DSL connection keeps dropping

[ajshepherd]

I have been trying to resolve an issue with my DSL since December. I have a Westell 7500 modem/router that loses connection several times a day. In the past I have been able to reset it and the connection would resume but in the last week it has gotten much worse. Sometimes it will take 45 minutes to reconnect and sometimes it will take a day. I've called tech support at least 10 times on this and all they do is run a line test. Yesterday I received an email stating the line is not up to their standards and they will contact me to send a tech out. There has already been 3 techs in my house and none of them can tell me what's wrong. We have reran the phone line from the verizon box directly to the phone jack the modem is plugged into and that did not help. Any advice? Is it the cheap modem Verizon keeps telling me there's nothing wrong with?

[netdude68]

If you have access to a stand alone router you could try turning off the router part of your westell by placing it into bridged mode.  I do not like these combo modem/router devices as they seem to have issues just like you describe as one.  Have you ever had your modem replaced?  You may want to see if Verizon offers just a plain vanilla dsl only modem without the router.

[giorfida]

Ummm We paid EXTRA for the modem/router combo to Verizon... so to say 'Disable it' is unacceptable. Period.

Found something by accident last night though, (again, my connection stats are superb by all accounts), but I was on my land line talking last evening, as well as on the computer.  Now from the day I moved in, the line had typical landline noise/static etc-- (something I forgot all about after living with FiOs for almost 5 years.), when mid-conversation, my phone line becomes amazingly quiet., and I look up to see, my DSL connection just dropped.... after about 15 mintues of messing around, i get dsl back, and just seconds before the DSL comes back up, the noise on the phone line starts over.

Tells me, something is severely wrong at the CO end of things, or somewhere in the stream.  My complaint now is with support.   My hearing is tno the best as it is, and calling in to non-native english speaking individual that give me the same canned responses, I dont have time for.   SO I try the online help thing, and they tell me to call in.   I'm not getting what I pay for, I'm so close to just tethering my PC to my cellphone and using wifi.   I feel i gort ripped off on faulty service/modem, and because I'm nto a FiOs customer, i'm sub-human to them.  It's almost a form of discrimination-- sorry, belive me, if FiOs was available, I would have it in a heartbeat!...  {please keep it relevant}

... there once was a time that you didn't have to fight  just to get what you paid for.... 

[mechanics600]

As for the landline noise it sounds as if you do not have filters attached.  If you did not receive any they can be purchased from some of the retail outlets or you may order from Verizon.  Each landline phone should have one between the wall jack and the phone.  The difficulty keeping the dsl connection may be related to the CO or the distance you are from there.  A field tech can check to verify your signal quality and distance.

[Samxenial]

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@mechanics600 wrote:

As for the landline noise it sounds as if you do not have filters attached.  If you did not receive any they can be purchased from some of the retail outlets or you may order from Verizon.  Each landline phone should have one between the wall jack and the phone.  The difficulty keeping the dsl connection may be related to the CO or the distance you are from there.  A field tech can check to verify your signal quality and distance.

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Congratulations! You just gave a typical verizon tech support response.

On a side note. I've been having the same issues for the last year. I've gone though 3 different modems and all have had similar results. Sometimes I would get great connectivity for a month straight. Other times I would disconnect every 2-3 min for days on end. I get line noise whenever someone calls like you do. I've gone as far as connect the modem straight into the telephone box outside and it doesn't make a difference. It's an issue that I don't know how to resolve. Maybe someone will read this and possibly shed some light.

[nightrecon]

My DSL is fairly solid during the winter months while dew points are low. As soon as we hit about 63 degrees dew point for more than 2 days in a row my connection drops right and left. So during the summer months when the humidity is high connections drop all the time.

I swept the phone line with a TDR and could clearly see where the water in the line was affecting the line. I can even calculate with some degree of tolerance about where it is located. A dry nitrogen bottle with a couple of psi bleeding into the line would take care of this problem. Verizon used to do this; we used to see the cylinders chained up to a telephone pole.

Alas, Verizon is putting all their efforts into rolling out FIOS and has pretty much turned its back on the aging copper infrastructure. The trunk cable causing my troubles is at least 40+ years old. They had a perfect opportunity to flat out replace it when they rolled the cable spool truck out and ran 2 brand new ones to a new nearby housing development. They could have strung a new one for us while they were string the 2 new ones.

What bugs me the most is they are still actively marketing and selling this DSL service, even though they will not fix it when it doesn't work correctly. They are selling a defective product. Even though I know the "fix" is to get FIOS I am left wondering if I want to deal with a company that knowingly puts a defective product out into the market place.

I have been a "Ma Bell" customer in this area since 1966. You think they'd cut me some slack for being such a long time customer, but talking with them useless and unproductive. Maybe I should be talking to Comcast instead....

</rant>

[ajrfman]

I am having the same problem. I signed up for a year's service at a certain price, but I hope I can get out of it due to this poor service.

[accgator]

Having the exact problems as everyone on the post.  DSL signal good for a while, then drops, comes back in 5-10 minutes, good for a half hour,then drops again.  I just switched from a Westell 327W to a 7500 to try to eliminate a cause. I changed wires, duplex jacks, repostioned modem/router.  the 7500 runs hot as well.   It has to be the DSL signal from the street box or the feed to the box.  There is definitely signal degradation.  There was no issue in my home for a year and a half.  Last 3 weeks has been hell to try to get work done. Been  with live chat and phone support several times.  FIOS is not available yet where i am.  I'm at wit's end.

[blindowl]

Mine's been reliable (4-5years) until 6/29/10   blinking on/off while I yak to Calcutta for 25 minutes at a time before CSR finally states "Oh, now I see there's a Verizon equipment problem at your exchange and we're working hard to fix it..." etc. etc....I even got an automated call day 2 stating that it was fixed...I called billing on day 3 to be sure I don't have a commitment to VZ so I can discontinue and was given another phone # ("highest level") which is manned by apparently USA based people and at least they readily state that VZ's equipment in my area (Boston MA) is broken, but I've not seen anyone else griping about it here or anywhere else (BTW, I'm at my workplace where the RCN is working fine!)...ANY OTHER BOSTON USERS HAVING THIS OUTAGE??  -blindowl

[irispatchmr]

Same story here in  Western  Merryland.    I  noticed that temp relation too   last summer it was a nightmare trying to stay connceted.  Got the same canned responces.   Modem,  filters  (  only the computer is connected to  the phone line)   all of  the  nonsense  they give you.  Years ago  they told me my connection problems were my computer....   uh huh.   so why  was the line pulled loose from the pole and the box filled with water?  I guess my computer has some pull and   excrets water into the line.   

Fios...  we are rural  and Fios  is not planned to ever be offered to us  not enought people live here to bother giving us service.