et1212
join:2005-10-23
Mableton, GA
 ·AT&T Southeast
1 edit | reply to Airwolf7
Re: Is your DSL connection interrupted by Lightening?
Again, thanks for all your help. I had to get out of town unexpectedly so I did not follow up.
(1) Sent a request to ATT and still waiting for them to get back to me on whether the router can be had for free after rebate (for an existing customer). I have the "help-line" phobia and do not call the help line until it is absolutely/positively necessary -- 99% of the time I don't get any help anyway. I may just buy a modem/router so I don't have to deal with the hassles.
(2) I used a phone to test the jack on the EBN. If I pressed it down really hard, I get a dial tone. But it is too much trouble to hold it down while I test the modem so I will not test my connection there. The Bell South tech who installed my modem actually wrote a lot info in the NID --the SN atten and speed are close to what I get indoor. So I'll let it go and assume everything is ok with my house wiring.
I'll update once I have any new info. |
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heels_fan
1.20.09 The start of Socialism
Premium
join:2003-02-07
Columbia, TN
| reply to et1212
Last night we had several thunder/lightning storms to roll through.
I left my PC/modem downloading a large .iso file overnight. When I went back to check my MRTG graphs this morning, there was not even a glitch in the graphs, my modem did not drop sync.
I guess I am a lucky dog, eh?
--
everyone is born ignorant. some are born stupid, others achieve stupidity and the rest have stupidity thrust upon them. |
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asjamias
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
3 edits | reply to Airwolf7
said by Airwolf7  :Did anyone that was an existing FastAccess DSL Xtreme 3.0 or FastAccess DSL Xtreme 6.0 customer upgrade online to the FREE Home Networking and get a Home Networking Wireless Gateway for $100.00 and then get a rebate for it on their phone bill to make it FREE? I'm confused about the wording on the ordering page where you upgrade to the FREE Home Networking with a $100.00 Wireless Gateway FREE after rebate for online orders only. Does anyone know the answer to this thing that puzzles me? when I first signed up, i bundled everything and got a westell 6100 modem but had to pay for it in 10 payments SINCE I CALLED IN MY ORDER, IF I DID IT ONLINE THE MODEM WOULD HAVE BEEN FREE. but then I did it over the phone to make sure I get all the rebates I could get. their mistake was that they shipped me an extra one. when i transferred to the triple choice unlimited plan WHEN I CALLED THEM, i got a free westell 327w since i had 3.0 service. I was always skeptical about ordering services online with bellsouth to begin with.
before i hooked up everything, i made sure i had the whole house surge protector installed at my service entrance and used a leviton power strip with surge protection only for the leviton panel i had where the modem and switch reside. |
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KeysCapt
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-11
Keys Exile
clubs:
Host:
Time Warner Cable ..
Weather
Ham Radio
Sports Chat
| reply to heels_fan
said by heels_fan :Last night we had several thunder/lightning storms to roll through. I left my PC/modem downloading a large .iso file overnight. When I went back to check my MRTG graphs this morning, there was not even a glitch in the graphs, my modem did not drop sync. I guess I am a lucky dog, eh? I really wonder what the difference is. There certainly are enough people who experienced the problem to accept it as real; as I mentioned before the Help Desk isn't unaware of it because they sent me the 2wire without question when I complained about the lightning problem, and my account was rock-steady until the upgrade to X6.0 ... then lightning in Nome, Alaska would cause loss of sync for me in SoFla.
I don't get it, but here in lightning-ville, I haven't had a single loss of sync since installing the 2wire. |
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heels_fan
1.20.09 The start of Socialism
Premium
join:2003-02-07
Columbia, TN | Again today, we had several torndoes and very severe thunderstorms in my area.
I did not lose sync whatsoever. |
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et1212
join:2005-10-23
Mableton, GA
·AT&T Southeast
1 edit | reply to KeysCapt
I contacted the help-desk through email and they replied that the lightening problem is caused by wiring and they wanted to send a tech out. But I rather try to replace the modem first.
We had thunderstorm in Atlanta early tonight -- of course the modem acted up again.
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Update, I called the help desk and asked for a different modem but the CSR cannot ship one to me withour charging me but she said she will send a tech out and the tech will bring an extra modem (I specifically asked for a 2wire modem) and may leave that modem with me if he could not find any other problem. We will see... |
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Canezoid
join:2001-02-16
Powder Springs, GA | Where in Mableton are you? Please see my PM |
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et1212
join:2005-10-23
Mableton, GA
·AT&T Southeast
| Canezoid, please see my pm.
Update:
Tech visited my house and found nothing wrong (I was not home so I really don't know what he did -- talked to him over the phone as he was really confused). I finally convinced him to replace my Westell 6100 modem with a Motorola Netopia 2210-02-1006 (he would not give me the 2-wire modem as I only have Xtreme 6.0 without home networking service).
I'll watch it during the next thunder storm to see if it makes any difference.
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Airwolf7
Premium
join:2004-12-12
Franklin, KY
·AT&T Southeast
| said by et1212 :(he would not give me the 2-wire modem as I only have Xtreme 6.0 without home networking service).
You should have slipped him a Fifty and told him to stick it in his pocket. 
Just kidding. |
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attdsltech1
@bellsouth.net
| reply to et1212
the most likely problem that everyone here is experiencing is a bonding issue in the OUTSIDE plant of the network. If that is the case, MOST phone tech ( and defiantly the contractors) will miss diagnose the problem and go to the old standby....give u a new modem. This not an easy problem to detect. And just for the record......It doesn't make a hill of beans of difference what modem u use.....if the dsl signal is being interrupted by high power influence ANY modem will lose sync.....10 yrs exp has told me that. |
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Canezoid
join:2001-02-16
Powder Springs, GA
·Comcast
| That may be a good conclusion from what point of the loop? Not trying to rain on your post, I'm just not buyin' the lightning thing, other plant or IW/CPE but not weather.
Anything induced on the plant in that area causing probs would mess a whole lot of people up. Trust me, if there were a bonding issue that was causing this problem, the OP wouldn't be the only one reporting something wrong. Let's just say the subdivision is on the upscale side, like Atlanta Braves live in there, basketball players, AT&T/Bellsouth execs, get the picture?
Anyhoo, we'll see. |
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et1212
join:2005-10-23
Mableton, GA
·AT&T Southeast
| well, I'll keep monitoring to see if a modem change solved the problem. Will report back.
I really dislike my cable co. so I hope this would work.
It is a good argument that a lot more people would be affected if it is a bonding issue. However since the drops are very brief so I bet most people won't even notice it (I happened to notice this since my router takes a long time to reconnect once the dsl connection is lost; so I have to manually reconnect from my router). |
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KeysCapt
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-11
Keys Exile
clubs:
Host:
Time Warner Cable ..
Weather
Ham Radio
Sports Chat
| reply to attdsltech1
said by attdsltech1 :
It doesn't make a hill of beans of difference what modem u use.....if the dsl signal is being interrupted by high power influence ANY modem will lose sync.....10 yrs exp has told me that.
With no disrespect to your experience and knowledge, that just doesn't agree with the results ... and I had a tech out Saturday who agreed that he had replaced a bunch of Westells with 2Wire modems, *JUST* to deal with the lightning issue. And they were all successful.
Again, I never had a problem until I upgraded to X6.0, and as soon as I did, the lightning disconnects began. Just as soon as the Westell was replaced with a 2Wire, they stopped, and stopped for good.
I don't say it makes sense, or is technically supportable, but I know what I see and what Bellsouth AT&T tech personnel unofficially acknowledge. |
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heels_fan
1.20.09 The start of Socialism
Premium
join:2003-02-07
Columbia, TN
| reply to et1212
Am I the only one reading here that does not have problems with the westells and lightning?
It seems like that is all I am hearing.
KeysCapt I understand what you are saying. I wonder if distance from the CO or whatever has anything to do with it?
--
everyone is born ignorant. some are born stupid, others achieve stupidity and the rest have stupidity thrust upon them. |
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jps_valdosta
join:2004-05-10
Valdosta, GA
| reply to et1212
I had the same issues with my Westell after I went to 6.0. I got fed up with it last week after a 4 hour storm and decided to order a 2-Wire. I love all diagnostics the modem provides and I noticed a few things about my line over the last 2 days after installing the 2-wire.
1. My downstream SNR is now a solid 13 instead of a fluctuating 6-11 with the Westell.
2. 48 hours without a single resync when the norm with the Westell was 1 or 2 resyncs a day.
3. According the the 2-wire diagnostics, my line can support rates up to 12000. Thats nice to know!
Maybe my Westell was acting up or going bad, but I definitly see a better quality connection with the 2-Wire and I will be waiting on the next storm to see how it behaves. |
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FAQFixer
Premium
join:2004-06-28
Powder Springs, GA
1 edit | reply to heels_fan
As Wayne pointed out the Westell 6100's chipset is purposely very sensitive and has the ability to pick up usable signals at a lower SNR and greater distances than any previous modem. Since there is no free lunches in this world that increased sensitivity to pick up weak signals comes with the possibility to be easily overwhelmed by any interference. If you have a line that is marginal, not bonded, or susceptible to interference you run the risk of having more issues. The 2Wire is less sensitive and will not have as many interference issues, but won't pull a weak signal as well.
This isn't rocket science...just a trade off. Find out what your needs are and use the appropriate modem.
I have used a Westell 6100 for 3 years and have never lost synch in a storm. Even the bad storms that hit Atlanta about a month ago didn't have any effect. I was surfing in the lightning and hailstorms. My local loop is in good condition, less than 10 years old, and well bonded/grounded. |
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mikes60
My Paradise
Premium
join:2001-07-31
Boynton Beach, FL
·AT&T Southeast
·Vonage
| said by FAQFixer :As Wayne pointed out the Westell 6100's chipset is purposely very sensitive and has the ability to pick up usable signals at a lower SNR and greater distances than any previous modem. Since there is no free lunches in this world that increased sensitivity to pick up weak signals comes with the possibility to be easily overwhelmed by any interference. If you have a line that is marginal, not bonded, or susceptible to interference you run the risk of having more issues. The 2Wire is less sensitive and will not have as many interference issues, but won't pull a weak signal as well. This isn't rocket science...just a trade off. Find out what your needs are and use the appropriate modem. I have used a Westell 6100 for 3 years and have never lost synch in a storm. Even the bad storms that hit Atlanta about a month ago didn't have any effect. I was surfing in the lightning and hailstorms. My local loop is in good condition, less than 10 years old, and well bonded. Very well stated. I used Westells for over 5 years here in the lightning capital of the world. I'ts a 7 year old development that was built with all new equipment and evidently good bonding. I have never lost sync, even during the most violent lightning storms. One of my neighbors homes was actually hit by lightning while I maintained sync.
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No good deed goes unpunished. |
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Splitpair
Premium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
 ·T-Mobile US
| reply to Canezoid
said by Canezoid : Trust me, if there were a bonding issue that was causing this problem, the OP wouldn't be the only one reporting something wrong. That’s debatable there could be and in the real world are inductive interferers that hit the entire count which have little or no effect on most services carried on that cable yet a Westell with it’s ultra-sensitive front end gets swamped and goes under while the other DSL and xDSL services ride out the interference.
Not all modems are equal some models such as the Alcatel STH will hold synch when a lightning hit vaporizes the house next door yet it will not pull good margins at 17Kf conversely a Westell can work all day at 17Kf but a loud fart will cause it to drop synch.
Wayne
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If you cannot fix it with a buttset and some bennies you ain't a technician.
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FAQFixer
Premium
join:2004-06-28
Powder Springs, GA
1 edit | reply to et1212
Here's my bad Analogy of the Day.
Increased sensitivity always comes with a trade off. It's analogous to using night vision goggles. When it's dark out the NVG's ability to amplify light gives you a much better vision than your natural eyes. Conversely, wear NVGs on the Las Vegas strip and it will overwhelm the NVGs and blind you even though your natural eyes aren't as affected (your wallet maybe...but not your eyes).
You need to evaluate how dark it is in your situation and what you want to see. |
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RJ44
join:2001-10-19
Nashville, TN
| reply to FAQFixer
said by FAQFixer :This isn't rocket science...just a trade off. Find out what your needs are and use the appropriate modem. I have used a Westell 6100 for 3 years and have never lost synch in a storm. And to add support to your premise of the right modem for the right situation, I am on a very poor loop in an apartment complex, and the ONLY modem I have found that will hold sync for any amount of time with 6.0 is the STH. I get better margins with 2 Wires and Westells, but they resync every 1-2 hours all day long. Some kind of impulse noise the techs have never identified...but the STH holds sync for weeks at a time.
Oh yeah, there's a difference in modems. |
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