Origin - sometimes really poor connections

My parents is the on the end of a fairly long line, but seems to sync about 1.8mbps.

Recently we've noticed the line drops and when it reconnects the sync rate remains broadly the same, but the service is almost unusable.

Dad phoned me around 11 today, when I managed to VPN in note down the connection details and then trigger a re-connection (via telnet, as the web internet was so slow it wouldn't come up!)

From the BQM it looks like it went bad at about 2200 the day before, but wasn't noticed - parents aren't heavy internet users.

Each time this happens, reconnecting seems to resolve the issue. I did note the gateway remains the same between a good and a bad connection. When they initially signed up with Origin the service was a resold plus.net one, but a while ago they were migrated to what appears to be a vodafone service.

BQM: 10-Oct-2018

Origin support is dubious it seems, so I'm not sure of the best method of attack. FWIW: he is using a Draytek 2820 with the longline mode code, which has up till recently appeared to be fairly stable - the last couple of weeks have shown an increased number of reconnects (several per day), but the line sounds quiet. I did notice the BB dropped when the phone rang the other day, but that isn't consistent.

The connection dropping when the phone rings is a sign that a HRJ fault is developing on the line. Can you try connecting the router to the test socket and see if that occurs again?

HRJ Fault - what is that for the uneducated? High Resistance? They have had numerous issues in the past with crackling lines, but it did seem to get fixed once and for all about 6 months ago, after years of complaints! Maybe they just got lucky as it was warm, and dry!

At the moment they have a BT mk3 faceplate (iirc). As an experiment I added added another microfilter for the phone line (wasn't sure if it would make any difference, but concluded, it wouldn't make it any worse).

I'll phone my Dad and ask him to use the test socket with the "spare" microfilter that I'd left plugged in.

Edit:

Just logged into their router, and it has managed a whole 8hrs connected...

ATM Statistics
TX Cells 482797
RX Cells 11255950
TX CRC errs 0
RX CRC errs11675

Mode ADSL2(G.992.3)
State SHOWTIME
Up Speed 736000
Down Speed 2269866
SNR Margin 7
Loop Att. 61

Edited by mbames (Thu 11-Oct-18 18:47:27)

In reply to a post by mbames:

HRJ Fault - what is that for the uneducated? High Resistance?

Correct, Google is a great place.

In reply to a post by mbames:

They have had numerous issues in the past with crackling lines, but it did seem to get fixed once and for all about 6 months ago, after years of complaints! Maybe they just got lucky as it was warm, and dry!

Yeah, many of the HRJ faults I've had in the past occurred/were worse when the weather was wet and/or windy.

In reply to a post by mbames:

Just logged into their router, and it has managed a whole 8hrs connected...

ATM Statistics
TX Cells 482797
RX Cells 11255950
TX CRC errs 0
RX CRC errs11675

Mode ADSL2(G.992.3)
State SHOWTIME
Up Speed 736000
Down Speed 2269866
SNR Margin 7
Loop Att. 61

Good speed for the attenuation but that's a lot of CRC errors for the amount of uptime! It suggests that there may be a problem still, somewhere. Do you know if the line is interleaved or not? A SNRM of 7 dB is quite low for a line of that length, which won't help the error count.

Edited by deleted (Thu 11-Oct-18 19:29:34)

In reply to a post by WilliamGrimsley:

Mode ADSL2(G.992.3)
State SHOWTIME
Up Speed 736000
Down Speed 2269866
SNR Margin 7
Loop Att. 61

A SNRM of 7 dB is quite low for a line of that length, which won't help the error count.

Pardon? What?

And typically now I post about the line is remaining stable - connected for nearly 28hrs. Lets see what happens when it gets wet and windy this weekend!

Rx CRC 24479

SNR is now reporting as 8, the table below suggests that interleaving is enabled.

--------------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A) -----------
Running Mode : ADSL2(G.992.3) State : SHOWTIME
DS Actual Rate : 2269866 bps US Actual Rate : 736000 bps
DS Attainable Rate : 3024000 bps US Attainable Rate : 965764 bps
DS Path Mode : Fast US Path Mode : Fast
DS Interleave Depth : 1 US Interleave Depth : 1
NE Current Attenuation : 61 dB Cur SNR Margin : 9 dB
DS actual PSD : 15. 1 dB US actual PSD : 12. 8 dB
ADSL Firmware Version : 211801_A
-------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------
Far Current Attenuation : 38 dB Far SNR Margin : 8 dB
CO ITU Version[0] : 00005453 CO ITU Version[1] : 00005443
DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR : < TI >

I would say you are not interleaved � Interleave depth 1 = Fastpath as the Path Mode line states for both upstream and downstream.

+1