Frequent NBN drop outs

[RichPach]

I live in the Hallett Cove, SA and my internet keeps dropping out. It will drop-out then reconnect then drop-out. It's frustrating when watching a movie and VERY frustrating when playing on-line games. Is there anything I can do to stop this or is this just the new normal?

[343GuiltySpark · Accepted solution]

If its dropping more than 6 times a day that would classify as a drop fault. Id reconmend calling Telstras NBN team on 1800 834 273

[RichPach]

Thanks for your reply. I am not sure how many times a day it drops out as the modem restarts (twice) automatically and the reconnects. So, it may be dropping out when we are not home or not using it. I called TLS and they said that I have an old modem and possibly my connected devices can be causing the problem. I cannot see how wifi or wired device can cause the drop out.
I was told that I qualify for modem upgrade. Apparently my TG799VAC is too old and TLS is replacing them (for whatever reason). We will see what happens with the new modem which apparently have a feature to switch automatically to TLS Mobile Internet when NBN fiber to the node connections fails.

[cf4]

You can check how many times a day your gateway losses it connection by logging into the gateway and checking the link DSL Diagnostics stats. Any Link retrain counts indicates a loss off the connection.

To check these stats log into the gateway http://10.0.0.138  and go to Advanced > Broadband > DSL Diagnostics

If there is a line fault causing the modem the new modem will still drop out and takes about 2 minutes to switch over to back up so will still loose connection for a couple of minutes.

[RichPach]

My Modem Diagnostics is not recording any drop out history but, Ethernet Diagnostics is showing
Ethernet Status = Down however, everything is working file - is this normal?

[cf4]

Yes that is normal for a FTTN connection. If there are no drop outs indicated in the DSL Diagnostics then it looks like it might be your modem and the new modem will solve your problem. The DSL diagnostic counters do get reset when the modem is rebooted so if modem has recently been rebooted counters will only show errors since modem was rebooted.

[RichPach]

Thank you for the clarification - I will wait for the new modem to see if it will resolve the issue.
However, this modem was working fine for years. Only recently (last few weeks) modem drop out started occurring. May be I have a hardware fault.

[Broady1]

Hi all, I've been having the same problem and I made a few changes to the gateway and it seems to have stopped the constant dropping out (fingers crossed for now at least). So try this perhaps:

Login to gateway: 192.168.0.1

Go to Local Network

Under DHCP settings go to "Lease Time"

Change 1h to 504h (this is the longest period permitted

Press close

I assume that in 504 hours time (3 weeks) I will be dropped again and will need to reboot the modem (at least that would be once in three weeks as opposed to multiple times per day).

[Kev_Broady]

I agree that this is the only way I have found that actually keeps my devices working. The advice given to me when I called the 133933 number was to alter the channel to 1, 6 or 11. This does not work. The devices still drop off and imho the support staff have no clue why this is happening.

I have had my own modems and routers for at least 12 years and I know a fault when I see one. The way to check if you are having the same problem is to look at your mobile trying to connect and if it shows 'authenticating' or 'cannot obtain IP address' then it is likely you will need to follow the instructions Broady1 has outlined above. In my case as soon as I change the DHCP Release time all my devices jump back onto the Wifi immediately. I alternate between 500h and 501h each time a device drops off, which still happens if I turn the modem off.

Telstra need to pull their finger out and get the manufacturer to fix the firmware.

[Kev_Broady]

I have only been a customer for 1 week so I am about to investigate how I can get some action under the Consumer Guarantee Act. I should not have to pay for a service that drops out every hour or so.

[Shellock]

Hi Kev_Broady,

Thanks for providing this feedback regarding the modem.
Firmware updates can take some time to be pushed out to modems, particularly as they will typically include multiple fixes or updates and may need to go through more than one round of testing before they are released.