There was a power failure and after that there has been
constant problems with both the DSL and it's underlying
landline.
My first complaint was that there was no dial tone on the DSL
line. I was expecting that they knew it was a DSL line and
would get both working. BUT . . . .
the technician disconnected my line from the DSLAM and wired me
direct to the Central Office. That did restore dial tone,
but killed the DSL. He was not a "pair gain" technician so
he reverted the wiring back to the problem state.
On the next phone call I was told that to restore the dial tone
I needed to reboot the DSL modem. That seemed to
work. Not sure if that even makes sense. That's to
say I now think the dial tone is independent of DSL and lack of
dial tone points to a problem with the DSLAM. For the next
week the globe icon on the DSL modem comes and goes.
2024 May 22 In the morning the globe icon was lit, unplugging
the modem did not turn off the dial tone. Everything
seemed OK. When AT&T called in the afternoon to cancel
the truck roll scheduled for tomorrow all appeared OK, but
during the call the globe icon turned off, so I expect a truck
here tomorrow afternoon. As I write this the globe icon is
blinking now and then.
It turns out I was correct in complaining to the
CPUC when this problem started because the complaint was
"no dial tone". That's because the CPUC has jurisdiction
over the telephone system. (also see The End
of AT&T Landlines) But when I made a third
complaint 17 Jun 2024, to the CPUC about my DSL not working I
was told the FCC had jurisdiction. My phone call was
forwarded to the AT&T Office of the President where I again
complained. But also filed a complaint
with the FCC.
2024Jun18: I've had three calls from AT&T this
morning. But as of 2:43pm the DSL is still not
working. I was told it may take "days".
My testimony before the CPUC was that unlike the AT&T claim
that landlines were unreliable that they were in fact the most
reliable communication system. The problem is that
AT&T is going out of their way to not maintain the system.
DSL is even more reliable than the copper pair voice
system. So I pay for DSL as my most trusted from of
communications that I expect will work when the others fail.
2019 October 8
PG&E turned off the power for a lot of Northern California
last night a little after 1am. When it was time for
breakfast my new point-to-point
wireless internet service was non functional. The
problem is that the equipment on my neighbors house has a
battery that's only good for a couple of hours, nowhere near
enough capacity to last for days. BUT . . .
The at&t DSL service did work around 8am and it started to
handle my emails, but then it too died, I suspect because the
battery in the DSLAM box went dead. I called at&t and
complained and now have a service appointment for Oct 19.
But by about 8:30 at&t had installed a generator at the DSL DSLAM site and my
at&t DSL was back up. It's what I'm using right now.
2019 October 8 DSLAM Backup Generator
Note that the DSLAM is fed data over fiber
optic cable.
The electronics box (one the left in this rear view) is
normally powered from the power lines on the nearby pole.
The box on the right has labels on the front, one of which
says "generator".
But the box itself is too small to house a generator.
Now it's clear that the box is the transfer switch between
a generator and the PG&E AC power lines.
Note that everyone who has DSL it is provisioned as an add
on to a underlying copper line connected telephone.
That telephone interface requires DC power from the
DSLAM. Because telephone service is under FCC Title
II regulation,
the provider, at&t in this case, must keep it working
in situations like this.
This is another reason why internet related services need
to be under Title II. That is to say they need to
work in emergencies.
DSL being under Title II is now working. My point-to-point wireless
internet (WISP) service is not working because
there's a dead battery between me and the WISP tower.
2019 October 7
Unplugged the DSL modem when the Ubiquity NBE-2AC-13 2.4 GHz
Wireless Point-to-Point Broadband system was turned on.
The first CalSpeed test showed upload speed of 3 Mbps, 6X faster
than the DSL speed of 0.5 Mbps. The download speed of 6
Mbps, 3X faster than the prior best of 2 Mbps (and often much
slower, down to nothing).
2019 September 20
For the past few days the internet has been extremely
slow. Web pages fail to load, and after clicking on reload
page a few times will usually load, but it can take up to a
minute to get them to load. Netflix, YouTube or any video
is near impossible. This morning CalSPEED WIN Desktop and SpeedTest.net failed,
see photos below.
CalSpeed: No network connection or ping
allowed.
Contact your network administrator.
SpeedTest.net: Latency Test Error
PS FileZilla FTP transfer program showed
0.002 upload speed,
so only the thumbnail size photos at left were uploaded.
AT&T DSL level 1 support could see modem latency problems
and so "rebuilt the circuit", i.e. reset the modem, which
requires configuring including the at&t network user ID and
password (different from the modem UN & PW).
But the above screen shots are after the "circuit rebuild", i.e.
it did not help. A service technician should be here
tomorrow (Saturday) between 1 and 4 pm. Apparently level 1
support can not access the DSLAM information.
2019 February 20
For the past few days the Service light has been Red. On
one call the support person suggested removing all cables from
the 7550 and then after waiting a minute or so plug in the power
cable and wait for the LEDs to stabilize, then plug in the DSL
telephone line and again wait for the LEDs to stabilize.
Then plug in the LAN cables. This is restore
operation. But within a day or two the Red Service light
is coming on a lot, so time for a new Router.
D-Link DSL-2740B
The first step in installing is to insert the CD-ROM and wait .
wait . wait for the install Wizzard to run. At some point
information is needed about the settings of your ISP, at&t
telephone based DSL in this case.
A Major problem with this unit is that the status LEDs are on
the top surface and so can NOT be seen at a distance. Will
need to make some sort of bracket to hold it vertical so they
can be seen.
Country:
USA
ISP: note 1
ATT Tel (PPPoE)
Protocol:
PPPoE
Encapsulation:
LLC
VPI:
0
VCI:
35
Note1: When ATT Tel (PPPoE) is selected the other entries
auto fill.
Later you will need your at&t user ID and (3 letter3number)
DSL password (both from at&t)
PS D-Link makes a number of DSL modems: N150, N300, N+300,
N+300 Dual Band
This is the N300 DSL-2740B
Time will tell if this improves my DSL experience.
The URL for the D-Link is http://192.168.1.1
Comparison to at&t 7550
The iPad gets the incoming mail without turning off and on
the WiFi.
My Nikon EyeFi card uploads the photos without taking an
extra photo (maybe the two outside antennas work better than
the two internal antennas on the 7550?
Fig 1 Top - Front
Fig 2 Back
Antenna 1
Green: DSL phone line
4 each LAN ports
WiFi On/Off push button switch
Reset hole
Power: On/Off push button switch
12 VDC input
Antenna 2
7 Aug 2018
The DSL service got repaired. It took a parade of
technicians because the problem with the phone 25-pair cable
caused the DSL quality to vary greatly over time. So, for
example, if a technician make some measurement, then did
something, and made another measurement maybe half the time he
would see no improvement. Then he would do something
different and maybe this time there would be an improvement.
At that point he declares the problem fixed and leaves. Only
to start the cycle over again and again and again . . . . . . . .
.
Finally a technician who noticed that the test results were not
stable started to log them and did that for an hour or more.
It turned out that a Time Domain Reflectometer (same idea as the Tek 1502) combined with the JDSU DSL
tester let them narrow down the location of the problem.
This required opening splices in my pair and looking both ways and
moving towards the problem. After many hours of doing this
they quit for the day and planned to come back and continue after
the weekend, but the modem has not failed since.
In the process they came across a 3M 710 module where the wrong
(blue) bar was used instead of the correct (gray) bar. The
wire here is 24 AWG which is small and the blue bar is designed
for large diameter wire. The 3M710-SC1-25 is for 26 - 25
gauge wire and the 3M710-SCL-25 is for 24 - 22 gauge wire.
(Ref. Modular
Solutions for copper splicing, 3M pub 80-6113-2833-9 (2017).
Note when connecting a buttset at the input to the DSL modem you
do not hear anything and going off-hook with the buttset has no
effect on the modem because it's after the filter, i.e. there is
no DC on the line going into the modem. A Fluke 87 V DMM
reads 0.85n ACV across the Red-Black, but it's not an RF voltmeter
so probably not a valid reading. The Fluke RF probe reads just under 500 mVAC.
I've started a Dial-Up account and got a USR5637 USB modem.
The "featured programs" do not work on the
USR5636.
While I can send and receive email and view simple web
pages (like my PRC68.com pages) this modem will NOT surf
eBay or similar complex web pages. They require a
higher bandwidth than it can cope with. Also it can
not run the Ookla Speed Test app, not sure why not?
Install Procedure:
Use CD-ROM and install driver software.
Connect modem to phone and USB port.
Start\Control Panel\Network and Sharing Center - set-up
new dial-up account.
Need phone number, user name and password.
In my case drop area code and add 81 to select the home
phone line.
Have not gotten the USR software to load. Clicking
on the Install Software button causes hard drive to hum,
but nothing gets done.
Also need to check to be sure the dial-up phone number has
no charges is off hook for many hours. The at&t
web page for that is useless.
I can now get email, but not surf web pages.
Update: I've learned that the house across the street
from me is having similar DSL problems.
19 July 2018
The at&t technician found some bridges on the DSL
line, but that did not solve the problem. Refereed my ticket
to the Digital Electrical Group. As of 2:08pm Tuesday
7/24/18 have heard nothing.
Ways to demonstrate the problem
Download the history .csv file from the Ookla Speed test
(shows slow speeds),
The format is yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss ??? CCC |location
|message
where CCC is a code: WRN (warning), INF (information), ERR
(error), NTC (?) - highlight the errors
Run the web page viewer for the DSL modem http://192.168.1.254 and under
the Advanced tab select Log.
This can be saved as a text file (here are some of the ERRor
lines: (note that the three lines at 12:10 are about 5 minutes
prior to the current time below at 2018/07/21 12:15:57, i.e. the
modem has been up 00:05:45)
2018/07/21 12:15:57 EDT ERR | statsd | if6stats: Failed to open /proc/net/dev_snmp6/sit1
2018/07/21 12:10:18 EDT ERR | pppoe-relay | PADS packet from 00:30:88:10:3f:fe on interface nas1 does not have Relay-Session-Id tag
2018/07/21 12:10:18 EDT ERR | pppoe-relay | PADO packet from 00:30:88:10:3f:fe on interface nas1 does not have Relay-Session-Id tag
Run the web page viewer for the DSL modem http://192.168.1.254 and under
the Advanced tab select Technician Readout.
Item 14 Time Since Last Boot and Item 32 Time Since Last Sync
should be many days, but in my case 32 is typically 0 days 14
minutes and once today got up to 3 hours,
right now it is 0 days 00:38:18, i.e. 38 minutes.
Item 40. PPP Uptime should be many days, now it's at 0 days
00:38:18, i.e. 38 minutes.
Morning of 7/21/2018 first thing checking Uptimes:
15 Current Time 2018/07/21 12:15:57 EDT
32 Time Since Last Wyunc 0 days 00:05:45
40 PPP Uptime 0 days 00:05:39
It turns out that you can access this web page when the modem is
down, for example:
15 Current Time 2018/07/22 13:41:54 EDT
32 Time Since Last Sync 0 days 00:00:00
40 PPP Uptime 0 days 00:00:00
------------------
15 Current Time 2018/07/22 14:25:29 EDT
32 Time Since Last Sync 0 days 00:00:26
40 PPP Uptime 0 days 00:00:24
-------- just noticed item 39 PPP :ast Connection error
15 Current Time 2018/07/22 20:34:03 EDT
32 Time Since Last Sync 0 days 00:00:00
39 PPP Last Connection Error EXIT_PPPOE_TIMEOUT_PADO
40 PPP Uptime 0 days 00:00:00
From the LOG:
2018/07/22 20:37:06 EDT ERR | pppoe-relay | PADS packet from 00:30:88:10:3f:fe on interface nas1 does not have Relay-Session-Id tag
2018/07/22 20:37:05 EDT ERR | pppoe-relay | PADO packet from 00:30:88:10:3f:fe on interface nas1 does not have Relay-Session-Id tag
2018/07/22 20:36:59 EDT ERR | syslog | waitForPADO: time ---------------- 15 Current Time 2018/07/23 13:31:28 EDT 32 Time Since Last Sync 0 days 00:00:10 39 PPP Last Connection Error None 40 PPP Uptime 0 days 00:00:07
Write down the time when the modem is not working
7/20/2018 Times when Service LED was off, red or blinking
green. Note these are times where I noticed that the modem
had lost lock. There probably were many other times where
the modem lost lock and re-locked and I did not notice it.
8:53, 8:56, 8:58, 8:59, 9:31, 10:25, 10:26, 10:33, 10:34, 10:35,
10:36, 10:39, 10:40, 10:54, 10:58, 10:59, 11:02, 11:04, 11:05,
11:06, 11:07, 11:08, 11:09, 11:10, 11:12, 11:16, 11:17, 11:30,
11:39, 11:49, 11:50, 12"05, 12:09, 12:14, 12:18, 12:22, 12:26,
12:27, 12:28, 12:46, 1:00, 1:01, 1:02, 1:03, 1:11, 1:13, 1:30,
1:35, 1:44, 1:45
12 July 2018 Another 7550 Modem
The new modem arrived 7/11/2018, but the performance is
exactly like the prior modem.
at&t 7550 DSL modem serial numbers in the past month or so:
13AK1....
16AK1.... (purchased from the local at&t store on 5/30/2018 -
they will not take it back after 14 days!)
18AK0.... (new replacement modem sent from at&t level-2
support, but no improvement.
At appears that the first two digits are the year.
Expect a call tomorrow to schedule another tech visit since
today's tech had nothing to offer to explain the problem.
The JDSU DSL tester in on the way. Scheduled between tomorrow (12
July) and 19 July.
8 July 2018 It's the Modem
About a month ago the 7550 modem
just would not connect so got another 7550. That's the
only modem the local AT&T store stocks. But ever since
performance has been very poor. When running the Speed Test app
for Windows desktop in a 3 minute series of tests one or
up to all half dozen tests shows speeds below 2 MB/s. In
all cases the upload speed is below the 0.512 I've seen since
I've had DSL service (scan down page for examples).
The service tech came and first checked the speed at the demark
and it was 4.8 MB/s down and 0.8 MB/s up. That's the
fastest DL speed I've ever seen. Then inside, unplugged
the phone line cable from the modem and tested using an SDJU and
got the same result. That means the filter, which at&t
level 1 support said probably was the problem was OK. The
problem, just like a month ago, is the 7550 modem.
As part of my attempts to get the 7550 to work, I pressed the
hard reset button on the back (see: Fig 2 paper clip RESET below). After you do that it's
necessary to reconfigure the modem using the at&t on-line
web pages, BUT you can NOT do it yourself since the on-line
procedure does NOT work. So, save yourself a lot of wasted
time and just call at&t support.
The local at&t store will not accept any returns after 14
days, so I called at&t support and got to a level 2 guy who
said he would ship me a 2018 year model 7550. Should be
here by 12 July.
From the web page:
http://192.168.1.254 -
Connection Information:
Software Version: 06.04.33 (there's a question about
vulnerabilities to DoS attacks (Wiki)
Advanced Technician Readout:
54 Test ATM OAM End to End Ping Fail
- probably not an issue
92 DSL Line Mode ADSL_G.dmt (Wiki) a good
thing
140 Current Rate Rx: 3008, Tx: 512 - these are the contract
rates. The actual performance is lower for both.
144 Current ATTN DR Rx: 3896, Tx: 1024 - Note well
above the 3000 and 512 that are the caps for my service, but the
modem is not capable of delivering the capped values. Current
Attainable Data Rates
The at&t 7550 is based on the Westell 7500 (manual.pdf).
A JDSU DSL test set is on the way to replace the Harris T1000 which no longer
starts up.
28 June 2018 Slow
I don't remember this problem, it's a new one.
For the past couple of nights Netflix and Amazon Prime have
stopped to buffer to the point that they are not usable. Netflix
has a screen where you can see their four servers and in the
past these tested with a red X, when the servers came back to
green check marks the movie would play. But now all four
servers show green check marks, but the speed test has numbers
like: 0.5, 0.8, 1.0, 1.5, 0.4, 0.6 . . . . i.e. the problem is
slow speed, not a dark or red LED on the 7550 DSL modem.
Running speedtest.net
has much more variability than in the past where the download
speed was about 2.2 Mb/s and the upload was always capped to
0.512.
This table was made after spending a half hour talking to
at&t tech support. (only power cycled modem"
All using the San Francisco AT&T server (108.192.102.23):
A
socket error occurred during the Download test. A
firewall could be blocking the connection or the server
might be having some issues. Please try again later.
at&t tech support said it was a line problem and it would
take a week to get a service truck here. It turned
out to be a bad modem. I think the lady at
at&t was having a bad day and took it out on me.
Pressing the paper clip reset (Fig 2) for more than 10 seconds
will trigger a new on
line configuration where you need to know your memberID
and password. Starting a browser (Firefox or Chrome) will
send you there.
But there's a point were you are to download and install a
Plug-In and then continue the on line configuration, but this
failed for me and I needed to contact at&t support to get
past it.
Here are some photos of the dead modem:
Having problem with email where incoming messages are
duplicated. Prior to 23 July 2018 I thought this was
something related to the SeaMonkey email software. But for
the last couple of days the DSL outages have grown more common
and there seems to be a correlation between getting the same
email message three times. So this problem may be DSL
related?
19 Aug 2014 Outage
The Netgear ADSL2+ Router has this error screen when it looses
the internet (Red or off Service LED).
These failures happen 4 or 5 times a month and last about 5
minutes.
Change Channel 6 April 2015
The idea is that the modems default channel assignment
may be all the same and so I'm getting collisions with my
neighbors.
How To Geek - How to Find The Best Wi-Fi
Channel For Your Router on Any Operating System
To change WiFi channel go to the modem URL:
192.168.1.254
Click on the WiFi button on the left.
Enter the Device Access Code (Note: This is different from
the WiFi Password. The Device Access Code is on the Netgear
ADSL2+Router label with the bar codes.)
Change the Channel (In my case it was on automatic and I changed
it to a fixed channel number neither1, 2, 10 nor 11).
The WiFi devices worked without change, i.e. they found the new
channel and already knew their passwords.
17 March 2015
Starting in Feb 2015 Netflix would stop and when the 7550 DSL
model was checked the bottom LED (service) would be either off
or blinking red. Many times I started to call the at&t
internet service number [ 1(877) 722-3755] but while still in
the menu branches the 7550 service light went green so stopped
the call. That was a mistake. Then I started
completing the call and got a case number. Then for future
calls (just press zero many times) I got them to record that the
same case number was the problem. After half a dozen
complaints they sent me to a different call center.
Yesterday they said it was not just me but many people on the
same cable which would be fixed in a few days. But my
service seems to work, but slowly.
Checked with the Harris
TS1000 and get the following:
Down
Up
Max rate
2368
825
B/rate
2368
512
Capacity
100%
62%
INT B/R
0
0
Noise Margin
+5.0
+18.0
Power
17.5
12.0
Attenuation
54.5
31.5
Note the up load speed difference from 825 down to 512 is
caused by at&t throttling the speed.
Also note that the down load speed is 2368 kB/sec, NOT the 3008
kB/sec that's shown on the status web page URL:
192.168.1.254
The web page for the modem (http://192.168.1.254)
says download is 3008 kbps and upload 512 Kbps
Note: If you click on the link above and have a DSL (or
maybe even a Cable) modem, you will see your modem web page, not
mine.
Web page with phone line unplugged:
DSL
DOWN
No DSL Synchronization
Internet Connection
DOWN
No DSL Synchronization
User ID
<deleted>
Downstream Rate
-
Upstream Rate
-
Internet IPv4 Address
-
Internet Gateway IP Address
-
Internet IPv6 Prefix
-
DNS Servers
-
Mode
PPP on the device (Private IP for LAN device)
Timeout
Never
Web page connected:
DSL
UP
Internet Connection
DOWN
PPP not connected
User ID
<deleted>
Downstream Rate
3008 Kbps
Upstream Rate
512 Kbps
Internet IPv4 Address
-
Internet Gateway IP Address
-
Internet IPv6 Prefix
-
DNS Servers
-
Mode
PPP on the device (Private IP for LAN device)
Timeout
Never
But the Harris TS-1000
shows a lower speed.
Note: Most of the operational data on the TS-1000 page was taken
when the old at&t 2Wire modem that failed 19 Nov 2014.
That data is consistent with today's (24 Nov 2014) data.
Is the ANSI test the correct one, or should it be: Alcatel, ANSI,
G.DMT, G.LITE or Multimode? Let
me know
AT&T High Speed Internet Basic
FastAccess DSL Lite
200 Kbps - 768 Kbps
AT&T High Speed Internet Express
FastAccess DSL Ultra
769 Kbps - 1.5 Mbps
AT&T High Speed Internet Pro
AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Pro
FastAccess DSL Xtreme
1.56 Mbps - 3.0 Mbps
AT&T High Speed Internet Elite
AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet
FastAccess DSL Xtreme 6.0
3.1 Mbps - 6.0 Mbps
AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Max
6.1 Mbps - 12.0 Mbps
AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Max Plus
12.1 Mbps - 18.0 Mbps
AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Max Turbo
18.1 Mbps - 24 Mbps
AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Power
24.1 Mbps - 45 Mbps
AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet 300**
Up to 300 Mbps
So it appears that my service is within specification but the
web page built into the modem is reporting a faster speed.
New Modem 19 Nov 2014
Netgear ADSL2+ Router
Got this as a replacement for the dead at&t 2Wire DSL modem
from the local at&t store.
They had it in stock.
Although made by Netgear, it's branded at&t and the
autostart browser window and download software is at&t.
New Browser Window: AT&T
High Speed Internet Installation & WiFi setup. OK
Working.
Now to reconnect all the WiFi stuff to the new name and
password.
P-Link 5 Port Switch
The above Netgear DSL modem has a built-in WiFi and 4 LAN
ports, but I needed more LAN ports so got this switch.
P-Link Model No.: TL-SG1005D
One of the ports is the input and that means that only 3
devices can be connected to the DSL modem since there
needs to be a cable between the modem and switch.
Modem Failure 19 Nov 2014
Power light is either: off, blinking green, blinking red or solid
red.
The other lights are mostly off.
There is dial tone on the modem phone line.
Checking with the Harris TS-100 DSL test set shows there's a DSL
signal, although below spec.
Using a browser to look at the at&t 2Wire modem at
http://192.168.1.254/ shows:
Internet Explorer cannot display the
webpage
What you can try:
Time for a new DSL modem.
9 Sep 2014
Looks like there was a fine in the crossover box at the foot of
my street and one of my wires was opened.
Here's the 2Wire modem data after replacing the wire:
Note the difference in the Current Noise Margin.
DSL Connection Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair):
Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol:
G.DMT Annex A
Downstream Rate:
3008 kbps
Upstream Rate:
512 kbps
Channel:
Fast
Current Noise Margin:
11.0 dB
(Downstream) 22.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation:
56.1 dB
(Downstream) 31.5 dB (Upstream)
Current Output Power:
18.9 dBm
(Downstream) 12.4 dBm (Upstream)
DSLAM Vendor Information:
Country: {0xB5} Vendor: {IFTN}
Specific: {0x00}
PVC Info:
0/35
8 Sep 2014
For a number of days after trying to send email or download
something an error message shows up and then I look at the
at&t 2Wire modem and see the internet light is out and the
DSL light is red. In the past couple of days this is
happening a few times a day so I called support. After a
half hour on the phone they said my data rate was 59% of what
it's supposed to be and have generated a trouble ticket so that
a tech can be here tomorrow between 8am and 12pm.
Here's the web page interface to the 2Wire modem
(http://192.168.1.254)
All the lights except power went out
on the 2wrie modem, then there was a restart. Light rain.
Maybe done on purpose to reboot system?
Internet Light Out 23 Nov 2011 11pm
Called Thanksgiving morning 24 Nov
2011 - the tech in India tried all sorts of things working with
the 2-Wire modem (http://192.168.1.254
) and the Run System Setup Wizard,
but to no avail. The DSL is working, the phone on that line
is working, but no internet. Every now and then the DSL LED
blinks red but comes back to green.
25 Nov 2011 - called at 8am and again they figured out that
there was an external problem, transfered me to advanced support
who said I should hear from someone by 1pm.
1 pm 25 Nov 2011 - Called with trouble ticket # - as was told no
one was scheduled, he scheduled someone to be here by 8 pm
tomorrow.
7:36am 26 Nov 2011 - The phone that has the DSL is totally dead,
no dial tone, so can not be used for dial up.
2-Wire modem LEDs when there's no phone service
Solid Green: Power & Ethernet
Blinking Red: DSL
Off: Internet
If you have lost dial tone and call
411 at&t puts a higher priority on the repair than they do for
DSL reapirs. Called 411 at 8am to report no dial tone and
they said then next available tech would work my problem.
10:00am Tech rebuilt everything from the CO to the Pair Gain DSL
box.
Date
Time
Location
Ping ms
Dn Load
Mbps
Up Load
Mbps
Mode
26 Nov
2011
10:50
San
Jose
36
2.58
0.43
interleaved
"
10:52
SF
38
2.50
0.43.
"
Red Internet Light 18 Aug 2011
19 Aug - The technician disconnected
the DSL line (it would have been nice to call first) and ran tests
& made a repair. He later said that the problem was the
cable between the fiber optic box at the foot El Dorado Rd. and
the crossover box at the foot of my street. It was noisy and
problematical. He switched my DSL line to another group of
pairs and now my DSl is working.
New-Old Problem
20 Aug 2011 - The Channel: now shows Interleaved, but prior
working details show Channel: Fast.
This was one of the indications after the long 22 March power failure problem.
Using: http://www.speedtest.net/ http://www.pingtest.net/
It may be that along with switching my cable he also switched me
to a different card in the FO box at the foot of El
Darado. That's where the problem was after the long power
failure.
Date
Time
Ping
ms
Dn
Load Mbps
Up
Load Mbps
at&t Pro Specification
n.a.
3.0
0.512
Interleaved
Typical
23 -
28
2.6
0.43
"
There
have
been a lot of "Page Not Found" errors when surfing that
are resolved after clicking on "Try Again". This
may be related to the long ping time?
20
Aug 2011
10:20
am
69
2.37
0.43
"
21
Aug 2011
3:00
pm
61
2.55
0.43
"
25
Aug 2011
5:00
am
68
2.53
0.31
"
25
Aug 2011
7:00
am
Tech
at head end reset Fiber Optic card and the View
Broadband Link Details changed to Channel: Fast.
But then he did something that caused the DSL light to
flash red.
The system will automatically switch from Channel: Fast
to Channel: Interleaved if the line has problems
and it's supposed to switch back to Fast when it line is
clean,
but I waited 6 days and it did not switch to Channel
Fast. The implication is that there's still a
problem on the line.
There's an all day today service request for a tech to
go to the Fiber Optic box and fix the card.
Tech said the card in the Fiber Optics box was
fried. Put me on a new card.
25
Aug 2011
1:00
pm
21
(0%, 1ms)Note 1
29 ms (Note 2)
2.52
0.43
Fast
Note 1: When using PingTest.net
you get three data points:
Packet Loss: 0%
Ping Time: 21ms (San Francisco)
Jitter: 1 ms
Note 2 using SpeedTest.net (San
Francisco)
20 Aug 2011 - Screen shot of modem (192.168.1.254 Broadband Link
DSL Connection Details
Note the "Channel: Interleaved" - I think this should be
"Channel: Fast" for Pro service like shown on the 18 Aug 2011 Screen Shot
The modem Internet light turns red
and the internet shuts down. On a call at 9 pm the tech rep
in India said he had fixed it by doing a line test.
About an hour later the same problem reoccurred. This time I
used the phone on the DSL line to call tech support and the line
was a mess, that's to say a lot of noise and breakup of the phone
menu so bad it gave up and connected me to a human without making
any button presses. The second tech had me disconnect the
filter and splitter and connect the modem directly to the wall
jack. Then called back on a different number. The
effect of that was to stop me from hearing the condition of the
line. A tech is scheduled to be here tomorrow between 12 and
4 pm. if the problem is in my house they will charge me
$110.
The modem is fine, but the noise numbers are 3 dB higher than
before.
18 Aug 2011 - Screen shot of modem
(192.168.1.254 Broadband Link DSL Connection Details
at&t Problem
I've spent the past week on the
phone to at&t from 2 to 4 times a day, and many many house per
day (support is available 24/7). Each of the people I've
spoken with makes a point of trying to make your experience
interacting with them good in the hope that you will give them
high ratings on their individual performance. The problem is
that they are not concerned with your overall experience with
at&t and therein lies the problem. Each person is an
island and does not care about your needs.
Upgrade to Express
In the process of fixing the problem
the 2Wire modem was defaulted (pres and hold the reset button on
the rear panel for about 10 seconds), so the old WRT350 wireless
modem is no longer being used. This required resetting the
WEP code in all the wireless devices to the number shown on the
bottom of the 2Wire modem.
14
March 2011 - While calling to change the day of the month
for my home phone billing asked about faster DSL and now
have the Pro service (3 M b/s) scheduled to start in a
couple of days, i.e. 16 March. The rate for the Pro
service is still $14.95/mo. (probably as part of the
promotion.
Note: When the promotion runs out I could switch the DSL
service to a different line and get the promo rate again.
Note: at&t is very big on making their customers
happy.
Note: I can watch Netflix now with the Express
service, but the Netflix quality indicator is at poor, not
HD and when the scene is dark the image is
pixelated. But when the scene is mostly static the
quality approaches HD. With the Pro service the
quality should be HD. (It is)
17
March 2011 - It's sort of working. Data after power cyclying the modem,
router and desktop computer.
Date
Time
Ping ms
Dn Load
Mbps
Up Load
Mbps
Spec
3.0
0.512
16 Mar
4:54 pm
26
1.24
0.43
17 Mar
1:14 am
24
2.61
0.43
17 Mar
7:23 am
23
2.58
0.44
18 Mar
3:05 pm
23
2.58
0.40
22 Mar
Wednesday 2:21am till
10 pm Power outage caused by severe storm
25 Mar
(rain)
1:00 pm
62
1.29
0.11
26 Mar
9:00 am
62
1.28
0.11
27 Mar1
2:30 pm
64
1.14
0.11
28 Mar
5:30 am
59
1.29
0.07
28 Mar
11:55
am
61
1.17
0.06
29 Mar
8:30 am
62
1.27
0.06
30 Mar
10:00
am
61
1.22
0.06
30 Mar2
2:12 pm
64
0.93
0.11
1 Apr3
12:23
pm
26
2.53
0.44
2 Apr
6:56 am
28
2.59
0.34
DSL Connection
Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair):
Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol:
G.DMT Annex A
Downstream Rate:
3008 kbps
Upstream Rate:
512 kbps
Channel:
Fast
Current Noise
Margin:
13.0 dB
(Downstream) 18.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation:
55.5 dB
(Downstream) 31.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Output
Power:
15.2 dBm
(Downstream) 12.4 dBm (Upstream)
DSLAM Vendor
Information:
Country: {0xB5} Vendor: {IFTN}
Specific: {0xFB70}
PVC Info:
0/35
Note 1: Sunday 27 Mar - there was a clip on form hanging from the
front door saying "Your service has been repaired . . . "
But it's worse than before.
Needed to spend more than a half hour on the phone to get a new
trouble ticket after a line check showed "No Signal".
They are scheduled to be here today (Monday 28 Mar 2011) between 8
am and 12 noon. Noticed DSL LED was blinking red around 5 pm
Note 2: Wednesday, while waiting for the service tech to come and
swap the modem noticed the DSL LED was blinking red so tested
after it turned solid green.
Note 3: after the DSLAM card was configured. An 8 hour power
failure set the card to factory defaults.
Prior to opening the box
tree branches needed to be trimmed back.
Tempo Sidekick T&N being
used to check quality of line. If the noise and
balance are good for analog phone the line should (?) be
good for DSL. Truck drove back to Cross Over box
about 5:30.
Using a hand held xDSL tester on the phone wire unplugged
from the 2Wire modem shows an available speed of 3.7 Mbps
with a 1.5 interleave factor, i.e. the reason for the slow
connection is the Central Office (CO) has degraded me to
the Express plan (not the Pro plan that I'm paying for.
Sunrise Telecom Sunset xDSL
tester
This was used at the demark (outside the house) and at the
end of the cable that was unplugged from the 2Wire
modem. In both cases it shows 3.7 Mbps available
speed and 1.5 interleave factor.
about 6 pm:
Called (800) 288-2020 and complained about slow DSL (1.2
Mbps DN) and they said I was part of an outage.
Need to call back after 4 hours (10 pm) and give them the
outage number.
I asked Lou if my service was being degraded because of
the outage and he said, No it was not. So the outage
excuse does not make sense.
29
Mar 2011 - spent the morning talking to at&t support
located at some central location who rebuilt the head end
software.
This was done two times.
The outage given yesterday as an excuse was no longer an
outage today, i.e. no change.
A service tech was supposed to be here between noon and
8 pm. Got a call at 5:38 saying no tech today, but
tomorrow between 8 and 5
to see if there's a problem with the 2Wire modem.
Note they can not run diagnostic tests on the modem
remotely.
30
March 2011 -No Show, no phone call
31
March - Scheduled for 8 am to noon - no show, no call
31
March - Scheduled for noon to 5 pm - No Show, no call
1
April (April's Fool) - Scheduled for the morning (after
8am) & a call from a supervisor just after 8 am -
9:20 IE8 http://192.168.1.254 Broadband Link (view
details)
DSL Connection
Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair):
Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol:
G.DMT2+ Annex A
Downstream Rate:
1536 kbps
Upstream Rate:
131 kbps
Channel:
Interleaved
Current Noise
Margin:
24.0 dB
(Downstream) 6.6 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation:
54.6 dB
(Downstream) 27.9 dB (Upstream)
Current Output
Power:
12.4 dBm
(Downstream) 12.4 dBm (Upstream)
DSLAM Vendor
Information:
Country: {0xB5} Vendor: {IFTN}
Specific: {0xFB70}
PVC Info:
0/35
-----------------------
Power outage caused DSLAM card to revert to factory
setting.
--------------------------
DSL Connection
Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair):
Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol:
G.DMT Annex A
Downstream Rate:
3008 kbps
Upstream Rate:
512 kbps
Channel:
Fast
Current Noise
Margin:
16.0 dB
(Downstream) 18.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation:
55.5 dB
(Downstream) 31.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Output
Power:
15.2 dBm
(Downstream) 12.4 dBm (Upstream)
DSLAM Vendor
Information:
Country: {0xB5} Vendor: {IFTN}
Specific: {0xFB70}
PVC Info:
0/35
17 Nov 2010 - Tried using the Netflix option on my Home Theater system and after using
a laptop to enter the validation code it started with a warning
that there may be some problems and I agreed to that.
Watched a couple of movies. When the scene changes or
there's a lot of action in a scene the image quality degrades but
the rest of the time it's about like watching a VHS tape except
the sound is 5.1 or 7.1 surround and excellent.
26 Oct 2010 - the download speed now seems to ramp up to 160 k
Bytes/sec and then stay there, so the performance has improved
from what is was when first installed. The overall
experience is far better than the satellite service, I'm sure
because of the ping time.
1 Oct 2010 - while paying the first bill that included the DSL
service I noticed that the monthly fee was $19.95, BUT when I
signed up (and on the flyer included with the bill) the monthly
fee was given as $14.95. After getting the $5 adjustment I
asked about getting higher speed service and was told I could
upgrade to Express service (1.5 M bits/sec) from my existing Basic
service ( 786 k bits/sec) for no additional charge. Supposed
to be effective 6 October.
They said when my Central Office (CO) was upgraded I could get Pro
or Elite service.
at&t
DSL Service
Download
M bits/sec
Upload
k bits/sec
Netflix
Basic
<=
0.786
<=
384
no
Express
<=
1.500
<=
384
works
Pro
<=
3.0
<=
512
better?
Elite
<=
6.0
<=
786
best?
Notice the AT&T quoted speeds are the max you can expect, NOT
a minimum.
The Starband specs are the minimum
speed.
7 Oct 2010 - Powered off the computer, modem
and router. Restarted as follows:
Power up modem and wait until the DSL light stopped
flashing,
Power up the Router and wait until the lights stopped
flashing,
Power up the computer and ran a speed test:
Download speed 1.32 M bits/sec, Upload speed 0.32 M bits/sec,
ping time 20 ms, jitter
1 ms (S.F. server)
this is close the the Starband 1500 service that was
$99/month, except the ping time is 40 times better!
Background
I was using Starband
VSAT for my internet connection and have just switched to
at&t Basic DSL service. I'm right on the edge of where
DSL can reach, and have tried twice before to get DSL and both of
those times the techs were unwilling or unable to get it to
work. This time it took two service tickets and about a week
to bring it on line.
Speed Tests
Starband
satellite
att
Basic DSL
at&t
Express
Download
Speed
2,000 k
bits/sec
608 k
bits/sec
1,320 k
bits/sec
Ping TIme
800+ ms
100 ms
20 ms
The DSL speed is about 1/3 the
satellite speed BUT the DSL ping time is 1/8 the satellite ping
time. It turns out that the ping time is more critical than
the speed, i.e. pages load much faster and email and ftp are much
faster (i.e. about 8 times faster). So ANY DSL connection is
much better than a satellite connection.
Satellite Ping Time
The speed of light 186 thousand miles a second and the distance
above the Earth of a geosynchronous satellite 23 thousand miles,
causes a delay that can NOT be overcome by technology. When
there's any transaction between your computer and anything on the
internet and a satellite connection is involved it's as follows:
Your signal goes up to the satellite (23/186 seconds),
Your signal goes down to the hub station (23/186 seconds)
the signal goes to it's destination via fiber link (a few
ms),
the reply goes up to the satellite (23/186 seconds),
the reply comes down to your dish (23/186 seconds),
so the total time is theoretically about 500 ms + a few ms. but in
actuality there's some satellite software buffering that adds a
few hundred ms.
at&t 2Wire Modem
I got the 2Wire modem, but in
retrospect it would have been better to get the wired only modem
because I already had a Cisco/Linksys WRT350N Router.
Installation Glitch
I connected the splitter to
the wall jack, and a desk phone to the Phone output and
the modem to the DSL/HPNA output. But the phone had
a lot of digital noise. This was fixed by installing
a filter between the splitter and the phone.
When the Panasonic KX-T824
telephone system was installed a new DSL
splitter/filter was installed at the entry point in the
garage. Now the FAX CO line can be accessed by any
phone in the house. The main reason for installing
the KX-T824 system is to allow any phone in the house to
use the VOIP for outgoing calls
by first dialing "9".
The filter feeds a 4-way
switch allowing connection to either a PC, FAX or phone.
The cable from the splitter
DSL port goes to the 2Wire DSL modem.
The modem can feed a computer is the stock configuration,
or in my case a Router after changing to the bridge
configuration.
The DSL modem feeds the
Cisco Linksys WRT350N Wireless Router + 4 wired ports
Converting 2Wire DSL modem to Bridged
Operation
Connect directly between one of the
output ports and a computer.
In a borwser input the URL 192.168.1.1/mdc
Enter your password. If you forget your password click on
the link that says something like get a hint to remember your pass
word, it that doesn't work click the link that says something like
inter the control number. Then enter the number between the
brackets [] on the bottom of the 2Wire modem and then enter a new
password like 12345 two times and save changes.
Now go back to the URL 192.168.1.1/mdc and log in using the
passoword.
ATM PVC Search was: PPPoE change to: DIRECT IP
Advanced Configuration Server,
Enable Routing (uncheck)
Save Changes.
At this point at&t no longer supports the modem.
To get back to the stock settings press and hold the red "reset"
button on the back. This is different from removing power.
LEDs on: Power, Ethernet, DSL
LEDs off: Wireless, Internet
Converting the WRT350N Router to work with the 2Wire Modem
Connect directly from output port 1
to a computer.
enter the URL 192.168.1.1 (note this is the same as the modem URL)
Under the SETUP tab and the Basic Setup sub tab
change the Internet Setup, Internet Connection Type from Automatic
Configuration - DHCP to PPPoE,
change the URL from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.5.1
Under the status Router tab login status click Connect if it shows
disconnected
and at the bottom Save Settings.
Power down the DSL modem and the router and wait 20 seconds.
Then power on the router and wait 20 seconds then power on
the DSL modem.
It took a few years of trying to get DSL to work. On the
first couple of attempts when the modem was installed it did not
work and after spending many days on the phone with tech support
the modem was returned.
