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littleheaven

2130 posts

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#196456 31-May-2016 23:31
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Very late one night last week, and again tonight, my internet connection completely failed. Instead of displaying the website page I want, my browser defaults to my router admin page and it tells me there is "no response from the remote server." It fixed itself overnight last week, but tonight it's been out all evening. I used Spark chat to talk to the broadband team and they asked me to try my phone line. Picked it up... no dial tone, just deafening crackling and hissing. So they told me to call faults instead. After over an hour on hold, I got through to faults who told me that they couldn't find a fault on my line so my phone was probably faulty and it was affecting my internet. However, I'm on VDSL and my modem is connected directly to the master splitter at the ETP outside my house. It's not connected to the line the phone is on. Also, I unplugged the phone, power cycled the router, and still no internet. I asked them to book a technician, who can't come until Friday afternoon. They told me I'd probably get charged the $140 call-out fee because it was my equipment causing the issue.

 

I just wanted to check with the wise folk here... can your phone cause your VDSL connection to drop out when it's not even on the same internal wiring? 

 

I should add that twice in the last 6 months I've had to place fault calls for excessive crackling on my line and the last time it was also causing my internet to cut in and out. I tried several different phones and the problem was the same on all of them, so it was definitely not a problem with the phone itself. Each time Chorus has come and poked around in the street and in the box where my master splitter is installed, and whatever they did seemed to fix the issue immediately. On both occasions, they confirmed it was an issue with the wiring outside of my dwelling.

 

So, in the meantime, I am internet and phone-less (the dial tone comes and goes, but it's crackling so loud as to be unusable) and I work from home and rely on my broadband connection to do business. I have a huge deadline due tomorrow. I guess I'll be chewing through my mobile data.





Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.


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PeterReader
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  #1563365 31-May-2016 23:31
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Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

 

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

 

  • you have reset your modem and router 
  • your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing - you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap 
  • your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing 
  • you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

 

  • Your ISP and plan 
  • Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL) 
  • Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin) 
  • Your general location (or street) 
  • If you are rural or urban 
  • If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin 
  • If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service 
  • If you have done an isolation test as per the link above 

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

 

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

 

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

 





I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

 

These links are referral codes: Sharesies | Mighty Ape 




  #1563417 1-Jun-2016 06:16
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most likely related to the rain we are having. probably water in a joint somewhere. best time to log a fault it while its still raining so they can identify where there issue is while it is still wet


littleheaven

2130 posts

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  #1563503 1-Jun-2016 09:49
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Jase2985:

 

most likely related to the rain we are having. probably water in a joint somewhere. best time to log a fault it while its still raining so they can identify where there issue is while it is still wet

 

 

Thanks Jase. BarTender has checked my line and it's dead so you're likely right. The street has been awash this week.





Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.




Athlonite
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  #1563533 1-Jun-2016 10:32
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They told me I'd probably get charged the $140 call-out fee because it was my equipment causing the issue....

 

HaHa yeah they always say that just to cover their butts but from my experience it's always 99.9% there gear that's gone poo  

 

 

 

and as Jase said it's probably water in the line somewhere 


littleheaven

2130 posts

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  #1563535 1-Jun-2016 10:38
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Yes, I had to listen to the disclaimer :o) The lady I was speaking to had me doubting myself, even though I was sure it wasn't my phone causing the problem. I did call faults again this morning to see if they could get someone out to me earlier and it turned out that they'd booked the wrong kind of call for me - but in the end they couldn't manage to improve on the response time. At least this time they offered to redirect my incoming calls to my mobile. Last time this happened the Chorus guy said things were full of water down by the footpath. Fibre can't get here soon enough. Roll on February!





Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.


nunz
1421 posts

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  #1567784 8-Jun-2016 11:16
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littleheaven:

 

Yes, I had to listen to the disclaimer :o) The lady I was speaking to had me doubting myself, even though I was sure it wasn't my phone causing the problem. I did call faults again this morning to see if they could get someone out to me earlier and it turned out that they'd booked the wrong kind of call for me - but in the end they couldn't manage to improve on the response time. At least this time they offered to redirect my incoming calls to my mobile. Last time this happened the Chorus guy said things were full of water down by the footpath. Fibre can't get here soon enough. Roll on February!

 

 

 

 

Fibre can help but we have had four outages in the last 6-12 months. The technicians keep bending the cables in the junction box on the opposite side of the road.

 

Phone and internet go out, we look outside, see a chorus / enable van, tell them its gone out. They claim not their fault, we call in a fault, we wait three days and they fix it because someone kinked the fibre.

 

Again, fibre can be great but it can bring its own problems.

 

We hooked our fibre router and the gateway router onto a cheap digitus 650VAh UPS. During power cuts everyone in the street goes dark and no internet etc. We are watching videos on a laptop and the ups cover us for over 36 hours of uptime at least - as we discovered last year.

 

 

 

Shane

 

 

 

 


littleheaven

2130 posts

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  #1567800 8-Jun-2016 11:28
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nunz:

 

We hooked our fibre router and the gateway router onto a cheap digitus 650VAh UPS. During power cuts everyone in the street goes dark and no internet etc. We are watching videos on a laptop and the ups cover us for over 36 hours of uptime at least - as we discovered last year.

 

 

 

Shane

 

 

I guess no system is without its weak points! I'm on the SunGenie pilot scheme with Vector, so we have a 5kwh photovoltaic system on the roof with a 10kwh battery attached to it. Our modem/router, fridge, and living room lights are on the "critical load circuit" which the battery will continue to power in an outage. We had one a few months back where we were sitting there all lit up watching YouTube on my sister's laptop while the rest of the street was plunged into darkness. It was awesome, until I tried to boil the kettle and ran the battery out (who knew kettles drew so much power?).





Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.


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