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Radius and drops clarification.

Olifran
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎21-11-2011

Radius and drops clarification.

Hi,
Can someone please give me some clarification on what the “connection drops” are that are represented by the radius graphs?
In other threads I see the PN staff mentioning routers when it comes to drops in connection. I thought these graphs
showed the actual broadband drops to your BT modem (external to EU) and nothing to do with the router (internal wireless)
Or are there radius graphs for router drops and graphs for broadband drops.

Apologies for being thick  Roll_eyes

18 REPLIES 18
w23
Pro
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Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

The radius graphs show when your router is connected to Plusnet (a connection {PPP session} has been established with a gateway).  Your modem could be in sync with the exchange/cabinet but there could be a problem connecting to the gateway (for example during certain maintenance), this would indicate a drop even though the modem remains in sync because the PPP session is not connected.
Ideally a loss of sync would (and should) show as a drop on the graph but  it's possible for the modem to resync quickly and the PPP session may not be lost - if so this would not show on the graph.  If you click 'disconnect' on the router interface this should always drop the PPP session and should therefore always show up on the radius graph.

[Edit - reworded as Jelv pointed out that a resync may not show on an ADSL radius graph (as well as FTTC)]
Call me 'w23'
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jelv
Seasoned Hero
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Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Quote from: w23
Traditionally a loss of sync would (and should) show as a drop on the graph but with FTTC

Wrong - it's not just on FTTC that happens it can also happen on ADSL (20CN). I've seen it many, many times (see http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,113083.0.html). The problem with this is that the PN staff just look at the radius log and then try to tell you that you are imagining the loss of sync - if you read that topic you'll see how often I faced that issue during the saga.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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Olifran
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎21-11-2011

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

So in my other thread (entitled interleaving) they have posted my graph and it shows many drops and consequently DLM has pushed me down to sub 10MB.
What is the most likely cause of these drops?
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

There's so many possible causes I'm afraid all we can say is 'a line fault'. It'll be somewhere between the green box and your premises as that's where the broadband signal starts and terminates. If we knew what was causing it and where it is, faults would be fixed a lot more quickly than they are 😕
Hope it's dealt with soon.
Olifran
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎21-11-2011

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Not in the exchange?  Will more people being added at the fibre box cause problems potentially?
What's "moving to the D side" ? That's what my last engineer wanted to try with mine but he said there was no room?
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Exchange faults aren't as common but are normally easily identified.
Quote
Will more people being added at the fibre box cause problems potentially?

It shouldn't do, no.
Quote
What's "moving to the D side" ?

D side is exactly what Matt mentioned (ie the stretch of cable between the green box and your premises)
Let us know how things go with the visit tomorrow.

Adam
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
Olifran
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎21-11-2011

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

What will this engineer do tomorrow? They don't seem to like getting into finding faults. Where will this triage tea come into it?
Thanks
nanotm
Pro
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Registered: ‎11-02-2013

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

intermittent faults are often caused by dodgy bits of cabling (high res joints worn/exposed bits of wire) and occur intermittently because weather conditions are always changing them and having different effects, the cable run to my house got changed after 2 years of intermittent faults because of a damaged bit of cable and random atmospherics causing condensation to short some wires, a week later I swapped over to PlusNet as my supplier because BT's customer service was so bad, and I got better deals on the phone/bb Smiley
the only real way to determine the location of problems is to disconnect a line and plug the tester in (both ends must be disconnected) but engineers rarely want to do that as it takes a lot of time and effort to run a 2 min test,
other things that can cause the problem are electromagnetic emitters (microwave/dodgy vehicle motor, iron etc etc) and some ham radios (unfiltered antenna) but there not as likely if its a regular intermittent occurance that is outside of normal travel/food times and isn't at a consistent time of day
just because your paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you
Olifran
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎21-11-2011

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Typical. My speeds are creeping back up now. 5MB on Monday to around 15 now.  Sure this fault is weather related. Can some one post some recent radius graphs for me?
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Quote
Can some one post some recent radius graphs for me?

Sure, let us know how things go with the engineer visit today.
<img src="http://ccgi.psmith12.plus.com/visradius/generated/image13723217636018.png"/>
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
Olifran
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎21-11-2011

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

So from that graph I still getting disconnections? Why would my speed start to creep back up?
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Looking deeper into this it's easy to see what's happened, on the above graph you'll notice that you had a fairly steady connection of over 24 hours and that seems to have caused the profile to improve somewhat.
Line that up with the profile changes that have been reported to us and you can see what effect that's had.
With that in mind the speeds may fall again as there's still an issue with stability that needs to be addressed.
Adam
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
Olifran
Grafter
Posts: 134
Registered: ‎21-11-2011

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Thanks Adam. Lets hope the engineer and triage team is it?
Can be bothered to trace the fault. Going of the last two I'm not confident. But you never know.  He may surprise me.
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Radius and drops clarification.

Quote
Lets hope the engineer and triage team is it?

Yes, we've made sure this get's raised with the triage team. We generally push things to that stage after 3 or more engineers have visited for a repeat fault. It's to help ensure a greater depth of investigation takes place. With that in mind I hope that sets you're mind at ease a little about the visit.
Adam
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team