Severe weather reminder for our HSI customers

[tjswist1]

I am again experiencing intermittent failures with my DSL.

First there should be an easier way to check DSL status; the support line makes you jump through hoops without being able to speak to a representative.

If I am told to reset my modem one more time I will reboot someone's butt; this has nothing to do with the weather related failures that I have been experiencing since December.

Every time it rains or get windy my DSL service becomes unreliable.

If this continues I will be looking into cable.

[lordthor20011]

Westell modem, wired network (nothing is wireless). If there are t-storms anywhere within the region I start with the intermittent dc's and escalate to complete loss of internet when the storm arrives. I lose connection for hours. And no, not on my end... reboot and restart everything and can't check status online BECAUSE I CAN'T GET ONLINE.

 Why does this happen to everyone?

[smith6612]

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@lordthor2001 wrote:

Westell modem, wired network (nothing is wireless). If there are t-storms anywhere within the region I start with the intermittent dc's and escalate to complete loss of internet when the storm arrives. I lose connection for hours. And no, not on my end... reboot and restart everything and can't check status online BECAUSE I CAN'T GET ONLINE.

 Why does this happen to everyone?

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It's what happens when there is a lack of shielding or wiring is allowing noise into the line. Thunderstorms are well known for blowing up the error counts (CRCs specifically) and bombing the SNR briefly whenever there is electrical activity in the air. VDSL (The Standard) and VDSL2(+) is known for having issues on degraded lines and dropping out for the same reason you're seeing issues due to the high frequencies they use (which are, by the way easy to weaken. Consider how radio waves are!).

Think of the trunk line as a giant antenna with noise shielding over it. If a part of the shielding is missing, you've got noise asking to come in. On longer lines, you also have a longer antenna, meaning any lack of shielding can make a bigger difference on how much the line can tolerate. Speed also determines tolerance; higher speed means less tolerance. A lack of twist in the cabling as well, since twisting cable pairs helps to reduce noise as well, can also cause things.

If you're seeing drops, Verizon needs to check for an issue on their end as they have the longer bundle of wiring.. Home wiring is typically not a problem as noise issues from lightning won't easily be picked up by home wiring unless it's in really bad shape or lightning is rather close, but it is a good idea to isolate it using a Home Run and good Twisted Pair Wiring.

[lordthor20011]

Thanks for the info. And I'm sure some of the main lines are bad around here considering my internet starts dropping out when t-storms are 50 miles away,  lol. That and the water company was pulling pieces of lead pipes out of the streets recently.

[jmckiron2]

For myself I blame the poor phone service during bad weather on the lack of maintenance on the telephone lines coming in from the poles.  These lines were installed 33 years ago and have never been upgraded to my knowledge.  My line had two separate sets of wires (one for a second line).  About ten years ago one of these lines failed completely due to squirrels biting the line.  The Service man simply switched to the other carrier line.  Now I have no where to go except to wait for Verizon to fix the lines coming in. 

A simple phone call for service with a real person seems to not be possible.

I would love to see a VIOS truck come in so we can switch but it is not yet available. 

[crick3947]

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After reading the posts, I found out I am not alone.   My next phone call is to Comcast.  I am not even going to waste my breath calling this company again.  Oh and Verizon if we dont have Internet service how do we get online to check things.  You dont have a clue!!!

I had to go buy a virgin mobile to get my internet working, I will be sending Verizon the bill for this.  I have a business and have been trying to get online since Thursday, I have clients screaming for reports and my hands are tied.  And Verizon does not care about the customer.   

I have been on the phone with them every 2 hours nagging.  The most recent excuse is "its the weekend and we are short staffed".  Most companies call in more workers to get things fixed.

I will not recommend Verizon to anyone and I will let everyone know what kind of service they do provide. 

I did speak with a nice gentleman who tried everything to get through to the main office to get things fixed and they just ignored him too and he works for this company.  They are a total joke!!!

[bullrust]

I am havig the same problem everyone else is having. Thougt I should add my voice to the chorus of pleas: PLEASE FIX THE DSL ISSUES.

[BobDeP]

I can appreciate your comments but I have been polite and calm to the agents and after two months I still continue to have problems with internet connectivity. I have tried all of their recommendations and it has become a joke. They even sent me a new router but that did not solve the problem. I have been with Verizon for over 10 years and I have worked with computers for over 25 years and I find it offensive when I am treated like I do not know what I am doing.

[Gmrfrk88]

I can't even think of all the times I've used the in home agent. I've literally done everything humanely possible, I've talked to your customer service countless times I've bought a new router I've bought range extenders I've bought new chords and new phone lines and it still hasn't been working but like most others when I try to tell you guys it isn't working all you say is it's working fine but clearly it isn't. I'm not trying to bag on you guys or anything because we've been with you guys for years and the Internet was flawless. But since about 2 months ago maybe I've had nothing but problems and no matter what I do it won't work. You guys just made me sign a two year contract claiming that it'll be cheaper per month at a higher speed but ever since then we've basically had no Internet. I'm typing on my 3G network off my iPhone because at this point it's more reliable than my actual Internet. I pray that you guys figure out what's going on because all these posts I've seen have been nothing but losing dsl or slow dsl and like I said I've been with you guys a long time but if this doesn't get fixed soon I'm willing to pay to break contract and go with someone else because it's not cool and I'm not gonna continue to pay for something that isn't working.

[Fltmedic]

Bullcrap!  Today is the 5th day in a row that I have been waiting for the technician to show up to replace the line from the pole to my house. Each day Verizon promisses to be here by a certain time, never shows up, and then promises to be here the next day.

Perhaps I this 30 year customer should switch to Time Warner....they atleast give the customer the courtesy of a phone call if they cannot make  the scheduled appointment and ensure they make the 1st rescheduled one.