Having Massive Issues With Spark VDSL!

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Having Massive Issues With Spark VDSL!

BlueHorizon87

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#279782 8-Nov-2020 14:36

So essentially what's happening is that the internet keeps 'disconnecting', and the speed drops right down. At full (normal) speed our internet download speed sits at 20Mbps, and the upload speed is at 1Mbps.

When i'm gaming online on games such as Rocket League, and COD, i get constantly disconnected, and have massive amounts of ping/lag and the car/character will be darting around all over the place like it's switching dimensions lol. This happens every half hour, which is like every 3rd or 4th game!

When i get disconnected from a game, i'll do a speed test and it's the same result every single time, the download speed drops to 14Mbps, which is passable, but the upload speed sits around 65Kbps! Yup, you read that right! 65Kbps! :( It's the same issue all the damn time! Whenever the internet 'drops' out, i can guarantee everytime that the upload speed will show the same result. Once the internet 'kicks' back in again, it goes back up to 1Mbps, but not for long of course.

We have had several technitions out provided by Spark, and even from Geek Squad who we called out ourselves which cost us like $300, and none of them managed to fix it, and they all claimed in the end that the internet was fine even though the internet drops out every 30 minutes!

Oh, and btw, we were on the ADSL plan which gave us the same issue, but Spark 'upgraded' us to the VDSL, which made NO difference to speed or reliabilty!

We have tried several modems, but the issue persists.

I am using a line splitter at the jack point since we do use landline phones here for the business, and as far as i'm aware i don't believe a master splitter/filter has been wired into the house, not while we have lived here anyway. Could this be the issue? Do i need a master filter, how do i go about getting one, do Spark need to deal/pay for this? Or is there something else going on? Is it a Spark issue, should we just ditch them and go elsewhere?

Any help will be very much appreciated, it really will! I'm sick of having these issues all day long!

I have copied the 'DSL Health Stats' from my TP-Link modem which i will paste below. Someone with some technical knowledge may be able to check the stats to see if they show any issues? The modem is a TP-Link Archer VR300 and is running the latest firmware which i updated a few months back. The internet is currently running fine so it's hard to know if these stats below change when it craps out, but i'll give the current numbers/stats anyway.

Line Status: Connected

DSL Up Time: 0 days, 12 hours, 54 minutes

DSL Modulation Type: VDSL2

Annex Type: Annex Auto

Current Rate (kbps) - 1346 (Upstream) 23657 (Downstream)

Max Rate (kbps) - 1346 (Upstream) 26131 (Downstream)

SNR Margin (dB) - 6.2 (Upstream) 6.1 (Downstream)

Line Attenuation (dB) - 5.9 (Upstream) 22.6 (Downstream)

Errors (pkts) - 1434 (Upstream) 3 (Downstream)

UPDATED STATS (While having Issues)

Line Status: Connected

DSL Up Time: 0 days 14 hours 10 minutes

DSL Modulation Type: VDSL2

Annex Type: Annex auto

Current Rate (kbps) - 1346 (Upstream) 23657 (Downstream)

Max Rate (kbps) - 1346 (Upstream) 26015 (Downstream)

SNR Margin (dB) - 6.2 (Upstream) 6 (Downstream)

Line Attenuation (dB) - 5.9 (Upstream) 22.6 (Downstream)

Errors (pkts) - 4586 (Upstream) 3 (Downstream)

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#2599941 8-Nov-2020 14:59

The most likely cause is upstream congestion - cloud backups or something else that is uploading data. There are a few errors on the line, but not too bad for 13 hours.

Can you re-check those stats while you are having the problem to see if they change. That will help determine if this is a physical line issue, or a saturation issue.

BlueHorizon87

14 posts

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#2599952 8-Nov-2020 15:20

The Upload speed is going very slow right now, so i have just re checked the stats and posted them into my inital post as an update. I'm not gaming atm, so i can't tell whether there are any disconnections as such, but the internet has slowed right down.

As far as cloud backups go, not exactly what that may be? I know there are 2 pc's in the office, that remain constantly on, maybe that's the issue? Wouldn't of thought that would cause disconnects though?

sbiddle

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#2599954 8-Nov-2020 15:29

As already mentioned odds are you're saturating your upstream.

Is this is the case there is actually nothing wrong and nothing to fix - if you want the problem to go away you simply need to stop saturating your upstream bandwidth.

richms

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#2599955 8-Nov-2020 15:29

This is one of the few cases where a gaming router might help, you have a terrible slow connection and need to prioritize the gaming over everything else,

But first just confirm that its slow at the same time on all computers and its not just the one that you game on giving the issues.

Open task manager on them all and look at the network tab for anything on the network uploading when things are gone to crap.

Make everyone with phones stop using the wifi when you're gaming. Doesnt take much to take out an upload speed that low, simple photos uploading or similar will do it.

Richard rich.ms

Killerkiwi2005

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#2599956 8-Nov-2020 15:31

Had the same issue a few years ago, in the end chorus replaced the line from my house to the road and that finally fixed it

RunningMan

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#2599960 8-Nov-2020 15:41

OK, from the extra info, this is definitely looking like a physical line issue, not saturation. That's a significant increase in reported errors on the upstream DSL right as you have the problem. The most common cause of this is poor internal wiring, which a master filter would bypass. Where are you geographically? @coffeebaron on here can probably help in Auckland/Waikato. It could also be some sort of periodic external interference.

Did Spark run a 24 hours line test and give you the results?

BlueHorizon87

14 posts

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#2599982 8-Nov-2020 16:28

Awesome, thanks so much for the info!

I think a Master Filter is the way to go by the sounds of it.

I am in the Christchurch region, just outside of the Rolleston area. There are a few companies that do it according to Google, one is a company called TheConnectionCompany and they do data cable installations, i will call them tomorrow and ask them if they can install one for me. I presume they supply there own Master Filter?

No Spark haven't done a line test, which now you mention it is really surprising with the amount of times we have had to deal with them over this issue! Should i call them to take a test of our line? It might be best to do that while i'm gaming, since that's when i seem to get the most issues?

Also, should i be dealing with Spark for the master filter, or should i just call that other company to get it done? Sorry for all the questions, i just want to make sure this is dealt with. I've been having these issues for 5 years now!

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hio77

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#2600077 8-Nov-2020 19:23

RunningMan:

The most likely cause is upstream congestion - cloud backups or something else that is uploading data. There are a few errors on the line, but not too bad for 13 hours.

Can you re-check those stats while you are having the problem to see if they change. That will help determine if this is a physical line issue, or a saturation issue.

i'd certainly agree here. without decent queuing, 1mibt upload is fairly limited...

few errors on upstream but pretty limited, ddDLM hasn't pulled back so the line is profiling as physically OK.

It's possible there is a bad joint, but far more likely to simply be congestion.

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RunningMan

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#2600100 8-Nov-2020 20:19

Give the sudden surge in DSL errors right at the time you have the problem, it does suggest a physical line fault, rather than saturation (i.e trying to shove too much through the connection at once). While this is more likely to be a problem with the wiring inside your home (and a master filter instal solves this sort of thing), it would probably be best to rule out it being external as well. Spark helpdesk should be able to run a line test, if you let them know the problem seems to coincide with those errors each time.

It doesn't take much to saturate a 1Mb/s connection, so anything doing an upload like iCloud, Onedrive, video calling or other backups (even sending a big email attachment) can hog the connection.

BMarquis

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#2600129 8-Nov-2020 22:02

It's not entirely clear, here:
"I am using a line splitter at the jack point since we do use landline phones here for the business"

While I'm sure the techs/geekquad guys would have picked it up - you have filters on all phones/faxes in the place, yeah? The 'line splitter' doesnt actually do anything on the DSL modem side, it is all the phone devices that need the filters at every jackpoint.
Again, I'm sure Spark will have asked this, but there is no monitored (or ex-monitored) alarm that could me connected to the phone line?

BlueHorizon87

14 posts

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#2600135 8-Nov-2020 22:18

Yes all the phones that are connected to Jack points have line splitters. All our landlines are in the office, which is where the modem is. We have a phone connected to the splitter that the modem is also connected to. I guess that's the point of splitters/filters to split the two connections, while filtering any interference. Maybe I should buy some new splitters just in case they are faulty, but they aren't very old so they should be working fine.

BMarquis

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#2600137 8-Nov-2020 22:44

BlueHorizon87: Yes all the phones that are connected to Jack points have line splitters. All our landlines are in the office, which is where the modem is. We have a phone connected to the splitter that the modem is also connected to. I guess that's the point of splitters/filters to split the two connections, while filtering any interference. Maybe I should buy some new splitters just in case they are faulty, but they aren't very old so they should be working fine.

cool. PM me your address and I'll see what I can find/uncover on the Chorus side :)

nztim

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#2600138 8-Nov-2020 22:44

Master Filter - https://cdlnz.com/XDSL-MASTER

if there are multiple jackpoints you can get nasty reflections on the line

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sidefx

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#2600247 9-Nov-2020 06:47

Possibly a silly question, but assume Fibre is not an option where you are?

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coffeebaron

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#2600289 9-Nov-2020 09:02

For VDSL, if you don't have a master filter / splitter installed, then yes get this done. Even if it doesn't fix the issue, it is essential if you want to maximise your VDSL performance.

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