SingNet ADSL, 2wire & Frequent Disconnections

It’s peculiar. In the past few days, the DSL connection at home has been erratic with frequent disconnects. Prior to that, J. had experienced slowing of his internet connection but paid no attention to it. Mind you, the wireless network’s fine. It’s the internet connection that’s screwy. J.’s on the 10mbps program.

2wire Modem-Router

Difficult when J.’s trying to look up Up-To-Date from home, especially since on reconnection the browser says something to the effect of “Woohoo! DSL fixed, we’re awesome! Now you have to restart your browser!” so J. has to log in again and again, and again… $*#&.

What’s the cause?

Phone Outlet
Thinking that perhaps the extension phone lines into J.’s room (where the modem/router lie), J. moved the entire 2wire modem to the original phone line. No luck, it’s still the same.

Phone Line Connector
Changed to new one. No dice.

Use of DSL Filter
Tried with it connected, then again without it. Not working.

Perhaps the modem’s data can give us some clue:

Current Noise Margin: 6.5 dB (Downstream) 10.6 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation: 8.1 dB (Downstream) 2.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Output Power: 16.5 dBm (Downstream) 11.9 dBm (Upstream)

Is that normal? There appears to be some noise, but J. doesn’t know how to interpret this.

Let’s look at the DSL statistics (the numbers are in order of Since Reset, Last 24-hr interval, Current 15-min interval and Time since last event):

DSL Cumulative Errored Seconds: 3233 3233 58 0:00:38

DSL Severely Errored Seconds: 0 0 0 0:00:00

DSL Corrected Blocks: 0 0 0 0:00:00

DSL Uncorrected Blocks: 3329 3329 61 0:00:38

That’s not normal. Uncorrected blocks should be few and far in between, with more Correct Blocks (which don’t affect connection). There are way too many errors for a 13-hr period (yep, last modem reset at twelve midnight)

So where lies the problem? The modem? The phone line? J.’s moving in a week’s time, so he’ll try the modem out at the other place and see where that takes him. After all, the school offers a stable, secure internet connection for his laptops.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• The greatest device ever?
• A conversation with a Streamyx Customer Service Officer