[RESOLVED] ADSL2 Connection Drop Out - Weirdest Cause

[Nix]

So last night my ADSL2 connection dropped out and it would reset (taking about 30 secs) and then last about 13 secs before dropping out again.

This went on for about 3 hours during which time I watched some TV in the hope that the problem would stop.

When I didn't I checked the connection at the wall was secure.

Then wall to surge board.

Then SB to ADSL Filter splitter.

Then splitter to broadband modem.

Tried resetiing modem / PC / disconnecting phone.

Nothing fixed it so I rang my ISP.

After checking that my ADSL2 connection for my phone number was ok, the guy asked me to disconnect the line from my modem so he could run a test to see how far I was from the phone exchange.

The result was 1.1km (0.6875 miles) so he said I should be getting excellent connection.

He ran another test and said that from the results it was either my filter, my modem or my phone wiring in the street or house.

Since the problem had not shown in all the time I'd been using broadband, he suggested that my modem was probably the issue but sggested I get technician to test the phone lines.

I dug out a spare ADSL filter splitter and tried that still with no success.

Suddenly I happened to notice that the lights in the room were ever so slightly pulsating and that this coincided with the flashing light on the modem whilst it regained the ADSL connection.

I switched off the lights and the connection came up and stayed up.

I stayed connected for about 10 minutes and then turned on the lights and about 13 seconds later the ADSL connection dropped out and it went back into the cycle of resetting / disconnecting.

Turned off the lights and it worked fine.

Now here's the best part. You thought you'd heard it already but no, read on.

The light strip has room for 3 bulbs and gradually we have replaced them with the energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs with the last being replaced on Monday night.

I noticed last night (Tuesday) that the dimmer switch was turned right down which for ordinary light bulbs would have made them go off, but for the fluoro's it was sort of making them buzz slightly but no noticable drop in light.

When I turned it up the buzzing stopped and the modem connected and remained connected.

Turn them down and the modem would drop out and continualy attept to reconnect.

I then remembered that on the box for the bulbs it said they were not suitable for dimmer switches.

So somehow when the dimmer switch is turned down some sort of effect must be going through the power lines that's affecting the ADSL modem.

Quite an amazing discovery that I'm glad I worked out.

Anyone who wants to hazzard a guess as to what's going on is more than welcome to explain.

[Nix]

Well a Google for fluorescent and adsl got me plenty of hits and after browsing some sites it seems dimmer switches can cause problems too.

In fact a Google for fluorescent lights adsl +iinet got me this hit at the top of the list http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/forum-rep...fm/502032.html in which the perosn with the problem found their solution thus.

Well how's this for luck....Tonight, the night I was frustrated enough to write a post on here, I decided to do a bit more investigating. I thought about what was turned on at night that is not on during the day, obviously lights are. I have never considered this a problem in the past because I know that I have lights on during the day and they are not a problem.

Tonight though, I decided to turn all the lights off in the house and hey presto - internet back and working 100%. After turning them back on one by one, I found the culprit, a dimmer switch in the lounge room. Turn it to full on and there is no problem, dim it down and the internet stops working immediatly. I have tested all the other dimmers in the house and they all work fine.

So if anyone else ever has an intermittant slowing connection or dropping out completely, I would suggest turning everything in the house off except the PC and ADSL modem and see if that fixes it. Obviously, electrical interferance can play a big part.

So how lucky was I to discover the solution to my problem by accident.

[SuperSparks]

You need special (and very expensive, the last time I looked) dimmers for flourescent lamps Nix, ordinary dimmers can only work with incandescent lamps. If you use a normal type dimmer with a flourescent it will set up all kinds of harmonics, which is what was interfering with your router.

[Nix]

If I just leave it turned to max is that ok or should I replace the dimmer with a standard switch ?

I don't mind not having the dimmer option.

[SuperSparks]

Replace it with a standard switch, even on max the dimmer switch circuit and the flourescent control circuits are still likely to fight with each other. Sometimes you can get them to "sing" if the harmonics are right