Whirlpool

Okay... So it finally happened..

After almost 3 years of a good phone/intenet connection from Optus it's finally gone pear-shaped... It all started on Thursday night when my ADSL slowed to a crawl (modem synch. speed 2Mbps compared to 19-20Mbps usually) - checked the phone and no dial-tone... At this point it was 11pm so I went to bed hoping it was one of those transient things...

Woke on Friday morning, checked phone - still dead... I went off to work and got onto the Optus fault reporting line from work after negotiating the automated voice recognitiion system (after that no waiting for a real person though)... Logged a fault but because I wasn't at home there was not much isolation or system testing that could be done...

I was promised a call back between 1pm and 5pm to diagnose the problem... I mentioned that would not be good as I work until 3pm so there is a good chance I won't be home when the person rings back for further diagnosis... I was told not to worry because if they rang and I wasn't home they'd just ring again after 5pm (shift change maybe?)... Sure enough I was contacted by an Indian sounding gentleman about 2pm (damn, still at work) so was listed as requiring a call-back later...

Got home from work around 3.30pm and surprise surprise phone and net working OK... Modem synch. speed was a little down at 16Mbps but still very usable... Called back (no wait again) - got an American sounding girl and cancelled the fault... At 6pm got a call from another guy (who must not have known the fault was cancelled) to commence fault testing - I advised him the fault has been fixed and provided him the reference number I was given...

Phone and 'net working OK till this morning... About 10am the services die again - so I go through the procedure to log another fault... This time I did have to wait on hold (first time) but waited about 60 seconds at the most... Did some basic tests and had a line fault confirmed by Optus guy (what is the test they do from their end with the phone unplugged to confirn this I wonder?)...

Tech booked for Wednesday 14th...

DSL Direct about as slow as ADSL at the moment and phone sometimes dead, sometimes with very scratchy dial-tone...

All in all can't complain too much so far though... Let's see if they can fix it now..

Regards,
Anthony.

hoi polloi writes...

Did some basic tests and had a line fault confirmed by Optus guy (what is the test they do from their end with the phone unplugged to confirn this I wonder?)...

The DSLAM can peform an MLT (people call this slightly different things... I go with Metallic Line Test), which can spit out various things such as capacitance and distance to a short or open circuit.

They would want to do this at least twice with you on the line... one with your line in isolation and one with a standard phone connected. If your CPE is suspected at fault they might do it again when you have all your equipment connected.

In their records they would have baseline MLT results from when your copper pair was handed over from Telstra and also the Telstra cable records showing your line length amongst other things.

Comparing all of the above can give them significant guidance on the best way to proceed.

hoi polloi writes...

DSL Direct about as slow as ADSL at the moment and phone sometimes dead, sometimes with very scratchy dial-tone...

Hi Anthony,

Certainly sounds like an intermittent line fault, or perhaps the phone socket is corroded, this would account for the 'scratchy' sound.

Easy enough to check this remotely possible scenario - plug in only the phone, if you have dial tone dial a single digit, there should now be silence.

Gently jiggle the phone plug to see if in doing so, you can generate the 'scratchy' sound.

I know it's an outside chance, but as it only takes a moment to check might be worth a try?

Regards,
Hugh

Hi there Hugh...

Thanks for your suggestion - kind of tried all of that stuff before I rang Optus the first time... I am from a technical background and figured it could be alot simpler if I was able to fix it myself...

I did not mention this in my first post but on Thursday afternoon there was a Telstra van parked directly in front of my place with a guy working away with the lid off the "PMG" pit on the footpath... Didn't think much of it at the time but this has heightened my suspicions that it is at least related to something that this Telstra worker has done...

In the meantime as an interim measure I've reduced the coding gain of my modem from 7 to 0 and forced it into ADSL mode to try to get a bit of stability - internet now a lot better... Phone still without dial tone...

Almost like naked DSL!!! :)

Regards,
Anthony.

Edit - Spelling

hoi polloi writes...

Telstra van parked directly in front of my place with a guy working away with the lid off the "PMG" pit on the footpath...

Oh!Oh! That's not sounding good. May have done a temp job with the joint seal (plastic bag), which even if done properly, can be less than 100% waterproof.

If that is the case, you want to hope this liney turns up again on Monday, to finish the job properly.

Regards,
Hugh

Tiger 1941 writes...

If that is the case, you want to hope this liney turns up again on Monday, to finish the job properly.

If the joint is stuffed then he may not be able to fix it "properly".A patch job may be all that can be done in the interim which may have been the cause to start with.Open up joint to repair one service and unknownly knock off another service due to condition of the joint.

until the landline is fixed, dsl cant do anything.

2MB speed still means your DSL is functioning within Optus' guidelines for speed.

Once your landline is fixed, Optus can look at your ADSL service and attempt to get your speeds back up.

drekkus writes...

Open up joint to repair one service and unknownly knock off another service due to condition of the joint.

I agree, there are several scenarios that could be in play here.

Or perhaps someone looking to clear a fault quickly by transposing a faulty pair with the OP's good pair?
( I know, outrageous suggestion )

Still hope someone returns Monday, for the sake of the OP.

Cheers

Tiger 1941 writes...

Or perhaps someone looking to clear a fault quickly by transposing a faulty pair with the OP's good pair?
( I know, outrageous suggestion )

Outrageous, but sadly it's actually plausible. It wouldn't be as common an occurrence as with exchange jumpering though.

optushelp writes...

2MB speed still means your DSL is functioning within Optus' guidelines for speed.

Maybe so - but on a line that usually gets about 16Mbps with an actual working telephone service there is definitely something wrong with the line (no, or very scratchy dial tone, remember).. That is why I reported a phone fault, rather than an internet fault - I figured (rightly as it turned out) that the two went hand in hand... Fix the phone line and the internet connection I'm used to would return...

The Optus guy was actually quite good and was able to detect a fault in the phone line from his end anyway... He did say Wednesday for the fault to be fixed but if workload permitted it would be earlier in the week...

Got home just now - checked phone and clear dial-tone with modem synch. at just under 21Mbps (best I've ever had) - so presumably they've done something...

Do they give any follow up info. to the customer in a situation like this?

The total time on hold was about a minute during the whole episode... Apart from three days with slow internet and no fixed line phone (which I don't use alot anyway) really have nothing to complain about... Optus customer service certainly not as bad in this case as you'd assume from reading some of the threads in here...

Regards,
Anthony.

hoi polloi writes...

Do they give any follow up info. to the customer in a situation like this?

Maybe maybe not. It sounds like in your case they booked a fault with Telstra Wholesale, which would explain the Wednesday "or before" turnaround (which was probably just a Wednesday COB ETR from TW).

When they close off the fault they would have to give Optus a clearance code, but it'd probably be something pretty boring along the lines of they found the fault and repaired or replaced something unspecified.

checked phone and clear dial-tone with modem synch. at just under 21Mbps (best I've ever had) - so presumably they've done something...

Evidently. I'd be happy and move on. :)

hoi polloi writes...

Got home just now - checked phone and clear dial-tone with modem synch. at just under 21Mbps (best I've ever had) - so presumably they've done something...

Possibly the work being done o/s your place last week, may have been instigated by other reported faults.

Perhaps a length of faulty cable, or a faulty cable joint had to be replaced and when the work was completed, your fault disappeared.

Whatever, I'm pleased that it's been fixed for you.

Cheers

hoi polloi writes...

Do they give any follow up info. to the customer in a situation like this?

If they've had to log something with Telstra Wholesale I'd imagine there'd be a fault report of some sort and likely notes on your account, which I believe you can request a copy of.

slaythenet writes...

If they've had to log something with Telstra Wholesale I'd imagine there'd be a fault report of some sort and likely notes on your account, which I believe you can request a copy of.

Telstra Wholesale only have to give a clearance code, they don't have to provide any further details.

telstrawholesale.com//to...-code-finder.cfm

TicTacToe writes...

Telstra Wholesale only have to give a clearance code, they don't have to provide any further details.

telstrawholesale.com//to...-code-finder.cfm

Again, I am totally in awe!

Regards

Optus made a follow up call around lunchtime (from a "03" phone number - so VIC or TAS) asking me if the phone was OK now and if I was happy etc. etc...

Forgot to ask if they knew what the problem was - never mind though...

A case of "case closed" I think...

- Anthony.