Whirlpool

Hi guys,

Not normally one to post here, because when I have problems someone on here usually beats me to the punch and the problem is resolved, this problem has been ongoing ever since I got ADSL2+ back in February.

Back in Feb I transfered to westnet from an 8Mbit people telecom connection which for the most part was happy with. The only reason I switched was for more upload bandwidth for an overall faster connection. So now I'm on an optus dslam (coming from a Telstra DSLAM) in the middle ridge exchange in Toowoomba. I have been a westnet customer before and have been extremely happy with the quality of sevice and reliable connection.

Ok the problem: When browsing internet web pages, and/or submitting new posts (form data) the page will either load straight away or do nothing (the browser sends the request and the little progress bar will sit there for ages). It's as if the request was sent but not acknowledged (received). The browser will eventually time out. So rather than wait 2 minutes for the page to time out, I have to click the stop button on the browser and reclick on the link/submit button and most of the time it will go through without a hitch. Now this doesn't happen ALL the time and doesn't matter what website I visit, but it does make me have to repeat this stop-reclick/submit process a couple times per minute with general browsing. This might not seem so bad, but as an IT professional 8hours + a day are spent doing this and you can imagine the number of times a week I have to do this, perhaps the worst thing is I have to hear my wife complaining about it on a daily basis....

Streaming videos is one of the major frustrations. When on youtube, rarely will a video completely load. Most of the time it will start caching, the red progress bar will move along at a good rate.... Then stop. Thats it, no more. Happens in both IE and Firefox. Reloading the page doesn't fix it as the browser seems to think its got the whole video. I then have to switch to the other browser (usually IE as I use FF), and hope that it fully loads there or clear my internet cache and tackle it again. This happens with pretty much all youtube streaming video style websites.

File downloads. Downloading a file greater than 100mb without a download manager is a bit of a gamble. Most of the time it will stop halfway and the browser (IE & FF) will seem to think the download is done. I end up with an unusable file and have to start again.

Torrents and download manager files (that break files into bits) run fine without any problems. They seem to have alot more tollerance to these problems. And no, I don't have utorrent downloading thousands of GBs per months. It's just for getting the od thing every now and then.

SSH connections drop out after about 5 minutes. VPNs on the other hand seem to be ok for at least an hour (weird).

This issue doesn't seem to effect online gaming where hundreds of connectionless packets are sent, I assume the sheer number of packets make it hard to even notice packet loss.

To try and rectify the problem I have tried the following.
- Different browsers: firefox 2/3 + IE7
- Different OS: XP/Vista32/Vista64
- Different computers (3 on network: 2 wired, 1 wireless)
- Different switches
- Different modems: billion 7404vgp, billion 7402r2, d-link 504 (with new and old firmware revisions on all)
- Different phone cables & network cables.

With the modems I've tried a few different things.
- Setting the adsl mode back to ADSL1
- on the billions, adjusting the gain between all the different settings (high and low and running them for a day or two).

Connection info:
- syncs at 13Mbit with modem set to auto. Ranges from 11Mbit with low gain and 15mbit with high gain.
- Line attenuation: 26-28db
- Approx distance from exchange (2k)
- CRC errors (never seem to get any)

Being a reasonably patient person I think I have done pretty much all I can do on my end (unless someone has some crazy idea I haven't tried already). Keep in mind I didn't have this issue back on ADSL1 in Jan.

Ideas? Anyone?

Thanks

Well after reading all that it turns out you have tried everything i would have suggested. and while your here asking for help i can only assume its still a problem.

The only thing you have not tried is calling westnet and asking if there is a problem there, and thats about all i can offer. or prehaps one of the westnet staff on here will help you out. Good Luck

I agree with Smurfz. BEst thing to do is to contact Westnet support, and they will be able to do some troubleshooting with you.

No offence but if you are an IT professional you must specialise in another field. As you haven't even determined the root of your problem.

First thing you should find out is if you are actually losing a data-link connection to Westnet or your modem. Have you checked your connection history in MyAccount or pinged your modem when it stops browsing or streaming?

If you aren't losing a data-link connection then you want to eliminate as many external factors as possible – this would meaning disconnecting all but one computer connected via ethernet, and isolating the phone line so it is just the modem plugged in and seeing if it still occurs.

Next you would want to ensure it is not a network configuration (either intentional or due to spyware etc) problem so I would recommend you factory reset and reconfigure your modem with just a PPPoE connection (don't reconfigure wireless just yet) and try in safe mode after a TCP/IP and Winsock reset and with all your firewall and anti-virus software disabled.

If you don't lose a data-link connection then it is likely not a fault with the ADSL service, and you be hard-stretched to convince Westnet, Optus, or Telstra otherwise.

Thanks for the replies guys. I forgot to mentioned that I've tried nearly all the things you mentioned seaNN. The modem isn't losing connection. In fact on average it runs anywhere from a few days to weeks without a drop out. Fresh installs of XP with no other software, firewall disabled, default settings on modem, custom settings on modem, PPPoE & PPPoA. The only think I haven done is a winsock reset but that wouldn't apply to multiple fresh installs, across different systems that I know work on different c internet connections.

With regards to talking to westnet I just wanted to make sure that I had tried everything before I do the usual 'its your fault not mine' deal. Like you said seaNN its pretty hard to do and I was double checking my facts first. It's quite easy to ring up and talk to a tech support person when its a clean cut issue like dns, or international connectivity being down, but this problem is one of those hard to pinpoint who to blame type issues where you can't have too much information. I'll give them a call and see what they say.

I'm sorry if I have missed it, and I'm not sure if it will make any difference, but have you tried a modem set in Bridge mode and setting up a PPPoE dialer on your computer?

Scott M writes...

Ideas? Anyone?

1) Have you tried a central line filter?
2) I assume your not running on a telephone extension cable?

Sounds like a possible exchange or line fault to the house (inc internal wiring).