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bobwal
join:2014-04-17
Port Townsend, WA

bobwal

Member

Intermittent Internet dropouts

I have been using an Actiontec PK5000 with CenturyLink for about 4 years. Recently, my modem has been experiencing dropouts (Internet light goes out or flickers) for from about 20 seconds to 3 minutes or so. I tried recycling the modem and that seems to help for a while, but then it starts again, very randomly and intermittently. The CSR says these modems typically last for 4-5 years and it may be nearing its lifespan. They encouraged me to get a new VDSL2 compatible modem, although the lines here haven't yet been upgraded nor is there an upgrade coming soon. Do I really need to get a new modem? Is my PK5000 likely to be on its way out?
coryw
join:2013-12-22
Flagstaff, AZ

coryw

Member

It's my personal philosophy that having an extra modem or two laying around won't hurt, and if CL is telling you that you should buy a VDSL2 modem, either your area has been upgraded (and although VDSL2 equipment typically can fall back to ADSL2+ mode, it is not reliable that way) or CL is planning on upgrading your area soon.

If you go to the web page for the modem, usually at the URL »192.168.0.1/ what are your stats? I believe they're in the connection status area. In particular, look out for the FEC/CRC error counts and the SNR levels -- if your SNR levels are low, it may be that something else has happened on your line.

Ken1943
join:2001-12-30
Brighton, CO

Ken1943 to bobwal

Member

to bobwal
I moved from ADSL to VDSL2 and purchased a C1000A. In tha ADSL location I had two modems ,one spare, and never had a problem with ether. I was fairly close to the co, 2000 feet +/- ?

I have heard so much crap about modems, it's crazy. Get this one or that one that are not manufactured anymore. Get one from Ebay. I got my c1000a from Ebay and feel very lucky that I didn't get screwed, so far. Century Link is pushing the c1000a at this time. I only have 9 mbs, that's what I ordered, so don't know about higher speeds that I could get. If Comcast wasn't so expensive, I would be gone from dsl.
In New Jersey I had a my own Motorola modem with Comcast and the thing just worked without any bullshit.

Sorry for the rant, but dsl is just a small step above dialup.

J_Bone
join:2008-05-05
Mesa, AZ

J_Bone to bobwal

Member

to bobwal
I just signed up with Century Link using the C1000A and my connection is horrible. I have to reboot the modem to get connection to only have it drop minutes later. I get so much s for the same price. If I didn't get so many connection disconnects I would be ok with the slower speed.
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn to Ken1943

Member

to Ken1943
Ken,

I don't understand the "rant." You have DSL, you have the speed you ordered, it's cheaper than Comcast, and it sounds like you didn't have to pay retail price for your modem. Sounds all good to me.

If you go on the Comcast forum, you will read the same "this modem is junk, tweak this, put the modem in bridge mode and use a different router" type of posts. As with anything on the internet, you have to sift through all the info very carefully.
gapmn

gapmn to J_Bone

Member

to J_Bone
J_Bone,

What speed are you subscribed to? Have you tried plugging the modem directly into the NID to see if you still have disconnects? Are you using a wired or wireless connection? Also, please copy and pastes your line stats from your modem (SNR, Attenuation, Errors etc...).
bobwal
join:2014-04-17
Port Townsend, WA

bobwal to coryw

Member

to coryw
This is the reading I just got, but I haven't had any dropouts I've noticed since I recycled the modem:

Channel Status
Channel Type: Interleaved
Near End CRC Errors: 2
Far End CRC Errors: 1296
30 Minute Near End CRC: 0
30 Minute Far End CRC: 0
Near End RS FEC: 204
Far End RS FEC: 3356219
30 Minute Near End FEC: 0
30 Minute Far End FEC: 0

Levels Downstream Upstream
SNR: 7 dB 16 dB
Attenuation: 45 dB 28 dB
Power: 19 dBm 11 dBm
bobwal

bobwal to coryw

Member

to coryw
Downstream Rate: 7168 Kbps
Upstream Rate: 896 Kbps

This is the speed I'm paying for, apparently. CL's CSR told me there are no upgrades to VDSL2 scheduled for here in the near future.

J_Bone
join:2008-05-05
Mesa, AZ

1 edit

J_Bone to gapmn

Member

to gapmn
I'm at the max of 7mb. (7168/896 Kbps it says at the modem).



Connected to my Mobile hotspot:



No, haven't taken the modem outside to the NID. I'll try the phone test next time I have a drop.
All but one devise is wireless, but when the Internet is disconnected, I can still get to the modem.
I'm trying to find the modem stats. The Centry link modem software doesn't like google chrome. I just opened it in Explorer and trying to find the line stats for you.

thank you,
coryw
join:2013-12-22
Flagstaff, AZ

coryw

Member

They should be at »192.168.0.1/ -- you might have to use the administrator login printed on the bottom of the modem if you have a newer one like the C1000A.

They're in the Modem Status tab at the top, and then WAN Status area on the left. The Channel and Levels sections are typically most relevant.

Though if you're paying for 7m/896k and you're getting 6.1/.76 on speedtest, that's about right in terms of speed. ATM transfer mode has a certain amount of overhead, and there'll always be chatter on the line from devices querying for dropbox updates, windows updates, HTTP get and update commands on chatty web pages, etc.

The main thing the stats will reveal is about how far you are from the DSLAM and what other errors your line is encountering.

Here are mine right now:
Channel
Channel Type: Interleaved
Near End CRC Errors: 0
Far End CRC: 0
30 Minute Near End CRC: 0
30 Minute Far End CRC: 0
Near End RS FEC: 0
Far End RS FEC: 0
30 Minute Near End FEC: 0
30 Minutes Far End FEC: 0

Levels
Downstream // Upstream
SNR: 31 dB // 14 dB
Attenuation: 19 dB // 12 dB
Power: 4.9 dBm // 12.6 dBm

I used to have extremely frequent disconnects and one of the folks at TalkToUs was able to reconfigure the line, after I'd tested at the demarc/NID to eliminate internal wiring as a problem.
coryw

coryw to bobwal

Member

to bobwal
It looks like you might be on the far edge for DSL. 45dB is a lot of attenuation and 7dB SNR is just barely above the minimum to maintain a connection at all.

FECs are okay, they're errors that were corrected, but CRCs are a sign of a problem, they're errors that couldn't be corrected and those packets/frames had to be re-sent. It's possible that (like my line) something's configured incorrectly on your line, or that something is causing those errors.

Have you tried disconnecting your modem and connecting it up outside at the demarc/NID? There should be a side of the box that you can open with a testing jack in it. I'd connect the modem up out there (when I did this, I put my modem inside a plastic box to keep it from getting rained on) and then start running speedtests and checking to see whether you still see errors on the line when doing stuff like downloading large files.

You might download one of these large files: »www.thinkbroadband.com/d ··· oad.html if you don't otherwise have a large download to try out.

»testmy.net/ also has an automated speed test you can use every so often to check the overall stability of your connection while you're not sitting at your computer.

Once you've got some documentation, I'd call or chat the regular representatives (calling may be better if your network is likely to go down) and work through with them, they might do a truck roll or see what they can see remotely, and once you've worked with them a bit, talktous@centurylink.com is the "escalations" group, which I've contacted before with good success.
bobwal
join:2014-04-17
Port Townsend, WA

bobwal

Member

Thanks so much, Cory, for the thoughtful suggestions. I'd almost consider dumping this ISP and going with a local cable provider with much higher speeds, but for the large extra expense and the inconvenience of having to change email address.

J_Bone
join:2008-05-05
Mesa, AZ

J_Bone to bobwal

Member

to bobwal
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| 192.168.0.1 - 0 | 111 | 111 | 1 | 3 | 26 | 1 |
| 67.40.227.204 - 0 | 111 | 111 | 49 | 54 | 104 | 49 |
| phnx-agw1.inet.qwest.net - 0 | 111 | 111 | 49 | 57 | 87 | 51 |
| los-edge-05.inet.qwest.net - 9 | 81 | 74 | 60 | 63 | 84 | 61 |
| 65.113.16.38 - 0 | 111 | 111 | 60 | 65 | 96 | 61 |
| 64.233.174.238 - 9 | 78 | 71 | 62 | 73 | 108 | 65 |
| 72.14.236.11 - 0 | 111 | 111 | 61 | 67 | 96 | 63 |
| lax02s01-in-f3.1e100.net - 0 | 111 | 111 | 61 | 68 | 96 | 64 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| Destination network unreachable. - 2 | 2440 | 2401 | 0 | 4 | 236 | 1 |
| Destination network unreachable. - 3 | 2400 | 2335 | 48 | 64 | 831 | 52 |
| Destination network unreachable. - 2 | 2380 | 2339 | 48 | 68 | 929 | 50 |
| Destination network unreachable. - 19 | 1488 | 1216 | 59 | 78 | 752 | 61 |
| Destination network unreachable. - 2 | 2388 | 2341 | 59 | 77 | 945 | 61 |
| Destination network unreachable. - 21 | 1419 | 1134 | 59 | 91 | 752 | 113 |
| Destination network unreachable. - 2 | 2380 | 2337 | 59 | 77 | 942 | 64 |
| Destination network unreachable. - 2 | 2380 | 2336 | 59 | 77 | 777 | 60 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

DSL Downstream:

7.168 Mbps

DSL Upstream:

0.896 Mbps

DSL Link Statistics

Link Statistic

Status

Broadband Mode Setting:

MULTIMODE

Broadband Mode Detected:

G.DMT

DSL Link Uptime:

0 Days, 0H:33M:33S

Retrains:

6

Retrains in Last 24 Hours:

6

Loss of Power Link Failures:

0

Loss of Signal Link Failure:

6

Loss of Margin Link Failure:

0

Link Train Errors:

1

Unavailable Seconds:

361

Estimated Loop Length:

N/A

Un-Canceled Echo:

N/A

Transport Mode::

ATM

Path Parameter:

0/32

Priority:

UBR Without PCR

Service Type:

ATM-LLC Bridged

DSL Power

Levels

Downstream

Upstream

SNR:

17 dB

16 dB

Attenuation:

16.5 dB

8.5 dB

Power:

15.6 dBm

11.9 dBm

DSL Transport

Transport

Downstream

Upstream

Packets:

30567

24119

Error Packets:

0

0

24 Hour Usage:

0.093 Mbps

0.008 Mbps

Total Usage:

0.093 Mbps

0.008 Mbps

30 Minute Discarded:

0

0

DSL Channel

Channel

Near End

Far End

Channel Type:

Interleaved

Interleaved

CRC Errors:

1246

3813

30 Minute CRC:

0

0

RS FEC:

0

0

30 Minute FEC:

0

0

former qwest
Premium Member
join:2014-01-04
out there

former qwest

Premium Member

you're set up for DHCP and PPPOE? »internethelp.centurylink ··· 00a.html

J_Bone
join:2008-05-05
Mesa, AZ

J_Bone

Member

Me? No. It was set at Auto detect but stated PPPOE.
coryw
join:2013-12-22
Flagstaff, AZ

coryw to J_Bone

Member

to J_Bone
When you have a moment, would you mind posting the channel and levels information? It could give us some insight as to whether your issues are distance related, or related to a configuration error on CL's site.

If you've already worked with the regular CL tech support group, you might contact talktous@centurylink.com, they were the group that ultimately fixed my line. I have pretty good stats, but my line was retraining on a regular basis.

Low SNR, bad wiring, and high attenuation can contribute to a poor overall signal that will drop frequently, and if you call in for support, CL will do a truck roll and they can check your line for bridge taps and make sure that the line from their pedestal or pole drop to your house is good.