Here is the response to a few questions asked by my readers. The first one hits close to my heart because I have the same problem.

Rural DSL

Donald,
I am a regular reader of OSP™ and have been for a few years. I moved to “the country” last year and have requested DSL service from the telephone company, and have been told it is not available in my area and they have no plans to provide said service to me. I have contacted the PSC and they provide little help in my pursuit. I would like to know what the next logical step in obtaining DSL would be. I know I am in for a long ride, but that’s not new for me.

The “Rural” area I live in is Ethel, Louisiana. Didn’t George Bush say there is no more rural America?

Thanks for your guidance.

Sincerely,
Terry C. Ross

Terry,
I feel your pain. I moved to rural Oregon from the Monterey Bay area of California. By rural I mean we are three miles from town. When we moved in I ordered three POTS circuits and ADSL. We are 10,000 feet from a remote but it is not fiber fed. I was put on a list and was told that I would be informed when ADSL was available in my area.

Since then Verizon has provided fiber-to-the-home for all of our urban area including fiber from town to within two tenths of a mile from my remote on Stone Road.

As a monthly columnist in OSP™ Magazine I thought I might have some pull with the top management team from Verizon; I found out that I don’t. They told me that they have no intention of feeding my remote with fiber in the foreseeable future.

I contacted the Oregon Public Service Commission and the Sr. Telecommunications Engineer told me that the Oregon PSC has no control over ADSL or IPTV service. He stated that any telephone company can serve whoever they want to. The Oregon PSC has control only over Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS).

I probably should not have mentioned my debacle with Verizon in my columns. I can assure you that I will be the last Verizon customer in the state of Oregon served by paired copper conductors.

Satellite DSL is available for rural customers. I have tried two separate companies: HughesNet and Wild Blue. Both are less than satisfactory, and Wild Blue is the least expensive. If you have problems, repair service is beyond unacceptable unless your local telephone company sells the service and uses a quality repair technician.

Good luck,
Donald

------------------------------------------

Cordless Telephone Affecting DSL

Don,
I went out on a DSL problem the other day and was wondering if you have ever heard of the following situation.

The customer called in with a repeat case of trouble complaining that the DSL was constantly dropping. All tests at the Network Interface were acceptable. On prior complaints we had already homerun the inside wire, replaced the Network Interface, tested the station ground, groomed cable pair, and replaced the drop. The DSL would go out and would not come back on until the service technician reset the computer settings.

We scheduled a meeting with the customer to monitor the service. I checked the switch to make sure the Central Office jumpers were correct, and monitored the line for interference with a test set. To my surprise every 40 seconds a dial tone would come on line on the pair and stay on for about 5 seconds.

We checked at the Network Interface and found the trouble inside the residence. We removed the alarm system and after completing several other tests we determined the root cause was a cordless telephone.

We monitored the line with a butt-set at the modem, and with the cordless phone plugged in we would hear the cordless telephone draw dial tone every 40 seconds. This was knocking out DSL and causing the computer to lock up.

Have you heard of this problem before?

Thanks in advance,
Danny Wyke

Danny,
First, let me say thanks for sharing this. Through sharing, many can learn from your case. This is the first time that I have heard of this particular problem, but cordless telephones will cause grief with customer service. It is usually when the battery will not recharge and runs low. I suspect that this is the case with your problem. If the customer insists on keeping the cordless telephone they should buy a new battery for it. When the battery runs low on some cordless telephones the phone will short out the circuit drawing dial tone and then pulse.

The right number of pulses will dial 911. The sheriff kicks the door down at 2:00 a.m., thinking there is an emergency. If that happens, delete the pulse-dialing feature in the service provisioning.

Kind regards,
Donald

------------------------------------------

Hum On Line

Donald,
The only test equipment we have is a test set, a ground fault locater, an open meter, and a Simpson volt/ohm meter. We find all of our troubles with these simple tools. In a case of wet air core cable, when we lose enough pairs we replace the cable.

One of our customers complains of a hum on the line. The line is quiet just after the second load. But on this long half-mile span just before the third load is where you start to notice the hum. The hum noise level stays the same all the way to the fourth load, where we stop feeding from the central office.

The lines past the fourth load feed toward the central office from a fiber fed AFC remote. There are only 6 active lines on this 50-pair cable. There is a high voltage transmission line and a 7,200 volt distribution line that parallels the cable, but it is on the other side of the road.

You can read about 4 volts AC on the sheath when the bonds are disconnected from each end of the section. But that disappears once you connect the bonds.

If you have any suggestions, they would be appreciated. Isn’t a hum a fun trouble to find? Do you have any suggestions?

Jerry

Jerry,
Thank you for the e-mail. First of all, you need a quality multi-functional test set that can identify DC type faults, circuit design faults, and AC interference. The test set should also have the transmission testing features, a resistance bridge, an open meter, and a Time Domain Reflectometer. Good multi-functional test sets also have DSL testing capabilities. The Simpson volt/ohm meter will not help you find trouble on telephone circuits; you couldn’t find a cross in a church with it.

The cable pair should be tested for acceptable longitudinal balance. If the pair fails the capacitive balance test (less than 95%), then I would suspect that your pair is crossed up with a non-working conductor, open one side on a lateral, or open one side beyond the customer’s terminal.

If the pair passes the longitudinal balance test, an AC interference test is in order. Measure the amount of Power Influence and Circuit (Metallic) Noise to a quiet line termination. If Power Influence is unacceptable (more than 80dBrnC), then noise mitigation is in order. The transmission line rarely has any effect on the induced AC on the telephone cable. That comes from the distribution line. Don’t be too quick to blame the power company. Unacceptable bonding and grounding may be the culprit.

Measure and record the amount of Circuit Noise and Power Influence on several customers. When you get that information, call me and we’ll go from there.

Kind regards,
Donald

Signing Off
Many of the field technician’s questions end up in the forum section of my web site (www.mccartyinc.com). Feel free to join, because many other readers learn from your input and expertise or they may be able to help you with a problem you can’t solve. Stay in touch and feel free to contact me if you’d like to share comments or column ideas: dmccarty@mccartyinc.com or 831.818.3930.

About the Author - Don McCarty

LET`S TALK