Ok, I've been having some odd issues with my CenturyLink DSL and they have stumped myself, CL tech support and local CL line techs.
I have had an account with them for about 3 months.  DSL net-only line, no home phone, line runs from c/o to green box in my front yard to my TNI to my modem.  No filters, phones or other lines involved.  It is the extended DSL, so I have the 512/256kb/s package until they upgrade their service in the area.
After 1.5 months of service, I start having issues with DSL dropping each night around midnight.  After numerous calls to tech support, and numerous visits from line techs...no problem found, but we did find that my line attenuation is 52.  No idea when that occurred, or if that has been a problem from the start.  Still currently at 52, no one can figure it out.
Starting about 2 weeks ago, I start having to call them every night again because the net keeps dropping every night around midnight.  After an hour or two of power cycling the modem, it goes back to working.  Visited by several local line techs, no one can figure it out.  Each time I call CL tech support...there's a new message recorded about some users needing to power cycle their modems due to maintenance...maintenance every night for more than two weeks?  That doesn't seem right.
Starting about 3-4 days ago, around the same time I built my new custom PC, my ping is now consistently double of what it used to be...example, when I ran speed or ping tests off of servers within 30 miles I would get a max ping of around 43ms, now I'm seeing 96ms.  I'm a gamer and this has almost destroyed my ability to play my FPS games.  Several calls to CL tech support and 3-4 visits from local line techs found nothing, no one can figure it out.
All three bills I have received so far, had $30-40 worth of 411 calls billed, including some local calls.  I have no home phone, this is a net-only line with an outgoing call block.  I have to call CL customer support each month to complain and get the amounts credited.  Numerous visits from local line techs, no one can figure it out.
So as it stands...my line attenuation is 52, my ping off a local server is 96ms, I may still be getting charged for someone's numerous 411 calls, and my net still drops about 15 times each night starting around midnight.  The last local line tech to visit was yesterday, he said all he can think to do is speak to his superiors at the c/o and see if they have any ideas.  The last CS tech support rep I spoke to earlier today said all he can do is suggest I call customer support to get them to credit me at least a month's worth, and have them completely wipe and restart my account with them as a possible solution to some of the issues I'm having.
Any of you broadband tech guys have any opinions/ideas/suggestions I could forward to the guys at the c/o?  I'm getting really tired of the high ping, mysterious 411 calls and nightly connection drops.



ETA : For speed and ping tests I use speedtest.net and pingtest.net.  Not only have those shown me the double ping issue, but gaming has also shown it.  Before I would be offered a server list full of sub-100ms servers.  Now I'm lucky to see them under 150ms.  My modem is a Westell 6100.  My ethernet hardware is dual integrated NICs on an MSI 890FX-GD70 motherboard with most recent drivers from MSI's website.

When I lose connection, both the DSL light and the Internet light go out and slowly blink back to life.  It's a Westell 6100 wired modem, I also have the wireless version...both have the same issues.  I have no other equipment on the line.



I have spoken to customer support, tech support, supervisors from each of those departments, local line techs.  They all have no idea what's going on, nor are any of them connecting me to someone important at the c/o which doesn't seem to have any contact information publicly listed.  At this time nothing is going on, I'm pretty much stuck with these issues.



Found out why CenturyLink marked my yard, someone called and needed lines around here marked for some reason.



 

Yeah, it's just a net-only line. with outgoing call block.  Goes from the box in my yard that services my house and the neighbors house, to the TNI on the side of my house, to my Westell 6100 wired modem.  I switched to the wireless modem, using the ethernet port, and all that changed was my line attenuation from 51 to 61.  I don't even care what the line attenuation is anymore since it's not really causing issues, I just want my 40ms ping back, this connection is now virtually worthless to me for what I need it for and that's gaming.  I pretty much have satellite internet now, but with slower down/up speeds.







Just spent another 2 hours on the phone being passed around from billing, to customer support, to tech support.  Spoke to at least 4 supervisors.  I keep getting the same two answers..."we'll submit a repair ticket" and/or "you're on our extended DSL service, so we don't make guarantees on your speeds/latency, sorry."  My ping was 40ms the first two months, being on extended DSL is NO EXCUSE for it suddenly doubling and staying double after being normal all that time.  That there is the result of a problem or change that occurred somewhere, not a random and unexplainable event due to distance from the c/o.  If my speeds and/or ping were bouncing up and down from the start, then I could see that falling under the "extended DSL = no guarantees" policy they have.





The last tech I spoke to on the phone was pretty cool, he removed all the repair tickets at my request because we already know what the local line techs will find.  He instead submitted a new ticket for the local c/o supervisor to call my cell either today or by noon tomorrow at the latest.  I'll finally be able to speak to somewhere that's in the same building as where this problem will very likely be located.  Hell, I'll go over there and fix/replace the shit myself if I have to, I just want my stable and low-latency broadband back. Living out in the middle of nowhere, really sucks.







 

I'm with CenturyLink and it could be worse.  You could be in an area that isn't serviced by DSL and not going to get it in the foreseeable future.  


Vulcan94

I've been here in SW Missouri for about 6 years, extended DSL became available about 6 months ago...I waited for it, called them constantly because I knew it was coming just didn't know when.  My first 3 years was on dial-up, last 3 years were on cellular broadband.  I'm within the wifi/wireless broadband service area...but terrain blocked any signals.  It was terrible, so imagine how happy I was to finally get the green light for DSL from CenturyLink.





Now that it's here, I'm unhappy with it.  Sure it's better than the capped cellular broadband I had from Alltel/Verizon and the dial-up I had before that, but it's just not the broadband I should be getting.  They won't upgrade their systems until neighborhoods start popping out outside city limits where I'm at, so until that day I'm on the slowest/extended DSL package they offer.

 

Well, your line attenuation is not terrible, but the sudden change is what I would be worried about. Have the techs checked for interference from adjacent T-1's, VDSL, or other carrier circuits in the cable?? It sounds like a classic disturber issue.

Also, do you know if you're running a dynamic IP address? I know most companies that do run dynamic don't have enough IP's for 100% of their customers. I have seen it kick one person off to give the address to someone else who just turned their modem on.

Don't know exactly what tests they've run on my lines, but I'll mention that to the next line tech that shows up here.



Don't know on the IP address, not too in-the-know on the networking stuff.



 

I run CenturyLink (ugh) and I've seen these sorts of problems as well. It's likely that there's not enough bandwidth in your area to service everyone. Do you live in a college area or an area with a lot of youths? Midnight seems to be a popular time for that.

The Westell 6100 is a major piece of shit and will easily run out of system resources and crap itself. Go to 192.168.1.1 in your browser and go to Advanced -> Diagnostics and paste some of the messages you're getting.

What sort of router are you running, if any? Have you upgraded the firmware on it?

You have separate problems.  Isolate and deal with them that way.
Forget about your line speed and ping for a minute, it's confusing and distracting you.
You have two other problems:
1) Your line drops at midnight.
2) 411 calls on your circuit.
They MAY be related, they may not.  The first step, is stop playing around with their phone support, tell them, "fix this or cancel my fucking service".   Remember, they are used to dealing with people who just want to get their email and look at ESPN.com who don't care if it's out, and wouldn't know a ping time from a snake up the butt.  You need to pound home that you consider this a BIG problem because as far as they are concerned, it works fine, and you are pestering them for no reason.





Then, when they send the goober out to mess with the lines, demand to go WITH him and have them show you the tags on your circuit.  This will give you a circuit number and forces the guy to know what he's looking at. (This will doubtless annoy him, but whatever.)  Also, while you are doing this, check for other devices or joined wires on your circuit.  It should be neat, labeled and safe from rain/snow/bugs/flooding, etc.
Dropped modem lights ARE NOT BANDWIDTH ISSUES, no matter how much data your neighborhood is using, that will NEVER cause the lights to do the search and connect.  That only happens when the power is out on the box on the other end, the
circuit is broken, or the cable is unplugged somewhere.





Regular resetting like that used to happen on old phone neighborhood circuitry that got "out of whack" with constantly open lines (which a DSL modem is) and they would reset.  There may be an old device like that down the street.  I also would not rule out a security problem in the DSL modem.  Get the model number, look it up, and read forums discussing it.  Look for firmware upgrades or security problems.
Now, with your circuit number, you can call the next time you have billing anomalies, and verify (make them tell you what it is) your circuit number is actually the one on your account.  You may just have a wrong circuit ID on the provisioning that is causing you to get someone else's line activity. (Better hope they aren't into child porn or sharing file movies via Limewire...)



Barring a typo in the circuit numbers, you may have a security problem elsewhere.  When do these 411 calls take place?  The same time the DSL modem is out?  Are you SURE it's not dialing as a regular phone because someone has control over it?  Call the local numbers listed from the 411 and find out what is there.  At the very least, that may tip off whomever is doing it that you are onto them so they knock it off.



Also, inspect your premise, the local poles, and so on as far as you can
go for anything that looks like someone stealing phone service from
your line.



I suspect the issue is nothing more than you got bumped to an older box because some new one died (which is why it pukes every night, it's an old one) and they are just using it to hold circuits (one of which is yours) while they get the replacement installed.  Your ping time may get back down to where you want it to be when they are done.



The 411 thing should be setting off big alarm bells though, that's suspicious.

Low population area, especially where I am specifically.
Diagnostics is just a sub-menu, with numerous options to choose from.  Which one should I be going to?
No router, just the 6100.






The local line tech I've been dealing with is really advanced with this stuff, and has been really helpful so far.  I know enough to know nothing is crossed or tampered with here in my boxes, so that shouldn't be the problem. The line to the green box from wherever, and from the green box to my TNI are both buried, so I can guarantee no one has beige-boxed my shit(I was a busy kid back in the day).   He assures me there has been no recent work done or problems at the c/o, but he still has some stuff to check out.  He called earlier to check on my connection because he removed some sort of hardware from my line that allows for a dial-tone or something, says this should keep those calls from showing up wherever they're coming from...and if it doesn't, then there's an internal billing problem that CL customer support needs to fix ASAP.  Like I said it's 411 calls here and there during the day stretched out over the month, with a few local calls mixed in...all of which are to home loan type places and etc.  I haven't bothered to call any of them as I know they won't give me any information on who may have called.
There is no firmware update available for this 6100 that I know of, there is one available for the spare 7500 I have sitting here...but I don't want to use that modem because it jumps my line attenuation up from 52 to 61-62 and runs hotter than the 6100.
Tomorrow the local line tech should be calling me after he has a chance to speak to his supervisor about what's been going on, and ask him about what may need to be done at the c/o in an attempt to fix the problems.
I don't know my neighbors at all, but it wouldn't hurt to cruise out to their places to see if they've been having any issues with phones or net...but from what the tech said, I'm the only person in the immediate area that has DSL that he knows of.
For at least 48 hours I have not had any "outages".  These "outages" never happened around the times of those 411 calls, from what I can remember...I don't know anything about the calls until I get a bill which documents the dates and times.  As far as I know my connection has never dropped during the day, the calls range from morning to late afternoon, sometimes several times a day.
What really confuses me about those mysterious calls is the fact I have an outgoing call block on the voice half of the line, and that option even shows up on my bill.  The local line tech and customer support both agree that the only calls I should be able to make are either 911 or CenturyLink's main 800 number...so shouldn't this rule out a crossed line or someone tampering with my line and pretty much limit it to an internal billing fuck up?



While on the phone earlier with the local line tech, he had me run a traceroute in cmd prompt and give him the results.  Not sure what they're for or what he's going to do with them, but it's nice to see that he's actually trying to help me out with the sudden high ping.