Slt Adsl Dropouts

MSP0RT5 · May 21, 2007

Guys, not sure if this is a known issue.. so pardon my ignorance!!

Our adsl at home seems to constantly drop line sync on most week days, between 8am and 5pm. It's annoying as I work from home sometimes and it generally happens on the days that I do!!

Is this normal? SLT replaced the cable from the street, but it's made little difference. We're on the maradana exchange. Just wondering if it's only us or any others on the md exchange face similar issues? It's definately not the router.

Edited May 21, 2007 by MSP0RT5

Pericles · May 21, 2007

Same issue, same time frame, location Dehiwela tho. I think it gets worse the further away u are from the exchange.

fuzzo · May 21, 2007

we have it at home and office... no major drops...once in a while i'll lose the connection but that too very rarely...probably like 2 times a week...

The Don · May 21, 2007

guys, I have only used SLT ADSL very briefly, and though I didn't get any line drop outs, I did find the connection speeds unworkable between the times MSports mentions and dial up was found to be faster !

a few things to consider though, obviously as peri suggests these type of problems can be attributed to attenuation, but some of this attenuation related problems are localized and can be fixed,

For example ADSL filter faliures (because of layers of oxide building up)

Internal wiring issues, namely a lot of extensions stemming from the same line, or oxide building up on the cables or connector ends

A few recommendations

Do not plug the router in to an extension point, always plug it in to the master socket (I am speaking about telephones not power)

Use the lead that came with the router to connect it to the master socket as it would be the correct length, too long and you might have problems again

Periodically inspect the contacts on the router as well as the modem cable as they deteriorate fast in SL, and you would clearly see layers of copper oxide forming up (the contacts tend to warm up quite a bit during operation)

Also note there are 2 problem areas,

ADSL syncing problems (and in this case the ADSL indicator on the router will go off, faulty equipment and the afore mentioned line problems to blame)

Internet connection drop outs (this is most likely due to problems with the ISP or a fault with the router, not line problems)

pls note my experience with these problems in SL is very limited, though the above problems are fairly common with ADSL

I hope it helps,

The Don

xXx · May 21, 2007

Broadband lone quality and speed mainly depend on the length and the quality of the line form exchange to your house.

peri if you have a 271 or a 272 number i would say its worth getting a new phone line.

As Don said internal wiring can cause this as well, but if the problem only occur during peak hours I guess it has lot to do with line traffic caused by poor line quality

madmax · May 21, 2007

I'm @ Athurugirya where they just launched ADSL. Connection is pretty decent. No major break downs that I've noticed

The Don · May 21, 2007

madmax said:

I'm @ Athurugirya where they just launched ADSL. Connection is pretty decent. No major break downs that I've noticed

max this maybe down to low contention, maybe you aren't sharing your line with that many others

xXx · May 21, 2007

The Don said:

max this maybe down to low contention, maybe you aren't sharing your line with that many others

hmm... very good point. low contention ratio

are there any other ADSL provider apart from SLT?

Edited May 21, 2007 by xXx

MSP0RT5 · May 21, 2007

xXx said:

hmm... very good point. low contention ratio

are there any other ADSL provider apart from SLT?

I figured it had to do with the contention ratio. This problem has been happening for some time now, and checked everything mentioned above and more. The fact it happens during "peak" hours makes me thing it's more to do with an overloaded/poorly configured dslam at our exchange than anything else.. of course how do u explain that to the SLT helpdesk!!!

glad to know its not just me then.. thx for the replies!

@ The Don: I went through a similar t-shooting process to you. Short of getting another new cable run from the street, i think it's a case of just putting up with the drop outs. Sync actually drops, and comes back for about 2 minutes, authenticates.. and then drops about a minute later. I note that some of the "newer" exchanges seem to be rock solid, and they also use PPPoE where as Maradana is still using PPPoA, I wonder if there has been an equipment/vendor change + better connection reliability.

Edited May 21, 2007 by MSP0RT5

Bugatti · May 21, 2007

xXx said:

hmm... very good point. low contention ratio

are there any other ADSL provider apart from SLT?

Not for now, but in a couple of months yes, Dialog Broadband will launch IP/MPLS.

The drop-outs on SLT could also be due to the fact that bandwidth is shared and not dedicated, but once upgraded to their Metro Ethernet network, each user will have a dedicated bandwidth.

MSP0RT5 · May 21, 2007

Bugatti said:

Not for now, but in a couple of months yes, Dialog Broadband will launch IP/MPLS.

The drop-outs on SLT could also be due to the fact that bandwidth is shared and not dedicated, but once upgraded to their Metro Ethernet network, each user will have a dedicated bandwidth.

We use dialog bb's mpls network for our WAN. The speed is quite good, but I doubt it'll ever be priced for the residential market! I think it'd be the same situ with SLT's Metro Ethernet. It's available now I believe.

I think the adsl issues can be attributed to an over-crowded network. Maradana was also one of the first exchanges to be commissioned during the "test phase" so it might have some issues, being the first. Hopefully they fix it soon. Is there any other escalation other than the SLT helpdesk? I guess for 2500rs/month can't ask for too much..

Edited May 21, 2007 by MSP0RT5

madmax · May 21, 2007

The Don said:

max this maybe down to low contention, maybe you aren't sharing your line with that many others

There's a separate exchange for Millennium City Housing complex. So I assume the usage is at its lowest.

MSP0RT5 · May 21, 2007

madmax said:

There's a separate exchange for Millennium City Housing complex. So I assume the usage is at its lowest.

and probably have VERY few business users on it! Unlike this part of town (Borella/Maradana).

The Don · May 21, 2007

MSP0RT5 said:

I figured it had to do with the contention ratio. This problem has been happening for some time now, and checked everything mentioned above and more. The fact it happens during "peak" hours makes me thing it's more to do with an overloaded/poorly configured dslam at our exchange than anything else.. of course how do u explain that to the SLT helpdesk!!!

glad to know its not just me then.. thx for the replies!

@ The Don: I went through a similar t-shooting process to you. Short of getting another new cable run from the street, i think it's a case of just putting up with the drop outs. Sync actually drops, and comes back for about 2 minutes, authenticates.. and then drops about a minute later. I note that some of the "newer" exchanges seem to be rock solid, and they also use PPPoE where as Maradana is still using PPPoA, I wonder if there has been an equipment/vendor change + better connection reliability.

I was on the Nugegoda Exchange and it uses PPOA as well, but the exchange itself was completely overhauled in the late 80's so I dunno if that has helped

I never had any syncing problems for the short time I used it but did have significant contention problems during office hours

MSPORTS out of kicks if you can try to get a friends router of a different brand and use it with your line for a few days and see if the results you get are different, Believe it or not in the UK different exchanges use different generations of equipment, and to make things complicated there are different suppliers as well, though the underlying network is maintained by British Telecom. And I own no less than 3 routers, and believe me when I say this each of them seem to work differently in different geographic areas and with different suppliers (hence I have ended up with 3 !!!)

Regards,

The Don

Hola · May 21, 2007

What if you have 2 parelel lines? do we have to fix a line breaker for each phone? becuase everytime the phone with no line breaker is lifted the ADSL gets cut

The Don · May 21, 2007

Hola said:

What if you have 2 parelel lines? do we have to fix a line breaker for each phone? becuase everytime the phone with no line breaker is lifted the ADSL gets cut

Each and every extension on the line used by ADSL should have its own microfilter, or you can do what I do, I connect the microfilter to the main socket and from that the modem cable goes to the router or adsl modem, and I connect all the extensions to the phone end of the micro filter and this way you only need one micro filter, not that they cost much

GihanFX · May 21, 2007

Pericles said:

Same issue, same time frame, location Dehiwela tho. I think it gets worse the further away u are from the exchange.

My location is pretty close to ur one bt no ADSL problems here, Anyway after thunder destroyed my previous Router (Netgear DG834GT) i switched to a ADSL Modem then i had some Disconecting problems so i tested my line using my friends ADSL Wired Router and found a bit speed loss bt then i brought Netgear WNR854T RangeMax Next Wireless Router Gigabit Edition and even it support 300 Mbps Networking i used my old 802.11g wireless card (108Mbps) and the speed was normal no disconecting problems at all

Anyway i personally think Wireless is better for ADSL

Edited May 21, 2007 by GihanFX

Hola · May 21, 2007

The Don said:

Each and every extension on the line used by ADSL should have its own microfilter, or you can do what I do, I connect the microfilter to the main socket and from that the modem cable goes to the router or adsl modem, and I connect all the extensions to the phone end of the micro filter and this way you only need one micro filter, not that they cost much

Thanks for the info bro, might as well get a microfilter as the wiring is a bit messy

GihanFX said:

My location is pretty close to ur one bt no ADSL problems here, Anyway after thunder destroyed my previous Router (Netgear DG834GT) i switched to a ADSL Modem then i had some Disconecting problems so i tested my line using my friends ADSL Wired Router and found a bit speed loss bt then i brought Netgear WNR854T RangeMax Next Wireless Router Gigabit Edition and even it support 300 Mbps Networking i used my old 802.11g wireless card (108Mbps) and the speed was normal no disconecting problems at all

Anyway i personally think Wireless is better for ADSL

machang i thought conecting a wireless router will drop the speed

GihanFX · May 21, 2007

MSP0RT5 said:

I note that some of the "newer" exchanges seem to be rock solid, and they also use PPPoE where as Maradana is still using PPPoA, I wonder if there has been an equipment/vendor change + better connection reliability.

SLT gave ADSL to Attidiya area long time ago bt we are using PPPoE and maybe 512 and 2MB lines using 2 different types bt not sure

Hola said:

machang i thought conecting a wireless router will drop the speed

my old router had more than 75% Signal strength bt new one more than 95% and trust me once we networked 5 close houses using Wireless ( 2MB Line shared by 5 houses ) and still no problems

Edited May 21, 2007 by GihanFX

speeddemon200 · May 21, 2007

Hola said:
What if you have 2 parelel lines? do we have to fix a line breaker for each phone? becuase everytime the phone with no line breaker is lifted the ADSL gets cut

@ hola; as don said connect da router to where your phoneline enters ur house(da main line cumin frm da street). yes u need to seperate all da phone lines frm da adsl line otherwise this happens.

ma internet connection drops sumtimes and i have to restart ma router to get da connection runnin again...

we got adsl a couple of months bk...so no adsl drop outs(adsl light nt workin)..jus ma internet crashin....

ma xchange uses ppoe...

MSP0RT5 · May 21, 2007

Hola said:

machang i thought conecting a wireless router will drop the speed

The average thruput u'd get with 11g anyway will be about 20-22mbps, including the wpa overhead. But this is still adequate for the adsl speeds we have in SL. With 802.11b, you're probably looking at an average of around 5mbps, and of course both throughputs will drop depending on signal strength. 11N is better, but of course need the client side hardware support as well, but technically, it hasn't been fully iee standardised as yet.. 802.11n throughputs vary greatly depending on the client hardware you're using.

@ GihanFX - did you get the netgear locally?

re filters.. not the issue in this case, the adsl line is an old fax line which is no longer used and now only has the adsl on it. It's good now compared to last year when it used to drop sync on a saturday evening and no one would fix it till Monday morning!!!