ADSL connection issue - attenuation has increased

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › ADSL connection issue - attenuation has increased

alphabet

25 posts

Geek

#269717 4-Apr-2020 12:33

Help. We are locked down in a rural beachside area just north of Auckland (that bit is ok!) In our neck of the woods only ADSL and recently VDSL is available.
We are with Vodafone and have a Sure Signal to get mobile coverage.

We are still on ADSL as a request for VDSL was turned down by the technician some time back.

At the beginning of lockdown last week things were find and our modem showed the following stats: (the modem had been up for a week, so packet errors had accrued over a week.)
Upstream Downstream
Current Rate (kbps) 1126 24072
Max Rate (kbps) 1210 24073
SNR Margin (dB) 8.6 3.2
Line Attenuation (dB) 9.2 21.9
Errors (pkts) 2 748

For the last few days our internet has been unstable and unusable.

Modem Stats from yesterday:
Line Status: Connected
DSL Up Time: 0 days 19 hours 55 minutes
DSL Modulation Type: ADSL_2plus
Annex Type: Annex auto
Upstream Downstream
Current Rate (kbps) 385 11931
Max Rate (kbps) 426 13544
SNR Margin (dB) 8.7 0.1
Line Attenuation (dB) 17.4 30.9
Errors (pkts) 49678 2106054

It seems that line attentuation has increased a lot, and the modem is connecting at much reduced speeds. SNR margin is all over the show, fluctuating wildly. The errors are accruing at a massive rate.

Other things to add:
Our next door neighbour is on the same copper loop at the plinth, and they are having the same problem. (They also happen to be with Voda, but that might be irrelelvant?)
The local cabling is in perfect condition, only 1 jack, new filter, no phones connected.
Another neighbour, on the same cabinet has had no issues or degradation. Same cabinet, but different plinth / loop.

I spoke with Voda last night. They are sending me a new modem (sigh), and also put a 'monitor' on the line for 24 hours. I guess I will hear back on Monday.

We are trying to keep 2 businesses from going under whilst in lockdown and need our internet back - does anyone have any comments on what the likely issue is and how I get to the bottom of it with Voda? Apologies for the massive post, and thanks for reading/considering.

Linux

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#2454304 4-Apr-2020 12:35

@alphabet If you are on Naked xDSL why do you need a filter? Remove the filter would be the first step

RunningMan

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#2454405 4-Apr-2020 14:18

The sudden change in attenuation and sync rate normally suggest a physical line issue. The noise margin sitting at 0.1 dB suggests that it is also fluctuating or intermittent or else the slower resync would have restored back to a normal noise margin. Most likely reason is a faulty joint somewhere on your line, especially with the neighbour having the same issue at the same time.

In a rural area the other cause of sudden interference on a line can be from an electric fence running near your line. A faulty modem could exhibit those symptoms, but pretty unlikely given the neighbour's problem too.

alphabet

25 posts

Geek

#2454460 4-Apr-2020 15:29

Thanks RunningMan - that is where I was headed. I have whipped the lid off the plinth out the front and all connections look clean/good.

I'm guessing its a problem in the roadside cabinet - unless there are typically joins along the route back to the cabinet? (I'm a electric utilities guy, not telco.)

Looks like the neighbour has managed to arrange a Chorus tech to visit tomorrow (Sunday!), so fingers crossed the tech can sort it...

RunningMan

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#2454464 4-Apr-2020 15:46

I'd make sure the neighbour passes on your symptoms to the Chorus tech (especially that sudden attenuation increase) so they know to look out for your issue at the same time.

wratterus

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#2454487 4-Apr-2020 16:05

With those (good) stats I'd think you ought to get a pretty decent VDSL connection. Do you know why your previous request was turned down?

If you punch your address into www.chorus.co.nz address checker, what is the estimated VDSL speed? You could also check into a few of the other neighbour's speeds.

Keep a good look out for the Chorus guy tomorrow and have a chat with him.

alphabet

25 posts

Geek

#2454678 4-Apr-2020 22:35

thanks @wratterus - chorus website is showing possible 42/10 on vdsl, which would be amazing compared to current speeds - will watch out for and hit the tech up about it tomorrow. not sure why it was refused on previous requests, there were no details fed back to voda...

wratterus

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#2454681 4-Apr-2020 22:36

Request again once this line issue is sorted.

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wratterus

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#2455959 6-Apr-2020 15:39

@alphabet did you have any luck with the Chorus tech yesterday?

alphabet

25 posts

Geek

#2456143 6-Apr-2020 18:43

@wratterus - thanks for your interest.

yes, tech came for next door. Their line was completely dead, as opposed to mine which was unstable. He found a cable joint had corroded and snapped on a plinth (is that the name?) 90m away. My pair, which is in the same cable, seemed ok, but he redid the join anyway, as well as neighbours.

Resolved the neighbours issue, and my internet is now also stable, so there must have been something funny going on. However, the attenuation still seems to be higher than usual at 31db down, used to be 23db - so connection speed is now 12MBPS as opposed to 24MBPS.

I got notification from Voda today that a fault had been lodged with Chorus, so hopefully they can look into the attenuation?

Also, mentioned to the tech that I was keen for VDSL and he said the neighbours on the same cable had it, at 42MBPS! I have lost track of how many times I have requested an upgrade to VDSL through Voda and not had it completed... my first request was immediately after the cabinet was upgraded a year or two back and as soon as it showed as available on the Chorus site... Oh well, hopefully there are enough ports (or whatever) left for my to move across to VDSL, and hopefully it is an allowed change under the current lockdown!

hio77

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#2456164 6-Apr-2020 19:31

Keep waiting on it. You might find there is more than one corroded joint at play.

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alphabet

25 posts

Geek

#2458020 9-Apr-2020 10:24

Well Voda called to say Chorus reported that the line is repaired. I'm back to a 24MBPS down max speed and attenuation back to 9.3db down, 21.9db up - no more packet errors either, so we are nice and stable once more. Phew.

Now to try and push for them to provision VDSL onto the line... thanks to everyone for their thoughts/advice on this.

Spyware

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#2458034 9-Apr-2020 10:39

It's 21.9 down, 9.3 up.

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RunningMan

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#2458098 9-Apr-2020 11:55

Nice. I expect the very good ADSL Sync rate on such a long line is because there are very few other xDSL connections in the same feeder bundle i.e. sparsely populated rural area. The 21.9dB is still a fairly long line length for VDSL, so there's a chance it won't be great, but definitely worth a try.

alphabet

25 posts

Geek

#2458492 9-Apr-2020 16:02

Cheers @RunningMan - yeah, it is a sleepy little village with mainly baches that don't even have phone lines. Have requested the VDSL, but looks like we will have to wait until after lockdown...

RunningMan

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#2458548 9-Apr-2020 16:56

Pre ddDLM days I think the ADSL attenuation cutoff for a move to VDSL was 9.8dB or thereabouts, so your line is a lot longer which isn't good for the higher VDSL frequencies. Obviously background noise is in your favour so you might be lucky. Definitely worth a try though.