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[splbound]

Update. Zen connection (Zen not BT, being that they get my hard earned cash for the privilege of the connection) is still craptastic and disconnecting.

A week on a purchased stock HG612 2b - No improvement.
A week on my old 7800N - No improvement
Swapped back to my 7800DX - No Improvement
Changed filter pate from mk2 to mk3 - Drop in general sync speeds and No improvement
Changed telephone cable from master socket to HG612 - No Improvement
Quiet line test from test socket with a BT corded phone - All OK no erroneous noises.
Checked home alliances that may cause the interference by systematically switching them on and off - No disconnections correlate with the function of all appliances I could operate in the house. TV's, Fridges, Plugpacks from all sorts of things, Gas heating, Electric stove and oven.....

I did notice that over last weekend (3pm 22nd May - 24 May 8pm - long weekend) the connection stayed up the longest it has done so far. Of course this all went to crap. Last night being the worse it has been with absolutely rubbish connection between 8pm - 12am, right when I wanted to game. Problem is definitely intermittent.

Contacted Zen again today (28/05) and they are now asking me to connect my PC directly to the HG612 using the PC to establish the PPP connection for 24 hours. I would have thought that this have been ruled out already by the 7800DX and 7800N swap. Anyway here goes again to really rule the routers out. I think I will roll out a pfsense box from a spare box to do this test so I can keep some kind of network running.

I guess since Zen sees a small amount of VDSL resyncs compared to the PPP drops their troubleshooting points the issue to be at my premises. Fair enough as connect\disconnect are stats are probably all they are given BTOR. Crappy thing is that Zen are blind to any other stats that I can see and collect directly from the HG612.

The rollercoaster ride of my SNRM db stats reveal more of the issue which of why the PPP connection is failing. Kind of like having evidence but being inadmissible.

Only way forward is to keep on Zen's troubleshooting process.

[burakkucat]

Contacted Zen again today (28/05) and they are now asking me to connect my PC directly to the HG612 using the PC to establish the PPP connection for 24 hours.

Ensure that you have an adequate firewall in place when performing that test.

I think I will roll out a pfsense box from a spare box to do this test so I can keep some kind of network running.

A very sensible idea as you will then have a reliable firewall.

Only way forward is to keep on Zen's troubleshooting process.

Yes. But very annoying. 

[splbound]

Ensure that you have an adequate firewall in place when performing that test.

A very sensible idea as you will then have a reliable firewall.

Thanks for that! Here I was prepared to connect my main PC directly totally forgot that it wouldn't even be protected by NAT in this config.

Rolled out the pfsense box last night. A crash course that kept me up till the early hours configuring. PITA having to enter all my Port forwards and DHCP static assignments (I have a lot). Worse was trying to get my VPN working and my head around the firewall etc.

All good and working now as an exact replacement for my Router. 

Officially I switched to this config at around 4:30am 29/05/2015. SNRM DB graphs looking much flatter.
I had a good run on the 7800DX last weekend between Fri and Sunday so, I'll keep this running for a week to see if it is really helping.

Still skeptical as there has already been one ppp disconnection at 10:00am since the pfsence config was officially up 

Same thing that was happening on the Billion's going by the pfsense PPP logs:

May 29 09:56:50   ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: no reply to 2 echo request(s)
May 29 09:57:00   ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: no reply to 3 echo request(s)
May 29 09:57:10   ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: no reply to 4 echo request(s)
May 29 09:57:20   ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: no reply to 5 echo request(s)
May 29 09:57:20   ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: peer not responding to echo requests
May 29 09:57:20   ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: state change Opened --> Stopping

If this config doesn't work, I wonder if Zen will force me to test a direct PPP pc connection to troubleshoot even after this config??!!

[tbailey2]

You say PPP drops but keeps sync in the title, but every time I look at it lately it has dropped the sync with an RDI defect reported .... Last one at 09:56. Or am I misreading what you are saying? You appear to be receiving resync mails.

[splbound]

You say PPP drops but keeps sync in the title, but every time I look at it lately it has dropped the sync with an RDI defect reported .... Last one at 09:56. Or am I misreading what you are saying? You appear to be receiving resync mails.

Thanks for your time Tony.

The re-syncs between 28/05 16:00 to 29/May 04:00 I can account for and is due to me.

The last one at 29/05 09:56 the one that I believe just dropped PPP but kept sync.

DSLStats on my server show 0 on the resync count since 29/05 02:58:39.
The Zen line rate data which I believe shows resyncs only show no resync yet on 29/05 09:56. I believe will have to wait till tomorrow for them to show the stats for today.

Zen support say they are able to see all the resycs and ppp drops on my line last time chat with them.

This is my issue with Zen. Since each PPP drop is not accompanied by a resync they believe that the issue is most likely to be on my side specifically the router. I have tried 2 different routers so far with the pfsense setup being the third now.

All of the routers show PPP timeouts in their logs but the modem looks like it kept sync at the time from the DSLStats I'm getting from it.

If the sync drops did co-correlate with each ppp disconnection I think Zen would have got an engineer out to me earlier as it would point to more of a line issue.

I'm out of any ideas now so I will just have to follow what Zen says regarding troubleshooting.

[tbailey2]

The resync indicator works by looking at the modem's report on the value of uptime for the line. If you look instead at 'Uptime', you'll clearly see much the same data where the time has been reset to Zero by the modem each time it happens. From memory, I've never seen a resync reported by DSLstats since I've been using it (the line  has been up for 50 odd days currently though)...

[splbound]

The resync indicator works by looking at the modem's report on the value of uptime for the line. If you look instead at 'Uptime', you'll clearly see much the same data where the time has been reset to Zero by the modem each time it happens. From memory, I've never seen a resync reported by DSLstats since I've been using it (the line  has been up for 50 odd days currently though)...

Thanks Tony. That totally makes sense to me.

I do see resyncs reported on DSLstats on the Stats tab. How it generates the count I'm not sure? I did notice the count not incrementing on a PPP drop or maybe I was just getting delirious from the lack of sleep at the time...

When I get home I'll test it by:

1) pulling the phone cable out of the HG612 and see if the counter increments. (simulate a line resync)
2) Pull the LAN cable to the pfsense router and see if the counter increments. (simulate a PPP drop)

[splbound]

I just has a crazy thought. I have a spare Raspi and Cam sitting around doing nothing.

Maybe I should try and use it to monitor the DSL light on the HG612 for sync drops.
I see something along the lines of motion capture running every second with a timestamp embedded into the image.

[splbound]

So the Pfsense machine has now run over the weekend. I'm still seeing the PPP loss reconnection issue when no resync occurs so I can be pretty certain to rule out any router issues.

I can confirm the data on Zen's "View Line Data" page that they report line Resyncs here and it concurs with the Resync data on MDWS.

The PFsense machine does recover PPP sync a lot quicker than the billion routers which helps.

I have purchased a Draytek Vigor 2925 which should get to me this week. I can't run this PFsense box forever, and I'm hoping the Draytek is quicker on the PPP reconnects than the billion.

I'll keep the PFsense box running for the week and go back to Zen with all the data.

[Bald_Eagle1]

Just a thought.........

If any of these resyncs coincide with making or receiving a phone call, it would suggest you have a HR fault brewing somewhere between you and the cabinet (maybe even on the 'E' side all the way back to the exchange?).

If you watch SNRM live in DSLStats, does SNRM dip significantly during phone calls or even when simply leaving the phone off the hook for a few minutes at a time?

[kitz]

That had occurred to me as a possibility too, although I'd usually expect it to be on the upstream.

although the increases slight increases in SNRm before the spikes are also noted.    Out of interest does the SNRm spike if the landline rings, or during a phone call?

[splbound]

If you watch SNRM live in DSLStats, does SNRM dip significantly during phone calls or even when simply leaving the phone off the hook for a few minutes at a time?

First thing I checked before but since I haven't checked in a while I just tried again.
No dips anything significant occurrence on calls coming in or going out. I wish it were that easy!

On a different topic...

Playing around PFsense is quite nice. Part of me wants to build a mini-itx router running it but don't really want another appliance that I have to keep updated.

I also came across the Ubiquiti Edgerouter Lite during my search for routers, nice price for its throughput and configurability. I now have one on order as well so I can have a play.

[splbound]

Dammit.. 8 resyncs today so far. 

Just had a chat with Zen support with all the details.

Now waiting for contact back. The mentioned about booking an engineer out to me. £160 risk of a fee but right now I am left with no choice.

Now here's to hoping I get a good engineer if I get a booking. The one that replaced my drop line and master socket a while back was excellent.

[Bald_Eagle1]

Dammit.. 8 resyncs today so far. 

Just had a chat with Zen support with all the details.

Now waiting for contact back. The mentioned about booking an engineer out to me. £160 risk of a fee but right now I am left with no choice.

Now here's to hoping I get a good engineer if I get a booking. The one that replaced my drop line and master socket a while back was excellent.

 

Let's hope that a fault is found externally, for which you won't get charged.

[splbound]

Let's hope that a fault is found externally, for which you won't get charged.

Likewise. I just want it fixed now and feel I have done more than my due diligence of troubleshooting.
Zen has set up a support ticket but am still awaiting to hear from them.

On another note my Draytek has arrived and the 2925 is in place. It reconnects on a dropout as quick as the PFsense box which helps a little.

Looks like I will have the Billion 7800DX for sale soon or I may re-purpose it as a guest WIFI AP on a separate LAN. Hate to waste a perfectly good router. Eagerly awaiting the Edgerouter Lite to play with.