"The bigger the Telco, the louslier the service ..."

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SteveC

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Reply # 894351 11-Sep-2013 16:28

johnr: If there is no longer an issue and you are back online no need to proceed any further

The reason I started this topic is that since some significant issues in 2008 (yes, really, that long ago) were resolved, I have had exploratory connection performance from TelstraClear, but since June this year, I have averaged an outage every two weeks or so.
I would like to know whether these outages are caused by:
* The Wellington cable network
* The Newtown cable network
* The cables in my street
* The Vodafone Surfboards (I have one each for Internet and TV) at home
* My router (I've checked obvious things)
* Something else.

There are more details in the history of this topic.

I would like some help from Vodafone in determining whether this most recent outage (for example) was in the network, or something I control.
I am the customer, and I do see a need to proceed further. If Vodafone's response is "We are meeting your residential SLA requirements (if any)", then I will shrug, stop telling people that the cable network is generally better than ADSL, and get on with life. I would like to think that Vodafone has more concern for their customers that that, and will try to help me determine where the fault is.

Does that explain my position a bit more clearly?

Thanks!

michaelmurfy

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Reply # 894363 11-Sep-2013 16:55

Log a fault with Vodafone if it's an ongoing thing with you, do do this phone that 0508 number, else if it happens rarely or for a few minutes at a time only this can be normal so no fault ticket is required.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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johnr

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Reply # 894369 11-Sep-2013 17:07

SteveC

We could do an investigation spend X number of hours on it and come back and say " Drunk driver hit power pole ' or ' Digger chopped thru cable ' ETC....list goes on

Outages happen but the network is not static and planned changes happen as well,

Sounds like you require a managed service contract would you like me to get someone to contact you about one?

SteveC

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Reply # 894408 11-Sep-2013 18:39

johnr: SteveC

We could do an investigation spend X number of hours on it and come back and say " Drunk driver hit power pole ' or ' Digger chopped thru cable ' ETC....list goes on

Outages happen but the network is not static and planned changes happen as well,

Sounds like you require a managed service contract would you like me to get someone to contact you about one?

No thanks - I've never said I'm particularly unhappy about the outages. Rather I'm curious about why there have been more over the past four months or so, and whether is is something wrong with my home network.

I strongly suspect that the Vodafone cable network is probably still technically the best option for those of us who can connect to it, and I'm happy with the plan our family is on.

Thanks again all contributors to this discussion.

DoomlordVekk

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Reply # 894526 11-Sep-2013 23:26

One person supports this post

Steve, I'd recommend giving the Service Desk a call, as there are a number of features within the DOCSIS standards
that will attempt to fix problems by forcing a cable modem to reboot and attempt to re-range against the
upstream and downstream service channels.

The process is

Cable Modem reboots
listen for the downstream channels on the wire.
listen for info about upstream channels
start talking to the CMTS (ranging)
do what the CMTS tells you (US and DS channel allocations).
Yell at the DHCP Server
Get the Time of Day
Do some security stuff
Get some config from the CMTS
Get registered on the cable network.
Bit more security stuff.
transition to maintenance state

If there are line conditions that get the CM hung up anywhere in this process, guess what the CM does, yup, reboots and tries again.

A cracked cable, a loose cable fitting, tree branches banging against the drop cable etc, can cause problems and it might not sort
itself out for a while can lead to periods of no service that really annoy and perplex customers.

"Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." Donald Porter – British Airways

The views expressed here are my own and are not reflective of other organisms or organisations.

MaxLV

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Reply # 894545 12-Sep-2013 00:22

One person supports this post

SteveC: Interestingly, only one person has commented on the inital point of this post:
SteveC: ... December 2012. From then till May, one outage alert (and that might have been me doing server maintenance). Today, 13th outage alert since the start of June.

... and I'm not sure this timing actually coincides with the start of the Seddon earthquakes!
I think it was Feburary 2010 that Telstraclear had serious layer two issues. Since then connectivity has been excellent, albeit slow at times. Vodafone purchase the network, and there is an increase in outages. From memory, soon after they purchased ihug, ex-ihug customers suffered their first serious email disruption ... Can't see how that could be Vodafone's fault, except perhaps reaction might have been delayed.

Do other cable customers percive that there have been more disruptions since June?

Steve

No.

Only two that I can recall so far this YEAR, one about three months ago, and one this week. Service restored in both cases within the hour.

Both outages were outside of TCL/Vodafones control.

There may have been more, but not when I was online.

Wellington central Cable customer. I have no complaints at all about the actual service I pay for (reduced by $20 a month recently, data cap increased to 100GB, DL speed increased to 100Mb/sec, then I get a letter saying they're changing my DL speed to 130Mb/sec at no extra cost)

Quinny

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Reply # 894769 12-Sep-2013 14:41

Same, my cable is solid as. Do have the speed bug to some FTP's that I know TCL staff have tried to sort (upstream issue) but it comes and goes so no biggie.

My only complaint (even love my T-Box which i still think is better than my Mums MySky and is cheaper too) is the failure increase data allowance cable in-line with the competition.

My score - Product fantastic still, data allowance average/low.

SteveC

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Reply # 894771 12-Sep-2013 14:45

Thanks to those of you who have verified that I should still be getting the "Cable service of old!". I've followed DoomlordVekk's advice above, and it does appear there is a Vodafone fault causing the modem to behave erratically.
Technician is scheduled for Monday morning!
:-)

johnr

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Reply # 894772 12-Sep-2013 14:47

Hope the issues are resolved but the storm passing over NZ is not helping at the moment :(

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