Problem with Eircom ADSL modem

gayleard

My internet connection is dropping frequently.
I think it is up about 2/3 of the time.
(I collect email on my home server every 5 minutes,
and get email from cron if it fails to collect,
so I get a fairly good record of when the connection is down.)
I guess the modem goes down every 15 minutes or so,
for a few minutes.

My ISP is Eircom;
my modem is a Netopia Cayman 3341, about 3 years old.

Is this a fault anyone else has seen?
It could conceivably be the telephone line outside,
which goes through the branches of a tree;
but the telephone itself seems fine.

I'm not a hardware guru, but this doesn't seem like
a fault inside the modem to me?

I reported the fault to Eircom,
who said they would send someone round to look at it,
but I did not get the impression that was high on their list of priorities ...

I was wondering if one can use any ADSL modem,
or does it have to be the model specified by the ISP?

I suppose no-one has an old ADSL modem in their collection,
which they could lend me until Eircom sort things out ...

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

Spear

gayleard wrote: »

I was wondering if one can use any ADSL modem,
or does it have to be the model specified by the ISP?

I suppose no-one has an old ADSL modem in their collection,
which they could lend me until Eircom sort things out ...

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

First step, as always, is the line stats.

ADSL is an open standard, so you're not restricted to Eircom's modems, you can use other ones freely.

gayleard

Thanks for the suggestion.

As far as I can see, the only stats available on my modem
(which I can access at 192.168.1.254) are
Downstream: 6144 Upstream: 512
which strikes me as quite good.
(I think the Downstream rate is usually lower than this.)

I've turned the modem upside down, and it seems to work better -
though that is only after 30 minutes, not really a scientific test ...
But it makes me think the fault probably lies in the modem.

Someone has offered to lend me an old ADSL modem,
so I should be able to determine if the modem is sick.

Spear

gayleard wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion.

As far as I can see, the only stats available on my modem
(which I can access at 192.168.1.254) are
Downstream: 6144 Upstream: 512
which strikes me as quite good.
(I think the Downstream rate is usually lower than this.)

I've turned the modem upside down, and it seems to work better -
though that is only after 30 minutes, not really a scientific test ...
But it makes me think the fault probably lies in the modem.

Someone has offered to lend me an old ADSL modem,
so I should be able to determine if the modem is sick.

I take it this is a 6 meg package? What's the attenuation and SNR values? You may be too vulnerable to noise on the line, hence the disconnects.

It's also possible the modem is dying though. Plenty of options for replacements around.

HoJOs

i had trouble a few months back with constantly dropping connections with eircom, basically i phoned up and said gimme a new modem or ill change providers, got a new modem a few days later and havent had the problem since:cool:

dub45

gayleard wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion.

As far as I can see, the only stats available on my modem
(which I can access at 192.168.1.254) are
Downstream: 6144 Upstream: 512
which strikes me as quite good.
(I think the Downstream rate is usually lower than this.)

I've turned the modem upside down, and it seems to work better -
though that is only after 30 minutes, not really a scientific test ...
But it makes me think the fault probably lies in the modem.

Someone has offered to lend me an old ADSL modem,
so I should be able to determine if the modem is sick.

You need to look at your line stats - they should be somewhere in the advance category I think in the netopia. Low SNR can often be a cause of line drops and as you increase speed it puts extra pressure on the SNR.