High Speed Internet (DSL) and Dial-Up

[#1]

Hi,

We have a frustrating problem with our Verizon Business DSL.

Three times in the past 2 months it has gone down between 12AM and 6AM in the morning.

Each time this happens, the DSL light will stay solid on the modem and it will obtain a valid WAN IP address, but there will be absolutely no Internet access.

This occurs with or without the Trendnet router we normally have installed.

To get it working again we have to call Verizon tech support.

Usually that involves hour(s) of talking with a support person, during which time they will reset things on their end, and they will have us reset our Westell 6100 modem, and do many other things like restart the PC, check settings, etc, etc...

-The first time, after trying all the usual stuff, they had to escalate the issue to another department, which took 24hrs, and then they got it working... or it started working on it's own?

-The second time it started working while I was talking to the first support person.

I had reset the modem and she had also reset things on her end.

-Today it quit again.

The first support person referred the problem to the maintenance office, after having me do all the usual stuff.

Eventually I got a call from a Verizon maintenance (?)  guy, he said he thinks it might be our modem, so he is going to have a replacement modem sent to us.

But then the Internet started working on it's own about 5PM...

Once we receive the modem, I suppose I will replace that, but I'm not real confident it will fix the problem?

Another thing I noticed today, not sure if it related to the first problem...

Normally the modem will show 2800k/700k speeds, today it is showing 1700k/400k.

Thanks for any help/ideas,

{edited for privacy}

[#2]

Since you have the 6100 try this; open http://192.168.1.1/htmlV/transtat.asp in a web browser and post the statistics in your existing post or a new post. I have had very similar issues (I was sent a 7500 to replace the 6100 which at least gave me wireless access) but the modem was not a solution. Do you know how far you are from your Central Office? If you are more than ~3 miles this may be difficult to solve. They have run a new line from the pole to my home, run a direct line from the NID to the jack my modem is plugged into, (which elimiated the need for phone filters) , and slowed down my connection (throttled) all of which did not give me a 100% stable connection. Since the wring in my area is 50+ year old, and thanks to the advice of Smith6612 I am swithcing to FIOS in the near future (wish me luck with that

[#3]

I did some checking and it looks like the Central Office is about 2 miles away.

The funny thing is, we've had Verizon DSL for around 5 yrs now, and this is the first we've had any serious problems.

Edit:

I did receive the new modem from Verizon today.

It's a Westell 6100G.

Here's the transceiver statistics with the new modem:

*Transceiver Statistics*

*Transceiver Revision *    3.3.6.10.0.1
*Vendor ID Code *    4D54
*Line Mode *    ADSL_G.dmt
*Data Path*    FAST


*Transceiver Information*    *Down Stream Path*    *Up Stream Path*
*DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec)*    1792    448
*Margin (dB)*    24.8    21.0
*Line Attenuation (dB)*    48.6    26.0
*Transmit Power (dBm)*    7.2    11.9

*Transceiver Revision *    3.3.6.10.0.1
*Vendor ID Code *    4D54
*Line Mode *    ADSL_G.dmt
*Data Path*    FAST


*Transceiver Information*    *Down Stream Path*    *Up Stream Path*
*DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec)*    1792    448
*Margin (dB)*    24.8    21.0
*Line Attenuation (dB)*    48.6    26.0
*Transmit Power (dBm)*    7.2    11.9

Thanks for the reply, JOSEm441.

I hope your FIOS works out for you.

[#4]

Are you paying for the 1.1-3  or the 3.1 to 7 Mb/s download plan? Your stats are not too bad BTW http://www.ubasics.com/node/38/print  Another thing that would help is to hook up the new modem directly into the Network interface device (where the line from the pole connects to you home)  and see if the stats are similar, this will help isolate the issue to in or out of the house.

Did you ever notice if your line mode was ADSL_2+ when things were working fine? Since I was swithed to ..dmt my speeds have dropped also!

[#5]

Why are you at 1.5Mbps? Ask Verizon for 3Mbps with that line since your stats are better than mine despite being farther out based on the attenuation...

12AM to 2AM is typically the maintenance Window for Verizon in my area. I do expect lines to go down and come back up but if it's breaking like clockwork all the time after 12AM, who knows what's going on. Are they moving your line to different routers by any chance or wouldn't you happen to know? If they're doing that and breaking the circuit at the same time, I think they need to make up their mind as to what they want to accomplish. This is an interesting problem. Might be worthwhile to have someone investigate the network for any signs of trouble as it might be something running out of spec causing the drops after peak hours.

[#6]

JOSEm441 wrote:
Are you paying for the 1.1-3  or the 3.1 to 7 Mb/s download plan? Your stats are not too bad BTW http://www.ubasics.com/node/38/print  Another thing that would help is to hook up the new modem directly into the Network interface device (where the line from the pole connects to you home)  and see if the stats are similar, this will help isolate the issue to in or out of the house. Did you ever notice if your line mode was ADSL_2+ when things were working fine? Since I was swithed to ..dmt my speeds have dropped also!

No, I don't know about the line mode.
As long as things were working, I didn't pay real much attention to the details.

See my paragraph below about the plan we're paying for.

Also, thanks for the link explaining the stats!

Smith6612 wrote:
Why are you at 1.5Mbps? Ask Verizon for 3Mbps with that line since your stats are better than mine despite being farther out based on the attenuation...

We're paying for 3M/768K according to our bill: "High Speed Internet 3.0/768 - $36.99"
And that is the speed we've always had (2800K/700K) when doing a speedtest, up until this most recent DSL outage, when I noticed it was now slowed down to 1.5Mbps/.5Mbps.
So I definitely need to talk to somebody at Verizon about that issue...

12AM to 2AM is typically the maintenance Window for Verizon in my area. I do expect lines to go down and come back up but if it's breaking like clockwork all the time after 12AM, who knows what's going on.

So far, the outages only occur every couple weeks on average. But it has always been between 12AM and 1AM that things start going south. Here's what I have as far as when Pingdom alerted me to a loss of Internet connection.

1. 04/11/2012 12:26:40AM
2. 04/24/2012 12:23:40AM
3. 05/09/2012 12:55:40AM

It wouldn't be a real big deal if we could get back online in a timely fashion, but it typically takes hours, or even up to a whole day to get things working, and this is a business location.

Are they moving your line to different routers by any chance or wouldn't you happen to know?

I don't know the answer to this question.
I have to admit, I don't know real much about how DSL works.
I have no idea what exactly they do when I call them...
The last guy I talked to said that he was checking the network, and he did not see any reason why we shouldn't be able to get online, so he decided to send us a new modem...FWIW.

We haven't had any outages since then (05/09/2012), but I'm not confident that things are actually fixed.

Thanks for your posts, JOSE and Smith!

[#7]

OK.

If Verizon gives you any difficulty in getting the speed set higher or they want more money a month, let me know. I'll get you to someone who will just set it, no questions asked to where it should be for your package. None of this 1.5Mbps on a should-be 3Mbps line I see everywhere now-a-days.

I hope the line remains stable though. I can get that looked at for you as well if it still proves to be a problem.

[#8]

Thanks for your help, Smith6612!

I have contacted Verizon about the slow speed, so we will see what happens with that.

I'll post an update when I hear back from them.

Thank you very much for your offer to help with the other issue, I will keep that in mind if the problem recurrs.

[#9]

You're welcome

[#10]

Your tranceiver stats look great, have you continued to have the same intermittant connectivity issues? Did Verizon upgrade your speed to the 3M package that you are paying for?