Help! These Disconnections Are Driving Me Crazy!

[monsieurhappy]

I've posted about this before but no-one was helpful enough to give me an explanation!

Most of the day my TT&T connection goes down every 5 minutes! Almost to the second.

Sometimes! Around 9 or 10 am. I may just get a little longer but then the 5 min. cutoff starts.

Now I know I'm too far from the exchange and the lines around here are like a plate of spaghetti but it never used to be as bad as this. I did get disconnections but not every 5 mins!

Try calling TT&T !! Well I've done this so many times they don't bother answering the phone anymore!

I just want to know if this is inevitable or if there may be a fault with my equipment and how I may check this or is TT&T the culprit and are the cause of all my woes?

I've attached 2 screen shots of the alarm mode on my modem. Forget the dates and times as it has not been set to the correct date but you can see the 5 min. cutoff times.

Can anyone offer some kind of explanation please?

BTW. if anyone as called the TT&T service line recently and pressed 9 for English, did you get an English voice or like me someone rabbiting on in Thai?

[geoffphuket]

I've posted about this before but no-one was helpful enough to give me an explanation!

Most of the day my TT&T connection goes down every 5 minutes! Almost to the second.

Sometimes! Around 9 or 10 am. I may just get a little longer but then the 5 min. cutoff starts.

Now I know I'm too far from the exchange and the lines around here are like a plate of spaghetti but it never used to be as bad as this. I did get disconnections but not every 5 mins!

Try calling TT&T !! Well I've done this so many times they don't bother answering the phone anymore!

I just want to know if this is inevitable or if there may be a fault with my equipment and how I may check this or is TT&T the culprit and are the cause of all my woes?

I've attached 2 screen shots of the alarm mode on my modem. Forget the dates and times as it has not been set to the correct date but you can see the 5 min. cutoff times.

Can anyone offer some kind of explanation please?

BTW. if anyone as called the TT&T service line recently and pressed 9 for English, did you get an English voice or like me someone rabbiting on in Thai?

Telephone lines wrapped around electric mains cable will pick up all sorts of electrical interference and could be half the problem, but more likely your ISP is just oversubscribed and can't cope with the required bandwidth.

[monsieurhappy]

Geof,

I can accept what you are saying except that it didn't used to be so bad and why a continual 5 mins. in between disconnections? It's almost as though there is a timer fitted! I would expect the disconnections to be at more random intervals!

[Khun Jack]

My adsl modem logs shows the same misery, had CAT HiNet with a TT&T telephone line ( Phuket), and for two years no really bad problems, in the night had downloadspeeds of 1.6 Mbps (HiNet 2 Mbps), than no dialtone, no sync, called TT&T and after one week a crew showed up, told me someone made a mistake.

Checked my modem and my download speed was 64 Kb, upload was 624 Kb (huh?) line att. was 63.5 dB (huh?) called TT&T again, guy showed op again after one week and I got blank stares and some smiling, he didn't speak a word English and had no clue what I was talking about. Than tried to call the TT&T ADSL line manager but he did not want to speak with me so I went to the CAT, refused to pay the bill, faxed my adsl logs to the manager and he told me to go back to TT&T, yes sure late got a letter from CAT if I didn't pay the Police would come and take some personal belongings.

[Maestro]

I would expect the disconnections to be at more random intervals!

Yes, one wonders how an ISP prioritises access. Are they sophisticated enough to give priority based on what a user downloads at the moment?

--

Maestro

[Prasert]

Looking at the images you posted, the whole circuit goes down obviously. Can you take a closer look to confirm this?

Some more technical info on how dsl works:

there's a line from the DSLAM (the dsl switch) to your modem. This is usually the copper wire to your house. Over this line, an atm-like signal is sent and is configured as a circuit: vpi/vci 0/33 in your case. Once this is up and running, the CD light will go on (Carrier Detect).

Next, a LCP link is setup over this circuit, followed by a PPP link. The PPP link runs from your modem or router to the CO equipment at the ISP. Once this is setup as well, you have received an IP address and you can reach the internet.

Usually problems occur in the 2nd part - most of the times problems between the CO and the DSLAM and it affects many users at the same time. In your case it looks like the problem is in the local loop; the telephone wire between your modem and the dslam. You can check the phone lines in your house first: connect the modem straight into the wall with a new phone cable (leave out the splitters and all telephones!)

Next, put the splitter in between and test again. Connect the phone and test again. If this does not give you any difference, it's probably the phone line outside.

Phone lines are usually available in 200 meter rolls. The technicians just twist the copper wires when they attach a new roll (instead of soldering it) and put some pvc tape around it. In time, the tape will go loose and water can reach the copper. Tiny water bubbles that condensated on the junction are killers for the frequency used by dsl.....

However, this does not explain your 5-minute disconnect. Could be a power problem or interference along the way - a job for TT&T or TOT to investigate.

The absolute big problem in Thailand is that the support people you get on the phone have absolutely no knowledge at all about the above. And the engineers doing the lines have been connecting lines for 30 years - why should they change their way of working?

Thai approach: your line drops. not working. oi! Hey, working again after 30 seconds. Problem gone

Edited June 19, 2007 by Prasert

[sjaak327]

Did you check your MTU size, this might be the cause for ADSL disconnects.

[monty]

I completely concur with Prasert here. There definitely are problems with the physical phoneline between your house and the DSLAM.

I can understand the timing effect, when your modem first synchronizes with the dslam, your noise ratio is always pretty good, and then will stabilize at a lower value over the next few minutes, depending on how much noise is being picked in these few minutes.

Most modems will simply lose connection when the noise ratio gets too low.

If nothing changed to the situation inside your house (e.g. extra phone added, fax installed etc.), and you had a much better connection some time ago, there will be a big chance the major culprit is corrosion somewhere in the junctions on your phone line.

Worst case scenario would be a high tension transformer gone bad, or even a bust ballast in a streetlight somewhere, generating so much noise causing these disconnects. Would be bad since TT&T would not be able to solve that...

Do you have crackle in the line? Pick up the receiver and push just one number to make the dial tone go away. Then listen, you should only hear perfect silence, no crackling or buzzing. Just nothing.

Try to get into TT&T's office and explain to the girls that your line is so bad that sometimes conversation is difficult and faxes often cannot be received or sent. Basically TT&T has to guarantee that these two services work properly, while because of the distance, your dsl connection is in no way guaranteed. Contractually they are not obliged to fix your line because of bad ADSL connectivity unless you live closer then 3 km from the exchange, but they have to check it out if voice and or fax comms turn bad!

Good luck!

[monsieurhappy]

I've been trying some of the things suggested but could someone tell me what is meant by MTU?

Did you check your MTU size, this might be the cause for ADSL disconnects.

I tried checking the phone lines in the house as Prasert suggested. That made no difference.

I listened for crackle on the line. Nothing!

This morning I went online at 5.50am. - disconnection every 5 mins. as usual.

Took a break and went back online at 9.15am. Surprise! Surprise! 2 sessions of 55 mins. each without interruption and other sessions of differing times between 16 mins. and 20 something mins. Yes, there was a disconnection between these sessions but I could live with 55 mins. This is as it was before but I can't always get online when I want to.

This continued until 12.15 or whatever when we revert back to the 5 mins. disconnections again.

The weather conditions from 5.50 until late afternoon were pretty much the same and no streetlights were on so I'm convinced the problem lies with TT&T who don't want to do anything.

As for the line being oversubscribed I can expect but I have in the past been online in the early hours when one would think most users are asleep only to find the disconnections just as bad and that's if I could actually get a connection!

I have often wondered if the staff at TT&T go home at 10.00pm. and switch everything off!