From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 5 14:52:38 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7300F16A417 for ; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 14:52:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dwhess@banishedsouls.org) Received: from elasmtp-galgo.atl.sa.earthlink.net (elasmtp-galgo.atl.sa.earthlink.net [209.86.89.61]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3129F13C45D for ; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 14:52:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dwhess@banishedsouls.org) Received: from [70.238.148.236] (helo=smtp.banishedsouls.org) by elasmtp-galgo.atl.sa.earthlink.net with asmtp (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.34) id 1JMOmr-0000zX-Cl for questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:28:37 -0500 Received: from Beowulf.banishedsouls.org ([192.168.2.34]) (authenticated user dwhess@banishedsouls.org) by smtp.banishedsouls.org (using TLSv1/SSLv3 with cipher RC4-MD5 (128 bits)) for questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 08:28:31 -0600 From: David W. Hess To: questions@freebsd.org Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:28:44 -0600 Organization: Banished Souls Message-ID: <4orgq3tdbp4b03o7sfmh792k6tk79hg5hg@4ax.com> References: <20080204200151.GA16540@skytracker.ca> In-Reply-To: <20080204200151.GA16540@skytracker.ca> X-Mailer: Forte Agent 4.2/32.1117 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-ELNK-Trace: 2f4c96d93a5e32971aa676d7e74259b7b3291a7d08dfec79a3e82d680b59aa749339383ae8ed6b70350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c X-Originating-IP: 70.238.148.236 Cc: Subject: Re: question on DSL signal X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:52:38 -0000 On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 15:01:52 -0500, David Banning wrote: >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. > > . . . I had similar symptoms last year during the hottest part of summer after = a big storm. The thought was that the heat and humidity had compromised the wiring between= my location and the central office. As it ends up, the problem had existed for years but= the previous owner had figured 384 down 128 up was the maximum the line length would = permit and the phone company was hardly going to admit there was a problem unless = pressed. >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? It depends on the condition of the infrastructure which varies widely in = the US from area to area. >2. Is there any way to avoid it? Is this DSL installed on a line that also has a dial tone? If so when = the service becomes erratic, try leaving the phone off hook in order to continuously draw a = current through the line. If the line is suffering from a dry open, then the DSL = connection will be restored while the phone is off the hook. On telephone lines used for dial service, a line with a dry open = condition will manifest as a scratchy/noisy telephone line. When used in DSL service, = performance will be very limited because of the high impedance state when no current is flowing = through it.