FTTN: frequent dropouts

[Jparker]

Hi,

Our FTTN service experiences frequent dropouts, each generally lasting four to five minutes; in the last 24 hours, we've had 18 such dropouts, resulting in over an hour of service unavailability. Some of the relevant measurements from the modem (similar results with different modems and RJ11 cables):

Measurement	Upload	Download
Max. Line Rate	8.72 Mbps	36.4 Mbps
Line Rate	8.66 Mbps	35.21 Mbps
Line Attenuation	9.6, 49.6, N/A dB	21.2, 68.7, 86.3
Noise Margin	6.1 dB	6 dB

Based on information I've been able to find elsewhere, there's supposedly a little over 700m of copper between us and our node; I'm not sure whether these numbers (and/or the dropouts) are just to be expected with that distance, or whether they could be indicative of other issues.

I'm also under the impression that our area is hoping to be FTTP upgrade-eligible around December, so I don't know whether that affects the possibility of further investigation and/or resolution of our current issues, but I figured I would ask anyway. Happy to share required details as necessary.

Cheers

[kate_]

Hey @Jparker, we want to check out what's happening with these dropouts and put an end to them.

If you send me a PM, we'll run some tests and see what's going on.

[alanguide]

As a general fact, the problem with FTTN is the sometimes quite short but often long stretch of copper in the signal path (from the node to you). It isn't the copper itself but any joints, which can be sensitive to moisture, temperature and vibration. My FTTN problems were intermittent (the worse kind, because they may not show up at the time of RSP investigation). I made the change to FTTP, thus cutting out my run of copper and joints, and it made all the difference.