Hi all,
I am posting this here at Telstra Crowdsupport and also at Whirpool for posterity. Below are details of the issue I am having and the steps taken by Telstra tech support to resolve it. I will continue to update this thread as progress is made.
Since about midday yesterday (11/7/12) i've been having constant packet loss on my cable internet. I've done all the normal/basic tests:
1) Only testing with direct wired connection to the modem
2) This installation is onl ~2 months old, so I have the newest Netgear cable modem
3) Using bridged mode (no NAT) so the PC I plug in to the modem gets a public IP via DHCP
4) Ive tested using multiple cables and types (cross over, straight through, UTP, STP)
5) Ive tested using multiple PC's and OS's (I have readily on hand Win7, XP, CentOS and Ubuntu machines)
6) Reset the modem several times
7) Checked cables/connections several times
8) Rebooted PCs several times
9) Wire stats looks fine, see pic below.
http://i48.tinypic.com/2lsxn4k.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/2d6rt7a.jpg
Symptoms are:
1) Anywhere between 10% - 20% packet loss to anywhere
2) This is seen even to the gateway advertised by DHCP (60.225.112.1/20), so the issue is local
Wireshark captures show when the hiccups occur followed by retransmissions. Depending on the protocol the connection either drops (ie. RDP) or it survived (ie. small HTTP). I have the captures, but I think its shown easier using pings. First ping is to Googles public DNS (8.8.8.8) and the second ping is to the local gateway (one layer 3 hop away from me).
http://i47.tinypic.com/jsy4if.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/2gsiww3.jpg
Further Work done:
Im convinced at this point it is a Telstra issue, so:
1) I called Telstra support
2) After 5 minutes of basic troubleshooting the gentleman (his name was RJ) booked a Telstra service tech to come and have a look the next morning
NOTE : I called Tech Support at ~3:30pm. The call took less than 10 minutes and I had a tech booked to be on site at ~9am the next morning. I was very, VERY pleasantly surprised at how quickly RJ was able to help me and book in a tech for me. I am a new Telstra customer and have heard many horror stories. I am glad to see that my first experience with tech support was great! Thanks!
3) So the tech was here this morning on time. He was nice and explained to me that he changes the isolator on the telegraph pole across the road. He also changed the isolator on my property (in the box fixed to the outside of the house)
4) He checked the wire stats all seemed to be OK
5) Problem is still occurring! So he made a note to escalate this issue. He told me the next step is usually a network tech comes out on side and checks the equipment inside the amplifier (he showed me the box that is hanging off the cable on the telegraph pole on my street). He also mentioned that he isnt authorised to do those changes and a different tech will be in touch with me for this.
And this is where we are at the moment. I am still getting packet loss and most of the work I do on the internet is either very slow or dropping out. My RDP sessions are useless and this is what I need to do my work (I work from home often), so im reduced to tethering my mobile phone for internet. I just hope this issue is fixed before I go over my data limit on my mobile phone!
Was this helpful?
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Hi EJS,
Thanks for sharing your concerns in relation the packet loss issues you've been having with your BigPond Ultimate Cable broadband service and I'm sorry for all the times spent getting contacting us to resolve this.
Firstly, welcome to CrowdSupport 
Please stick around and offer any expertise you may have in the range of topics we have here in our Community.
I'm really sorry for the late response EJS. Now, if this issue is still outstanding since your post, I'd like to offer my assistance to you, just send me a private message here, with a link to this thread, so I can advise you of next steps. Thank you.
