Red dots on graph

On 20CN

On 14th june I lost connection and resync'd at 6816K with a BRAS profile of 6000K. I noticed this on 15th of June and rebooted my router achieving (my normal) sync of 8128K. However my BRAS profile has stuck resolutely at 6000K whereas I expected it to jump back to 7150K after a day or two.

Now looking at the graph on my control panel I see that for the last few days the top of the graph has been fringed with tiny red dots, I have to look closely to see them, but they are definitely there.

I have never seen this before and am wondering if there is some fault stopping my BRAS profile from increasing, does anyoune know what could be causing these red dots?

Here you go.

Indicates packet loss although if it is barely visible on the graph I don't expect you would experience any issues with it.

Don't think this would cause your profile to get stuck. Best thing to do is give them a call to see if they can reset it.

Thanks for the lead. I'll contact support.

I've also started getting red dots on my CQM chart since the 16th of July. At the same time, my effective bandwidth has gone down drastically, presumably due to packet loss - this evening the BT speedtester gave me a download speed of 271 kbps - despite my ADSL (20CN) sync staying at around 8128 kbps. My current BRAS profile is 7000 with downstream attenuation at 33dB (as it always has been) and SNR margin is 6dB. Can't say I remember seeing the CQM poll failures before. A&A reckon it's something to do with noise on my line but the BT line test passes OK. Anybody had this kind of problem before? Cheers.

Have you tried re-syncing the modem? I had this issue a while back and it was a poor SNR margin that caught me out. I forced a re-sync to a lower sync speed but more reliable (less errors) and all was good again.

Thanks for the tip, but the router has been disconnected, reconnected and powercycled several times since this started, as I've tried to eliminate potential culprits. I've even tried a different router. Each time it connects, it has been pretty consistent in syncing around the 7-8 Mbps mark.

Just to follow up, the problem has now disappeared, although both A&A and BT say they haven't actually done anything to fix it(!)

Might just have been some line noise, REIN, or what ever. Keep an eye on it for sure. That's the one thing I like about cable - it either works, or it doesn't. ADSL decides sometimes to... kind of work, for lines that are poor and that have something interfering with them on and off during the day.

As far as faults go, how does this one tickle your fancy.

I posted 3 years ago on here regarding an issue I was having with my brother's business ADSL, supplied by BE (here is the original, now archived, thread). When we got his line up and running, it was syncing at about 2 or 3Mbits at most. About 2 weeks into activation, the sync speed rocketed to about 7 or 8Mbits, lasting about a week. Then, after that, it dropped down again to 2 or 3Mbits. It has stayed this way ever since.

I tried to open a fault with BE but since I am not the account holder, it was kind of difficult to get any leverage on the problem. Also, as usual, I was told by their support that nothing was wrong with the line, and this is the speed we should expect.

I closed the fault. I figured since it wasn't my line, and my brother didn't have a requirement for speed anyway, I'd just laugh this off and he could make do with, from my standpoint, a very poor/faulty broadband connection.

Well, wha'd'ya know. 11 days ago (that's a whole 3 years later), I checked the SNMP graphs of this router. The sync speed has recovered, back up to 7 or 8Mbits. In fact, the line is now so stable, I've switched interleaving off and put him back on a 6dB noise profile (he was on 9). I needed it to be stable as we do daily backups across the link.

Just shows you... 3 years there has been a fault on this line, and now (fingers crossed) it seems to be gone. This looks clearly like a REIN issue (something putting noise onto the line). My guess is, there have been other broadband users around the same area, who maybe experienced the same problem and BT (or who ever) have finally managed to identify the fault, and rectify it. Either way, BE support wouldn't have entertained this issue at all. It would have been more of a headache (and waste of time, quite frankly) to try and make them see the light.

I can honestly say, that if the line was with A&A, this fault would have been sorted out in weeks (months at most) because they monitor lines, and they know their s**t - and, more importantly, they do not take s**t off BT.

I mostly agree with nredwood's reply to my archived thread I have posted above. BE support just can't cut it, not for faults like this one. A&A would have been all over this. BE support? Nah, you have more chance seeing pigs fly.

So there you go. I nice little story for you. And kudos to A&A.

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Aug-11 01:34:53)