Intermittent connectivity failure

[Portsmouth]

For the second critical time that matters to me within the 3rd month of onboarding with Now for Broadband services, the broadband connection kept toggling up and down at undesirable intervals.

Right in the middle of an assessment for my new role, I lost connection and I hope this would not cost me a resit because this counts against me, like the first day when the broadband was down.

A peek into the logs shows some ntp sync happening disrupting the service. This happened for most of today, 10th August 2023 here in Portsmouth at PO1 1EY.

Does anyone know how this can be managed?

[gavs82008]

@Portsmouth 

Below are some standard things you can and probably have done before calling the team.

Have you done a factory reset to the router indicated in the link below?https://help.nowtv.com/article/improve-broadband-speed

This link also shows any planned outages as well wide spread faults.
https://help.nowtv.com/service-status

You need to call the broadband team. See link for number.
https://help.nowtv.com/article/how-to-submit-a-broadband-complaint1

[Portsmouth]

@gavs82008 : Thank you for the details. Although the router got reset automatically some split seconds when I noticed the connectivity issue. I took a good look to observe all solid green indicator lights on the router but I see one goes out and then the others blinking before all goes off with only one red indicator light, like the initial boot-up sequence.

Anyways, all is good now, and observing also. The device is barely 3 months so I don't expect any hardware failures just yet because the device is not subjected to any harsh environmental conditions.

[RoyB]

@Portsmouth 

How was the NTP sync disrupting things? That’s a normal process to keep your router, or possibly a device connected to your router, on the correct UTP time.

So unless you are getting a sync flood, it shouldn’t disrupt anything. If you are getting a sync flood though, then it suggest a faulty device, perhaps, either your router, or something on your intranet.

[Portsmouth]

@RoyB : I reckon it was a sync flood because I confirmed from the activity log and noticed each time the date is reset to 1970 and also the device is reset until the ntp sync is successful and dates restore and link restored:

1970-01-01 00:00:09 syslog: BusyBox v1.17.2
1970-01-01 00:00:09 syslog: plc0 (Int switch port: 4) (Logical Port: 4) Link UP 100 mbps full duplex
1970-01-01 00:00:39 syslog: [ 39.796000] Line 0: xDSL G.994 training
1970-01-01 00:00:44 syslog: [ 44.799000] Line 0: ADSL link down
1970-01-01 00:00:56 syslog: [ 56.810000] Line 0: xDSL G.994 training
1970-01-01 00:00:57 syslog: sky dhcpc client (v0.0.1) started
1970-01-01 00:01:13 syslog: [ 73.820000] Line 0: ADSL G.992 started
1970-01-01 00:01:17 syslog: [ 77.831000] Line 0: ADSL G.992 channel analysis
1970-01-01 00:01:24 syslog: [ 84.836000] Line 0: ADSL G.992 message exchange
1970-01-01 00:01:25 syslog: [ 85.840000] Line 0: ADSL link down
1970-01-01 00:01:26 syslog: [ 86.842000] Line 0: xDSL G.994 training
1970-01-01 00:01:43 syslog: [ 103.853000] Line 0: ADSL G.992 started
1970-01-01 00:01:48 syslog: [ 108.868000] Line 0: ADSL G.992 channel analysis
1970-01-01 00:01:54 syslog: [ 114.877000] Line 0: ADSL G.992 message exchange
1970-01-01 00:01:55 syslog: [ 115.502000] Line 0: ADSL link up, Bearer 0, us=1261, ds=18192
1970-01-01 00:01:55 syslog: [ 115.507000] Line 0: ADSL link up, Bearer 1, us=0, ds=0
1970-01-01 00:01:56 syslog: sky dhcpc client (v0.0.1) started
1970-01-01 00:02:20 syslog: PPP LCP UP.
1970-01-01 00:02:20 syslog: WAN link UP.
1970-01-01 00:02:20 syslog: Received valid IP address from server. Connection UP.
1970-01-01 00:02:39 syslog: Connection Up. SNO/MAC/IP/SWVER/IPv6: [D15B234D000656/3C9EC78D4940/90.212.130.41/4.33.0100.R/::1]
1970-01-01 00:02:39 syslog: Send out NTP request to ntp1.isp.sky.com
1970-01-01 00:02:39 syslog: Time has been set from ntp1.isp.sky.com
2023-08-10 15:35:40 syslog: Received NTP Sync Reply from ntp1.isp.sky.com
2023-08-10 15:35:47 syslog: TR69: Connect to Production ACS

Above is the log for the last occurrence yesterday afternoon. Not experienced it afterwards, hence my suspicion for the ntp sync disruption..

[Portsmouth]

...also note I missed some overwritten logs to see  at the exact time what happened.

[Jayach]

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@Portsmouth wrote:

@RoyB : I reckon it was a sync flood because I confirmed from the activity log and noticed each time the date is reset to 1970 and also the device is reset until the ntp sync is successful and dates restore and link restored:

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Whilst I don't know the Now router, that would normally suggest the router had lost power or a factory reset carried out. Apart from those instances, I would expect the router to maintain it's own time.

[RoyB]

@Jayach @Portsmouth 

I’d agree with that. @Portsmouth, can you try power cycling your router, and I suspect you will see the exact same sequence, near enough; and the NTP sync, just at the end, is what brings the router back to the correct date and time.

Which suggests the router doesn’t even have a battery to keep the date/time alive while it’s unpowered 😢 though it may be able to keep pretty good time for itself once powered up, and only needs the occasional time sync.

So I might actually suspect a hardware fault with the router losing power, or needing to reboot itself, which would indicate it wants replacing.

But first I would check that the power cable to the router is firmly seated at both ends, preferably directly in a wall socket, not a tottering pile of adapters 😛

[Jayach]

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@RoyB wrote:

Which suggests the router doesn’t even have a battery to keep the date/time alive while it’s unpowered 😢 though it may be able to keep pretty good time for itself once powered up, and only needs the occasional time sync.

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I don't think I've ever had an ISP router that did have a battery. There really is no reason.

They may have some non volatile ram to keep their settings whilst powered off, but that would usually be it. (But no, I haven't had that many different routers)

[RoyB]

@Jayach 

Our Ciscos did, but then they were enterprise devices, nothing that would fit in the cupboard under our stairs 😛