Repeated resets

[#1]

I would appreciate someone from the "help team" organising a line check.

The problem:
After a little over 218 days of reliable service (Errors up: 18173, down: 274) the modem reconnected twice on 17 May; since then errors are Up: 20830 Down: 30036. Coincidentally (more likely not) about that date Toob dug a hole near, and short trench to, the BT junction point approximately mid-way between my house and the cabinet. A quiet line test sounds clear.

Since 17 May, there have been 11 re-connections with only 3 lasting more than 20 hours.

The current modem data is (the first 3 lines vary slightly):
                     Upstream  Downstream
Current Rate (kbps)    20000    79999
SNR Margin (dB)         9.4      6.2
Line Attenuation (dB)  11.9      7.4
Errors (pkts)         20968     30279

For information, the following was automatically collected from the modem log (Gateway from IP address):
Down: 02 Feb 2022 @ 08:37:47    Up: 08:37:57    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)
Down: 17 May 2022 @ 16:34:59    Up: 16:36:15    G/w: 195.166.130.249 (pcn-bng02)  Sync: 19999/78863
Down: 17 May 2022 @ 16:39:41    Up: 16:40:56    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79891
Down: 19 May 2022 @ 03:50:45    Up: 03:52:00    G/w: 195.166.130.251 (pcn-bng04)  Sync: 19999/79192
Down: 19 May 2022 @ 12:55:29    Up: 12:56:39    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79998
Down: 19 May 2022 @ 19:27:11    Up: 19:28:27    G/w: 195.166.130.249 (pcn-bng02)  Sync: 19999/79922
Down: 19 May 2022 @ 21:57:50    Up: 21:59:06    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79681
Down: 20 May 2022 @ 14:32:13    Up: 14:33:29    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79999
Down: 20 May 2022 @ 18:33:20    Up: 18:34:35    G/w: 195.166.130.250 (pcn-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79513
Down: 21 May 2022 @ 09:49:38    Up: 09:49:49    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)
Down: 22 May 2022 @ 04:00:04    Up: 04:01:19    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79941
Down: 25 May 2022 @ 19:55:02    Up: 19:56:17    G/w: 195.166.130.249 (pcn-bng02)  Sync: 19999/79750
Down: 26 May 2022 @ 05:28:59    Up: 05:30:15    G/w: 195.166.130.255 (psb-bng04)  Sync: 19999/79999
Down: 26 May 2022 @ 12:41:23    Up: 12:42:34    G/w: 195.166.130.255 (psb-bng04)  Sync: 19999/79643
Down: 26 May 2022 @ 17:44:04    Up: 17:44:24    G/w: 195.166.130.251 (pcn-bng04)
Down: 27 May 2022 @ 05:29:09    Up: 05:30:21    G/w: 195.166.130.250 (pcn-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79998
Down: 29 May 2022 @ 01:05:28    Up: 01:06:40    G/w: 195.166.130.249 (pcn-bng02)  Sync: 19999/79999
Down: 29 May 2022 @ 13:38:48    Up: 13:40:01    G/w: 195.166.130.255 (psb-bng04)  Sync: 19999/79574
Down: 30 May 2022 @ 20:47:03    Up: 20:48:18    G/w: 195.166.130.254 (psb-bng03)  Sync: 19999/79998
Down: 31 May 2022 @ 00:20:10    Up: 00:26:51    G/w: 195.166.130.251 (pcn-bng04)  Sync: 20000/79999

These are from a random manual inspection of the status, so there will be missed entries:
06 May 2022 @ 15:25 Up: 17391    Dn: 274      (207d 2h 22m)
15 May 2022 @ 13:36 Up: 18173    Dn: 274      (216d 0h 34m)
19 May 2022 @ 09:40 Up: 18679    Dn: 5532     (0d 5h 50m)
21 May 2022 @ 09:46 Up: 19061    Dn: 13948    (0d 15h 12m)
22 May 2022 @ 08:55 Up: 19159    Dn: 15744    (0d 5h 13m)
24 May 2022 @ 13:09 Up: 19459    Dn: 15839    (2d 9h 8m)
25 May 2022 @ 09:46 Up: 19606    Dn: 15861    (3d 5h 44m)
25 May 2022 @ 17:30 Up: 19855    Dn: 20845    (0d 4h 47m)
27 May 2022 @ 18:17 Up: 20015    Dn: 23121    (0d 12h 48m)
30 May 2022 @ 09:45 Up: 20643    Dn: 27653    (0d 20h 5m)
30 May 2022 @ 17:34 Up: 20669    Dn: 27661    (1d 3h 55m)
30 May 2022 @ 22:24 Up: 20691    Dn: 29327    (0d 1h 37m)
31 May 2022 @ 12:47 Up: 20830    Dn: 30036    (0d 12h 21m)

[#2]

Hiya @PeeGee, thanks for getting in touch on our forums. I am really sorry for the issues with the service, especially after such a length of time with it being reliable. 

I have tested the line for you today and it hasn't highlighted what may have been causing these drops. I can see there was a few drops, though over the last 2 days it does look to have stabilised, so may be worth monitoring further to see if the drops return. It may well have been related to the work that's being done!

I'll attach the test results below for you, let us know how things go over the next few days.

[#3]

Here's the GEA:

Test Outcome	Pass
Test Outcome Code	GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_0000
Description	GEA service test completed and no fault found .
Main Fault Location	OK
Sync Status	In Sync
Downstream Speed	79.9 Mbps
Upstream Speed	20.0 Mbps
Appointment Required	N
Fault Report Advised	N
NTE Power Status	PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result	Pass
Radio Frequency Ingress	Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise	Not Detected
Cross Talk	Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	279.4
Upstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Downstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Home Wiring Problem	Not Detected
Downstream Policing Discard Rate	0.0
Customer Traffic Level	Upstream and Downstream traffic detected
Technology	VDSL
Current 15Min Bin Retrains	0
Last 15Min Bin Retrains	0
DP Type	External
Profile Name	0.128M-80M Downstream, Retransmission Low - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2022-05-21T14:30:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	79.5 Mbps	79.9 Mbps	79.8 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	19.9 Mbps	20.0 Mbps	19.9 Mbps
Up Time	2.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	889.4 Sec
Retrains	0.0	1.0	0.0

Current and Last 15 Minute Bin Performance
Parameters	Last Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)	Current Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)
Start Time Stamp	2022-06-03T12:57:50Z	2022-06-03T13:12:50Z
Ingress Code Violation	2	0
Egress Code Violation	0	0
Errored Seconds	0	0
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

[#4]

@LaurenB Thanks for checking the line etc. Interesting that the line length is estimated as 279m as I would guess it is between 80-100m, maybe less! Perhaps the aluminium cabling is having an effect.

[#5]

@PeeGee  What are you worried about, the line length doesn't matter, aluminium cabling or not when you are getting full sync speeds with retransmission low. You have the best possible line stats.

Are you still getting line drops?  If you are there must still be a line fault somewhere.

[#6]

@RealAleMadrid Yes, 3 more this month, though the sync is now 80/20. Speed tests consistently give 72.5/18.7, but error rates are relatively high.

[#7]

Update: as running the modem/router at the master socket involves extension cables for power and data across the pathway between the stairs and everything downstairs, I left things alone (though there were annoying connection drops [18 on 25 June in 8 sets amounting to 20 mins total*]) and on 28th at 12:55 the connection dropped for a couple of minutes  and since then there have been no errors logged on the downlink and the uplink is averaging 7.4 errors per hour. 😀

* I have a "Samknows" box monitoring the line

[#8]

I'm really sorry for the inconvenience this is undoubtedly causing @PeeGee, I can imagine this being a real pain. Do things appear to have settled down now though? My visual radius, which I'll pop below, appears to show a more stable connection over the weekend. As tests aren't picking up any faults at the minute, it'd be hard to retrospectively pinpoint the exact source of the issues you were having last month. 

[#9]

@adam945 I have just returned from a short break, so apologies for the slow response - and thanks for looking at the situation.

Since 28th June the the "down" error rate has dropped to zero either side of the last drop on 2 July and the "up" rate is around 3 per hour since that last drop.  That is the sort of figures I had for the 216 days of continuity before the recent problem occurred 😀

[#10]

No worries and I hope you've had a good break.

I'm glad that things seem to be back to normal! 

[#11]

Well, that didn't last very long - just 3 weeks of no "down" errors logged (176 per hour up). Then:

Down: 23 Jul 2022 @ 20:33:43    Up: 20:34:58
Down: 24 Jul 2022 @ 12:05:20    Up: 12:06:35
Down: 25 Jul 2022 @ 02:09:05    Up: 02:10:21
Down: 25 Jul 2022 @ 04:39:42    Up: 04:41:02
Down: 25 Jul 2022 @ 05:21:50    Up: 05:23:04
Down: 25 Jul 2022 @ 09:10:56    Up: 09:12:16
Down: 25 Jul 2022 @ 12:11:45    Up: 12:12:59
Down: 25 Jul 2022 @ 14:12:14    Up: 14:13:35
Down: 25 Jul 2022 @ 15:12:33    Up: 15:13:48

Samknows logged 13 drops today (25th @ 19:37).

[#12]

Hi PeeGee, sorry to see that the connection is dropping again, that must be a pain. 

Line tests aren't showing signs of any obvious causes, before we look at things like booking an engineer visit do you have a spare router to try so we can eliminate that as a possible cause?

[#13]

@adamwalker It took a bit of time reconfiguring my 7yr old (TP-Link TD-W9980) modem-router which has now been running for just over 25hrs. It's a bit limited regarding stats, but showing 77536/19999 vs 80000/20000 previously with the 4yr old one and the "down" SNR margin has halved.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to report transmission errors as there was a drop of 3mins at about four this morning registered by my SamKnows box (it is shown in the log). That is the only one to date, though the log is showings a reconnect to 195.166.130.255 (psb-bng04) at about 14:00 without a modem re-sync.

The next week will be interesting as the last saw the end of 20 days without a drop, 2 days with 5 re-syncs in two groups, then 3 days with 64 re-syncs in 8, 13 and 10 groups.

[#14]

Update: The error count is misleading with the W9980, it is reset when there is a re-sync; the VR600 resets at re-boot.

Since changing to the W9980, SamKnows has reported loss of connection 5 times yesterday, 3 a re-sync and 2 only a change of gateway (according to the router log) and so far today a loss of connection 9 times, 3 a re-sync and 6 a change of gateway (though it may not "physically" change!).

[#15]

I think it's worth arranging an engineer to take a closer look. If you're okay with that, when could you be available for a visit? The engineers are available weekday timeslots (and occasionally Saturday's) of 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm.