Hi all,
Since February 2012, I have been experiencing a connection problem with by ADSL2+ broadband connection, whereby the connection drops 5-10 minutes after I power up my router, but I am having problems with diagnosing what the source of the problem might be. Essentially I need some guidance as to what tests might identify the problem and hopefully lead to a more reliable connection, which I suspect is slowing down and dropping at other times too.
For your information, I have been in conversation with online Talktalk support staff
in this thread on their Broadband Support forum, a result of which I have run various tests from the test socket with new routers, filters and computers at different times of the day and night, but the problem is the same. However, the Talktalk team are not really in a position to provide me with a solution until I can diagnose the source of connection drops.
My router is telling me that after it is powered up, my connection speed is 7-8Mbps, but after about 5-10 minutes there is a build up of CRC errors, at which point the connection drops. The router re-establishes a "stable connection", but at a lower speed of 4-5Mbps or lower.
A BT engineer has paid a visit, but did not find any fault with the line when he ran some tests with a handheld Exfo detector. However, he did connect his computer to the test socket via my router, and saw that the router reported rising
CRC errors, which he said should not be happening. The engineer then said this was the fault of the router, but I explained to him that I have run the same test with another router, and the connection problems were the same.
Obviously the engineer did not detect a line fault, but my router says there is a line fault that is giving rise to CRC errors. My question is, are there any tests that I could run to diagnose the reason why my connection drops after powering up my router?
Here are some sample router stats just before the connection drops while I was connected to the test socket:
System Information 06:58 18/05/2012
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Router Description Product Name Huawei EchoLife HG520b
Physical Address 00:21:63:70:7d:0e
Software Release V100R001B020 TT
Firmware Release 3.10.11.0-1.0.7.0
Batch Number RTC10P0.020.310110
Release Date 2008/06/20
ADSL DescriptionADSL State Show Time
Data Path Interleaved
Operation Mode ADSL2+
Bandwidth Down/Up(kbps) 9231 / 736
SNR Margin Down/Up(dB) 9.4 / 12.2
Attenuation Down/Up(dB) 35.0 / 18.7
Power Down/Up(dBm) 0.0 / 11.3
CRC Down/Up 1553 / 1
FEC Down/Up 46885 / 0
HEC Down/Up 6304 / 0
System Up Time 0:17:38
DSL Up Time 0:16:30
PPP Up Time 0:16:30