[HN Gopher] Automatically fixing packet loss on my connection
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Automatically fixing packet loss on my connection
Author : robotmay
Score : 16 points
Date : 2021-01-05 20:01 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (senryu.pub)
(TXT) w3m dump (senryu.pub)
| kraftman wrote:
| Won't this cause issues with retraining? You'll end up with a
| high SNR and lower sync speed, which may solve the packet loss
| problem but isn't ideal. It would be better to either work out
| whether the router is the issue and replace it or work out if the
| line is a problem and get an engineer booked out to investigate
| it.
| robotmay wrote:
| It's quite a peculiar issue when it does happen (which is
| rarely), in that the only way I've found of resolving it myself
| is by dropping the line at that modem. I'm always hesitant to
| have the line inspected in the UK because there's every chance
| OpenReach will come around and balls it up further.
|
| I've been doing this manually for the past couple of years
| without any negative effects that I've seen. I'd say it tends
| to happen maybe once every two to three months, which makes me
| think it's more likely an issue further up the chain. A&A are
| pretty spry at resolving issues but often I just drop the line
| myself to sort it out quicker.
| philjohn wrote:
| Have you ruled out the Draytek?
| tareqak wrote:
| Why does this packet loss happen, and why does restarting the
| router fix it?
| dilyevsky wrote:
| Because isp modems are almost universally garbage. I just
| shutdown -r mine at 4am using cronjob+ssh
| robotmay wrote:
| A&A actually have a nice explanation on their wiki:
| https://support.aa.net.uk/Packet_Loss
| lupinglade wrote:
| PingDoctor is a great tool for locating and reporting these
| issues:
| https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/pingdoctor/id1350044974?...
| mike_d wrote:
| If you are willing to throw a bit of money rather than code at
| the problem:
|
| Ubiquiti has a power strip in beta now that uses statistics from
| their routers to decide when to power cycle upstream devices.
|
| You can also find "Web Power Switches"
| (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0765NCB2L) under $200 that are
| scriptable, so when a ping to a specific site fails it cycles
| power to a set of devices.
| readmodifywrite wrote:
| That's kind of ironic, considering they don't provide a
| scheduled reboot feature for their own gear (which often needs
| it for IoT usage).
| robotmay wrote:
| Ooh I didn't know about that Ubiquiti strip. I must admit that
| I didn't even look about for existing solutions (honestly I
| just wanted to finally have a use for these plugs I had lying
| about).
| thisisnico wrote:
| Working in IT as a Systems Engineer, My thought process is
| always first -> Existing solution or Tool, if not exist,
| Patching existing tools together, if not exist, code our own
| solution.
| robotmay wrote:
| Hah yes in this case I already had most of the tools lying
| about. In fact the hardest part was figuring out why the
| hell the barrel-jack didn't fit in the modem. Ended up
| finding an Amazon review with the correct connector size.
| whoisburbansky wrote:
| This is incredibly cool! I've never worked with Z-Wave plugs
| before, the only home automation stuff I have set up involves
| WiFi connected smart plugs running Tasmota. How do you get the
| Z-Wave ones to talk to your Home Assistant setup?
| tamu_nerd wrote:
| Typically this is done with something like an Aeotec Z-Stick
| Gen5.
| robotmay wrote:
| This is what I'm using. The plugs are also Aeotec and work
| well, although there is some minor high audio frequency when
| very close to them. Mine are a few years old though.
|
| The Z-Wave integration for Home Assistant is basically plug
| and play with this stick. I run HA in docker and just pass
| the device through, works nicely.
| whoisburbansky wrote:
| Ah, cool, that's good to know. Another piece of kit for the
| raspberry Pi, glad to hear it's relatively straightforward.
| lrossi wrote:
| Basically restart the modem by cutting the power every time the
| connection is flaky. With a very complicated setup.
|
| Cutting power repeatedly a large number of times is a great way
| of eventually bricking the box.
|
| This modem has an admin web interface. The author could have used
| it to trigger a restart.
|
| The whole thing could have been automated with just a pi at 100
| times less cost, effort and risks.
| xnyan wrote:
| >is a great way of eventually bricking the box.
|
| The LAN interface on my ISP mandated box frequently fails along
| with whatever else is going on with the modem. Even the reset
| button fails at times, though not as often. Cutting power is
| literally the only reliable way of addressing the problem
|
| I don't agree that a hard rest is as risky as you are claiming,
| but even if you are right, who cares? The ISP mandated use of a
| shiity modem, they made it a black box that can't be
| troubleshooted and if it breaks then they will just send me a
| new one at zero cost to me.
| lrossi wrote:
| On the upside, if he manages to brick it, the ISP will replace
| it and maybe his problem will be fixed.
| robotmay wrote:
| I've never had a device brick by removing the power. The only
| button on the Vigor 130 immediately cuts the power too:
| there's no "shutdown" button.
| lrossi wrote:
| Your device's firmware is not even able to keep a
| connection up for a few hours. Which is its main function.
| Do you trust that they tested its code for recovering
| partitions that were not unmounted cleanly?
| robotmay wrote:
| There's no problem with the device: I triggered the
| failures/packet loss manually by pulling the cable to
| test the system. The actual packet loss is intermittent
| and reasonably rare, and is I suspect a fault at the line
| level with BT/OpenReach. A&A didn't provide me with the
| Vigor 130 btw, it's my own device. In general I find
| DrayTek devices very solid and I've not had any issues so
| far when powercycling it over the past few years. It's
| pretty much a stateless device, as the actual connection
| is established from the router on my side of it.
| robotmay wrote:
| You can't access that web interface from the internal network
| as the Vigor 130 is not a router. Unless someone has a fancy
| trick I'm missing I have to disconnect my router and connect a
| laptop directly to the modem with a fixed IP to access it,
| unfortunately. The Vigor 130 is really more of a PPPoA to PPPoE
| converter, or at least, that's how it's commonly used.
| mig39 wrote:
| Could you put a dumb switch between the Vigor and your LAN?
| And have the Raspberry PI be connected with a fixed IP
| directly to the modem?
|
| Then you could use WiFi to talk to the PI?
| robotmay wrote:
| Interesting idea! It might be possible; I haven't touched
| the thing since first configuring it a few years ago so I'm
| a bit fuzzy on how exactly the interface works.
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