying completely different, but this is just my personal experience.

Incidentally, I was able to return the thompson and telecom cancelled the 24 month contract . However, I'll stay with Telecom as they seem to be the best ISP out there (IMHO, apart from the thompson fiasco).

raab

262 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#372600 25-Aug-2010 12:44

Try unplugging all phones and plugging the modem directly into the jack without a filter.

You don't actually need a filter for the modem, only if you're sharing a single jack with a phone.

Mine is plugged directly into the jack, the phone in another room is plugged into a filter

technicaljoe

248 posts

Master Geek

#372666 25-Aug-2010 14:04

When I switched over from the old D-Link to Thompson, speed and reliability changes.

When I moved even to just the other side of the same suburb, speed and reliability changes.

When I got an electrician in to tidy up the wiring, again, speed and reliability changes.

Getting rid off the daisy chained devices also helped...

Just my observations, that's all :)

matt45

311 posts

Ultimate Geek

#372743 25-Aug-2010 16:10

If it was me I would loose those horrible filters and install a splitter (making sure that the wiring to where the Modem is located is replaced if not all of the wiring).

if you’ve had issues with the phone and the guy said it looked like it had been hit by lightening then i would be fairly certain it is your internal wiring, altho telecom will fix it if you pay wire maintenance, its not really their fault that its like that in the first place.

EDIT:

Also the 8-10 disc a day thing i wouldnt take too much notice of.
FYI it is much easier to get a faultman out thru faults (120) than it is through dsl helpdesk, altho unless you tell them there is somthing wrong with the voice side of things they will probably refer you to BB helpdesk.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#372774 25-Aug-2010 17:29

NetPromoter: We recently moved into a new flat in Grey Lynn, Auckland. We've had all sorts of problems getting the phone and broadband connected. After three weeks and many calls to the helplines, the phone works and the internet is on, but it drops the connection at least three times a day and displays a message to call Telecom support.

So, Telecom monitored the broadband connection for 24 hours and confirmed that it dropped out three times. But the customer support rep told me that they'd only send somebody out to fix it if it dropped the connection 8-10 times a day. Anything under that is considered an acceptable level of service.

I told him that I was amazed that they were trying to pass off 8-10 disconnections a day as acceptable service.
I'd be interested to know if anyone else has encountered this from Telecom or any other broadband provider.

he wasn't. he said, according to you, that if it reached that level they would send a tech out. IOW, 8-10 disconnect is NOT acceptable.

He was trying to pass off LESS than 8 disconnects as acceptable.

AFAIK the thomson modems automatically reset when the connection drops, so unless you are sitting at the computer when it happens you don't even notice.

as others have said, more than likley it is caused by your house wiring, not anything the ISP has done.

NetPromoter

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#372785 25-Aug-2010 17:49

Thanks to everyone for their advice on improving our broadband drop out rate. I will try everything out.

@NonprayingMantis, we pay the Telecom wiring maintenance fee, so if there is a problem with the wiring in the house, they are supposed to fix it.

What the support guy said was that anything up to 8-10 disconnects a day is considered acceptable service, so don't call them unless it gets to that level. He didn't say if it's 8, call them, so they could consider anything up to 9 disconnects a day acceptable. And yes, I am sitting at my computer then it goes down, and I do notice.

A properly working broadband connection shouldn't be dropping out even once a day, as far as I know.

My issue with Telecom is that they are trying to classify a broadband connection that clearly isn't working properly as being fine, and the reason they're doing that is that they don't want to to fix it.

I got the impression from talking to the tech reps that sending out a technician is a sackable offense.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#372896 25-Aug-2010 23:17

I could be wrong, but I;m pretty sure wiring maintenance fee doesn't cover all your house wiring, just the wiring from your house to the road

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