Intermittent slowness and disconnects

Question

My Verizon DSL connection has been intermittently slow with random disconnects for the past 2 weeks. Unplugging/replugging the modem doesn't fix it. I'm in Pittsburgh using a Westell 7500. Any help?
news.giganews.com
1 gw1-g-vlan201.dca.giganews.com (216.196.98.4) 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms
2 xe-2-3-0.er1.iad10.us.above.net (209.66.64.189) 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms
3 xe-1-0-0.er2.iad10.us.above.net (64.125.25.50) 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms
4 above-uu.iad10.us.above.net (64.125.13.174) 7 ms 1 ms 0 ms
5 0.ae1.RES-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net (152.63.32.157) 1 ms 0 ms 0 ms
6 as0-0.PITT2-CORE-RTR1.verizon-gni.net (130.81.20.93) 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms
7 P3-0-0.PITT2-DSL-RTR7.verizon-gni.net (130.81.9.154) 8 ms 6 ms 6 ms
8 * * *
9 * * *
10 * * *
Max number of unresponsive hops reached (firewall or filter?)
news-europe.giganews.com
1 vl201.gw2.ams.giganews.com (216.196.110.2) 4 ms 0 ms 0 ms
2 208.174.49.145 (208.174.49.145) 1 ms 0 ms 0 ms
3 cr2-tengig-0-5-1-0.frankfurtft3.savvis.net (204.70.207.209) 9 ms 7 ms 18 ms
4 cr1-bundle-pos1.NewYork.savvis.net (204.70.196.137) 114 ms 101 ms 102 ms
5 er2-tengig-2-1.NewYork.savvis.net (204.70.198.14) 101 ms 101 ms 102 ms
6 0.xe-9-2-0.BR2.NYC4.ALTER.NET (204.255.168.89) 102 ms 101 ms 105 ms
7 0.xe-1-1-1.NY325-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net (152.63.1.206) 101 ms 101 ms 101 ms
8 as0-0.PITT2-CORE-RTR2.verizon-gni.net (130.81.20.95) 106 ms 113 ms 105 ms
9 P4-0-0.PITT2-DSL-RTR7.verizon-gni.net (130.81.9.158) 107 ms 108 ms 105 ms
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 * * *
Max number of unresponsive hops reached (firewall or filter?)
Transceiver Statistics
Transceiver Revision: A2pB020b3.d20h
Vendor ID Code:          4D54
Line Mode:                  ADSL_2plus
Data Path:                    FAST
DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 5013     861
Margin (dB)                    4.9       18.4
Line Attenuation (dB) 46.0       23.6
Transmit Power (dBm) 0.0       12.8

Answer 1

Your line looks to be pretty long to be using 5Mbps service on it. I think your disconnects may be from copper that is experiencing changes in how it is able to carry the DSL signal due to the changing weather. Perhaps the copper cabling is also deteriorating as it is exposed to the elements. Either way, we need to rule out some things first before deciding on a course of action.
Right now, your modem's margin is low, the downstream speed is not synced up correctly, and the attenuation is high. In addition, transmit powers are not reported but can be assumed, which also suggest a lenghty or degraded line as well as the equipment attempts to compensate for the speed.
If you have access to your NID, I'd like for you to plug your modem into it first to see if we can pull better statistics from the line. If they are much improved, we'll need to start troubleshooting where in the home the copper is giving issues. If there is no change, the next course of action would be to get Verizon out to repair the line on their end of things to try and improve the signal coming in. If they really cannot do anything, then I believe the line will require a bumping down in speed to 4Mbps/768kbps after overhead, instead of trying to aim for a full 5Mbps.
If the slow speed issues are not from the poor line stats, please give us some information on what is taking place when the speeds are reduced. Is it during the evening or night time hours when this occurs? Is there any particular usage pattern in your home that could be perhaps causing this issue? How about your modem sync speeds? Traceroutes?
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