Connection dropping

[Patator]

It has now been 10+ days I have bad connection. It will just stop working. ppp remain up, but nothing go in and out my router. Initial assumption was a device on my network, but it occurred again later when nothing was connected. so I chatted again the support and I just had the most unprofessional exchange ever. the agent kept making joke not understanding that the frustration is building. At the end, told me to escalate to tech support that I have now to call.

This is how the chat ended:

Me: thanks

Shivam : of all time pleasure been whosE
Shivam : ... mine, of course

I may understand the effort to cheer it up... but this is not something you say to a customer you have not been able to help.

I haven't call the support I am suppose to. Fed up with this for now.

[KeithAlger]

Before you try anything else - CORRECT THE TIME AND DATE ON YOUR COMPUTER!

[Patator]

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@KeithAlger wrote:

Before you try anything else - CORRECT THE TIME AND DATE ON YOUR COMPUTER!

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I don't understand how time on my computer could bring the communication up and down from a router standpoint...

[KeithAlger]

Computer networks rely on having at least a reasonably accurate clock.  Want to see this for your self?  Run a speed test with your date a day out, then correct the date and run it again.  You should see that on the second run you got an improvement on the speeds (more than you would expect from just the standard improvement from a second run).

When clocks are out networks can do unpredictable things - I'm not saying this is going to fix the problem that you are seeing, it probably won't, but it's one of those things to get out of the way first!

[Patator]

I see your point. well  all devices are connected to their ntp server and so is the router.

So issue does not come from this.

What surprise me most is that I got timeout from all ping on my router,  yet,  ppp connection stays up.

[TJ]

Hey @Patator, it's disappointing to hear about the drop outs you've been having.

What lights are showing on your router when this happens? Is the router still connected to the internet? Is it just the devices connected via Wi-Fi dropping? Let me know, this will help to determine where the problem might be so I can investigate further. 

[Patator]

Hello, all lights are green. I am not using the Vodafone routeur, it has never worked. 

so my LAN is totally up, I have no issue contacting each device on my network and from the router, I have a diagnose function where I can issue a ping and a traceroute (see below)

This is from this location I can see PPP is up (as confirmed with the LED) but ping will just fail, to any destination, whether I put it in na;e or in IP address directly

The following are snapshot when it is working.

[Gaz363]

Enjoy the endless loop of nonsense fixes they are about to try and send you on. 

7 months and 15+ phone calls later my connection still drops every 30 minutes odd.

Seems from this forum and trustpilot this is a very common issue.

Thankfully I am only in the flat I have Vodafone broadband for a few months of the year. So just waiting till the contract runs out and I cancel this disaster zone Internet. 

[Patator]

Well I used to be happy. .. until 12 days ago.

The only issue I have had. ... and fixed by using my modem instead of the Vodafone that never worked properly despite they sent a new one.

But indeed if this does not get fixed I will consider a change when my subscription will be due.

[Mark]

This isn't good @Patator. So we can take a look into the problems with your modem, please PM us through Facebook at Vodafone UK, or DM us via Twitter using the handle @VodafoneUK. Ensure you include your full name, account number and a link to your post are included and we'll be in touch.

[KeithAlger · Accepted solution]

@Patator the connection speeds in your screenshots really suggest there is a physical line problem, which unfortunately VF support are unlikely to even consider unless you reconnect their own router for testing purposes.  *With those kinds of speeds, I'd not be surprised if the VF router is COMPLETELY unable to hold a connection!

I did note that your gateway is running "Mint 17.2", which suggests that it may be possible to actually get a program such as DSLstats up and running on it DIRECTLY - depending on the gateway having a broadcom chipset.

Entirely out of curiosity I'm intrigued by what make/model the gateway device actually is!

[Patator]

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@Mark wrote:

This isn't good @Patator. So we can take a look into the problems with your modem, please PM us through Facebook at Vodafone UK, or DM us via Twitter using the handle @VodafoneUK. Ensure you include your full name, account number and a link to your post are included and we'll be in touch.

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Ok, I will as soon as it happens again, it seems to have stopped for the last couple of days now.

Thanks.

[Patator]

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@KeithAlger wrote:

@Patator the connection speeds in your screenshots really suggest there is a physical line problem, which unfortunately VF support are unlikely to even consider unless you reconnect their own router for testing purposes.  *With those kinds of speeds, I'd not be surprised if the VF router is COMPLETELY unable to hold a connection!

Well, I am quite far from the cabinet (I think 400m). This is the beauty of Fiber To the Cabinet (FTC) vs FTB (Building) or even better FTH (Home). I have presumably "superfast fiber" and 5-7mb is normal for this case and this is what all simulator for my postcode and also what I got from my former xDSL.

Fiber is a menaningless word when you are ready to have 1000m of copper wire after it. 

My router has handle that connection for the last past 3+ years... The Vodafone never did.

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@KeithAlger wrote:

I did note that your gateway is running "Mint 17.2", which suggests that it may be possible to actually get a program such as DSLstats up and running on it DIRECTLY - depending on the gateway having a broadcom chipset.

Entirely out of curiosity I'm intrigued by what make/model the gateway device actually is!

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This is an now old Technicolor model.

I'll see what I can find about your remark on Mint, I know there is a diagnose function, but what it gives me is out of my understanding capabilities.

[Ross]

Hello @Patator. While I appreciate you're using your own router, we'd still like to check if there are any faults on the line that we can address from our side. Pop us a message on the channels provided above by Mark and we'll take a look. Ross 

[Patator]

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@Ross wrote:

Hello @Patator. While I appreciate you're using your own router, we'd still like to check if there are any faults on the line that we can address from our side. Pop us a message on the channels provided above by Mark and we'll take a look. Ross 

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I will, if/when the problem occurs again. I did it in the past, I spent time to no result. So I will only when I have a problem. Thanks to @KeithAlger I have found more intel on my router and while DSLStats does not work on my router, I can now SSH to it and check the usage of my bandwidth (ifstat on my pppoe line) and I am ready to discover which machine is using it (TCPDump).

So if the problems occur again, I will be able to identify if I am just not using the Bandwidth (Vodafone) or if a device on my Lan is using everything (Home lan issue).

Why? Because I know for a fact this is what the support is going to look for first thing.... and they may be right... 

:-)

Thank you both, @KeithAlger and @Ross for helping in this matter!