Both the connection speed and SNR remained completely unchanged at the time - in fact they have been constant right the way thru since changing to the Netgear. The sampling interval set on RouterStats is 20 seconds. In fact in checking the Netgear router log, there is no record of any disconnection at the time of the PPPoA loss/restart?? although it is reflected in the Show Statistics/connection status boxes. So I'm none the wiser as to whether it will be classed as a disconnection by my ISP.

Wierd.

I always used to set Routerstats to 5-second sampling. Twenty seconds is useful for seeing trends on a normal line, but poor for spotting what is really going on. A disconnection and reconnection can easily complete in less, so not show anything on the graph.

That's why I asked about the values around the time. As they stayed the same, I agree it is likely there was no disconnection.

All very strange.

Well things have deteriorated today.

Following on from my posting the other day I had a further dropped PPPoA connection for in excess of 3 mins which this time resulted in the router disconnecting completely. I ended up having to reconnect the power and reboot the router. So it looks as though I'm back to square one. An hour later there was another drop in the PPPoA connection (no disconnection this time) I've changed the setting to 6 secs and it still has not picked up anything which would indicate the reason fhe the drop?? so I am very confused as to why this is happening.

Is it possible it could be something at my ISP's end of things? The reason why I'm asking is that when using my other router (which may or may not have been faulty) leading up to this episode, the syslog reported that the primary DNS server was down - switching to secondary - then back to primary server before being able to connect. This happened lots of times with messages from the Exchange reducing the connection speed etc. End result where I find myself now.

Perhaps someone can advise ??

Thanks

DNS would maybe stop internet traffic, but should not cause an ADSL connection to drop.

Do you have the router plugged into a filter/spike/surge extension? If not, try that, and also try to make sure not much else is using the same wall socket.

You could be seeing noise from the mains when something gets switched on (fridge et al).

Nick

Thanks for your advices. I thought I'd mention about the DNS problems just so I could rule them out and not appear too stupid when I go back to my ISP!!

Yes, the router is plugged into a surge protected extension socked (x 6) which in turn is plugged into a double wall socket which has a further extension (x 4) which supplies my other computer, monitor and lamp. Have had this set up for a long time so don't think it can be anything to do with it (OH is an electrician) .

I'm presuming RouterStats would register some kind of noise spike or whatever that could account for the disconnections?? but nothing is being shown.

In reply to a post by maggiej:

Following on from my posting the other day I had a further dropped PPPoA connection for in excess of 3 mins which this time resulted in the router disconnecting completely. I ended up having to reconnect the power and reboot the router.

SNRM would have probably dropped to zero when you lost the ADSL connection.

At disconnections the Routerstats sync graph goes to zero and stays there until the new sync is established. The noise margin graph is similar but may go negative just before the disconnection.

If on 6-second sampling neither is deviating at all when you lose the internet, it's not a line disconnection. To me that would sound like the ISP end, but then that in turn wouldn't cause the re-syncs you do get.

Typical!! for some reason there is no image of the graphs in that particular time - I don't know why?? As such I can only go by the RouterStats Notepad figures at the time of the disconnection:

Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:36:55 80.175.14.216 10.8 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.75 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:37:15 0.0.0.0 10.8 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.75 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:37:35 0.0.0.0 10.6 5.5 12555 1279 5.5 10.65 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:37:55 0.0.0.0 10.7 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.70 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:38:15 0.0.0.0 10.7 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.70 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:38:35 0.0.0.0 10.7 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.70 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:38:55 0.0.0.0 10.7 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.70 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:39:15 0.0.0.0 10.7 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.70 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:52:53 80.175.14.216 12.0 6.5 11952 1271

No drops in the SNR ?? but definitely disconnected at this time (red light - no internet).
The interval between the penultimate reading was while I checked everything out, disconnected power followed by rebooting.

The later PPPoA drop an hour of so later was recorded on the graph and did go to zero for one reading as you have said but I did not lose the internet.

Thanks

In reply to a post by maggiej:

Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:36:55 80.175.14.216 10.8 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.75 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:37:15 0.0.0.0 10.8 5.0 12555 1279 5.0 10.75 ppp0=1day20:02:27
Fri 29 Mar 2013 12:37:35 0.0.0.0 10.6 5.5 12555 1279 5.5 10.65 ppp0=1day20:02:27

IP address disappeared and PPP session timer has stopped. Dropped by other end perhaps ?

After the reboot sync time downstream SNRM is 12dB and sync speed 11952Kbps - looks like you have lost 600Kbps due to an increase in SNRM. Possibly you had a previous sync time margin of ~9dB and a 12555Kbps sync speed if I'm reading the numbers correctly.

BTW. dropping the DSL connection and PPP link down are two very different things.

At a guess, I would say there are intermittent noise events affecting your line that are causing these issues.

Edited by 4M2 (Fri 29-Mar-13 21:51:17)