Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 15:01:52 -0500 From: David Banning <david+dated+1202587312.e4b61b@skytracker.ca> To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: question on DSL signal Message-ID: <20080204200151.GA16540@skytracker.ca>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I run a small FreeBSD server with a standard DSL line. I have it ping the ISP every five seconds, and when it doesn't ping it logs the results. I notice very inconsistent results. Sometimes it's up for a week without a single drop, while other times it's up for 30 seconds, down for a minute, up for 2 minutes, down for 1. That can go on for 10 hours, and then maybe it's stable again for a day or so. It's always appears to be the DSL signal itself, as I can see the modem sync light starts flashing when the signal goes down. To end any possibility of the phone company pointing their finger at the wiring in my house, I put the DSL modem right at the phone connection block where the line enters the house and then called them. Problem persists. The phone company say they have replaced lines all over the neighborhood while trying to fix the problem. Eventually the connection becomes stable, the phone company declares that they "found the problem", but when he's gone, the trouble starts again. Now knowing how common this is, I installed the same logging system at another company's server, that is located a few miles away. Guess what? Same drop-in drop-out problem. To any average computer user, these lines might appear normal - when a page stops loading for a minute they just live with it, and forget about it. So here's my question: 1. is there anyone who has a lot of experience monitoring DSL lines that can tell me how common this is? 2. Is there any way to avoid it? 3. I have used three different DSL modems, but the are all home quality: an Alcatel Speed Touch, a Speedstream 5260, and a Westell Wirespeed. Would spending more money on another type of modem help? If so, what is recommended? Any comments would be helpful.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20080204200151.GA16540>