VDSL service unstable

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › VDSL service unstable

1 | 2 | 3

220 posts

Master Geek

#2213747 9-Apr-2019 17:55

Popcorn ready for the Chorus result.

no news really, so we might need more popcorn .. Chorus reset the port yesterday, and didn't get time to look at the line today .. apparently neighboring business has similar problems with their internet ..

old3eyes

9119 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2213803 9-Apr-2019 18:48

Glad I came across this thread. Just bought a new house 3 doors down from the old one with VDSL and did 35Mb down and about 7 up with splitter filter. New house is using plug filters and the VDSL speeds are terrible. 15 to 18 Mb down and 0.5 up or worse. Are arranging to get cable run from the demark to the office with filter and hopefully this will improve things. No fiber here in Morrinsville until 2021 at the earliest. The link to the VDSL thread was a great read.

Regards,

Old3eyes

Foiler

220 posts

Master Geek

#2215669 12-Apr-2019 12:31

unfortunately no real progress, VDSL still resetting many times per day .. BUT very interesting result from changing the Draytek firmware to same latest version but a different variant which doesn't support vectoring .. now the line conditions are STABLE ie SNR and connect speeds are not changing .. AND no errors showing in the stats.

Can anyone make sense of all this? if it is a faulty port on the DSLAM how to get Chorus to change this?

hio77

12999 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lizard Networks

#2215720 12-Apr-2019 12:56

I've seen this with other drayteks....

Seems to be they dont support the Vectoring standard correctly or such?

Although your on an IKNS linecard, so vectoring isn't relevant at all.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

BMarquis

445 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Chorus

Lifetime subscriber

#2215726 12-Apr-2019 13:20

Foiler:

unfortunately no real progress, VDSL still resetting many times per day .. BUT very interesting result from changing the Draytek firmware to same latest version but a different variant which doesn't support vectoring .. now the line conditions are STABLE ie SNR and connect speeds are not changing .. AND no errors showing in the stats.

Can anyone make sense of all this? if it is a faulty port on the DSLAM how to get Chorus to change this?

DSL is riddled with interoperability issues.

As Hio says, you aren't on a vectoring capable linecard so there are 3 possibilities.

1) Placebo/red herring/the issue has gone away for a bit, but might be back

2) More changed in the firmware variant than only Vectoring support,

3) whatever they did to disable vectoring support, also fixed an interop issue

In my experience, it is unlikely to be a faulty DSLAM port with the symptoms you have. DSL ports usually die completely or become permanently impacted, rather than intermittent.

Foiler

220 posts

Master Geek

#2215743 12-Apr-2019 13:49

Just to clarify .. with the change today to non-vectoring firmware, the VDSL still resets frequently but it comes back up each time with the same stats.

With the vectoring-capable (and recommended by Draytek) firmware the stats are different after each of the frequent resets .. and once it even went to a 17a profile lol.

A couple of other notes which may have the Draytek-slayers pausing:

1. The onset of this behaviour was sudden - 3am on Thursday last week - we are monitoring the internet every 5 minutes and the change was abrupt.

2. A neighbouring business using a Huawei router seems to have the same issue.

Foiler

220 posts

Master Geek

#2220639 18-Apr-2019 14:31

Seems to be all ok now after swapping to a Huawei router for about an hour this morning, then back to the Draytek (no config changes at all) .. so unfortunately it is a total mystery what was resolved.

Chorus never once spoke to the customer but were sent by Vodafone to "do stuff" more than once, so no idea what they did, if anything .. but perhaps some magic they did a few days ago required a power-down of the router? (of course was powered down earlier in the fault, but not recently)

One question re screenshot below .. does anyone know which DSL modem code is best for this Silverdale site? I was surprised that the firmware we have installed (doesn't support Vectoring) has defaulted the code to 548006 rather than the default code.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

dc2daylight

87 posts

Master Geek

#2220813 18-Apr-2019 19:06

Foiler:
local wiring has been thoroughly checked out by an expert .. firmware has been upgraded to latest .. this fault did suddenly onset at 3am last Thursday (the day after a big fire just around the corner) .. the copper line seems quiet but perhaps there could be bursts of interference causing this?

Did your expert check for rats in the walls or ceiling? Rats are known for both not liking being burnt alive, and also for enjoying chewing on cables, though often not to the point of breaking the cores altogether...

Foiler

220 posts

Master Geek

#2221288 19-Apr-2019 21:11

ok jokes .. the fault is still there, we simply had a couple of lucky hours of continuous internet.

We have now commissioned a Huawei router on the faulty line, and it is doing the same frequent re-synchs as was the Draytek.

We also moved the Draytek to another VDSL line where it has been going without any re-synch for 10 hours. Ok that doesn't prove much except to say that the Draytek is probably not faulty.

The fact that both the Draytek and the Huawei are re-synching several times an hour on the Silverdale line I think does point to some kind of fault there.

Customer has contacted Vodafone this evening, who say that Chorus is refusing to attend to the line as they think it is ok. Fact is that the customer has had no contact from Chorus, and is unaware of Chorus performing any physical line tests from the CPE.

Is there any way to assist Chorus to play fair? It would be nice to see their set of test results which proves the line and equipment is all ok.

dc2daylight

87 posts

Master Geek

#2221397 20-Apr-2019 09:57

Foiler if I was joking I would have used an emoticon if unclear, but I was being 100% serious. Have a look behind furniture or in your roof cavity for rat droppings or a bad smell. Sometimes they die for no reason and that's the clue instead of droppings which are small and look like black grains of fat rice usually.

Rats really do like to chomp on cables, and many experienced electricians will confirm this to you, as some of mine have done in the past. I didn't believe it at first, but have heard this from more than one electrician.

If the wiring is damaged by rats, or just the right amount of corrosion in a join then it will definately create an unstable xDSL line, with a 'lottery draw' on whether Chorus see it as a currently active fault.

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2221411 20-Apr-2019 10:34

Foiler, are you able to connect the modem to the ETP where the street line meets the house line, that will rule out the house wiring?

@chorusnz should be able to escalate it

coffeebaron

6231 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2221535 20-Apr-2019 15:44

The wiring has been checked by me and new cable run from ITP to modem, new master filter and jack-point. Since modem has also been swapped out, then I think that eliminates everything on customer side.

Rural IT and Broadband support.

Broadband troubleshooting and master filter installs.
Starlink installer - one month free: https://www.starlink.com/?referral=RC-32845-88860-71
Wi-Fi and networking
Cel-Fi supply and installer - boost your mobile phone coverage legally

Need help in Auckland, Waikato or BoP? Click my email button, or email me direct: [my user name] at geekzonemail dot com

Foiler

220 posts

Master Geek

#2226486 27-Apr-2019 18:44

Hopefully a final update .. the VDSL service has been stable (tested with both Huawei and Draytek routers) for past 4 days after Chorus did "something" - they won't say .. maybe a pair change? Seems impossible to find out what went on, which I find totally bizarre. The Vodafone CSR was trying to find out. Getting Chorus to take action and visit the customer site took a whole three weeks .. and after three weeks of almost daily phone calls to Vodafone it was only a very determined Vodafone CSR who finally ensured that Chorus do something. Is that weird or normal?

hio77

12999 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lizard Networks

#2226487 27-Apr-2019 18:51

Based on how your fault has shown itself, i'd say normal.

to be fair, if the agent used the chorus escalation matrix it would have gotten to a far more rapid result.

Generally their matrix requires input from a team leader etc to escalate up further. it would seem this agent may have been going out of their way to do their best for you, it still can happen it's just a pain.

to context this with the right detail. Often it comes down to if faults are simply reported and reported, nothing really happens. It goes straight to the field, the same teach gets it goes hurm. lets try to fix this too and keep going. Worse yet, some of these faults the tech actually reports back to their management, hey there is an area fault. we have done our best for customer considering please send a area faults tech.

Sometimes, that doesnt happen.

If a fault is raised to chorus, then raised again and identified as a repeat or escalated, it gets far more scrunitity to understand what's actually gone wrong - with copper it's not always obvious...

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Foiler

220 posts

Master Geek

#2271582 8-Jul-2019 08:19

Customer got charged for not one but THREE of these .. "Charge from Chorus for tech visit - no fault found"

Customer only ever saw or heard from ONE tech visit !!! I have heard of printing money buy c'mon ..

And pretty bold of Chorus to make these charges considering they eventually did something to fix the fault.

Any way of disputing this? Doesn't Chorus have to produce a test sheet to prove the line is faultless?

The Chorus tech I spoke to said he was "old school" and didn't have anything to test the line balance .. ok so NFF but not sure about the balance (which can only be accurately measured from the customer end of the line) .. what the hey???

1 | 2 | 3