Troubles with VDSL line in bad weather

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networkn

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#192155 29-Feb-2016 10:24

So I was one of the first to get VDSL, I've had it a long time. Over that time, during times of strange and pretty wet weather my DSL Sync goes crazy, resyncing. This doesn't happen every time, maybe 1 in 10 times it rains. Last winter it happened 2-3 times. It happened on Sunday morning.

I am in Mt Roskill in Auckland.

I have a master filter, installed by Chorus, and recently before an outage my line switched over to Band 988 and I was for about 20 days, getting 70/30Mbps. I had the fault which happened over a period of 3 days, but when I opened a case with my ISP, it took Chorus 8 days to get onsite and by then the fault had pretty much resolved itself. Regardless the tech despite me asking him not to, changed my port. now I am sitting at around 48/10.

My belief is that the problem appears to be between my demarc, and the street. I don't think it's too much further from that because I was originally connected to an exchange, and now am connected very close to a cabinet.

Sunday it happened again after it had rained very heavily on Saturday night and seemed to get better as the day went on. The outage lasted about 4 hours. I saw syncs as low as 20/2 and as high as 48/10.

My ISP said they would open a case but didn't have any hope that Chorus would take the matter seriously.

How do I get Chorus to examine the line between my street and my house for breaks or splits in the waterproofing etc?

Any advice appreciated.

Jase2985

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#1501486 29-Feb-2016 13:39

when that happened to me I lost the phone line but still managed to get a xdsl sync at about 20/3. had a tech there in 2 days and it took them 2.5 days to find the issue and fix it.

networkn

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#1501488 29-Feb-2016 13:41

Jase2985:

when that happened to me I lost the phone line but still managed to get a xdsl sync at about 20/3. had a tech there in 2 days and it took them 2.5 days to find the issue and fix it.

My line is naked, but before it was I had this issue and my phone wasn't affected as best I can recall. It's been a long time since I had an analog voice line (But I have ALWAYS had a master filter installed).

networkn

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#1501489 29-Feb-2016 13:42

So an update from my ISP says that Chorus will dispatch someone tomorrow PM. They have not said what they intend to do, I am concerned I will end up with someone who's English is poor and who's grasp of the issue is tenuous and they will change the port, blame the modem and move on.

mercutio

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#1501514 29-Feb-2016 14:49

networkn:

So an update from my ISP says that Chorus will dispatch someone tomorrow PM. They have not said what they intend to do, I am concerned I will end up with someone who's English is poor and who's grasp of the issue is tenuous and they will change the port, blame the modem and move on.

good luck :)

i reckon they might just switch pairs.

Chorusnz

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#1501515 29-Feb-2016 14:50

An intermittent fault of the nature you describe could be caused by a number of different components at various locations in the network.

If the fault comes back the next time you experience a downpour, get on the phone to your ISP and ask them to immediately start a 24hrour broadband line test.

This will give us some idea whether it is crosstalk on the line, increased attenuation, etc. that is causing the signal to degrade. This will then guide us where to look for the "fault".

It may be that there is a simple fix, it may be a complex issue to track down, but when we can identify an issue we will work to resolve it. Chasing intermittent faults is not an exact science and requires time & detective work.

So log the fault and contact your ISP again - quoting the original fault number - should the same issue arise again.

^GL

networkn

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#1501517 29-Feb-2016 14:53

Chorusnz:

An intermittent fault of the nature you describe could be caused by a number of different components at various locations in the network.

If the fault comes back the next time you experience a downpour, get on the phone to your ISP and ask them to immediately start a 24hrour broadband line test.

This will give us some idea whether it is crosstalk on the line, increased attenuation, etc. that is causing the signal to degrade. This will then guide us where to look for the "fault".

It may be that there is a simple fix, it may be a complex issue to track down, but when we can identify an issue we will work to resolve it. Chasing intermittent faults is not an exact science and requires time & detective work.

So log the fault and contact your ISP again - quoting the original fault number - should the same issue arise again.

^GL

Sadly my ISP is only operating largely during working hours, this proves challenging as often these faults (or my ability to detect them) occurs outside of working hours as I am working as well!

I think if we can start with checking the things that have remained constant during all this time, it may be the best way to start.

I do understand intermittent faults are harder to fix, but we need to start somewhere. I have a case open now.

mercutio

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#1501523 29-Feb-2016 14:56

networkn:

Chorusnz:

An intermittent fault of the nature you describe could be caused by a number of different components at various locations in the network.

If the fault comes back the next time you experience a downpour, get on the phone to your ISP and ask them to immediately start a 24hrour broadband line test.

This will give us some idea whether it is crosstalk on the line, increased attenuation, etc. that is causing the signal to degrade. This will then guide us where to look for the "fault".

It may be that there is a simple fix, it may be a complex issue to track down, but when we can identify an issue we will work to resolve it. Chasing intermittent faults is not an exact science and requires time & detective work.

So log the fault and contact your ISP again - quoting the original fault number - should the same issue arise again.

^GL

Sadly my ISP is only operating largely during working hours, this proves challenging as often these faults (or my ability to detect them) occurs outside of working hours as I am working as well!

I think if we can start with checking the things that have remained constant during all this time, it may be the best way to start.

I do understand intermittent faults are harder to fix, but we need to start somewhere. I have a case open now.

there's heaps of wet weather forecast for this week. maybe you can get them to put it on in advance?

if it actually gets wet on your property you may be able to track down where it's happening yourself.

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networkn

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#1501524 29-Feb-2016 14:58

In my experience Chorus only puts line monitors on for 24 hours at a time.

toejam316

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#1501605 29-Feb-2016 16:57

Pretty sure the Assure team can sort out a 48 hour monitor, and maybe a 72 hour, although I haven't asked for a 72 hour monitor.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

pjamieson

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#1519843 25-Mar-2016 20:59

RSP's can do up to 24Hrs. Chorus can do up to 7 Days and Techs can call in and ask for this. It's pretty rare, but maybe in an extreme intermittent situation it could be warranted.

Is the issue resolved Andre?

PoHq

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#1519921 26-Mar-2016 07:51

I used to be a Chorus faultman. These intermittent faults are the worst, customer experiences dropouts but by the time you turn up it's clear. There is nothing the tech can do aside from test the line and a few other basic things. He can't go looking for a fault that isn't there aside from that he probably want's to go to his next job as he is most likely paid partly on a per job basis.

Sound's like water is getting in somewhere, not uncommon. As Chorus said in the post best to wait for a downpour and call in then, even try and predict it by checking the weather ahead. The problem is you may get charged a no fault found fee.

Do you have a landline? A good sign there is water getting in is you will hear some crackle on the line when it's wet.

Good luck!

Dratsab

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#1519929 26-Mar-2016 08:28

I have a similar problem here in Wellington. I called Vodafone about it several times last year but nothing ever happened. Looks like they didn't even bother opening a ticket. Almost every time it rains...

networkn

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#1522277 29-Mar-2016 15:32

pjamieson:

RSP's can do up to 24Hrs. Chorus can do up to 7 Days and Techs can call in and ask for this. It's pretty rare, but maybe in an extreme intermittent situation it could be warranted.

Is the issue resolved Andre?

Hi. After a few days and a few follow ups, it seems there was FRE (Fault-related Event) further up the chain which had no ETA for a fix, but was confirmed fixed a few days later. Not entirely convinced, but haven't had any issues.

The thing that makes this difficult, is my RSP isn't open weekends or later at night which is as murphy's law would have it, when my connection typically goes down.

As this doesn't happen every time it rains (and often many months in between), I understand it could be difficult to get to the bottom of, but the pattern and symptoms are always consistent (drop outs frequently, wild DSL speed fluctuations ( As reported by the modem) over a period of hours and days).

I will just monitor and see what happens.

Thanks for following up.