Dropouts while uploading, internet LED turns off

[johnlaidler]

During file uploads (e.g. to Dropbox) I regularly get dropouts. The Internet LED on my Archer VR1600v modem goes out. The system log reports "ppp1 LCP down".

Only seems to happen during uploading. Depending on the receiving site, the upload often fails and needs to be started again. Can happen two or three times during the upload of a relatively small file (50 MB). Wasting my data and my time.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Ahra_G]

Hi @johnlaidler, 

Welcome to the Community! 

 
I've managed to run some remote tests and I don't see any line issues, however, I see connection drop outs due to over utilisation of your upload bandwidth.
 
Maximising the upload bandwidth configured on your plan may affect the download (Browsing experience). Simply imagine a 2 way road which can only fit a regular car. 1 lane for Download (DL) , and the other is for Upload (UL).
 
Normal activity will not affect the traffic on the road, but once there is a Big truck (DL or UL which consumes the entire DL/UL bandwidth configured on your plan) who occupies the 2 lanes, the cars (normal website that you've entered to a different device or same device) behind it will not be able to pass until the truck reaches its destination. 

If you upload more than the plan speed, this can cause your connection to drop as NBN will start discarding information you send across the connection. This is most likely the reason why you are experiencing the drop outs or sometimes slow connection.
 
To rectify the issue you may need to watch out for any random programs uploading, such as iCloud drive, dropbox, bit-torrent, one drive. Any of these can cause the connection to feel slow and drop, especially on the 12Mbps plan. You can try to perform an isolation test to check if turning these cloud applications off will resolve the problem.

We can have our Technical Team to perform troubleshooting along with you to further isolate any underlying cause of the drop outs. Just let us know of your most convenient time to receive a call so I can organise a contact to be made. 

Regards,

Ahra_G

[johnlaidler]

Ok, thanks for the reply. It's confusing though.

Firstly, I'm not complaining that uploading slows down browsing, etc. I'm complaining, essentially, that uploading hardly works.

I have no control over the bandwidth used by an uploading program, do I? I would guess it just uses up what's available?

So you're saying that any uploading will inevitably cause dropouts? So, my current plan is unusable for uploading?

And, I never had this problem as an ADSL subscriber, so it's because of NBN?

John

[Anonymous]

Hi @johnlaidler, we are not saying that your current plan is unusable for uploading, but if the upload bandwidth and the download bandwidth is being maximised by your devices, that can affect the performance of your connection.

May we know many devices are normally connected whenever you download or upload?

[johnlaidler]

Just one, a Windows PC. I have no complaint about downloading. If you enforce a bandwidth limit when I exceed my monthly data allowance, why isn't there a permanent bandwidth limit on uploading to prevent the connection breaking? I see there's a bandwidth limiting option in the modem. Is enabling a lower upload speed there worth trying? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi @johnlaidler, if there's only one device connected to the internet and you're still having issues uploading, there's a possibility that there are other programs on the device background, which is possibly consuming the upload bandwidth.

We'd like to look into this further and perform isolation tests. We'd like to arrange a senior technical specialist to contact you for further assistance.

Please PM us your best contact number and most convenient time to receive a call today. Thank you.

[jDerp]

I thought I'd open up this discussion again, because this is what has been happening to me too, and it's extremely frustrating.

So as the original poster mentioned, attempting to upload a file causes the Internet connection to disconnect, not get slower.  This causes the upload to then cancel, and attempt again.  The upload then once again cancels, and we get an infinite loop.  This makes every upload become a manual process, and some operations like syncing files to Dropbox / Drive are impossible to achieve with TPG due to the amount of admin required to watch every upload and confirm they worked (they usually don't). 

Now, I have tested and have proven that if I reduce my upload speed in software, then this does not happen.  I have tested this with no other devices using the connection for uploads or downloads, and I have tested it while streaming Netflix.  But this is not a solution for me because I cannot manually set my upload speed on all software, and even if I could, I wouldn't know exactly what to set it to to maximise my connection.

So the questions are:

1. Why does my TPG connection allow me to upload so fast that the connection drops?  Why does it not slow down my upload?

2. Why does this not happen on download?  I can guarantee that at times I use too much download, but I get slowed, not disconnected.

[Anonymous]

This is caused by bandwidth sharing issue. To answer your questions.

1. TPG do not throttle the speed allocated by on the service plan.

2. It does not happen when downloading files because the bandwidth of the download is higher than the upload.

Let us check the status of the connection and get to the bottom of this, shoot us a PM with your details (Username/Customer ID together with with the address on file).

How to send a PM? - https://community.tpg.com.au/t5/Welcome/How-do-I-private-message-PM-in-the-community/m-p/4093.
 

[johnlaidler]

As the OP, just wanted to say that my problems went away with a plan upgrade, i.e. more speed.

Of course, this shouldn't happen at any speed.

Hope you get some answers.

John