Phone line issue

Nonoperational

I have broadband with smart and it's gone to ****e recently. Drops the connection every few hours.

Eircom came out today and checked the line. They said it's ok for voice, no faults. He checked the broadband and said there were a few errors and then it dropped in front of him. He basically said try a lower speed (already on a poor stability profile getting about 6MB on a 10MB package) and said there was no more he could do.

Is there any way of getting onto a different copper pair? It's a new housing estate and the wiring in it should be ok. Is it a big deal or is it the kinda thing an eircom engineer could do as a nixer for €50?

lucernarian

Well did he say the line was long or anything like that? Like did he say the line should be getting higher speeds? Do you just use the one phone socket in the house or are there extension sockets too?

Nonoperational

He said there were a "small few errors" and it was "sitting down occasionally" but that it's not his problem because my broadband is with Smart and all he has to do is make sure the line is OK for voice.

lucernarian

Unfortunately that is strictly speaking true so you should lodge a complaint with Smart and repeat what you were told by the unhelpful linesman. Then Smart can chase it up and you can then go to ComReg if eircom still do nothing for your line. What are the DSL line statistics from your modem?

Nonoperational

Attenuation around 52 SNR margin 10-12. Used to be lower before they put it on a poor stability profile.

dub45

Given that the requirments on line quality are so low what exactly was wrong with what the linesman said?

Given your line stats the advice he gave you about trying a lower product would seem wise enough. The higher the speed the more pressure there is on the line.


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/linestats.htm

Nonoperational

I never said there was anything wrong with what he said really. He made it perfectly clear it wasn't his problem as long as there was voice on the line. To the extent where he told me he should by right be charging me €150 for the visit.

It's just frustrating being in a new housing estate I can't get reliable broadband through the phone line. If there was a way of getting onto a better line it would be great. Seems unlikely though. I might ask them to drop the line again to 5Mb and see what happens.

lucernarian

dub45 wrote: »

Given that the requirments on line quality are so low what exactly was wrong with what the linesman said?

There's a possible implication in saying that one's broadband is with Smart Telecom means that the eircom linesman is not going to bother to do anything more with the line. Let's just say if he did show preferential treatment for eircom customers then ComReg would take a dim view of the matter.

Also, the linesman could have replaced the master socket in the hall with a filtered NTE which rules out most internal wiring as a source of problems and generally improves line stats a bit. Other reports on boards suggest eircom linesmen often do this for people having disconnect problems on their line and that may have helped in the OP's case without having to reduce speed.

bealtine

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

There's a possible implication in saying that one's broadband is with Smart Telecom means that the eircom linesman is not going to bother to do anything more with the line. Let's just say if he did show preferential treatment for eircom customers then ComReg would take a dim view of the matter.

dim view is one too many words...

Nonoperational

The issue with lowering speeds too much is that there are 4 of us using the broadband and we would be heavy users for streaming/downloading etc. I'm looking at wireless providers now anyway but I'm a bit reluctant...

dub45

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

There's a possible implication in saying that one's broadband is with Smart Telecom means that the eircom linesman is not going to bother to do anything more with the line. Let's just say if he did show preferential treatment for eircom customers then ComReg would take a dim view of the matter.

Also, the linesman could have replaced the master socket in the hall with a filtered NTE which rules out most internal wiring as a source of problems and generally improves line stats a bit. Other reports on boards suggest eircom linesmen often do this for people having disconnect problems on their line and that may have helped in the OP's case without having to reduce speed.

You say there's a possible implication - but what the told the op was correct in that a line only has to meet certain standards and thats the real problem.

The rest of your post is supposition?

dub45

gpf101 wrote: »

The issue with lowering speeds too much is that there are 4 of us using the broadband and we would be heavy users for streaming/downloading etc. I'm looking at wireless providers now anyway but I'm a bit reluctant...

But there is surely little point persisting with a speed that the line cannot sustain? How far are you from the exchange do you know?

Do you use wireless or ethernet?

Nonoperational

About 3km from the exchange. Wireless.

dub45

Have you tried changing channel? Have you checked to see if there are any wireless networks on the same channel as your network?

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9182863/6_useful_Wi_Fi_tools_for_Windows

Nonoperational

Ya I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the line not the setup.

lucernarian

dub45 wrote: »

The rest of your post is supposition?

Was that a question or just an unhelpful remark that does nothing for the OP's situation?

Still, the linesman was wrong to mention Smart Telecom in the same context as not being able to fix the line. Even if he's correct about providing a line for voice quality, eircom linesman can and do investigate data connectivity issues if customers persist so I can say the linesman was unhelpful if not exactly incorrect in this regard.

bealtine

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Was that a question or just an unhelpful remark that does nothing for the OP's situation?

Still, the linesman was wrong to mention Smart Telecom in the same context as not being able to fix the line. Even if he's correct about providing a line for voice quality, eircom linesman can and do investigate data connectivity issues if customers persist so I can say the linesman was unhelpful if not exactly incorrect in this regard.

There's still no onus on a linesman to do anything at all if there is acceptable voice on the line or the line does 28.8k on dialup. That's what Comreg, in their infinite wisdom, have decreed as regulation. It is utterly stupid and laughable that Comreg have allowed this state of affairs to continue in the DSL age.

There are ways around this impasse but they require a thick neck and some knowledge. So in the end the linesman is technically correct and has to do nothing whatsoever.