Oh boy, the phone guy is coming to my house!

[rockfan4]

Even though I work in IT, I don't have a fiber or even cable modem internet connection at home. I'm on 10mb DSL, had it for about 5 years now, had it before when I first moved to this house, then had cable until the promo ended, now back to DSL. It's fast enough to do my job, I can remote into stuff from home without issues, and the only thing I can't do is run a camera during a meeting.

But for the last week or so my connection has been dropping quite often, sometimes every five minutes, sometimes only a couple times a day. I figured the DSL modem was failing and ordered another one. I hooked the new one up tonight and it's doing the same thing. So I'm fairly certain it's not the modem.

So I scheduled a service call. They're going to charge me "up to $99" if the problem is found past their box on the outside of the house. I'm pretty certain it won't be - line from their box to a box in the basement, the pairs are scotchlocked to a line that goes behind the TV in the living room, and then their line to the modem.

We shall see. I hope the guy shows up in the morning Monday, and not the last call of the day.

[gumby]

DSL doesnt tolerate bridge tap, you should run a designated inside wire (cat5 and do not split the pair) to the router from the protector outside to
bypass the scotch locks feeding other wires (bridge tap)
You can access the router with the address printed on it (usally 192.168.254.254) and look if its taking errors and the signal to noise should not be lower than 10, when it acts up look at the modem to see if the lights change,
also make shure that all of the filters are in place and installed correctly, you would be amazed that they go missing or are backwards!
Take a look behind the TV

[wildthing]

It's not a holiday for them on Monday? They might show up on Tuesday.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by wildthing

It's not a holiday for them on Monday? They might show up on Tuesday.

Usually only the federal and state employees take President's day off. The free enterprise companies that have to make money to stay in business usually work. I never once got President's day off work.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by wildthing

It's not a holiday for them on Monday? They might show up on Tuesday.

Yep

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Usually only the federal and state employees take President's day off. The free enterprise companies that have to make money to stay in business usually work. I never once got President's day off work.

Don't forget banks and school kids. (although I think many/most teachers probably still have to work despite the kids being off).

[GH85Carrera]

Yea, banks are all regulated by the feds, since the feds close, they close. The Federal reserve closes, banks have to close. Schools are a bunch of government employees running the place.

Colleges are the same way. Lots of government money comes in so they don't have to earn a living to stay in business.

[rockfan4]

Originally Posted by gumby

DSL doesnt tolerate bridge tap, you should run a designated inside wire (cat5 and do not split the pair) to the router from the protector outside to
bypass the scotch locks feeding other wires (bridge tap)
You can access the router with the address printed on it (usally 192.168.254.254) and look if its taking errors and the signal to noise should not be lower than 10, when it acts up look at the modem to see if the lights change,
also make shure that all of the filters are in place and installed correctly, you would be amazed that they go missing or are backwards!
Take a look behind the TV

There are no filters anywhere in the house. The landline left long ago.

I plugged the modem into the test port on the outside of the house today. I was all excited at first that the line status went to "marginal" on the modem, but it soon went back to poor, then dropped.

No internet at all last night. Brutal. Almost had to talk to the wife.

Up and down today. This might post, this might not.

Here's the notes from when the line was installed. Looks marginal from day one.

[gumby]

your cap looks high, so I'm guessing that your some distance from the node
looks like your dsl is 'bonded' ie 2 pairs feeding the dsl signal
Your results at the protector are indicating the issue is outside as well the installers notiations in the protector at the time of the install

[stevej37]

The last time the phone guy was at my place...it was a three hour call.
I could tell that he had nothing else on his plate and was killing time.

[gumby]

Originally Posted by stevej37

The last time the phone guy was at my place...it was a three hour call.
I could tell that he had nothing else on his plate and was killing time.

Some times a repair takes what it takes....doesnt matter if it's a car, house airplane or internet, I can assure you the tec isnt dragging feet to 'end' the day

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by gumby

I can assure you the tec isnt dragging feet to 'end' the day

Not in this case...a 1pm call that lasts until after 4pm. I'm sure he had no other appt's after that. (he mentioned it)

[rockfan4]

Originally Posted by gumby

your cap looks high, so I'm guessing that your some distance from the node
looks like your dsl is 'bonded' ie 2 pairs feeding the dsl signal
Your results at the protector are indicating the issue is outside as well the installers notiations in the protector at the time of the install

I've never had a bonded connection. The installed may have connected two and picked the best one. The modem thinks I'm about 3100 ft from the node.

[Por_sha911]

When I had DSL it was rock solid. ATT said I had no choice but to switch to Fiber. It is faster but sometimes the connection gets weird and I have to reset the Gateway/Modem. Over all, it is better but Wifi has its issues that DSL running through the copper phone lines in the house never had problems with.

[GH85Carrera]

When DSL was first getting rolled out in Oklahoma City, the owner of the company I worked for was good friends with a manager at SW Bell. They had an office and substation a few hundred feet from our building. SW Bell was willing to use us as guinea pigs to roll out DSL for the home and office.

The day of the install a line tech, and two managers showed up in my office. I showed the tech where the breakout panel was and left him at it. The managers got on separate phone lines and each was talking to a separate engineer in different cities. After 30 minutes one more supervisor showed up, and 30 minutes later another supervisor. So I had 4 men in my office, all talking on phones to other techs and managers, and the guy at the panel trying various things. Several hours later I heard on of the engineers on the speakerphone say something like, "let me try this" and presto, we had DSL.

They all gathered in our foyer and back slapped and congratulated themselves. Then tech that worked on the panel said, guys, in class a few days ago the big boss said we were to install 6 to 8 customers per day, all on our own. They all fell silent. One of the higher up managers said that they will have to get a lot of things figured out, and it will be a challenge.

That was all in the late 1980s or early 1990s. We were happy to have "super fast" DSL at the office.

[rockfan4]

Better now maybe. They guy got here at 9:15, had it fixed by 10:00. Said he gave me a new pair from the node, although I didn't see him up on the pole, so there must be another junction box somewhere where he switched my connection.

DSL line quality still shows as "poor", but it is up.
The modem now thinks it is about 2463 ft from the node.

[Cairo94507]

We had horrible internet through SuddenLink which became Optimum. I did not believe service could get worse, but it did. Customer service for both would be a negative 5 on a 1 to 10 scale. We switched to Starlink (Elon Musk) and it is great. But it took 7 months to get the service, wait list. Cost $597 up front and $110 a month.

[gumby]

Your signal to noise has vastly improved, went from 10db to 17db. that will improve your performance and robustness

[gumby]

StarLink availability is spotty, there's a map on the website that shows the satellite coverage.
it's very good if you can get it also pricy, a friend signed up and waited ....2 years, sent the kit back for a refund