Landline woes – not!

Not sure what is the cause, but since removing the Thomson for the last time, putting the D-Link back together, putting it back on it’s shelf with a short extension cord on the phone line, it has now gone 30 hours without a single drop of the line other than a couple of “ Frag of proto 17” messages, which are something to do with UDP and are apparently not important.

This to me indicates that the D-Link DSL G604TX is working fine, and the ridiculously good speeds I am getting (8.3 to 10.3 Mbs) bear this out.

What has changed is that NZ is finally getting a summer. The cable from the street to the house runs inside a plastic pipe and follows a fence line for about 15 metres, before disappearing into an airbrick into the house. The fenceline has a number of trees growing in it, including a Pohutakawa, which is well known for getting into pipes and things. In addition, the idiots that built my house 20 something years ago, filled in any trenches used for utilities with any available material including builders rubble. I have already had to replace the main waterpipe which was cut in several places by bits of brick. I am wondering if I have a similar problem with some rubble working its way into the pipe, cutting the insulation on the telephone cable, or tree roots breaking the pipes/cables. During NZs very wet winter, water gets in causing issues with the line, as the soil dries out, the issues go away. Our line problems have co-incided with the two wettest spells of the autumn and spring, so I am going to keep a log of line issues and weather. Wow, is that geeky or what! As I am busy doing some drainage work on that side of the house, I may just dig the line up anyway and take a gander at it.