Connection problems. Two engineer visits so far...

melevittfl · 22-09-2005, 08:22

Hi,

I'm in RG10 and I've been having connection problems for the last month or so. As in, the sync and ready lights on the modem go dark, the modem resets, and is unable to lock on a signal.

This usually last from between 45 minutes to three hours.

When the cable modem is working, I can check the power levels and the upstream power level is at 61. The downtream signal was floating aroun 4.8.

I've had two visits from NTL engineers. Unfortunatly, both times they showed up the modem had come back on.

First time, he adjusted something in the street which improved the levels for a bit (down to 51 upstream and 1.5 down) and said there might be a problem in the street cabinet and someone would be looking at the box in the street.

Yesterday, it dropped of again. Called NTL. They scheduled an engineer for the afternoon. By the time he arrived the modem had started working again with an upstream level of 61 and downstream of 1.5ish. He said the signal levels were "spot on", but that other people in the area had problems and he would call the "networking people."

He came back after a minute and said someone would be looking at the box on the street. Same thing the first guy said.

So, last night around 10pm, the modem died again and hadn't come back on as of 7:45 this morning when I left the house.

So, if anyone else in the RG10 area having problems and do any of the NTL people on this forum have any insight into whether or not anyone is actually doing anything about the box in the street?

Thanks,
Mark

jonbr · 22-09-2005, 09:46

I had the same poblem in RG12 a few weeks ago. It eventually died all together and turned out to be a bad amplifier port in the cabinet. It was fixed 4 days later, only for it to fail again 4 days after that. The next engineer found the connector was faulty on the cable at the amplifier and replac it. That seemd to fix it.

NTL know your having problems or they would send an egineer, you'll just have to keep calling them every time it goes down (don't just wait for it to come back on its own). Eventually, they will send a senior engineer who will be ableto resolve it. If they can't, start asking for refunds.

melevittfl · 22-09-2005, 11:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonbr

you'll just have to keep calling them every time it goes down (don't just wait for it to come back on its own). Eventually, they will send a senior engineer who will be ableto resolve it. If they can't, start asking for refunds.

Unfortunatly, I have to leave the house before 8AM when they open, so I can't call them when I'm there to go through the diagnostic steps.

melevittfl · 22-09-2005, 11:59

OK,

It seems to have come back at some point in the last couple hours.

My signal levels look like this:
Downstream Receive Power Level : -4.41 dBmv
Downstream SNR : 33.09 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 43.50 dBmv

So, it seems the upstream level is more like it should be. But the first engineer said the downstream should be as close to zero as possible.

Of course, it could still be fluctuating and it'll go south again...

jaycee · 23-09-2005, 00:21

That looks OK now. An upstream power of 61 was not, thats well out of spec and 61 is almost full transmitting power. In practice if the downstream power is between -5 and +5 it works OK, as long as the SNR is 30 or better.

That engineer who said an upstream level of 61 is "spot on" needs retraining.

melevittfl · 24-09-2005, 09:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaycee

That engineer who said an upstream level of 61 is "spot on" needs retraining.

To be fair, he was using a signal tester and that might have been more accurate than the modem itself.

Also, like I said, it flucuates, so it might have been closer to 55 at that point.

GazzaB · 24-09-2005, 10:08

The signal levels seem ok, the issue appears to be intermittant which is always a pain for engineers as normally when they turn up everything is working ok!

The issue here appears to be in the 'Network' I.e In the green street cabinet not in the cabling from the cabinet into the customers home. The networks team (which there are very few of now due to Ntl short sighted cutbacks) deal with the equipment from the headend (main ntl transmitting site) upto and including the equipment in the street cabinets outside your home. Faulty tap plates, faulty RF/laser equipment or a poor connection somewhere can all cause the symptoms you are experiencing, it is also likely that any neighbours served from that same cabinet will be having problems.

If nothing is resolved after a couple of days of the service engineer attending I would get back in touch with Ntl again and ask if the network engineer has attended the issue or not, of course you are also perfectly entitled to refunds for time without service as it is quite clearly an Ntl fault.

Hope this helps
Gary