msteinhilber
join:2008-08-28
De Forest, WI
| Frequent sync problems, slow speeds.
Greetings,
I've been with CenturyTel for nearly a couple of months after becoming fed up with Charter's runarounds so we switched to CenturyTel's DSL and bundled DishNetwork. The first call when I was just gathering information, I was told 1.5MB was the fastest available in my area. Much slower than the 16mb/2mb Charter I had, but I figured it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to eliminate Charter from my budget. When I ordered I was offered 10MB, I figured what the heck - the tech will see if 10MB is reliable and if it's not, he'll set me up for 1.5mb and that's that.
The tech arrived, handed me my modem and when I asked him if the 10mb worked out, he said yes and said I was fairly close to the CO and it should be great. I was able to perform some speedtests right around 10mb first day or two after I installed the modem but shortly after that we began to experience frequent sync issues and slow speeds. The modem would lose sync as often as 5 or 6 times an hour at worst to 3 or 4 times a day at best. The speed has remained relatively constant at right around 1MB down, 768k up. Since we only utilize cell phones and just have the dry loop, I disconnected our existing inside wiring completely and ran a home run to the NID to the modem over cat5 and there hasn't been any improvement. It's been about a month since then, and I haven't really had time up until recently to actually call CenturyTel since I've been so busy with work but I finally got a call in a couple of days ago, and again this afternoon trying to get a resolution to this. Unfortunately, I'm getting the dreaded "everything looks ok from our end, it must be an issue with your equipment" since I always mention I have a router other than the Westell modem which I had been using in bridge mode so I can VPN to my remote offices without double natting. I'm not sure why I ever mention I use other equipment to any ISP as it's just a giant "that must be your issue" magnet.
Anyways, during the first call, I was prepared with data from the modem when I had tested it directly through the modem so I could see the line stats. SN Margin is usually ~5dB, line attenuation was 35dB, and the transmit power was ~29db. The phone tech said these numbers were just fine. I'm ok with the line attenuation, but the SN margin is a too low for my likes and the transmit power seems quite a bit high to me. I explained the frequent sync issues and slow speeds and got little in the way of any cooperation to get a tech to check things out since things looked ok on his end and because I was using equipment other than they provided and seemed to point blame there.
So I went back to trying to come up with a solution myself, I figured maybe I have a bad modem - I used to resell AT&T DSL several years ago and went through a good deal of faulty modems. I dusted off an old Cisco 837 I had and configured it and encountered the same issues. I called back this afternoon, after having tried my old Cisco and also having bypassed my router for a couple of days just to be able to say I gave it a go. Feeling confident that this would net some results, I was given the same "everything is looking great at our end" and this time the tech informed me that the line stats were well within spec.
I'm hoping some of the CenturyTel guru's/workers here can provide some tips on what I can try to get things moving in the right direction. My wife who is probably the world biggest anti-Charter person is wanting to switch back but I certainly don't want to. Unfortunately the help I am getting over the phone is very reminiscent of the Charter tech support which is extremely frustrating. Since it may be asked, I haven't tested directly at the NID over the long term - just long enough to gather line stats and then move the modem back after verifying the same results as I am getting on my wiring.
Here is a current capture of my line stats, a little better this evening.
Transceiver Revision: 5.2.2.0
Vendor ID Code: 4
Line Mode: not defined
Data Path: Interleaved
Transceiver Information Down Stream Path Up Stream Path
DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 12474 894
Margin (dB) 6.5 13.0
Line Attenuation (dB) 34.5 16.5
Transmit Power (dBm) 22.7 12.2
Thanks in advance,
Mike |
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dsldude08
Premium
join:2008-01-03
La Crosse, WI
 ·CenturyTel Inc.
| Dropping you to 6MB might fix this. It seems to be quite a solid rate. IM me your phone number so I can change it for you and see if it results in any improvement. I had a similar issue in the past with 10MB.
--
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
- Abraham Lincoln |
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Time Keeper
Premium,VIP,MVM
join:2004-01-07
Kimberling City, MO
| It's definitely too much speed for your line currently. Anything usually under 10 db noise margin will give you problems keeping sync like you're experiencing.
Dsldude, I would try 8 meg first, and see how the stats look. Then if needed, back down to 6. |
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dsldude08
Premium
join:2008-01-03
La Crosse, WI | reply to msteinhilber
You have been dropped to 8MB. Keep us updated. |
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msteinhilber
join:2008-08-28
De Forest, WI
| Looking better now, we'll see how things go!
Transceiver Revision: 5.2.2.0
Vendor ID Code: 4
Line Mode: not defined
Data Path: Interleaved
Transceiver Information Down Stream Path Up Stream Path
DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 9821 894
Margin (dB) 14.5 13.0
Line Attenuation (dB) 34.5 16.5
Transmit Power (dBm) 22.1 12.2
Speed is much improved as well, thanks dsldude & Icon! |
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Time Keeper
Premium,VIP,MVM
join:2004-01-07
Kimberling City, MO | reply to msteinhilber
That 14.5 margin looks great. As long as you don't see huge swings in the margins, you should be good to go.  |
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dsldude08
Premium
join:2008-01-03
La Crosse, WI | reply to msteinhilber
Alright, good deal!  |
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