Connection dropping out

My Connection has been dropping out quite a lot since April.

Could the rain be causing a problem?

Here are my line stats

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 6272 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 47 db 15 db
Noise Margin 6 db 24 db

and

Here is the log from my router from friday and as you can see the weekend has been a problem.

Fri, 2007-05-25 00:38:19 - Loss of synchronization :110
Fri, 2007-05-25 01:33:50 - Loss of synchronization :111
Fri, 2007-05-25 01:41:50 - Loss of synchronization :112
Fri, 2007-05-25 02:30:51 - Loss of synchronization :113
Fri, 2007-05-25 02:41:21 - Loss of synchronization :114
Fri, 2007-05-25 03:11:22 - Loss of synchronization :115
Fri, 2007-05-25 23:59:47 - Loss of synchronization :116
Sat, 2007-05-26 00:55:48 - Loss of synchronization :117
Sat, 2007-05-26 01:07:11 - Send out NTP request to time-g.netgear.com
Sat, 2007-05-26 01:07:11 - Receive NTP Reply from time-g.netgear.com
Sat, 2007-05-26 01:13:49 - Loss of synchronization :118
Sat, 2007-05-26 04:12:30 - LCP down.
Sat, 2007-05-26 04:12:33 - Initialize LCP.
Sat, 2007-05-26 04:12:33 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Sat, 2007-05-26 04:12:36 - CHAP authentication success
Sat, 2007-05-26 09:19:53 - Administrator login successful - IP:192.168.0.3
Sat, 2007-05-26 09:19:58 - Loss of synchronization :119
Sat, 2007-05-26 20:10:41 - Loss of synchronization :120
Sat, 2007-05-26 20:42:42 - Loss of synchronization :121
Sat, 2007-05-26 21:42:13 - Loss of synchronization :122
Sat, 2007-05-26 23:14:45 - Loss of synchronization :123
Sun, 2007-05-27 03:18:50 - Loss of synchronization :124
Sun, 2007-05-27 03:44:21 - Loss of synchronization :125
Sun, 2007-05-27 16:32:06 - Loss of synchronization :126
Sun, 2007-05-27 18:40:38 - Loss of synchronization :127
Sun, 2007-05-27 18:45:39 - Loss of synchronization :128
Sun, 2007-05-27 19:05:39 - Loss of synchronization :129
Sun, 2007-05-27 21:26:12 - Loss of synchronization :130
Sun, 2007-05-27 21:34:42 - Loss of synchronization :131
Mon, 2007-05-28 01:36:47 - Loss of synchronization :132
Mon, 2007-05-28 01:45:47 - Loss of synchronization :133
Mon, 2007-05-28 02:39:18 - Loss of synchronization :134
Mon, 2007-05-28 02:56:48 - Loss of synchronization :135
Mon, 2007-05-28 11:00:28 - Loss of synchronization :136
Mon, 2007-05-28 11:24:48 - LCP down.
Mon, 2007-05-28 11:24:56 - Initialize LCP.
Mon, 2007-05-28 11:24:56 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Mon, 2007-05-28 11:24:59 - Loss of synchronization :137
Mon, 2007-05-28 11:24:59 - CHAP authentication success
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:29:30 - Loss of synchronization :138
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:50:29 - LCP down.
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:50:52 - Administrator login successful - IP:192.168.0.3
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:51:17 - Initialize LCP.
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:51:17 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:51:30 - Loss of synchronization :139
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:52:17 - Initialize LCP.
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:52:17 - LCP is allowed to come up.
Mon, 2007-05-28 12:52:21 - CHAP authentication success
Mon, 2007-05-28 13:07:31 - Loss of synchronization :140
Mon, 2007-05-28 13:07:33 - Administrator login successful - IP:192.168.0.3

I understand "Loss of sync" is a problem between you and the exchange, and is nothing to do with the ISP. Have you any noise on the phone line?.

none that i know of.. haven't really used the phone much this weekend.

I cant even check the test socket as there isnt one.

Any chance you could borrow a router and try it in place of your own?. Or replace the filters?.

Edited by wingco1 (Mon 28-May-07 14:05:36)

Hi Conor,

It could be caused by the rain, especially if your cabling runs underground and it being corroded by the dampness. Lets face it, it's pretty horrible out there! Things you will need to check though:

- You have tried using different filters
- You have tried connecting to the master socket in the abscence of no test socket.
- You have tried using an alternate router/modem if possible.

Give that a bash for us and then raise it by going to http://faults.plus.net and our faults guys will pick it up for you.

It's been a very nice few days up here in the Lake District


edit: spelling

Edited by wingco1 (Mon 28-May-07 14:38:54)

At 6dB the downstream noise margin does look a bit borderline. Often the noise on a line will vary throughout the day, so although you may be up at 9dB when you sync, at another point in the day you would have a lower margin, causing a line drop.

Checking wires and filters would be a good idea. With some routers you can manually force a sync at a specific (higher) margin. Or the ISP may be able to do this.

Nothing wrong with 6dB - it's what the vast majority of lines are set at. Get your facts right lad

No there's nothing _wrong_ with it but depending upon how accurately the router is reporting and looking at the rest of the information, it could well be that the line is basically running at or very close to it's limits. (After all, that's what Max and other offerings do, push copper and ADSL) to it's limits. Obviously there could be other explanations, but if a line with those stats (all of them not just the noise margin) is seeing dropouts then raising the margin it syncs at would increase stability.

6dB is marginal, it's considered a safe margin by BT, but the lowest value a line is allowed to sync at normally. With the common variations throughout the day and with weather conditions dropouts can and will occur on some lines at this level, especially if interleaving is off. In my experience a slightly higher margin will give a more stable line, less than 6 and you can see more troubles. Hence marginal.

Or are you saying that any line with a 6dB SNR reported by any router will never dropout? Sorry, but I find being told to 'get your facts right lad' when offering valid advice to be pretty rude and condescending.

Edited by h0tblack (Mon 28-May-07 16:36:43)

I has exactly the same problem, noise margin around 6dB, but it fluctuated and occasionally went to 4dB and the line disconnected and wouldn;t reconnect until I reset the router.

To fix, I did 2 things - first, I plugged in at the master socket with the faceplate off and checked the router - it was a hugely faster, so I realised there was some problem with the extension.

I found a website which basiclly told me to only have wires 2 and 5 connected in the extensions - did this, plugged the router back into the extension and the speed had increased from 3500kbps to 7100 kbps! The second thing i did, because this didn't quite fix it (it gave me a faster connection, but with the same number of dropouts) was to continually restart the router for about 30 minutes. I did it around 10 or 11 times and each time looked back at the SNR. Eventually, it lowered the speed to 6000kbps but the margin increased to 9dB.

Since then, it has been rock solid.

I leave PlusNet this week after 4 years (had enough of problems), so I hope there is no problem at the new ISP. At least if this problem recurs, I know what to do.

Edited by Ossifer (Mon 28-May-07 16:46:08)

Well i think i worked out what the problem was with my connection dropping.

Our Fax machine.

Even though it was plugged in to a filter it seemed to be disconnecting for some reason. We received a new computer desk and had to rearrange everything and decided to leave it unplugged and touch wood all seems okay so far.

Could be a faulty filter. I suggest using a good quality filter if you intend to connect the fax again, they really do make a difference.

http://www.adslnation.com/support/filters.php

The XF-1e or Excelus Z-420UK-A