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The effects of street lighting

lingbob
Grafter
Posts: 734
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

The effects of street lighting

Does anyone know why street lighting has such a dramatic adverse effect on noise margin.
Regards .....
16 REPLIES 16
shinglefarm
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎05-09-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

I would assume its due to the power cables going to the streetlights are running close to the phone lines and the electrical field interferers with the connection.
Denzil
Grafter
Posts: 1,733
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

It won't be the mains cables, as they are only 50Hz and way away from the frequencies that BB runs at. It is more likely to be spikes from the control electronics. Do all the lamps look OK? If there are any that are darker red or flickering then there will be more noise coming from the electronics as they try to start the lamp. Report any dodgy ones to the council - you never know, it might improve your download speed Smiley
lingbob
Grafter
Posts: 734
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

Yes, the lamps look perfectly OK but could we not report this matter to the council anyway on the grounds that their equipment is interfering with our Broadband  Wink
Regards .....
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

Do you have any solid evidence that they are?  Faulty street lights are just one of the many items that can increase noise on broadband connections.  That doesn't mean that they are doing.
David
lingbob
Grafter
Posts: 734
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

I'm not saying that the street lighting is faulty, I'm saying that street lighting (when it's on) has an adverse effect on my noise margin and yes, I have lots of evidence to substantiate my claim.
Regards .....
shinglefarm
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎05-09-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

Are you sure its the street lights?
I've got a fault with my line where my bb keeps dropping (this is currently being investigated). I have noticed as the day goes on and esperically when it gets towards 9pm at night my connection starts dropping more frequently and the noise margin starts droping. Last night my noise margin was varying between 3db and 9db and I was getting dropped every 3 to 5mins. This morning i've got a pretty steady noise margin (which currently makes a change since the fault started occuring) of 29db and my connection has managed to say up for 35mins.
I live in the country, about a mile away from the exchange, so there are no streetlights. Could be to do with the temperature etc
mgwilliam
Grafter
Posts: 31
Registered: ‎18-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

I am experiencing a problem with a fall in SNR at nightfall which causes the line to drop out. I too am suspicious of streetlights. The SNR is very steady during daylight hours. In my case the phone cable runs underground to a pole which serves a number of houses. Two Cables from this pole  run very close to a streetlight and I understand they are not screened.  We have Sodium lighting and the on off control is a photo electric cell.
lingbob
Grafter
Posts: 734
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

Quote from: shinglefarm
Are you sure its the street lights?

It's too much of a coincidence that when the street lights come on, my noise margin starts to drop and when they go off, my noise margin climbs back up again but .....
Quote
I live in the country, about a mile away from the exchange, so there are no streetlights. Could be to do with the temperature etc

..... I live in a city about 2 miles from the exchange, so it's really a case of figuring out what else happens at the same time the street lights come on and go off  Huh
Regards .....
lingbob
Grafter
Posts: 734
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

Quote from: mgwilliam
I am experiencing a problem with a fall in SNR at nightfall which causes the line to drop out. I too am suspicious of streetlights. The SNR is very steady during daylight hours.

My noise margin is also steady during daylight hours.
Quote
In my case the phone cable runs underground to a pole which serves a number of houses. Two Cables from this pole  run very close to a streetlight and I understand they are not screened.  We have Sodium lighting and the on off control is a photo electric cell.

My phone cable runs overhead to the top of the metal telegraph pole in the road and there's a street light approx 20ft away. It's a Sodium light but I haven't a clue about the on/off control.
Regards .....
chillypenguin
Grafter
Posts: 4,729
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

Sodium lighting (and fluorescent) are both bad for emitting relative high level of electromagnetic inference.
New lights should comply with EMI emission standards, but the chance is that lamp post has been there for many years, before such things caused any concern.
This is what my S/R ratio looks like;

And the 01:00 to 06:00 drop is consistent, I doubt street lighting in my case.
Chilly
minkey
Rising Star
Posts: 418
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎22-07-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

@Chilly
What software do you use to create that, or does it come from your router?
Jeff
chillypenguin
Grafter
Posts: 4,729
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

I am using MRTG on Linux with a Netgear DG834GT
`wget` downloads the router status, and `sed` cuts the values out.
I can let you have the scripts. but they are not documented.
Chilly
minkey
Rising Star
Posts: 418
Thanks: 15
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎22-07-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

@Chilly
I know I am going slightly off-topic here, but yes could you please give me the scripts. Smiley
Do you want to me to PM you my email?
Jeff
chillypenguin
Grafter
Posts: 4,729
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: The effects of street lighting

Hi Jeff
You have shamed me into to publishing them, I had never got round to it before.
http://www.chillypenguin.org/scripts/dg834stats.htm
They are a little bit quick and dirty. But they should help if you know your MRTG.
Chilly