Disconnects since storm

We had a small storm lasting 30 mins or so today around 3pm. My connection lost sync a few times during the period the storm was overhead which i would expect. Its been 2-3hrs now since the storm has passed, yet im getting regular disconnects (ranging from 5 mins to every 30 mins). Also getting quite a few CRC errors/Errored Seconds (50 or so every 20 seconds according to Routerstats).

I would have thought any electromagnetic interference would have gone by now? Its sunny outside now. Normally have a rock solid connection with not many CRC errors. Prior to the storm i was connected for a month no problem. Sync remains high, so does noise margins which dont seem to change much at all and no noise when doing the quiet line test, so everything there seems to check out.

Ive replaced the microfilter thinking the storm took it out but not solved anything. Would have expected a big drop in sync speed if the storm had taken anything out.

So could the storm still be lingering this long to cause CRC errors/ES and disconnects?

Edit: Just noticed aswell today a great big hole appeared between my house and the cabinet as there doing electricity works. That hole is now waterlogged due to the storm. Could this be a cause perhaps?

Edited by bobble_bob (Mon 04-Apr-16 18:36:08)

I remember being at a location checking for REIN, the noise was very apparent on my trusty radio for a long time before the first distant rumblings .... so though you cannot hear it, it may well be having an affect.

Or maybe it has subtly goosed your router ?

Well noise margin is dropping just before losing sync now even with my spare router

I've been to where the electricity company have been digging and depending on the way the cables run to the cab it could be where the hole is. That hole now is waterlogged so could water cause errord seconds and loss of sync? And if so when it dries out would that stop it?

Because the storm and the hole appeared at the same time its hard to pinpoint the cause

OK so good that you have proved it's not the router.

I suspect if the hole was causing it you'd be getting (audible) noise on the line due to the cable damage and water ingress.

Nothing i can pick up on quiet line test. Guessing there is no way to know which way the cables run between your house and the cabinet?

If they ran to where the hole is they would have to go the long way around to the cabinet, so not 100% certain thats the way they run underground

Hopefully get nice weather tomorrow and the water will go to see if that stops the disconnects

Guessing there is no way to know which way the cables run between your house and the cabinet?

Nope, not unless you are in the business. You can make an educated guess, but that's all it will be.

Would i be right in thinking if any water has got into the cable/joints then once it dries out normal service should be resumed? Or is it a case of once water damage happens its irreversible?

Hmmm, after the last disconnect my connection has been solid for 50 mins now which is the longest its been since this all started. Only 18 ES in that time but can expect a few as the sun has set.

So will have to keep an eye on it, seems odd

Maybe my previous statement about the affects of the electrical storm may be true ...

As for the cable drying out ..... nope, not really, damp ingress is a [censored].

Yea maybe it was. We have had storms before though very close to where i live (seems when there is a storm in the UK its always close to my house for some reason) and it may cause 1 or 2 disconnects but thats it. Never had it like this for hours afterwards.

But then again the cables wont have dried out much tonight either as its still damp and on last inspection the hole was still flooded, so maybe that theory goes out the window too.

Edited by bobble_bob (Mon 04-Apr-16 20:40:14)

Had a storm years ago up in Scotland. Was graphing the SNR values from my router and that was dropping hours before any storm showed up (which it did, eventually). Hours before any noticeable change in clouds/overcasting etc. So yes, due to the nature that is DSL broadband, it does tend to be quite sensitive to electomagnetic disturbances in the atmosphere due to storms, so the fact you experienced issues hours afterwards does not surprise me.

Yea seems abit random hows storms can effect it. Guess it depends how close they're. Had one last year where the centre of the storm was really close to my house and only suffered 1 disconnect with that

You never know with lightning. At my previous house we must have been in a storm pathway as we had them frequently. On one occasion our line had a direct hit which fried the cable and actually burnt out the handset of the phone as my wife was using it. I think it was the same storm that also burnt out components in my pc. BT had to replace about a quarter of a mile of cable as a result of the strike.

Edited by oldswan (Tue 05-Apr-16 09:15:15)

This site allows you to track the progress of strikes. Select Europe and enable detectors to demonstrate how far away strikes can have an effect.


Lightning Strike Project

I note that site allows you to go back "in time", so the OP could select around the time of his problems.

Yea can see there were strikes around the time it started but wasnt long. Dunno how long the electromagnetic interference would hang about tho

In reply to a post by bobble_bob:

Edit: Just noticed aswell today a great big hole appeared between my house and the cabinet as there doing electricity works. That hole is now waterlogged due to the storm. Could this be a cause perhaps?

If it's not the storm, or water related then it could be the equipment that's being used by the electricity company.

Back in 2008 I had problems when people were using a mole to put large cables under a local roundabout which is between me and the exchange. The ducting was pretty big, around 30cm diameter or so! I think their compressors etc. caused my issues it all recovered over 8 days once they had stopped using the mole.

Dont think it was any equipment being used as it was happening while there was no workmen on site. Ive set up a BQM anyway and so far so good today. On a dynamic IP so will know if i lose sync from that

Well connection been stable since the lightning, very few errors and no disconnects but noticed when I rebooted my router yesterday afternoon for something that ive not been able to sync as high.

Usually sync between 9300-9800kbps but yesterdays sync at 4pm was 8900kbps. Target SNR and interleaving still the same, so not sure if the damp, wet [censored] weather could have caused the slightly lower sync or not.

Not been at home around midday when apparently that's when you should get the highest sync, so will see at the weekend when im home

Back in the days of dial-up, we could readily detect storms etc on the simple phone line, which were readily traced to storms in the Lake District, about 180 miles away.

In reply to a post by bobble_bob:

Not been at home around midday when apparently that's when you should get the highest sync, so will see at the weekend when im home

Best time is around an hour after sunrise.

Well still only syncing at about 8800-8900kbps. In on LLU TTB so no DLM to deal with. Just rebooted my router now and still doesnt sync at speeds it used to. This time before i would have synced at around 9300kbps

Whether the lower sync is as a result of what happened Monday or not i dont know, but just after the problems fixed themselves late on Monday i did sync at 9300kbps, but not been able to get that since.