Slow DSL and inconsistent connections
Julz91
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hi, I've got what appears (from what I've read in these forums) to be a common situation: have had Verizon DSL for years, no problems. Suddenly, within the past two months, my speed has dropped (I am paying for 1.5-3 mbps) and the internet connection drops sometimes for no reason. This became a big problem at the end of May when my final papers for grad school were due via email, and is still a problem now when I'm trying to work on my thesis with a number of online sources. Any help you can give would be appreciated.

I have an Actiontec GT704WG running on a "simulated dry loop" as it has been doing for at least two years, and have made several service calls to Verizon regarding this issue. The first call, I was told to replace the phone line between the router and the phone jack. I did so, and speeds improved for about a day. On subsequent calls, I have just been told to turn the router on and off. I do, and it works for a little while, but I don't feel like I should have to be doing this multiple times a day. Here's what Verizon's speed test just told me:

Analysis information:

Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
SendBufferSize set to [132480]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 772.70Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 672.97kb/s

------ Client System Details ------
OS data: Name = Mac OS X, Architecture = x86_64, Version = 10.6.7
Java data: Vendor = Apple Inc., Version = 1.6.0_24

------ Web100 Detailed Analysis ------
Client Receive Window detected at 524280 bytes.
Cable modem/DSL/T1 link found.
Link set to Full Duplex mode
Information: throughput is limited by other network traffic.
Good network cable(s) found
Normal duplex operation found.

Web100 reports the Round trip time = 1433.4 msec; the Packet size = 1440 Bytes; and
No packet loss was observed.
This connection is sender limited 93.19% of the time.
This connection is network limited 6.81% of the time.

Web100 reports TCP negotiated the optional Performance Settings to:
RFC 2018 Selective Acknowledgment: ON
RFC 896 Nagle Algorithm: ON
RFC 3168 Explicit Congestion Notification: OFF
RFC 1323 Time Stamping: ON
RFC 1323 Window Scaling: ON
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [71.246.121.164] but Client says [192.168.1.65]

Please help, this is driving me nuts and I am tempted to look elsewhere for a more reliable internet provider. Thanks!

Re: Slow DSL and inconsistent connections
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

I do see you are attached to a Juniper ERX router, but before we blame that as being the issue, let's see what else can be causing the problems you're seeing. Visit http://192.168.1.1/ and locate the Status section of the ActionTec. This section will contain information on how well your line is running, and include information such as speed, Line Mode, Attainable Rate, Attenuation, SN Margin and Powers. If you can post up this information for us, that would be much appreciated.

If you need a login, try the following:

admin/password

admin/password1

admin/admin

admin/admin1

Your Verizon username and Password.

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Re: Slow DSL and inconsistent connections
Julz91
Enthusiast - Level 2

Sorry, I've been away from my house for a couple of weeks traveling and this is the first chance I've had to sit down and get the info you reqested (the internet drops and speed are still a problem, though, so I just restarted the laptop and the modem in order to get online).

I think this is what you need, yes?

		
PPP Status
Status: 	Connected
User Name: 	newdsl
LCP State: 	up
IPCP State: 	up
Authentication Failures: 	0
Session Time: 	0hr 6min 9sec
Packets Sent: 	8605
Packets Received: 	9435
	
DSL Status
VPI: 0
VCI: 35	
DSL Mode Setting: MMODE	
DSL Negotiated Mode: G.DMT
Connection Status: Showtime
Speed (down/up): 3360/768 Kbps
ATM QoS class: 	UBR
Near End CRC Errors : 	5/0
Far End CRC Errors : 	3/0
Near End CRC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0	
Far End CRC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0
Near End RS FEC : 0/0
Far End RS FEC : 1441/0
Near End FEC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0
Far End FEC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0	
Discarded Packets(Within last 30 mins): 0	
SNR Margin (Downstream/Upstream): 10/10
Attenuation (Downstream/Upstream): 47/30

Re: Slow DSL and inconsistent connections
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

Despite missing some upstream from the length of your line (causing lower margins), your line seems to be fairing pretty well. Only a few uncorrectable errors with whatever else was occurring from perhaps noise, being corrected through Interleaving. The drops may be from the low margin on the upstream and downstream. If you happen to have access to a NID, see if you can connect your DSL modem to it and obtain the new statistics it shows. This will let us rule out at least your home's wiring as being the cause of the disconnects.

As for the speed issues, due to the lack of errors on the line, it looks like you might be suffering from issues related to the Junipers. Once we get some results from a NID test if it is possible, I'll send you some information on how to contact someone who can get you off of the Juniper, if possible, and onto a Redback router.

Re: Slow DSL and inconsistent connections
Julz91
Enthusiast - Level 2

Well, I've found the NID outside and it has two jacks in it. I was assuming that the top jack was mine, since I live on the top floor of the house, but when I connect the Actiontec to that, the DSL light never stops blinking and the internet light never comes on. Plugging it into the bottom jack in the NID (which I had thought to be my landlady's, since she has the bottom two floors of the house) gives me a solid DSL light and internet light. ETA: A closer inspection shows that there are no wires connected to the top jack. There are little orange wires dangling near it, but not connected. The bottom jack has blue wires connected to it. Does this mean the whole house (both apartments) are off of one connection, despite paying different bills?

That being said, here are the stats from the bottom jack.

	
PPP Status
Status: Connected	
User Name: newdsl	
LCP State: up	
IPCP State: up	
Authentication Failures: 0	
Session Time: 0hr 3min 44sec
Packets Sent: 521
Packets Received: 457

		
DSL Status
VPI: 0
VCI: 35
DSL Mode Setting: MMODE	
DSL Negotiated Mode: G.DMT
Connection Status: Showtime	
Speed (down/up): 3360/768 Kbps	
ATM QoS class: 	UBR
Near End CRC Errors : 	5/0
Far End CRC Errors : 	0/0
Near End CRC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0	
Far End CRC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0
Near End RS FEC : 0/0
Far End RS FEC : 0/0
Near End FEC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0
Far End FEC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0
Discarded Packets(Within last 30 mins): 0	
SNR Margin (Downstream/Upstream): 19/10
Attenuation (Downstream/Upstream): 46/30
Re: Slow DSL and inconsistent connections
SlightlyTweaked
Enthusiast - Level 3

Curious as to what in the stats told you he was on a JUNIPER?

Thanks

Re: Slow DSL and inconsistent connections
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

His modem statistics don't mention a thing about being on a Juniper, no way they can. To find that out you have to traceroute his connection from another connection. The second last hop in any trace route (unless it times out due to the IP not being assigned or due to a firewall) will have a name such as ERXG01 ; ERXG02 ; ERXG03, so on and so fourth, and this is on Verizon's edge routers. I have no idea what their core network is using, but if you do not see an ERXG** hop, it's a Redback router. Try it yourself by finding your Public IP address and tracing it from another connection.

As far as the OP goes: Your statistics, even though you had a higher margin at the NID didn't change a whole lot. The margin the modem was reporting at the time tends to sink down within a few hours of initial sync. What I'm shooting for is the upstream to be at 864kbps. As long as your connection isn't dropping out completely (as in, flashing DSL light if you look at the modem when it goes down), I'd say the speed being at 768kbps rather than 864kbps is ok to have for now, but it is something you should get a tech out and have him improve your line quality a bit. But definitely, send me a PM and I will get you in touch with someone who can get this problem sorted out.

As far as the NID goes, some of the test jacks are unused since they typically are for second lines or third lines if you have extra jacks. It's possible your landlord has another NID elsewhere, but I doubt the wiring is tied together. If it were, you'd be having more issues for sure if your landlord didn't have the DSL being filtered. My NID has two test jacks, one of which is for my primary line, and one of which is reserved for a time where I may get a second phone and/or DSL line. I know this because two years ago I had to re-wire the copper drop back into my NID after it was forcefully ripped out. That was not fun to do since it was raining out with high winds at the time.

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