One House, Three Lines, Two DSLs, Endless Frustration!

[Shamshir]

The problem I'm facing is slightly complicated, and networking stuff tend to get over my head, so I beg that you bear with me here.

Alright. I'm having a serious problem with my unstable DSL connection. But first allow me to describe the internet set up in my house.

We have three telephone lines, two of which have DSL services on them. Line 1 is the main line in the house; most phones are connected to it (splitter is in the NID), and it has a DSL service. The only router connected to this line is located in the basement, and nobody has access to the internet through that router except my brother.

Line 2 is wired only to my brother's bedroom, and it has an unfiltered phone connected to it, but no DSL service.

Line 3 is mine. It is wired to my bedroom in addition to one jack in the basement into which nothing is plugged. This line has a DSL service on it, and nobody has access to it except me. No phone is connected to this line, and therefore no filters are plugged, neither in the NID nor between my router and the jack in my bedroom.

Now the problem I'm having is with my DSL connection on Line 3. It is very unstable, with sporadic disconnections and speed drops. I have been subscribed to this DSL service for two years. The first year was marked by frustration due to the same connection problems. Throughout that year I didn't know what was the cause of the problem (still don't, obviously). I called my ISP, and they told me that my line was too weak to handle my connection speed, which was only 3 Mbps (welcome to the 3rd world). Don't ask me how the heck they knew that without even sending in a technician to see WTF was going on my end. So anyway, I had two options available: a) decrease my internet speed in order to achieve connection stability. b) maintain my current internet speed at the cost of connection stability. Realising that A meant no YouTube and no online gaming, I chose B.

Things had been going as usual ever since, disconnections and all that, and I had to cope with it. However, during the last 6 months or so, I noticed a pattern. I noticed that my internet disconnected only when my brother turned on his router located in the basement. As long as his router was on, my internet kept disconnecting, and the exact opposite was true: my internet remained stable at normal speed as long as my brother's router was off. My brother's connection didn't seem to be affected by this though. I immediately called BS on my ISP's claim that my line couldn't handle a 3 Mbps internet connection, especially when I took into consideration the fact that my brother's internet speed was exactly the same as mine, yet his was a stable connection.

For personal reasons I didn't inform my brother about the issue. But things got worse. Since my brother has recently been spending more time on online gaming, I now have to deal with longer periods of disconnections. But things got even worse. My internet has developed a habit of disconnecting even whilst my brother's router is off, which is mind-blowing to say the least. My internet is totally messed up now, with severe speed drops and disconnections throughout the day regardless of whether the router in the basement is on or off. Speedtest often shows normal speed at 3 Mbps, but the actual speed I'm experiencing is like one of bloody dial-up connection.

Haven't a clue. I thought I should seek help in this educated community before calling my ISP and dealing with their unoriginal nonsense.

For the info, my router is Netgear N600. All drivers that might be relevant to this issue are up-to-date (router, motherboard LAN, etc).

I apologise for writing a lengthy post, but I really need all the help I could get from you guys.

 

[JackMDS]

Do you actually have two separate lines with DSL coming to the NID from the outside, thus having two separate Modem/Routers and you pay for two services?

If you have only one DSL line and you split it in as you wish it can Not work. Only one DSL/Modem/Router can work for one outside DSL service no matter how many splits you do inside.

So, if your system is actualy split single service when your brother goes On your are disconnected.

In addition on a line that carrys DSL in the NID, all Phones need Filter even if they are on a different split.

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If you do have two independent services from the outside reducing the Speed will end up that you have worse service, getting a faster service might improve the outcome.

 

[Mushkins]

I called my ISP, and they told me that my line was too weak to handle my connection speed, which was only 3 Mbps (welcome to the 3rd world). Don't ask me how the heck they knew that without even sending in a technician to see WTF was going on my end.

You'd be surprised how much information you can get from a modern modem. Not to mention there's all sorts of hard-coded signal responses so the ISP can just send the right code and the modem reports back diagnostic info like signal strengths, uptime, reboot requests, etc. If you clearly have a weak signal between the modem and their equipment, they can absolutely see it with just a few quick remote tests.

My gut says if one line to your house is OK but another is experiencing what you describe, there's physical damage somewhere between the demarc and your equipment. Squirrel chewed up a line, extreme weather damaged something, it was pinched during construction/alterations, etc. Happens all the time, especially in the winter months. I'd call them back and get them to roll a truck to come inspect the lines. If a tech is on site and there *is* an infrastructure issue, they can confirm very quickly and get it fixed.

 

[Lorne]

There is a wire being shared or line polarity is crossed somewhere and when the other puter is turned on it is short to ground a source line.

Seen this happen all to often when jacks are installed by previous tenants not knowing that phone lines are polarized, Also the service techs leaving wire tailings in the punch down block shorting lines (Notorious at my place of work).

 

[Shamshir]

Do you actually have two separate lines with DSL coming to the NID from the outside, thus having two separate Modem/Routers and you pay for two services?

Three separate lines, two separate DSL services (one on Line 1, the other on Line 3), two separate routers (one for Line 1, the other for Line 3), and two separate owners.

In addition on a line that carrys DSL in the NID, all Phones need Filter even if they are on a different split.

I'm slightly confused.

Does a "different split" mean a different line altogether? Does that mean that pretty much all phones in my house need filters, even the ones that are connected to Line 2 which has no DSL service on it?

If you do have two independent services from the outside reducing the Speed will end up that you have worse service, getting a faster service might improve the outcome.

Indeed, I have. But according to those 3rd world wretches, my 3rd world line cannot handle 3 Mbps, let alone a speed higher than that.

My gut says if one line to your house is OK but another is experiencing what you describe, there's physical damage somewhere between the demarc and your equipment. Squirrel chewed up a line, extreme weather damaged something, it was pinched during construction/alterations, etc. Happens all the time, especially in the winter months. I'd call them back and get them to roll a truck to come inspect the lines. If a tech is on site and there *is* an infrastructure issue, they can confirm very quickly and get it fixed.

By demarc I guess you mean the NID? If so, then physical damage is extremely unlikely, since all the wiring is done inside the walls of my house. We also have no squirrels around here. No squirrels no chewing. Must be those cockroaches then. Blasted idiots, they must have done something to our fragile 3rd world infrastructure.

There is a wire being shared or line polarity is crossed somewhere and when the other puter is turned on it is short to ground a source line.

Seen this happen all to often when jacks are installed by previous tenants not knowing that phone lines are polarized, Also the service techs leaving wire tailings in the punch down block shorting lines (Notorious at my place of work).

Not sure. All of this wiring stuff goes over my head.

 

[JackMDS]

Three separate lines, two separate DSL services (one on Line 1, the other on Line 3), two separate routers (one for Line 1, the other for Line 3), and two separate owners.

I'm slightly confused.

Does a "different split" mean a different line altogether? Does that mean that pretty much all phones in my house need filters, even the ones that are connected to Line 2 which has no DSL service on it?

If line 2 is Not on a separate outside line, (i.e., you have three separate lines coming from the Telco). Then yes all phones need to be on Filters.

If your brother and you have separate lines with separate DSL service, it does not matter whether they are in the same house or not, the services should not affect one the other. I.e. there is some crossover inside the house's lines (may be through the phone only lines). Separate wire run inside does not mean separate lines it depends on how every thing end up in its connection in the NID.

As for Speed. It is Not about how much the line can carry (copper lines are Not Trucks) Reduction is created by Electrical Noise and bad junctions connection. If your infra structure is "Bad" it reduces the stable signal.

As an example, 1Mb/sec. will result with a functional 0.6 Mb/sec., 3 Mb/sec. will result in 1.5Mb/sec., and 6 Mb/sec might result with a functional 3 Mb/sec.

 

[Shamshir]

If line 2 is Not on a separate outside line, (i.e., you have three separate lines coming from the Telco). Then yes all phones need to be on Filters.

Okay then, I'll soon try the filter solution.

Though if what you're saying is true, then it's really weird, because my brother's connection has never really been affected by the supposed crossover or the lack of filters on Lines 2 and 3. Maybe because his filter on Line 1 is actually plugged directly into the NID?

Anyway, thank you very much for the help.

*takes off virtual hat*

 

[Mushkins]

By demarc I guess you mean the NID? If so, then physical damage is extremely unlikely, since all the wiring is done inside the walls of my house. We also have no squirrels around here. No squirrels no chewing. Must be those cockroaches then. Blasted idiots, they must have done something to our fragile 3rd world infrastructure.

I was thinking more something between the NID and the local infrastructure hub for your service in that area, AKA their problem and not yours. If an animal or weather damaged the line between the NID and the telephone pole out on the street, it could be *just* the line being utilized by your Line 3 while Line 1's path was not damaged.

 

[mvbighead]

Is there a reason you each have a separate connection?

I would think a simple router with QOS enabled and priorities set for the type of traffic you need. FTP = bulk, Gaming = Priority, Streaming = secondary priority, etc.

Not sure what speeds you can get up to, but if you can't get the two separate connections to work, is there a way you could get satisfactory performance on a shared connection?

 

[XavierMace]

He already covered it's 3mbps. No amount of QOS is going to fix that.