Telecom broadband connection drops every few minutes?

Forums › Spark New Zealand › Telecom broadband connection drops every few minutes?

bananamuffin

23 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Topic # 64927 26-Jul-2010 10:13

Hi all,

I've had my Telecom service for about 10 days now. I have the Thomson TG585 v8 modem from Telecom, on which I have the wireless interface turned off and my Airport Extreme hooked to the ethenet port, so I use that for wireless access. The reason I opted to do this is because the two macbooks in the house were having trouble connecting to the Thomson wifi, but once I hooked up the airport everything worked just fine.

Since yesterday evening though I've been having a strange problem. The Thomson modem keeps dropping the internet connection. It's happening every few minutes and the internet light on the modem goes off for about 30 seconds and of course we're disconnected from the internet. Then it comes back on and we're online. It's really weird and I don't know what's causing it. Last night I restarted the modem a couple of times hoping this would resolve the problem but no go. This morning when the problem persisted I decided to reset the modem to factory defaults and see if that would sort the issue, but it's still dropping the connection every few minutes and the outage lasts about 20 to 30 secs. I haven't changed anything around the apt or added any new devices to the network.

Any thoughts on what could be causing this? Anyone had a similar experience? I'm wondering whether it might be a Telecom issue or a modem issue?

cyril7

6311 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 292

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 356377 26-Jul-2010 10:24

Hi, can you post the line stats from the modem.

These Thompsons have a bit of a reputation from dropping connections, so its quite possible its a dud modem, but if you could check you line stats first to confirm its not a DSL issue.

Cyril

bananamuffin

23 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 356384 26-Jul-2010 10:42

Hope this is what you mean?

Uptime:
0 days, 0:06:05

DSL Type:
G.992.5 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:
1.012 / 9.782

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/MB]:
528,00 / 1,45

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:
12,0 / 18,5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:
16,0 / 29,5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:
13,0 / 12,0

Vendor ID (Local/Remote):
TMMB / BDCM

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):
0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):
1.048.564 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote):
0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote):
0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote):
1.048.577 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down):
0 / 0

CRC Errors (Up/Down):
0 / 1.338

HEC Errors (Up/Down):
0 / 4.294.964.333

cyril7: Hi, can you post the line stats from the modem.

These Thompsons have a bit of a reputation from dropping connections, so its quite possible its a dud modem, but if you could check you line stats first to confirm its not a DSL issue.

Cyril

cyril7

6311 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 292

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 356421 26-Jul-2010 11:49

Hi, I would have assumed slightly higher sync rates for the line loss, have you got filters on all phones etc. Remember every phone device needs a filter between it and the line, the modem just connects directly although to use a filter with a modem port is ok.

How many phone devices do you have across the line, do you have a monitored alarm (does not need to actually be monitored, just having a phone line connected via it will upset DSL).

Have you performed a basic isolation test, ie disconnect every phone/fax/skybox and their filters across the line so only the modem is connected (via a filter if its easier)

Cyril

bananamuffin

23 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 356425 26-Jul-2010 11:56

Hey Cyril

I have a filter on everything - I only have a Sky Box and one phone line
and they're both on filters, as is the modem. There's no alarm in the apt. The Sky filter was installed by the Sky tech when he set it up, and that was actually set up two days before the broadband was set up but I made sure they put the filter in.

I will do the isolation testing later today (waiting on a phone call now), disconnect the phone from the filter and the box from the wall and see if that changes anything.

thanks for your input, this is a bit of an annoying problem...

cyril7: Hi, I would have assumed slightly higher sync rates for the line loss, have you got filters on all phones etc. Remember every phone device needs a filter between it and the line, the modem just connects directly although to use a filter with a modem port is ok.

How many phone devices do you have across the line, do you have a monitored alarm (does not need to actually be monitored, just having a phone line connected via it will upset DSL).

Have you performed a basic isolation test, ie disconnect every phone/fax/skybox and their filters across the line so only the modem is connected (via a filter if its easier)

Cyril

richms

21447 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4354

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 356474 26-Jul-2010 13:09

There is no need for a filter at the modem.

Does the apartment have a door intercom that is wired into the phoneline?

Richard rich.ms

bananamuffin

23 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 356479 26-Jul-2010 13:13

No intercom. It has street level access, and so there's no intercom, doorbell, etc. Nothing is wired to the phone line.

This only started last night, hasn't happened before, though I've only had the service for about 10 or 11 days.

richms: There is no need for a filter at the modem.

Does the apartment have a door intercom that is wired into the phoneline?

bananamuffin

23 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 356727 26-Jul-2010 19:47

OK, did the isolation test this evening, unplugged phone and sky box and left only the modem plugged in, and it still drops the connection every few minutes... arghh!! How do I tell if this is a modem problem or a Telecom connection problem?

Bah! :(

rattewisday

192 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 356731 26-Jul-2010 19:52

Call Telecom - they can run a quick line test or also an extended line test which takes 24 hours. I would try borrowing a friends modem just to rule that out also.

bananamuffin

23 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 357614 28-Jul-2010 11:04

Thanks! I did try a different modem but no dice. I called Telecom and they're now running the extended line test and they'll call me tomorrow around noon and let me know what they find, and hopefully this problem will get resolved.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Will update when I hear from them.

dannyres: Call Telecom - they can run a quick line test or also an extended line test which takes 24 hours. I would try borrowing a friends modem just to rule that out also.

bananamuffin

23 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 360765 31-Jul-2010 19:31

So the Chorus tech came over, looked at my setup, checked the jacks with his meter, and picked up on a lot of errors on the line. He then went to the main telephone room in our apt complex and concluded the problem is outside of our building.

After fiddling around at the cabinet, he called me back and said he thought he'd found and rectified the problem, so I should monitor it for the night and the next day and then give him a call.

The connection worked awesome until later the next day when it dropped out four times. Called him, he called Telecom, they said they noticed two drops. They're thinking there's an issue with the cable coming into the building. So they switched me onto a different channel/process (?) or something, which should be more robust and handle the noise/errors better, so hopefully things will improve. They're monitoring the line for about 96 hours and he'll call me on Tuesday so we can compare notes.

So far it's working great!

Just posting a follow up for anyone who might be having the same problem in the future. Following all the advice on here helped me a lot when it came time to call in Telecom, because I had already done a lot of the stuff they wanted to know about - isolation tests, trying all the jack ports, different modem, etc.

Now hoping the line stays stable and doesn't keep dropping out.