Topic 'Suggestions for improving line performance' in forum 'AT&T U-verse' - dslreports.com

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:31:21 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

The basic ones used ISDN 2B + D technology to provide two lines on a single pair, they where a PIA as they more often than not remained in sync, but refused to pass dial-tone, power the DAML down and it would work until the next nearby lightning hit.

That would be an accurate description of this particular box. It went down once every few months. This particular one was a six-line variant. I think the only reason it was there was because the previous occupant of the office needed the extra lines. It was some kind of personnel agency and had the unit divided into several cubicles.

said by Well Bonded:

I hated POTS/ADSL work, it was so simple it was mind-numbing and working in residences was the pits, too many pigsties and too many lies from stupid subscribers.

I felt bad enough for the guy who was out at my place to check out the downed pair I had recently. Two kids can be more effective than a frat at making a mess.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:16:15 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by ortizdr:

Ohh the stories you must hold!
We should make a thread and call it Crazy Tech Stories!

I believe there are enough techs around here to actually make it work.

Telco, cable you name it techs see and hear things the average person would never come across in their lifetime, nor less multiple times while doing their job.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 12:50:22 EDT

ortizdr posted : Ohh the stories you must hold!
We should make a thread and call it Crazy Tech Stories!

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 12:13:01 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by ortizdr:

Don't leave us all hanging man.... Did you like what you saw?!?!
:D :D

Most certainly, if I wasn't married i would have spent the rest of the day and night there running numerous "quality of service tests," subscriber satisfaction is the name of the game.

I have always found the female form to be a delight to see in the buff, within reason that is.

Some folks male or female are better on the eyes remaining dressed.

Then there is really strange, I had a new guy riding with me on training, we are in a subscribers home, suddenly the new guy is screaming at the guy who let us in and he is about to punch him.

I order the new guy to go out to the van and wait, the sub is profusely apologizing stating it was an accident, I drift outside and explain to the newbie, if he punches a sub, he is going to get fired, so WTF is going on.

Turned out the sub "accidentally' groped the newbies manhood.

Some days you just want to snip the wire grab a beer and get it over with.

[ATT=1]

[ATT=2]

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 11:32:01 EDT

ortizdr posted :

said by Well Bonded:

I had a 30 something lady come out of her bedroom totally naked and ask me "do you like what you see."

Don't leave us all hanging man.... Did you like what you saw?!?!
:D :D

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 11:21:50 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by ham3843:

You guys will take gift cards with no problem correct? Say Target or Walmart or something similar? Not policy to refuse them correct?

We are not allowed to accept any gratuities, but some subscribers refuse to accept no for an answer, I have had money forcibly stuffed in my pocket after refusing to accept a tip, one time while retrieving a ladder from a pole I had a liquor store owner stuff a case of Stoli Vodka in my van, I know techs who while working cable cuts have had local business's deliver lunch or dinner to their work location, and on and on.

It's amazing how subscribers will treat techs when they know the techs are working hard to restore their service.

Then there is the weird stuff, like sitting under a desk changing out a Smart Jack, I hear loud purring to my left, I turn and look and am eyeball to eyeball to a panther, the owner walked in and yelled "bad kitty leave the phone man alone," another time while repairing a ISDN line I had a 30 something lady come out of her bedroom totally naked and ask me "do you like what you see."

It's a job where you never know what surprises awaits on the next ticket out.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:30:42 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by SlabBulkhead:

One of our lines went out because of a major cable cut and never came back after the splicing crew got done, and it was run on one of those pair gain boxes that sat inside the lid of the NID and would constantly would go out. This guy somehow pulled the right strings to get the assignment changed to remove it from the pair gain device, and had someone at the CO help him out at that end to make the switch.

Those are called Digitally Added Main Line (DAML) or SLC on a stick because they are stocked in wall mounts and post mounts.

They became real popular when folks started using AOL and CompuServe and the kids dialup modem was tying up the main line all day long, we went through a few years of pair exhaustion because of the sheer number of second lines being installed in residences, hence the need for the DAML's.

The basic ones used ISDN 2B + D technology to provide two lines on a single pair, they where a PIA as they more often than not remained in sync, but refused to pass dial-tone, power the DAML down and it would work until the next nearby lightning hit.

Because of that we would cut the subscribers pack to copper pairs if we had the facilities, RT where super easy just pull the DAML card and replace it with a POTS card, CO based had to be rewired in the office, but that only required a CO ticket to be completed, either way it was cake work as removing one counted as two tickets/tasks.

Do three of those in a day and on paper you looked like a super tech who was done by noon.

Way back when, during my 18 month sentence in the POTS world I got a lot of FO time because of DAML's.

I hated POTS/ADSL work, it was so simple it was mind-numbing and working in residences was the pits, too many pigsties and too many lies from stupid subscribers.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:29:40 EDT

ham3843 posted :

said by Well Bonded:

I got suckered into working on a DSL line in a beauty salon, I working on a T1 at an insurance company next door, while packing up to leave the manager of the salon approached me and asked if I could take a look at their DSL.

I played stupid and claimed I didn't know anything about DSL and she needed to have a DSL tech check out the line and I would arrange for that to happen.

She explained she already had two DSL techs out and neither could make the DSL work and they just left.

I relented.

It also got a couple of twenties stuffed into my shirt pocket that she refused to take back.

It's nice to see there are some good customers that appreciate
good work from the techs and show it in a tangible way.

You guys will take gift cards with no problem correct? Say
Target or Walmart or something similar? Not policy to refuse them correct?

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:10:37 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by Well Bonded:

said by SlabBulkhead:

I have no idea what the source of the electrical noise was over there that was affecting our lines, but at least I know where it was coming from.

POS terminal?

I got suckered into working on a DSL line in a beauty salon, I working on a T1 at an insurance company next door, while packing up to leave the manager of the salon approached me and asked if I could take a look at their DSL.

I played stupid and claimed I didn't know anything about DSL and she needed to have a DSL tech check out the line and I would arrange for that to happen.

She explained she already had two DSL techs out and neither could make the DSL work and they just left.

I relented.

Got out my JDSU pulled the Ethernet module and replaced it with a DSL module, I found good sync at the INI at the rear of the store but the Cayman in the front of the store would not hold sync.

Turned out the POS terminal was the cause of the problem, specifically the touch screen monitor connected to it.

I moved the modem to the rear of the store it still was taking dribbling errors from the interference but it worked and I could move on.

It also got a couple of twenties stuffed into my shirt pocket that she refused to take back.

I'd think for it to be a POS system, it would have been there all the time. It seemed to be a night time thing, so I wonder if it was maybe a light dimmer or neon sign in their window.

I haven't plied any techs with cash, but I did give out some SWAG (small radio station so there's always stuff to give out) to the tech we had out on a POTS trouble call. One of our lines went out because of a major cable cut and never came back after the splicing crew got done, and it was run on one of those pair gain boxes that sat inside the lid of the NID and would constantly would go out. This guy somehow pulled the right strings to get the assignment changed to remove it from the pair gain device, and had someone at the CO help him out at that end to make the switch.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 09:58:19 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by surfinsam:

said by SlabBulkhead:

Besides, it's either fix this connection or get Charter which would be faster but also more expensive.

Charter's SMB plans are now quite cheap. $80 for 200/10 or 100/10 unbundled depending on where you're at. If you want phone as well it's $65 for internet + $30 for phone. That's the regular rate, it's an extra $20 off for the first year too.

Here it's 100/10. The AT&T service may be slower but it also costs half as much, we got in at a good time and got a 2 year deal at $40.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 09:55:28 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by chrismeyer:

If your able to I would replace the old quad cables with ether cat 5e or cat 6 that will help improve your connection.

We did...replaced it with some extra outdoor rated shielded Cat5e cable we had left over from installing a 5 GHz point to point link between towers. (This is a small radio station office.)

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:15:08 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by SlabBulkhead:

I have no idea what the source of the electrical noise was over there that was affecting our lines, but at least I know where it was coming from.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 06:33:37 EDT

chrismeyer posted : If your able to I would replace the old quad cables with ether cat 5e or cat 6 that will help improve your connection.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 03:03:33 EDT

surfinsam posted :

said by SlabBulkhead:

Besides, it's either fix this connection or get Charter which would be faster but also more expensive.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 01:46:45 EDT

ham3843 posted :

said by SlabBulkhead:

Then, all of a sudden, about 3 weeks ago, the lines cleaned up drastically. I discovered that's about the same time that the business in the suite next door to us (a Thai restaurant) closed up.

I have no idea what the source of the electrical noise was over there that was affecting our lines, but at least I know where it was coming from.

If you think the line has improved enough you should call AT&T back and have them increase your speed profile to 50/10.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 22:25:57 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted : Thought I'd follow up this thread with an interesting "twist ending" of sorts.
After enough headaches and multiple tech visits and pair changes to try and fix the problem, we gave up and dropped service down to 25 instead of 50 speed. Even then we would still get huge FEC counts at night, but at least would not take CRC's or lose sync.

Then, all of a sudden, about 3 weeks ago, the lines cleaned up drastically. I discovered that's about the same time that the business in the suite next door to us (a Thai restaurant) closed up.

I have no idea what the source of the electrical noise was over there that was affecting our lines, but at least I know where it was coming from.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 21:52:52 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by mackey:

We were in the same situation (multi-tenant building, 25-pr cable to suite) but with a CLEC instead of at&t. What we did was run Cat5e to the phone room, bought a wall-mountable modem, and ran Ethernet to the modem which we mounted in the phone room next to the MPOE. All of our switches support PoE so we just used a PoE splitter to power it. Works great, and significantly increased our SNR :)

Our unit has 2 old quad cables coming in over the ceiling, so 4 pairs total. Before we took it over, there was a temp agency there that had a bunch of desks. Not sure what they were using for phones but there was a 6 line pair gain box that the phone service was coming in on. It would go down about once a year for us, and at the last outage I lucked into getting a tech that jumped through the management hoops to reassign our line off it and get it moved to a conventional CO line. Our other line had been removed from that box when we first had DSL installed for internet.

Not sure if I want to move our modem down to the phone room because we are using the WiFi on it, but I'm thinking anything replacing the old cables between us and the incoming lines should be an improvement.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Sat, 07 Apr 2018 05:09:55 EDT

mackey posted : We were in the same situation (multi-tenant building, 25-pr cable to suite) but with a CLEC instead of at&t. What we did was run Cat5e to the phone room, bought a wall-mountable modem, and ran Ethernet to the modem which we mounted in the phone room next to the MPOE. All of our switches support PoE so we just used a PoE splitter to power it. Works great, and significantly increased our SNR :)

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 22:00:05 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by Well Bonded:

said by SlabBulkhead:

Turns out that I was way off. It's quad cable...ugh.

If it's is quad JKT that needs to be replaced with at least CAT3 but of course CAT 5/6 will cost less than CAT 3.

But the labor involved ???

Labor shouldn't be a problem since we can take care of it ourselves. We are on good terms with the landlord and his maintenance guy so they are willing to help. Besides, it's either fix this connection or get Charter which would be faster but also more expensive.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:06:35 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by SlabBulkhead:

Turns out that I was way off. It's quad cable...ugh.

If it's is quad JKT that needs to be replaced with at least CAT3 but of course CAT 5/6 will cost less than CAT 3.

But the labor involved ???

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 15:22:17 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by Well Bonded:

said by SlabBulkhead:

I believe it is Cat3 grade, but I will have to investigate. It runs up across the ceiling of several units to the utility room.

That may or may not be a problem, if possible try connecting the modem and a laptop out in the utility room and see if that gives you a decent improvement before undertaking a cable change out.

Turns out that I was way off. It's quad cable...ugh.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 18:15:26 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted : Line stats went south today (SNR down to high 9's/low 10's) after a number of heavy thunderstorms, and one of our POTS lines (which is a line share on one of the pairs) went out. Now I'm thinking the problem may not be inside the building. :)

Have a repair ticket out on the POTS, will discuss the DSL's after that.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 10:39:39 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by Well Bonded:

said by SlabBulkhead:

I believe it is Cat3 grade, but I will have to investigate. It runs up across the ceiling of several units to the utility room.

That may or may not be a problem, if possible try connecting the modem and a laptop out in the utility room and see if that gives you a decent improvement before undertaking a cable change out.

I'll give that a shot and see if I get any SNR improvement.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 16:34:01 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by SlabBulkhead:

I believe it is Cat3 grade, but I will have to investigate. It runs up across the ceiling of several units to the utility room.

That may or may not be a problem, if possible try connecting the modem and a laptop out in the utility room and see if that gives you a decent improvement before undertaking a cable change out.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 16:11:51 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted :

said by Well Bonded:

said by SlabBulkhead:

so I was thinking of replacing the run from our unit to the building phone room with some shielded Cat5e we had left over.

What type of cable is already in place?

Shielded is really not needed.

I believe it is Cat3 grade, but I will have to investigate. It runs up across the ceiling of several units to the utility room.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 15:51:29 EDT

maartena posted : What I have seen in the past in such facilities (strip mall type office buildings) is that the telco closet often looks like a rats nest. With tenants coming and going, internet going in, phone lines being added/removed, etc, etc for decades the result is often quite messy. And even if it looks good, the lines coming into the building might just be crappy.

One thing that I have seen working in the past in such a situation is to change pairs. Usually, a building like that has 1 or multiple bundles of 30 pairs coming in over copper and then probably some fiber for some business class internet tenants.... It could easily be that your two pairs are exposed somewhere and causing problems, and without ripping the wall open to find out what is happening, you can just swap pairs to two new pairs. Obviously this requires a tech to do it for you, as they will have to flip the pairs in the VRAD too.

As for replacing the local cable: It certainly can't hurt. Might as well play the game of elimination and start there.... at least then you know when you contact AT&T for any future steps that the cable you put in is of good quality.

Re: Suggestions for improving line performance

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 15:44:36 EDT

Well Bonded posted :

said by SlabBulkhead:

so I was thinking of replacing the run from our unit to the building phone room with some shielded Cat5e we had left over.

What type of cable is already in place?

Shielded is really not needed.

Suggestions for improving line performance

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 12:04:29 EDT

SlabBulkhead posted : I help take care of a small office that's located inside an older strip mall building. We recently upgraded an old 6/1.5 service that had been migrated from ADSL to VDSL to 50/10 bonded pair. The old service appeared to be a 25/2 profile on 8 MHz that was speed capped down to 6/1.5, the new is on 17 MHz (we are fortunate enough to be on a newer K or N card).
It seems to be having some noise issues (see screen shot) so I was thinking of replacing the run from our unit to the building phone room with some shielded Cat5e we had left over. I believe the demarc point is that phone room so it's up to us to fix it from there. Anyone have any other ideas or suggestions where I should look?