US Telco Support > Verizon > Verizon Online DSL > [speed/latency] Trouble with DSL

[speed/latency] Trouble with DSL

I'm in the Buffalo, NY area and am not seeing any issues with the service, and I've had DSL for 4 years. Could you pull up your modem transceiver stats from the current one you have as well as from your old Westell? You can find them at »192.168.1.1/transtat.htm when plugged directly into the modem.

On a side note, as of late I've been seeing loads of people getting FiOS and DSL in the Buffalo area, so the edge routers/COs may be starting to run out of bandwidth. I know that Frontier did in the area which they had to correct.

Here's a speed test I just ran on my line. I have the Starter plan at 1Mbps/384kbps.



For reference, here's what the transceiver stats will look like. Your values will obviously be different, but here's mine. Using the 4 year old Westell 6100 that I got with the service.

Transceiver Revision:  7.2.3.0   
Vendor ID Code: 4  
Line Mode: G.DMT Mode  
Data Path: Fast  
 
Transceiver Information Downstream Path Upstream Path
DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 1184 448
Margin (dB) 23.0 21.0
Line Attenuation (dB) 44.0 22.0
Transmit Power (dBm) 5.4 8.6
 

Hey, thanks for your help. My speed test from speakeasy was 746 down, 136 up and we're on the cheapest DSL tier. The service is back up now, been that way for about an hour, but who knows when it will go down again.

The link you posted 404'd out, but here is some information from my GT704WG:

DSL Status
VPI: 0
VCI: 35
DSL Mode Setting: MMODE
DSL Negotiated Mode: G.DMT
Connection Status: Showtime
Speed (down/up): 864/160kps
ATM QoS class: UBR
Near End CRC Errors : 2/0
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 : 438/0
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): 12/25
Attenuation (Downstream/Upstream): 50/31

Hope this helps. Thanks again.

Ah, so you have an ActionTec. That would explain the 404'ing. Otherwise, that's what I needed . You are a fair distance away from the exchange (about 12,500ft using attenuation * 250), but are holding at a good margin. The next time the service slows down, take note of the latency on the line (that the speed test site shows), as well as the modem's sync rate and margins, and run a line quality test on this site (must be a registered member for the test). The sync rate lowering is one thing, but packet loss from the router to your connection is another thing.

reply to Buffalo
Ugh. Slowness is happening now. Here's the stats:

DSL Status
VPI: 0
VCI: 35
DSL Mode Setting: MMODE
DSL Negotiated Mode: G.DMT
Connection Status: Showtime
Speed (down/up): 32/160
ATM QoS class: UBR
Near End CRC Errors : 113/0
Far End CRC Errors : 869/0
Near End CRC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0
Far End CRC(Within last 30 mins) : 0/0
Near End RS FEC : 5780/0
Far End RS FEC : 65484/0
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): 14/22
Attenuation (Downstream/Upstream): 47/31

Too slow to do a Speakeasy speed test. Hope the above helps. Thanks for your help

reply to Buffalo
Finally it sped up a bit and I was able to do a speedtest -- although it may be a bit high because the slowness resolved itself a bit towards the end while it was testing the upload:

download: 36kb/s
upload: 117kb/s
ping: 363ms
distance: 50 miles

reply to Buffalo
Well, something is certainly not too happy. Notice your modem's sync rate from your original one to your current (last posted) one? Apparently sometime from your last post, the modem had lost sync due to line noise and had synced at a lower speed, much lower than where it should be. Just as another question, if you have had Voice Service on the same line the DSL Line is on in the past, have you ever heard things such as static, crackling, or popping on the line, especially when you pick up the phone and kill the dial tone by pressing a button and listening in? I do know that much of the copper in the Buffalo area is quite aged, so it wouldn't be a suprise to hear of static. If you were hearing noise, that's the problem that is messing with your DSL Line.

Also note that if it is time related (such as at night), people firing up their modems if they don't already have them on, as well as Street Lamps are known to wreak havoc on DSL Lines.

Thanks again for your great help!

Well we only had the phone lines on for a couple months a few years ago and never really used them. But I never noticed any problems. Would that mean any problem is outside of my house since they replaced the line from the home to the pole and disconnected all wiring from the home except for the DSL line? The lineman really went over the place with a fine tooth comb before he left.

I just power cycled the modem after it dropped to less than 1kbs and now I have a more reasonable 736k down, 127k up and 132 ms ping on the same server according to speedtest. Don't know how long that will last and I'm not looking forward to power cycling the modem every 30 minutes for the rest of forever.

The problem could pretty much lay anywhere. One thing you could do is try doing a NID test. Typically, the NID is a gray box found on the outside of your home that connects Verizon's wiring to your home's wiring. If the modem's phone cord is long enough and you have access to the NID and it's test jack, you could see about running the modem directly from the NID for a little while to see if it disconnects or not. If it still disconnects during the night, you might just have to get a tech out to fix up your line a bit so that it doesn't disconnect. Testing at the NID gives an advantage as if your NID is within a certain age, it will allow you to completely disconnect your home's wiring.

If a NID test is not possible, the next thing to try would be to use another jack in your home that can get the DSL signal and run it out of there for a little while to see if the disconnects/slow downs still take place.

Eek. Well, the NID is on the exterior of my home, second floor. And all the other jacks have been D/C'd by the tech at the time he checked over the wiring and changed out the one phone jack the DSL line goes into.

I guess I'm at a loss unless I want to have a tech come out and trouble shoot a second time?

Pretty much that is what it sounds like it has to be. Since you have a Dry Loop line, and since the NID doesn't sound to be in such an accessible spot, it's hard to rule your home wiring as the issue or not. Let the tech know that your line stats are fine, and that you are seeing an occasional drop in service with the sync rate falling every service drop, and he should be able to figure out what the problem may be. Worst comes to worst, you may just need to use another jack in your home for the DSL (unless the current one can be repaired) or you may need to have a new line on Verizon's end brought in/swapped to another line pair.

Great! Thank you for your help diagnosing this problem.

No problem. Report back how things go after the tech leaves and the line runs for a bit