topic Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue? in Broadband

How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 19:45:54 GMT

Over the past week I've noticed the my connection keeps dropping randomly.

First it was just a couple of times earlier this week (that I noticed) then it dropped 3 times in a row over the past few hours.

My connection is usually very stable.

But over the weekend I've had at least 9 connection drops recorded in the logs (The logs only go back 24h on my modem/router).

I'm using a TP-Link TD-W9970 modem/router

Attached are 3 screenshots of my router connection details after the last 3 reconnects.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

jab1 — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 20:05:27 GMT

@Bill_C Looking at those last three connection details, I would suspect you are suffering from network-induced DSL drops.

My suggestion would be to (1) Check your phone for noise, and if there is any, report a PHONE fault via:https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/phone/ If the line is clear, report a broadband fault via:https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/broadband/

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 20:24:09 GMT

Thanks,
No noise on the line.
(Urgh!! It dropped off again as I was typing!)

I'll send in a broadband fault text in the morning.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

adamwalker — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 14:01:02 GMT

Hi Bill_C, it looks like things have settled down again since as the connection has been stable for the past 2 days, have you been noticing any issues on your side during that time?

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 14:48:37 GMT

Been checking every so often and it's been stable.

Current uptime of 2 days, 18 hours.

Only thing I can see is my Upstream SNR has been creeping up over that past 2 days (Started at 7.8dB now at 15.2dB).
I'll keep an eye on it to see if that's causing the line to drop off if it gets higher.

Downstream SNR and Line Attenuation seem stable.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

jab1 — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 14:51:56 GMT

@Bill_C Looking at that last screen shot, you appear to have errors on the upstream, which probably account for the raised SNR.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 15:16:40 GMT

Yup, I've a sneaking suspicion that the issue might be the PowerLine adapters I'm using.

I need to use them to get the internet from the router plugged in at the master socket to somewhere more manageable.

Can't use just Wi-Fi as the signal drops of a cliff in the 15 feet or so from the master socket to my living room. They decided to use foil backed insulation foam everywhere in the house construction which seems to kill the signal.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

jab1 — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 15:31:14 GMT

Possible, but I can't comment as I have no experience of PowerLine adapters or, (thankfully) foil-backed insulation - the worst environment for home Wi-Fi.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 11:02:43 GMT

Looks like I'm still having issues.

For most of yesterday my connection was down to around 20Mbps.
I've been having a lot of line errors and disconnections over the past 3 or 4 days (It has been stable for the past 16h or so.)
Last week I rearranged my network and replaced network cables as much possible. I even changed out the brand of powerline adapters just in case those were an issue. Errors were still happening, I did notice a few connection resets once or twice last week after moving things.

It's really starting to become annoying. I can't do much else this week as I've have family staying over.

But next thing I'll try is replacing my TP-Link router with the Plus Net one and see if their is any difference, as that's the only item I've not switched out yet.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 09:55:18 GMT

@adam Can you ask someone at your end take a look at my line again?

Looks like my line profile has been dropped to 20Mbps (a third of what I usually should be getting)

But it looks like I'm only getting upstream errors now.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

TheMightyAJ — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 10:37:17 GMT

Hey Bill,

I'm sorry to hear that you've been continuing to experience issues with the connection. I've had a look into this and I can see that there's definitely an issue, but it's unclear what exactly is causing it. You mentioned you were going to try and swap the router round - did you get chance to do that yet?

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 10:53:38 GMT

Hi

Thanks for the reset.

I'm currently getting normal speeds with only a couple of upload errors showing).

I've not had a chance to swap over the router, will do that later today (once guests have gone!)

I'll let you know when I've have swapped them over.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

TheMightyAJ — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 11:02:51 GMT

No worries, just give us a shout and we'll be happy to assess the situation further

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 16:02:34 GMT

Finally got my Plus net router plugged in.

Is their anyway to see transmission errors? had a quick look but could not see anything obvious.

Anyway I'll keep this router plugged in for the next few weeks to see if things get better or worse.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Gandalf — Sun, 30 Oct 2022 21:35:56 GMT

Cool. Not sure it's possible to see retransmission errors with one of our routers at least.

How have things been this weekend?

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 01:14:24 GMT

Think I'm still getting errors, I just had my first connection drop since I switched back to the Plus-net router. (but no way to be sure.)

I've changed everything I can think of at my end and I'm out of ideas.

I'll keep an eye on it for the rest of the week to see if my speeds drop again. I had a slight drop in speed this time but it's within my usual acceptable speed range.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Townman — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 19:29:35 GMT

With issues such as this too much change does not help. You do though need to eliminate potential sources of noise - and be able to monitor such noise.

Which Plusnet router are you using?

The Plusnet Hub One is a BT Home Hub 5a which works nicely with RouterStats. That program (download from the internet) will provide a graphical display of what is happening to the line stats over time. The shape of those plots will inform what’s happening on the line.

Power line adapters - what brand / middle / age? Some have adjustable settings to work better with VDSL. With the above monitoring in place, you will be able to see clearly if they are causing issues when switched on.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Bill_C — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 11:33:49 GMT

So far had a few disconnects again today! back to 20Mbps speeds

I've got the PlusNet hub one router.

Started using TP-Link "AV1000 Gigabit Power Line starter kit" last week (My old was a "Tenda AV1000 kit")
They are "dumb devices" so no config available. and that's not made any difference

I'll have to get Router Stats running in wine on my server and leave it running for a few days to locate any issues.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Dan_the_Van — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 12:43:34 GMT

@Bill_C

what type of master socket do you have, do you connect directly to it or on an extension?

Openreach 5c mk4 master socket can suffer from poor connection between the faceplate and the hidden test socket. In some cases the faceplate does not make a sound connection which can introduce intermittent crackling on the phone.

Regardless of the master socket type, if possible I suggest you connect directly to the test socket to see if this stops the issue from occurring.

I also notice the line attenuation keeps changing which is not correct

11.8 db with 54999 kbps and 20.2 db with 22951 kbps

Hopefully routerstats will give more of a clue of what's happening.

Dan.

Re: How many reconnects before becomes an issue?

Townman — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:29:49 GMT

Dan's observation on the variable attenuation somewhat points to an issue with the d-side circuit or indeed the NTE socket.

However, the DS appears to be capped at 55mbps ... would be interesting to understand why!