[TelstraClear] Cable Modem taking from 15 to 30 minutes to reconnect after it's powered on

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geek4me

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#16513 13-Oct-2007 13:07

I'm finding that the TelstraClear Internet cable modem is taking longer and longer to reconnect after if has been powered off and on.

I called the Help Desk and after the best part of an hour got through to a technician. He said that it can take 15 minutes or longer to establish a connection - i.e. for the Online light to stop flashing and stay on. This is because as more peple are connecting up these connections get queued and it can take 15 minutes or longer to get to the top of the queue (sounds alot like their Help Desk queue) and get connected or Online.

He said TelstraClear are aware of the problem - no solution yet though. One solution is to not power the cable modem off.

As I use it for VoIP with Xnet/Vfx I have installed a UPS to minimize power cuts.

Are other users finding that the cable modem is taking longer to go Online than in the past due to more and more users powering it on with their computers?

The last time I powered it off today, to install the UPS, it took about 30 minutes to reconnect cycling through its reboot sequence. Once it's online it stays Online. I have no problem with it dropping off the Network.

doppleganger

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#90925 13-Oct-2007 16:00

This is because as more peple are connecting up these connections get queued and it can take 15 minutes or longer to get to the top of the queue (sounds alot like their Help Desk queue) and get connected or Online.

Actually the number of people on the CMTS with you has bullochs all effect on the time it takes for your modem to register. CMTS stands for cable modem termination system. It's like a switch/bridge that has cable stuff (modems predominantly) on it's RF side and ethernet stuff on the other. CMTS can run in bridged or routed mode, TCL run there's bridged.

This is the way modems come online:

1) power light flashing: the modem is performing it's power on self test

2) Recieve light flashing: The modem's rf reciver is scanning frequency ranges looking for an analogue MPEG stream it can lock onto. There's a specific type of docsis frame it's looking for and will lock when it sees it. As there are LOTS of mpeg streams on the downstream, only 1 of which is carrying docsis data, this can take a while.

3) Send light flashing: Modem has been told about the available upstream channels and is sending ranging request packets back at various power levels and frequencies until it hears back from the CMTS (cable modem termination system) that the modem has been seen on the upstream. It then does a bunch of borring fine tuning stuff.

Because the modem can be trying upto 6 different upstreams, this can take FREAKIN AGES!

4) Online light flashing: All the RF crap has been taking care of and the modem is performing these things in order:
a) DHCP an IP address
b) TFTP a config file
c) Register with the cmts.

Assuming all these things happen successfully, then the modem will come online and start passing data. If you're seeing the online light flashing for ages and then it power cycles and starts again, or even if the online light just keeps flashing for ages then it probably means you've got a crappy RF connection and the modem is having issues successfully completing the registration with the CMTS.

If it were me I'd log a fault with TCL and get them to see if your connectiong is borked.

Opinions expressed by me are mine alone and should not be construed to be supported by my employer in any way shape or form. Ever. Even if they say they agree. Especially if they say they agree. Really!

geek4me

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#90974 14-Oct-2007 10:51

doppleganger: Assuming all these things happen successfully, then the modem will come online and start passing data. If you're seeing the online light flashing for ages and then it power cycles and starts again, or even if the online light just keeps flashing for ages then it probably means you've got a crappy RF connection and the modem is having issues successfully completing the registration with the CMTS.

If it were me I'd log a fault with TCL and get them to see if your connectiong is borked.

If the RF connection is bad wouldn't this also cause the cable modem connection to drop regularly afer it has successfully connected - this does not occur, once on it stays on?

The cable modem cycles through the Power, Receive and Send lights quite quickly. The delay is always on the Online light which blinks for ages. The modem also reboots itself and repeats the power on sequence. I guess if it times out on establishing a connection it has another go at regular intervals.

doppleganger

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#90997 14-Oct-2007 16:32

geek4me: If the RF connection is bad wouldn't this also cause the cable modem connection to drop regularly afer it has successfully connected - this does not occur, once on it stays on?

The cable modem cycles through the Power, Receive and Send lights quite quickly. The delay is always on the Online light which blinks for ages. The modem also reboots itself and repeats the power on sequence. I guess if it times out on establishing a connection it has another go at regular intervals.

That does sound a bit special... There are a few conditions that would account for that, most of which should be effecting more than just you, but it's the sort of thing you'd need to be talking to cluefull people at TCL to sort out. If it's something dodgy with your particular run of cable it'll be especially tricky to figure out and fix.

Having said that tho, take a look here:

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/7363

and here

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/7124

Thats some info about accessing the modems diagnostics page and what levels and things are okay to see. TCL are running QPSK in the upstream, so if you see the upstream transmit power level is > 55dB definitely ring them, cause that's _bad_ and springs to mind as a symptom you might see from a number of the network issues that could cause your problem.

Matt1

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#90998 14-Oct-2007 16:46

The response I got from TelstraClear for the same problem was that they basically don't have the capacity to deal with the number of customers they have at peak times. Their authentication system is too over-worked and so once you drop off, you stay off. I was told they should have more capacity added by the end of the month and the problem will go away. The thing is that whenever we have a problem, TelstraClear say they've had a bunch of new customers signing up which is causing slow downs. Well why not plan ahead?!

My problem has more to it than this though since the modem has been dropping out occasionally for months, it just reconnected fast enough that we didn't notice.

TomAckroyd

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#91067 15-Oct-2007 08:52

I had exactly this problem yesterday. My solution in the past was to power down the modem and restart the computer, but this wasn't working yesterday. I ring the helpdesk. After waiting half an hour (thank god for hands free, but TCL - please get rid of the Kenny G!) the helpdesk tell me there's a fault with my modem and it needs replacing. We arrange a call out.

Then I try the power down thing again. I leave it off for ten minutes, power it up and then ten minutes after that, I get the online light and it's working. And is still working now.

The cable modem for the STB was fine through all of this.

geek4me

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#91075 15-Oct-2007 09:53

One other thing the Help Desk said when I called was to leave the Cable modem off for 5 minutes or longer before powering it on. This way it will attempt to make a new connection rather than try to re-establish the old one which takes longer.

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

doppleganger

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#91101 15-Oct-2007 13:14

geek4me: One other thing the Help Desk said when I called was to leave the Cable modem off for 5 minutes or longer before powering it on. This way it will attempt to make a new connection rather than try to re-establish the old one which takes longer.

Nice. Unfortunately also completely wrong. It boggles me how the front of house people can get away with giving out bullochs info like that.

Cable modem ranging and registration starts from scratch every time the modem cycles, there's no such thing as re-establishing anything where that's concerned. There's some info that gets left in the CMTS but that'll stay there until it gets manually cleared or the thing gets power cycled.