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| | | | FAQ Revisions | Editor: KeysCapt 
Last modified on 2008-08-11 14:10:01
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5. Troubleshooting·Stalls and freezes
·I think my DSL is too slow!
·How do I optimize my MTU and RWIN settings?
· I cannot access the net at all.
·Got my DSL Modem but no Sync!
·I keep losing sync. How can i stop this?
· My DSL disconnects when I answer the phone
· Web-sites seem slow on initial connect
·MSIE Work Offline / Try Again
· My ADSL line cannot send AND receive at advertised rates
·Why can I not ping my IP address?
·Why Does My Computer Stop Responding Using USB Modem?
·Why do I have long delays after rebooting with Win2K and WinXP?
·I can browse, but can't download any files.
·I'm getting Error 650... what should I do?
·Why can't I game with my new Router?
·I am unable to connect to some sites recently.
·How do I know if my DSL problems come from my house or my telco?
·Why do downloads start FAST, then slow down?
·What can I do to get better performance out of my DSL connection?
· My latency (ping times) are high, even though my transfer rate is good
· I added a DSL internal modem, now my PC crashes
·I lose line Sync regularly
·How come I can't register a user name and password on SWBell over the internet?
·I've tweaked, tested, and I still have problems, how do I deal with my ISP?
·What can I do to ensure clean lines for my dsl connection?
·Problems continuing to use my old (dialup) email
·Why can't i set my MTU to 1492 with WinPoet?
·Why does my modem take so long to sync with the CO?
·My home alarm isn't turned on-will it still affect my DSL signal?
·When I pick my phone up, I get a static feedback when the modem synced
·Can't access some Web/FTP/Secure sites & troubles with email/VPNs/file transfers
·DSL Error Code Identifications
·How do I change my DNS server address(es)?
| | | If you are getting stalls when using your PC before your new ADSL line has been activated, your new internal ADSL card could be attempting to talk to the network (which is not yet configured for you), and while it does this, your PC may freeze. The solution is to remove the drivers for the card and/or the card itself, until the ADSL line is activated by the Telco, then re-install from scratch.
If your PC is freezing regularly, and you are on PPPoE, your computer may be looking around for a DHCP server that does not exist. Check the following: (Windows)
• Open Control Panel
• Open Network
• For Windows 2000/XP, instead, do -> START -> SETTINGS -> NETWORK and DIAL-UP CONNECTIONS, and then go into the Properties for your Local Area Connection
• Look for the first entry in the scroll box marked TCP/IP, that is associated with a hardware ethernet card (ignore dialup, AOL and VPN type bindings).
• Select it and press PROPERTIES
• Select IP ADDRESS from the tab
• Is OBTAIN AN IP ADDRESS AUTOMATICALLY checked? if so, change that to DEFINE IP ADDRESS and enter 192.168.1.10, and 255.255.255.0, into IP address and subnet mask fields respectively.
This assignment of a harmless local IP address to the TCP/IP settings bound (connected) to your network adapter, will stop the built-in DHCP services from waking up every 10 minutes to look for a DHCP server so that it can "fill in the blanks".
Be aware that if you set the IP to manual and then sometime in the future want to use DHCP (eg, Cable HSI for example) you may have problems obtaining an IP address which may result in the following: 0.0.0.0 "invalid ip address".
In most cases, you will have to do a netsh int ip reset C:\reset.txt in XP, reinstall tcp/ip in Windows 9.x+2000, or at worst cases do a reinstall of the OS. |
• Select the GATEWAY tab. Enter 10.0.0.138 into New Gateway field and click on Add. Click OK.
•Close all windows and restart the PC.
If you are using Win98SE, also use this update Win98SE Problems with NDIS Intermediate Drivers
Also see this thread: Internet freezes momentarily while surfing.
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by mballard edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2004-02-04 05:55:43 | | | Measuring your DSL speed is not easy. There are a number of speed test applications on the web (our contribution is here), and your ISP may suggest you try a single FTP download, or multiple FTP downloads.
What to do?
First, no single test is enough to determine the speed
of your line. The internet has weather, as does your ISP, and the server you are downloading from. Weather can delay delivery, as any postman will tell you!
Once you have concluded, perhaps by comparing others' results, that your speed is not what it should be, here is a check list of things to worry about if you have a DSL line. For cable users, we have an excellent cable FAQ that may help you identify coax noise that could be slowing you down. cable tech faq.
•Line quality test. If you have not done so already, try one of the two different line quality tests we offer on our tools page. Smokeping is open to all users, the line quality test is open to registered users. Both will show up a noisy line - one that is suffering from packet loss that can interfere with the smooth transfer of data.
•ISP Weather. Your ISP may be suffering a "brown-out" at the time you tested. Only once consistent slow results, or a pattern, can be established, can you rule out temporary brownouts by your ISP.
•Internet weather. More rarely, the internet as a whole, at key choke points, can become slow. Perhaps there is a fiber cut, or some router failure. Internet storms such as these rarely last long if they are big. But smaller, more local storms, may be more persistent.
•ISP Routing. Larger ISPs have many options to route you onto the net, and at times they may be sub-optimal for you or your area. Normally this goes hand in hand with much higher than expected latency than you should expect.
•Backhaul. Backhaul is the path of your data between you, and your first visible hop. To get to your first hop, your data may have to travel from CO to CO and even be carried across country to get to your ISP. All of this is invisible to you, but poor backhaul routing does result in high latency to your first hop, or worse.
•DSL Interference. DSL operates across a wide frequency spectrum, and particular ADSL and G.lite, can vary speed downwards in response to noise on the line. There are often no user visible statistics on whether this is happening, and the only symptom is poor performance. Checking around the house for possible sources can sometimes reap rewards of immediate speed gain. Things such as poor house wiring, long home phone cable runs (rather than locating the DSL modem as close to the entry point of the line as possible), or in the case of ADSL, micro-filters of insufficient quality, or being installed backwards, older fax machines, or poor quality phone extension handsets. Even cordless phones and floro lights should be regarded with suspicion. By a process of elimination though, you can determine which if any of these possible problems is the cause of your persistent poor speed.One of our users adds: "Using an older NAT box (e.g. a linksys older than 2 years) can dramatically shrink throughput. In my case, direct connect averages around 9Mb while through the linksys I peak around 3Mb"
•Home alarm systems, installed "in-series" to your phone line, can ruin an ADSL signal. placing them on another run with a filter should be a top priority.
•Slow computer, USB modems.. CPU can be a factor in speed tests, particular java driven ones. Anything less than a pentium 100mhz CPU, and anything less than windows 98 cannot be trusted with more user-friendly speed tests. Even a basic computer, using command prompt FTP, should be able to outrun even fast DSL lines though. USB modems, particularly ones entirely software (driver) designed, consume CPU, and should also be considered as possible sources of slowdown.
•Poor or dubious quality ethernet card. Even though the ethernet card is the most simple and proven part of the whole DSL setup, some no-brand type ether cards, especially when paired with doubtful or older ether drivers, can cause an interesting array of performance or other weird problems.. things such as web pages being viewable, but uploading failing, for example, has more than once been traced to a dodgy ethernet card.
•Card conflicts. Especially with internet DSL modems, interrupt/slot related difficulties with windows and drivers can cause problems that are solved by re-arrangement of cards, or by removal of cards that are not needed. Stripping a PC down to the minimum when testing may quickly identify this as the source of any frustrating problems.
• Home alarm systems, installed "in-series" to your phone line, can ruin an ADSL signal. Placing them on another run with a filter should be a top priority. This comment is actually the way it's designed to work. It's called 'seizure' - the process of ensuring 100% access to the phone line in the case of an alarm condition. The ideal scenario is to use a POTS splitter so that the phone and internet service is SPLIT before it gets to the demarcation block. This ensures that the alarm is connected to the PHONE side of the line without affecting the MODEM side (connected to the ADSL modem) of the line. This will allow an alarm to still have 'seizure' and also 'share' an ADSL line with an alarm system on the phones, WITHOUT FILTERs. Filters are generally poor quality and fail on occasion, but a pots splitter has much less likeliness of failure or accidental removal. Moving an alarm to an 'extension' defeats the 'seizure' of the telco line invalidating any assurances of reliable transmission. (This bullet point suggested by Jeruvy )
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edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2008-05-04 10:50:06 | | | The most important thing you can do to your PC to maximize broadband performance is to optimize your MTU and RWIN values. Before you make any changes run a baseline speed test to a reliable test site and record your results...then get tweaking!
MTU (Maximum Transfer Unit)
MTU is the maximum packet size (in bytes) that can be transported reliably across any particular network; IP Ethernet in this case. The maximum size of an IP Ethernet packet is 1500, but overhead like IP, TCP, and PPPoE must also be taken into account. The wrong MTU will actually prevent you from accessing some web sites or FTP sites. It may even cause you to not authenticate properly on mail servers or secure web sites. There are too many variables to be able to estimate what your optimum MTU should be, but there is an test that can determine your correct MTU.
Important Notes:
•If you have a network with multiple PCs every computer should be set up with the same MTU. Additionally, some PCs may use several Network Adapters or a VPN client adapter on one PC so you must verify you are changing the Network Adapter associated with your broadband service or VPN client.
•Due to additional overhead, some VPNs may require an MTU that is much smaller than the results of the ping test. The best way to eliminate MTU as a possible source of the problem is to lower the MTU to 1200 and test the VPN connection. If it functions correctly at 1200 increase the MTU until the VPN stops working properly and use the largest size MTU that did work. Additionally, some VPNs create separate network adapters so be sure to select the correct adapter when changing MTU size.
• The built in PPPoE client for Windows XP uses an MTU that can not easily be changed or set manually. The MTU is set to 1480. For more information please reference this XP MTU article. This only applies if you are running the built in XP PPPoE client!
Although the Broadband Reports Tweak Test offers very good general information, it may give erroneous or misleading MTU recommendations and its information should not to used. Since it simply looks at whether you use PPPoA or PPPoE, it can not give accurate, individualized MTU analysis. To guarantee the proper MTU customers should use the following procedure:
 Go to the MTU Ping Test and record your results.
Change your MTU using DrTCP (see example below) or any similar registry editing application. Remember, you must change the MTU on the correct network adapter (if you have more than one) and you must reboot your machine in order for the settings to take place.
RWIN (Receive Window)
The TCP Receive Window can be thought of as the main data gate keeper to your computer. It sets the limits on the amount of data that can be received before it must send an acknowledgement and broadcasts that to the sender. If the number is too low you will tie up bandwidth with frequent and unnecessary acknowledgements. Too high of an RWIN will create a slowdown if any packets need to be retransmitted.
There are mathematical calculations that can be used to obtain your optimum RWIN, but they are complicated and rely on variables that can easily change. I suggest using real-life testing with some guidelines from the Tweak Test:
Run the Tweaks Test using the correct FastAccess Tweak Settings and record the RWIN recommendations. FYI: The recommendations from the test are very accurate and usually the highest recommended value is perfect for many users.
Record the "MSS Requested" number (possibly 1452 or 1460) shown in the left column of the results. Note: All RWIN values should be an even multiple of your MSS.
Change your RWIN to the highest recommended setting (roughly 37,000) using DrTCP (see example below) or similar registry editing application. Remember to change the RWIN on the correct network adapter (if you have more than one) and reboot your machine in order for the settings to take place.
Retest your download speeds and record any changes.
Retest again using the next higher or lower RWIN value until you find your optimum speeds. Note: When trying different RWIN values make sure you use even multiples of your MSS.
For example:
1452 MSS
x 26 Even Multiple
37752 RWIN
The next lower RWIN value would be:
1452 MSS
x 24 Even Multiple
34848 RWIN
Changing the MTU and RWIN values
You can download and use DrTCP or any similar registry editing application to change your MTU. An example of changing the MTU using DrTCP is shown below. (Figure 4)
Pictures by Andy Houtz
Note: If you have more than one network adapter on a PC you must change the MTU on the correct network adapter associated with your broadband connection. You must reboot your computer in order for the new MTU settings to take place. Additionally, if you have a network with more than one PC, all computers and the router must have the same MTU setting. Please reference the links below to learn how to change the MTU on some popular routers:
•MTU change on a Linksys Router
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by Andy Houtz edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2004-01-18 19:58:23 | | | All of a sudden, your computer is not online any more. What basic steps can you take to diagnose what is wrong?
A variety of problems can be the cause of "net down".
The first thing to check is power, lights and connections. If there are lights to check, are they all green? If they flash with activity, are they flashing when you attempt to use your browser? The modem may be trying to tell you something. Refer to your manual on lights or status information.
If you're running Microsoft Windows, a reboot is often the first thing to try unless you have evidence that the problem lies elsewhere.
General tests are, first, try to ping a well known server, like Netscape. Open an MSDOS prompt, type ping www.netscape.com and press return.
NOTE:(Make sure the server you pick to ping responds to ping! Many servers now do not, and you should not confuse that with a network problem).
If you cannot resolve the name to an IP address (ping will hang for a while or may fail with cannot resolve hostname type errors), then ping a known good IP address. The IP address of your local ISP is a logical start. It is always useful to have some key IP addresses jotted down for simple diagnostics like this, unless you have a good memory for 4 part numbers. If you can ping an IP address inside your ISP, congratulations, it is not your DSL line.
If it is your DSL line, you may be able to call the ISP and get them to try to ping you, which should start them on solving your case, otherwise your ISP maybe able to inform you of a network problem they are having.
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by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-23 14:51:52 | | | Wait for your install date. Be patient and it may come on early.
Check the filters on the devices. EVERYTHING but the DSL Modem on your DSL phone line MUST have filters or it may keep you from getting sync/not be stable/slow. Don't forget items such as the phone line into your cable/satellite TV decoder, etc.
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by Tibur0n edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-23 14:53:14 | | | There are a few things could cause this. Your DSL modem may be malfunctioning. If this is the case you should call your ISP and tell them to replace your modem, or, if the modem is yours, either have it serviced or replace it.
In order to determine whether the problem is inside your home or outside, take your modem to the NID (Network Inteface Device) and connect directly. This eliminates any inside wiring.
If you are able to sync up fine outside of your house at your Telephone box (more commonly known as the NID, Network Interface Device) Then your inside wiring will need to be inspected. You will have to notify your telephone company and tell them to fix the problem. Note this will cost you money because it's outside of your ISP/DSL service.
Your telephone line could be losing quality. Line noise, electronics on the line, or a short on the line can break up a sync signal. You will have to tell your ISP that you keep losing sync and want to have your line checked for problems. They should open a trouble ticket with your ILEC/CLEC and they will inspect the lines. In most cases they can find the problem this way.
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by Masamune edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-23 14:52:52 | | | This is a symptom of bad internal wiring, or problems with filters, splitter or sockets.
Another possibility is an MTU on the line. An MTU, is a Maintenance Test Unit. In days long gone, it was used to remotely check for problems on your phoneline. It seems these lovely units that consist of an Op-Amp and a bunch or resisters, capacitors, etc ... cause major problems with DSL. These are generally located in your phone closet or basement (where the phoneline comes from the street into your house/apartment).
You can have your phone company do a line check and they should be able to determine if you have one on your line and approximately where it is located.
Some other possibilities suggested by our members:
1. If a customer's DSL goes out when they answer an incoming telephone call, it's not always in the house wiring. Have your local phone company check the CO for what we call a half tap. If they find one that should solve your problem.
2. If the water company's automatic reading unit in your basement is connected to your telephone line, it may be causing issues. Unplug the phone line attached to it and you can see if this is the case. They may contact you advising they can't read your water meter. You can advise them it is causing issues with your DSL and they will hopefully address the problem.
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by Foosplayer edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2007-10-25 17:01:42 | | | The usual answer to this is DNS resolution, or some problem with name resolution.
When you give the name of a website, your PC must communicate to a DNS server to resolve it to an actual IP address. If your ISP is having DNS server difficulties, this resolution process may take time. Subsequent resolutions may be quicker because the ISP DNS server has now cached the name.
If your DNS server exhibits very slow response, and consistently so, then contact your ISP to ask them to investigate.
Another source of slow DNS queries is how your PC may be resolving the location (IP address) of the web address you enter. From an command line window, you can use the NSLOOKUP command to test name resolution speed. Pick a website that you have never visited (perhaps from a newspaper advert or something), then type 'nslookup name.of.site.com'. The delay before the IP address of that site is returned should be no more than a few seconds, perhaps for some small and slow websites, the delay could be 5 seconds or so. If the delay is consistently much longer for new sites than these estimates, your PC may be trying to locate the name of the site via several methods before your ISP DNS server is queried.
(Windows) The cause for this is possibly the presence of a number of networking protocols and clients in your networking setup, which cause the PC to attempt name resolution first locally (using netbios), then via your ISP.
The local attempt will fail, but not until after a timeout period. If you are in doubt as to which protocols may be safely removed, ask a question in our forums.
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by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-11-02 08:33:04 | | | Some software installs, for example Enternet, can make MSIE lose knowledge that you are connected full time to the Internet.
• Solution 1 .. Try Repair:
Go to control panel, add/remove programs, find explorer 5.5, highlight that and click REPAIR. After the reboot, it should be fixed.
• Solution 2 .. Quit any PPPoE service (Enternet Access Manager/WINPoet) etc first.
Look in the registry
Using regedit, find the folder:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WebCheck And check that these two *String* keys are set to auto:
"LoadSens"="auto"
"LoadLCE"="auto"
Create them if necessary!
-------------
One of our visitors added this bit of information which might be of help to others:
I recently had this problem when using a Windows 2000 machine with IE6 and a DSL connection. I had recently added VPN support which shows up in the Settings -> Network and Dial-up Connections area of the Start Menu. The VPN connection settings were under Incoming Computer Connections. I had tried all of the LoadLCE/Load ... =Auto options and I had even repaired a registry key that Windows 2000/IE6 corrupts from a DWord to a Binary setting ( see »support.microsoft.com/kb/315315 ). None of these "fixes" corrected my problem until I deleted the Incoming Computer Connection under the Network and Dial-up Connections menu. Once this VPN connection option was deleted, the Work Offline/Try Again box has not re-appeared.
Another added this:
You can also try selecting the "Never dial a connection" radio button instead of deleting the VPN/Dialup connection.
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edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2008-03-22 16:03:21
| | | ADSL lines that are much faster download than upload do not do well when simultaneous uploads AND downloads are required. To operate the download channel at full speed, a large portion of the upload channel is required. If the upload channel is busy with something else, TOTAL throughput can drop severely as the competition for resources slows down both activities. Users have also reported that streaming video both in and out at the same time results in very poor throughput - much lower than one would expect looking at the speeds available. There is not yet any recommendation or information on what can be done to get around this problem, other than changing to a DSL service with more symmetric capacity.
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by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-11-02 08:43:30 | | | First you must distinguish between Public IP address and Private IP address. Your public IP address is that which the world believes you are on. Your PC private IP address may be something else entirely.
You may find your public IP address by using the BroadbandReports IP tool: /ip.
Your private IP address is that reported by your PC. For example, in Windows, Start->Run->Winipcfg (or "ipconfig /all in a command line window) will bring up a utility that describes the IP address the PC has. Be careful, your PC may have several IP addresses!
If you cannot ping your public IP address, it may be because the machine this represents simply does not respond to ping.If you cannot ping your private IP address, you may have installed a firewall that refuses to acknowledge ping packets.
If neither of these cases apply, you may not have correctly identified your public or private IP address.
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by edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-11-02 08:48:55 | | | Your Windows 98 Second Edition Computer May Stop Responding or Experience Slow Download Times with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) Modem. This problem is resolved in Windows Millennium Edition (ME).
»support.microsoft.com/directory/···;q240947
You have to contact Microsoft Tech Support to get them to email you a download link to their FTP server for a "hot" fix mentioned in KB article Q240947.
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by EmbeddedEric edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-22 17:10:38 | | | If you are using PPPoE and you experience a long delay after rebooting, your network adapter may be configured to use DCHP.
Try assigning an internal IP address to the Local Area Connection that corresponds to your network adapter.
Control Panel -> Network Connections -> Right click on your Local Area Connection and select properties -> Click on TCP/IP and select properties.
Now insert 192.168.0.1 as the IP address and 255.255.255.0 as Subnet Mask. Leave default gateway blank.
Now go back to Control Panel and select Administrative Tools -> Services -> DCHP and select disable DCHP.
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by grrinder edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-11-02 08:41:37 | | | Being able to browse but not download is usually caused by NIC problems. Move your NIC to a different PCI slot. If that doesn't work, take out all unnecessary PCI cards like sound cards and 56k modems, and then try each slot. If it works, then you can add the other devices back until you find the problem. You can move the device causing a conflict to a different slot and that may fix the download problems.
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by Ranma edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-23 09:43:19 | | | Try what is called "power-cycling" ...
•Shut down your computer.
•Unplug the the modem from the USB slot, and unplug the phone line from the modem.
•Wait about 2-5 minutes.
•Plug everything back up, and restart your computer. •Reconnect, and everything should run smoothly again.
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by rutypurock edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-22 17:25:38 | | | More than likely you have to go to the "forwarding" part of your router setup and forward the corresponding ports.
The following three links contain some detailed information about which ports to forward and more. Each link has different, but very helpful information to explain and help guide you through the process.
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/app_port_list.htm#zone
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/support/gaming_help.htm
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,1202066;root=equip,16;mode=flat
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by Turin edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-11-02 08:40:27 | | | When you connect to some servers, they have to be converted into an IP address in order to connect. A file called HOSTS stores these IP addresses. When the address changes it becomes invalid and you are unable to connect to that website.
To fix this:1. Close all browsers. Go to Start, Find and select Files or Folders.
2. Find a file called "hosts" (without the quotes) that has no extension and rename it to hosts.bak.
3. No reboot is necessary. The changes are immediate. If this does not fix the problem, then likely it is trouble with the owners.
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by RedXII1234 edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-22 18:07:02 | | | If you have access to your outside test jack (where the main line from your telco connects to your home line, usually via a standard sized telephone jack), find a long phone cord and run it from your DSL modem to the outside test jack directly. This bypasses all of your internal circuitry.
If you were unable to connect before and are still unable to connect, your ISP probably has a problem (perhaps a bridged tap or numerous other line quality destroyers). Call your DSL service provider or phone company and ask them to check.
If you were unable to connect before due and are able to connect after doing this, the problem is likely inside your house. Your telco probably offers professional installation of a DSL line splitter, which would eliminate internal problems. (I will post information later about self-installing a separate DSL line on the same phone number).
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by purplejello edited by mballard | | | Actually, they're not really slowing down. After you click on the download button, the download begins while you're typing in the file name. If you take a while to do that a considerable amount of data will be saved before the download speeds start registering. That's why it seems to be zipping along at first. But, after the buffer has caught up, it will then start showing your true download speed. Speed too, will fluctuate as the servers that you're downloading from get busy, and you'll get speeds going up a little, then down a little.
Don't forget, it's important to make sure your computer's optimized for speed. Be sure to check out DSLReports Tweak Tools at /tools for tools to help you tweak your speeds, and be sure to check out the Tweaks forum for more useful information!
--
submitted by Santa Fe
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by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-07-22 21:14:58 | | | This is free advice so please take it if you need it.
Often we as customers complain about our service and wonder why no one seems to be doing enough. Have you done enough? We expect our DSL provider to bend over backwards to bring us a better connection when often we have made little or no such effort on or own end.
Do you have a POTS splitter?
Please keep in mind that the device you plug into your phone jacks all over your house are not POTS "Plain Old Telephone Service" splitters but filters and if you are doing this all of your non DSL lines under your house are counting in your total line length and are robbing you of bandwidth. A POTS splitter goes inside of or next to your SNI/NID which is usually a gray or black box located outside where your phone line comes into your house. On one side of the POTS splitter is DSL and the other side is POTS or voice this keeps the DSL signal from running in all of your other lines under your house which will add to your line length. POTS splitters run from around forty dollars and up and depending on which one you buy and where it may be a module that fits in your SNI/NID or a separate box all together. I recommend getting the module type and personally use the LPF-200 by antec products. You can find some nice examples of how this is done here and for older SNIs here. Be sure to take out that half-ringer since it can add to the length of your line.
Do you have a dedicated or "home run" line?
Dedicated or "home run" means that the line for your DSL runs from the SNI/NID to the wall jack or interface for your DSL modem and nowhere else and it is best to have no other devices installed on this line. It is also best to use CAT5 "category 5" cable to run your dedicated or "home run" line. You can use any of the four pair to do this and it is often suggested that you use pair number two or the orange and white pair. You can also go the extra mile by running CAT5 from your wall jack or interface to your modem of course you will have to do some trimming "cut some of the other wires back" to allow it to fit into the module plug.
Always remember these important rules while routing ANY CAT5 cable:
1.
Never stretch your CAT5 cable.
2.
Always keep your CAT5 cable at least six inches away from ANY other cables this is VERY important for electrical cables as this will cause more noise on the line. If you are a bad judge of distance a dollar bill is usually six inches.
3.
Never un-twist the pair any more than one half of an inch, one quarter of an inch is even better if you can get it connected. The same goes for stripping it including the outside jacket.
4.
If you have to cross other cables do so at a ninety degree angle.
5.
Never crush or kink your CAT5 cable. This includes stapling your CAT5 cable. Use hangers for such purposes which you can get from radio shack or staple wire ties which you can get almost anywhere.
6.
Make sure you don't run your CAT5 into a spike or surge protection device as there are sometimes problems with these like you didn't know your new puppy likes to pee in it. =o) It also should not be needed as SBC should have such protection in your SNI/NID already.
Are you sharing your dsl with others in the house?
Invest in a DSL gateway or router as ICS, Sygate and other software alternatives just don't do as good of a job and cause you to have to leave a computer on so the other computers can use the connection. If you only have one IP a gateway will do just fine. Make sure that what ever you purchase will support PPPoE "point-to-point protocol over ethernet (RFC 2516)". Most that are made for DSL do but it is always a good ideal to make sure since many of the europe DSL providers use PPTP "point-to-point tunneling protocol (RFC 1171)" or PPPoA "point-to-point protocol over ATM (RFC 2364)". DSL gateways can be purchased for as little as thirty dollars depending on where you shop and how much security you are looking for most of them offer NAT "network address translator (RFC 1631)" protection at the very least and are well worth the investment. Also most of them have a built in DHCP "dynamic host configuration protocol (RFC 2131)" server that makes it easy to use multiple platforms without all of the setup nightmares.
Are your settings correct?
Your MTU "maximum transmission unit" and RCVWINDOW "receive window" are the most important but you should not ignore the rest. If you are not getting one hundred percent transfer efficiency on the DSL-Reports tweak test it is probably your settings and they offer some helpful advice there. I usually obtain best results with an MTU of 1500 and an RWIN of 65535 but your results may vary depending on your line conditions. The DSL-Reports tweak tester is here
Do you have noise on your line?
If you have noise on your line it may be RF interference you can find good information on tracking it down here.
Remember if you refuse to go the extra mile then you can't expect others to do it either and you will find if you have most of the techs will be able to get to the root of your problem much quicker.
Thanks to everyone whose fine post I have used in reference here and DSL-Reports for such a fine resource. I couldn't have done this with out you.
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by callihn edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2002-10-05 03:35:40 | | | If your latency is consistently high, you need to question your provider as to your routing. Many ISPs are not national, but are able to sell DSL nationally. In certain cases, they must route traffic all over the place even if you are trying to use local game servers or sites.
In other cases, the ISP has real (and hopefully temporary) routing problems, or a critical failure and they are on backup.
Normally network specialists plan for optimal routing, but during fast growth, your ISP may have got into a situation where customers pay penalty in ping time while the ISP figures out how to resolve the problem.
The first step in diagnosis of high latency is to figure out the ping time to your default gateway. You may do this by using the Line Quality tool at this site, or by using Visual Route from Datametrics (www.visualroute.com).
If your default gateway ping is good, the next step is to get a trace to a server that you believe should be nearby.
Ideally, nearby servers are available with a few number of hops and low total latency.
What can you do if faced with persistent high latency?
Unfortunately, nothing. ISPs are not obliged to operate with any minimum latency guarantees, so vote with your feet. Discussing the problem with as senior a technical support person as you can find may reveal they have expansion plans that will ease the problem in your area.
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| | | When this is not an outright hardware failure, it is usually a device resource allocation problem. (this advice applies to windows PCs only). Open the control panel and get the System icon open. Look in the device list, and check if there are any devices windows has marked with a red cross or any other type of error symbol. Just because there are not, does NOT mean that there are no conflicts!! This is most important to learn! many devices come with poorly written drivers, which do not accurately reflect the hardware. This can mean that windows "overlaps" the resource use with another device resource map without "realizing" it. Resources are scarce (otherwise they would not be called resources) so usually if windows can make this mistake it will!
The end result can be a range of mysterious symptoms: video card corruption, mouse pointer freezes, speaker clicks, keyboard freezes, disks seek and re-seek, and activation of the cdrom causes disk activity. The introduction of DSL to a system often requires the introduction of a new card, either ethernet or a DSL modem card.. and this is a good chance for uncovering device problems. The simplest solution is to remove all the devices from the PC that you can (other modems, sound cards etc), then reboot windows and confirm the problems have gone away. Then add back or enable (in the case of motherboard devices such as USB ports), until the problem comes back. If you can narrow it down to two conflicting cards or devices, refer to websites for updated drivers to see if that fixes them.
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| | | Frequent loss of line sync (the normally green light on your DSL modem goes out, blinks, turns yellow or red, and the Internet is suddenly unreachable) can be caused by:•Line noise
•A faulty modem
•A line card problem at the CO DSLAM
•Frequent CO DSLAM upgrades that are not communicated to you.
If the problem is regular - for example, at roughly the same time almost every day and it lasts for some time, you should investigate whether or not local line interference is the root cause. This could be: street lights going on, local transmitting towers of any kind, lights or electrical devices in or around the home that are possibly routed near your inside wiring. Unfortunately, having successfully guessed this cause, it is often very hard to correct ... even another copper line might have the same problem.
If you suspect modem malfunction, check for heat. Replace the modem if you can. If it is an internal modem, change slots and try running with minimum other internal cards. (Remove SCSI cards, Soundblaster cards and so on.) This is to verify that the root cause is not a plain old Windows hardware conflict.
If all else fails, it may be a marginal card in the CO DSLAM that is causing your line problems. Suggest (although this might be ignored) that the DSLAM card be re-seated, or that you be swapped to another card.
At least one user has reported that not enabling DMA on his hard drive was the cause of his sync problems.
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by KeysCapt
last modified: 2003-01-05 18:04:46 | | | This MIGHT be due to the fact that you entered the information wrong on the application. Check this first. But if you repeatedly get a message saying something like "We are sorry, but our server cannot register you right now, we may be experiencing technical difficutlies, try again later" this could be due to a mis-communication between ASI and SWBell. The first thing i would do is call up ASI and have them register you over the phone. This is fairly simple, and they will give you a temporary password. If they encounter trouble with this, such as they can't find that you are registered to recieve dsl, have the person on the phone contact SWbell and check you account information. If your account information was not processed correctly, you will be unable to register, which could lead to some major headaches. If this still does not work, post your problem in the forum area under "swbell" and you may get a response that helps you out.
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by Centurion2 | | | Answer 1: First, do you want or need to continue
dealing with your current ISP? Some people can simply and easily move to
another ISP and immediately get better service, but often there are fewer and
sometimes worse options for most of us. If you have a contract, you might not be
able to do this without paying a penalty. Then again, the stress of dealing with
long-term complicated problems can make moving on worth every penny you might
end up paying to get away.
Answer 2: If you want to stick with your current ISP,
make sure you tried everything in the book to fix your problem; tweaks, testing, isolating your computer and DSL modem, disconnecting everything in the house, anything at all that might have the slightest effect on your connection. Also take into account external forces on your DSL, like
that new AM radio station that just went up next to your house. ;)
Broadband - especially DSL - is very complex, and the issues surrounding it are not always understood well by DSL providers. Consequently your ISP's limited and costly support resources are often over-burdened, which can make it very hard for them to respond to you when you really need the help.
Many DSL problems can be difficult to correct because there are often at least 3 different companies that have their hands in your DSL connection: Your ISP, Telco, and network provider. Since these companies may not let you communicate with anyone else but the ISP when you have a problem, resolving a problem with your telco or network provider may require a lot of persistence, patience, and hold times with your ISP.
Since in the end you may need to call your ISP for help, follow these instructions. Sometimes you'll get through to exactly the right person,
and sometimes you will speak to Satan himself. You should know how to deal with them both:
1. Keep a record of every call on a fresh sheet of paper. Write down the time and date, the name of each person you talk to during that call, get their direct number if you can "in case we get disconnected", and write a brief description of the events during the call. You may have to talk to several different technicians during one call, so don't be
surprised if you get bumped to a higher level of tech support - be thankful, and write down their info.
This may seem like a lot of work but in the end it will be worth it especially if your problem requires a complex solution, and also if it involves people who prove to be a
hindrance to getting your problem resolved. I guarantee you will not even remember the name of the tech after 5 minutes, and keeping track of what you've already tried will help you narrow down future problems as well as the current one.
2. Be polite, be persistent, and be patient with the people you talk to.
Technical support call center jobs are often very stressful, and techs are usually overworked and under quotas to get as many calls completed in as short a time as possible. Getting angry with them doesn't do you or them any good, and your problem will probably not be resolved immediately anyway if you tried everything else before the call.
3. If you follow Step 2 religiously but the person you are talking to is abrasive or is refusing to help resolve your problem, you should stop dealing with them and demand to speak to their
manager immediately - be polite, but firm. You WILL be put on hold at this point. If
the hold time goes on too long (15-30 minutes) then hang up and call Customer Service (not Technical
Support). Calmly explain the problems you had with the previous tech, and request to speak to a manager.
4. If you speak to a Manager, remember that they
are even more over-worked than the phone techs are, but they usually know
their employees: they can and probably will assign you to a better tech to
help get your problem resolved. If they are good at their job, they also want
to know if and where their employees need improvement - just be truthful when
you relate your experiences with a bad tech.
Repeat Step 4 as necessary until you get to someone who
cares enough to take charge of your problem and work it through with you.
There is nothing stopping you from demanding to speak to a higher authority if
all else fails, but as with everything else in life, the higher you reach the
more difficult it is to get there.
5. If you've tried everything and aren't
getting the help you need, you can try contacting the ISP's CEO, and then
service agencies that regulate the industry. This can actually have quick
results, but don't expect anything instantaneous:
•Try writing a letter to your ISP's CEO or other
corporate executives. Many people actually have gotten positive
results this way
•Your Public Utilities Commission may help you.
Below is the California web site address, but others may easily be found
using a search engine such as http://www.google.com.
http://www.dca.ca.gov/.
•Contact the FCC Consumer Complaints: 1-888-225-5322
6. Failing all else, cancel your current ISP and go
with another provider. If you have tried your best, and still can't get
what you need, then either there really is no current solution to your problem
or you need to move on to another ISP or broadband provider.
If your ISP can't provide you the service you contracted
for, they are effectively in breach of the contract you both agreed to and
they should not penalize you when you cancel. Though this has potential to
turn into a battle over billing, your documentation of calls and letters will
help you much more in this event than if you didn't keep track of anything at
all.
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by AlexTG | | | Call your local telco and have them test your phone lines. Even have them come out to your location. It's their job, don't let them tell you otherwise.
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