Frequent DSL Disconnections (Netopia/Eircom)

CathalF

Hi all,

I've subscribed to an Eircom 2/3mb home broadband package for the last 3 yrs, and use the Netopia Router/Wireless Access point they supplied.

My PC is near the router so I just connect directly to one of the router ethernet ports with an ethernet cable, rather than using wireless.

I have been using the Internet mostly for playing online poker for about 2 years. The PC I use is high spec and the poker client is not a particularly demanding application in terms of bandwidth use. This poker client mostly downloads, with a small amount of uploading. I don't use any other Internet applications at the same time on that PC, but having said that, another computer in the house often accesses the net wirelessly (11G speed) through this router mostly for downloading music and watching streaming video etc.

The thing is I have been experiencing an awful lot of disconnections the last 2 months or so. The net goes down at least twice or 3 times every evening. This happens at various times, mostly (but not exclusively) between 6 and 9pm. This is a particular problem for me because if I am in a poker hand and I disconnect, my hand is automatically folded, so you can imagine the frustration if I have significant money on the virtual table at the time it disconnects.

The other PC also loses its connection to the Internet during the disconnection. During the disconnection I can still ping the router and see other computers on my LAN, so it must either be a problem in the interface between the router and the net, a problem on the phone line or a problem at eircom, or an excessive use of bandwidth problem. I notice that sometimes the DSL light on the netopia box is still lit (odd) even though I cannot access the net, but strangely in the router web interface, DSL's status is shown as "Down". It usually comes back "Up" in a few minutes of its own accord, or after I restart the gateway; but as I explained above this is not acceptable as any (even brief) disconnection is a big problem for me.

I replaced the phone extension line that goes from the phone socket to the router upstairs as the one I had was quite old but this made no difference.

Could this have anything to do with the phone line to the house? If so, would eircom be willing to do any tests?

Could the router/ap itself be a bit dodgy?

Could it be that minor fluctuations in the house mains power are messing with the stablity of the router?

Could the fact the other PC is downloading cause disconnections, say due to excessive bandwidth usage? But then again, in this scenarion would performance be more likely to slow down than suffer a full disconnection, or could excessive bandwidth usage actually manifest itself as a full scale disconnection?

By the way I tested my DSL speed using a couple of different test sites and it is consistently over 2mb download and about 140k upload....

I am a tech myself and can carry out any tests, if anyone has any recommendations?...

Has anyone out there got a similar set up to me and is experiencing/have experienced similar problems?

Anyone in the know that can help me with this, I would really appreciate it.

Please excuse the long post but I wanted to give as much info as possible.

Thanks,
Cathal

Dub13

I have also been getting a lot of Eircom disconnects over the last week or two.

Tusky

I had constant disconnection problems with ESAT BT. I solved it by updating the firmware on the router to the latest version. That worked for me.

rgfuller

What is the Signal Noise Ratio (SNR) and Line Attenuation on your Router, normally during the day, and perhaps check it too in the evening around the 7-9 slot you're having trouble.

lmimmfn

rgfuller wrote: »

What is the Signal Noise Ratio (SNR) and Line Attenuation on your Router, normally during the day, and perhaps check it too in the evening around the 7-9 slot you're having trouble.

6 or for SNR is where guaranteed disconnects happen, its entirely upto the DSL modem type on whether its good at handling a low SNR/able to hold the connection. I know my BT Voyager 205 has no problem with 5-5.5 but below that it craps out

Username!

Extension cables are a no no, nothing but eventual problems - I'm sure your connection has always been intermittent but just maybe not obvious to you, now gradually it's gotten worse.

This will help. Make sure your router is on Always On.

> http://192.168.1.254/
> Expert Mode
> Yes, Enter Expert Mode
> Configure
> Connection
> Connection Type: Always ON (might be on On Demand)
> Save and Restart Connection.

This should keep you logged in constantly. The router will disconnected after a while normally if there is no activity detected. This is supposed to reconnect instantly but in some cases, it just doesn't.

I'd personally suggest switching to wireless, less mess - more success.

Onikage

Lots of people are having problems recently. It appears to be a service problem.

bunglemark2

Tusky wrote: »

I had constant disconnection problems with ESAT BT. I solved it by updating the firmware on the router to the latest version. That worked for me.

Evening mate.
Am troubleshooting a 1Mb connection here and have a similar issue with disconnects (actually it's the brother-in-law's connection but I'm gonna order from BT myself this week).
Similar to you, the connection drops occasionally and a message pops up "Could not connect to LAN". Haven't seen it myself this evening but this is what I'm told.
The wireless router BT Voyager 2110-33 *could* be due a firmware upgrade as it has been here a while. How can I tell if it does need an upgrade and can I do it myself ? Where can I get the firmware from ?
Also SNR is fluctuating from 21 to 47 - am pretty sure that's too high but not sure how to bring it down to 5-6. Suggestions welcome.

Cheers
C

Robertr

I thought you wanted a high SNR and a low Line Attenuation?

Tusky

bunglemark2 wrote: »

Evening mate.
Am troubleshooting a 1Mb connection here and have a similar issue with disconnects (actually it's the brother-in-law's connection but I'm gonna order from BT myself this week).
Similar to you, the connection drops occasionally and a message pops up "Could not connect to LAN". Haven't seen it myself this evening but this is what I'm told.
The wireless router BT Voyager 2110-33 *could* be due a firmware upgrade as it has been here a while. How can I tell if it does need an upgrade and can I do it myself ? Where can I get the firmware from ?
Also SNR is fluctuating from 21 to 47 - am pretty sure that's too high but not sure how to bring it down to 5-6. Suggestions welcome.

Cheers
C

Go into the router settings and check the version down the bottom left corner. You can do this by putting 192.168.1.1 into the address bar.

Version 3.62 is the latest I believe. If you dont have this version you should update.

You can update the firmware really easily from the same page. I believe you just click on the version down the bottom left, enter 'admin' for username and password and click update...something along those lines.

Gonzo

my line attenuation is 37 downstream and my snr is 17, connect at 5120/512k and over the past 3 days have been suffering from alot of random disconnects.... as soon as i restart pc broadband is back on working every time.

bunglemark2

Thanks Tusky...
Being a non techie, I surprised myself at just how easy it was to upgrade the firmware. Had to do it a few times though 'cos it just sat there "in progress" for about an hour the first time round. Eventually I rebooted the router and tried again and it worked. Dunno if it fixed the problem 'cos that was 10pm and I headed off.
Thanks for the help tho'.
C
P.S. Any suggestions on what software to use to capture performance metrics i.e. speed, SNR, attentuation etc..

bunglemark2

Yep - I was having a blonde moment. Didn't re-read the post before I hit Submit.

As an aside, is there a general feeling about which is a better service - Eircom or Esat BT ? Maybe you can't express a preference in this forum....but let's say "...I've heard people say..." ??

Tusky

bunglemark2 wrote: »

Thanks Tusky...
Being a non techie, I surprised myself at just how easy it was to upgrade the firmware. Had to do it a few times though 'cos it just sat there "in progress" for about an hour the first time round. Eventually I rebooted the router and tried again and it worked. Dunno if it fixed the problem 'cos that was 10pm and I headed off.
Thanks for the help tho'.
C
P.S. Any suggestions on what software to use to capture performance metrics i.e. speed, SNR, attentuation etc..

You can check the stats in the router set up as well. Click advanced, advanced and then Broadband Line Stats or Status...something like that. That will give you those figures.

bunglemark2 wrote: »

Yep - I was having a blonde moment. Didn't re-read the post before I hit Submit.

As an aside, is there a general feeling about which is a better service - Eircom or Esat BT ? Maybe you can't express a preference in this forum....but let's say "...I've heard people say..." ??

Youre allowed say what you like on here! Ive never used Eircom for broadband so cant comment on their service. Esat BT is cheaper than Eircom though.

CathalF

Username! wrote: »

Extension cables are a no no, nothing but eventual problems.....

This will help. Make sure your router is on Always On.

> Expert Mode
> Configure
> Connection
> Connection Type: Always ON (might be on On Demand)
> Save and Restart Connection.

This should keep you logged in constantly. The router will disconnected after a while normally if there is no activity detected. This is supposed to reconnect instantly but in some cases, it just doesn't.

I'd personally suggest switching to wireless, less mess - more success.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Re. suggestion about "Connection Type: Always ON", if this is some kind of inactivity timer then why does my connection drop when there patently IS ACTIVITY? (this happens when I am actively using the Internet)

Re. extension cable. So if the only telephone socket in the house is downstairs and the computer HAS TO BE upstairs, how would you suggest I connect the router to the telephone socket without using a phone extension cable? Move the telephone socket by extending/replacing the twisted pair? Can you extend (daisychain) these sockets?

Switching to wireless is not an option for me.

Thanks

rgfuller

Robertr wrote: »

I thought you wanted a high SNR and a low Line Attenuation?

Exactly, the higher the SNR and the lower the Line Attenuation the better.

I reckon (for your current ADSL speed) once your SNR reaches 10, and/or Attenuation goes above 50, you are in occasional drop territory due to any extra interference in the house or on the line.

CathalF

I solved this about 3 weeks ago but forgot to let everyone know the outcome.

Here's what I did

1) Upgraded the router firmware, as suggested by Tusky. There is a link on the Eircom.net site to newer versions of the firmware - I don't have link to hand,but just type in "Netopia firmware" in the search box on the Eircom page and it will come up. There is also an option to carry out the upgrade directly from your router web page (192.168.1.254 default).
The number of disconnections dropped considerably after upgrading the firmware but there was still the odd one.

2) Replaced the DSL filter.

3) Connected the phone line through a surge suppressor.

After doing 2) and 3) disconnections became even less frequent.

The problem has pretty much disappeared - I've only had 3 or 4 disconnections in the last 3 weeks compared with 3 or 4 every day before.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and I hope the above information will help others.