Intermittent disconnections - just live with it?

No. While intermittant synch is the hardest item to troubleshoot, it is fixable. Tell your isp you have intermittant synch. Either they or the telco should be able to track it down.

Meantime, check your filters:

alarm/security system: active or not (call alarm/security company for filter instructions) utilities: does the meter report by phone? filter may need to be provided by utility company water gas electric paging or intercom system that uses phones: may require a whole house filter (POTS splitter) or separate line for dsl rollover lines: put the dsl on your fax line, not one of the rollover lines medic alert/reporting satellite (and rarely cable) box may use phone for premium services, such as pay per view external ringer or light flasher distinctive ring other phones: attic garage bedroom upstairs downstairs fax machine answering machine caller id box dial-up modem telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD)

Check your cable, maybe try another cable for a while.

"Kay Archer" wrote in news:HsKHg.12908$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com:

I have no alarm system tapping the line and there are no apparent bad phones or "trigger" events inside the house that precede the line drop. The timing seems purely random, unless someone in the neighborhood has spliced into the line and is doing something illegal.

If it were a problem with a LAN cable, phone cable, etc., you'd think jiggling it would cause the drop. I've tested for that as much as I can (no inside wiring contract with the telco). I also switched to another phone jack and it had no effect. I doubt it's the supplied filters, and a tech seconded that. When it works, it works.

That same tech admitted that at nearly 15,000 feet from the CO there are innumerable glitches out of my control. I'd like to know how they can trace something that could be anywhere from 100 to 10,000 feet away from my house. If it's in sync every time they come out, what evidence can they go by?

Jim

"Jim" wrote

In most Telco's, standard line testing is automated. The test results for giving back an OK to the operator are geared to voice service and have some thresholds involved. That is, a slight imperfection in a given test parameter might still give back an OK when it really isn't completely OK.

If they REALLY wanted to find the problem, they would do a "raw" test or a manual test and then they would visit each and every access point on your pair all the way from the CO to your house (regardless of the test results) and actually look for a problem.

Keep making reports when you have long outages and pay particular attention to the quality of your voice service and report any problems there too.

Also the general consensus seems to be that some modems are more prone to intermittently losing synch than others. Post your modem model and maybe someone else can tell you if it is suspect.

Some have gotten so desperate that they dropped the speed of the link to achieve better "up time" results but it doesn't sound like you are at that point yet.

Good luck!

In the OP's first post he stated he has had a static on the line problem with his telephone service. For this reason. I think he should be dealing with the telephone service repair rather than the DSL repair service. Prior to contacting telephone repair, I would suggest checking the line at the NID using a regular phone. (Telephone repair will ask that you do this also). If you have the static problem with this test it eliminates inside wiring from the discussion.

As I understand it, line static can cause DSL interrupts. In case you are not aware, DSL repair and telephone repair are separate entities.

Robert

"Ken Abrams" wrote in news:0pMHg.12923$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com:

Maybe so, but with intermittent problems I don't see how random checks would reveal much. A tech would have to hang around for hours and it's not practical. All they'd probably find is the same line noise that plagues my phones at random. When in sync, the modem mfg status site shows everything within normal thresholds. The tech who came out was candid about unknown line quality well beyond my house.

This is a random sample from a day of known drops and recovery times. They generally seem clustered around noon to 2PM but that's subjective. The hours before and after this time frame are unknown.

It's a Comtrend CT-5071 and I've seen no trouble reports online. When it works, it's up for hours and comes back online within a minute usually. I think this points to something other than a board/chip problem. It always runs warm so it's not likely to be temperature failure, etc.. It just doesn't have the feel of a local equipment malfunction.

Seeing as it's up 95% of the time (best guess) it's more of a nuisance than anything. I'm even thinking a change in seasons might smooth out some distant line problem with cooler weather and less expansion. I'm toward the far end of the max. 18,000 ft. CO distance. Has anyone managed to trace random dropouts to something beyond their control?

Jim

"byramr" wrote

True. That's really the point I was trying to make but this only works at a time when the static is present. ;-)

Also true in some (most?) companies however DSL techs don't often actually go looking for the source of cable trouble and a referral from them would probably get greater attention than a subscriber report of static.

"byramr" wrote in news:BmWHg.50$6E5.23@trndny05:

Actually they are both the same company but I'd rather not name them. They have been honest about the limitations of DSL at longer ranges. A bird on a wire could be causing it for all I know. Or maybe they've booked too many users. Does anyone know if DSL bumps people off like a jammed dialup server?

I'm in a condo where we apparently don't have access to the NID box. The phone switching appears to be done outside in metal boxes with locks. Are NIDs hidden inside in specific places?

Jim

Jim, since I'm in a single family house afraid I can't be more helpful with a condo setup. Perhaps your condo association can assist. In the case of Verizon they provision at various speeds based on the distance from the Central Office to minimize disconnect problems. So far as I know DSL does not bump people off.

Robert

No, if you have a circuit, you have a circuit.

Your condo management probably has a closet somewhere with the telcom equipment in it.

Well this might not help Jim, but I moved from SBC area to a place in the middle of nowhere which has a mom & pop telephone company that was never bought out my the old Ma Bell. Luckily they do have slow DSL out here (256k) and I have no other choices.

Of course, I had to buy their DSL modem and they won't give me DSL service without purchases heir crappy DSL modems for 80 bucks. Okay whatever! Well that crappy DSL modem lost sync a lot. Called them out and they put in other crappy brands and they did the same thing.

I put my SBC 2Wire 1000HG ADSL on the line and it works perfectly and it never lost a connection yet (about 60 days now). The phone company is confused why mine works and theirs don't. I'm not, there are crappy DSL modems and good DSL modems.

And here it something else to think about. Some DSL and cable modems go bad very easy and sometimes often. I've heard it is usually power spikes that usually does this. So if you got a warantee on that modem, take advantage of it and get a replacement and make sure it isn't the modem.

As far how they can find a bad connection down 15,000 feet of cable? Well back in the days when I worked as an electrical engineer, they had equipment that works like doppler radar. As they set pulses out and waits for an echo to return. And thus tells you how far the problem is down the line. It's a neat toy. :)

"BillW50" wrote in news:44f4bdca$0$8150 $ snipped-for-privacy@reader.greatnowhere.com:

I'd be inclined to try another modem, but this line has always had periodic scratching noises. I don't know if any modem could hold a connection at those times without compromising data purity. To my knowledge, Comtrend is a decent brand (~$60). I'd like to know specific parameters that make some modems better than others. If the line loses purity can a modem fill in the gaps somehow?

Jim