Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

Yep, like the time I tried to tell the phone company that the signal-to-noise ratio was too low to reliably deliver the DSL bandwidth they claimed they could get to my house. They sent a truck out three times, where each technician gave a different story about what the problem supposedly was and/or that they fixed it. After three weeks, they finally concluded that I was too far for the speed they were trying to deliver.

Yep, similar issue with Cable internet when I first moved in here. Kept dropping out. I knew it had to be a low signal issue but couldn't prove it. 3 different techs couldn't determine the problem either even though they have the tools to monitor the signal. Finally after me bitching enough they sent their hot shot lead tech. In 5 minutes he identified the issue. Low signal.  They raised the signal on the line amplifier and problem solved.   

[0culus]

When I moved into my place I had that problem. Well, the internet was working but it was very very slow (supposed to be gigabit!) Turned out the genius before me had installed a coaxial attenuator on the cable coming in. Removed the attenuator and the internet suddenly was as fast as it should be.

[xrunner]

Turned out the genius before me had installed a coaxial attenuator on the cable coming in.

Any idea why?

[0culus]

Turned out the genius before me had installed a coaxial attenuator on the cable coming in.

Any idea why?

Maybe for TV service only? I have no idea. It certainly interfered with the internet service. I only have cable internet...nothing else. In fact I recently got them to cough up another 12 month promo for me. 

[edit] Gigabit on DOCSIS uses a lot more bandwidth than lower speeds...it might have been that the attenuator is fine on a lower speed plan.

[xrunner]

What was the dB attenuator value?

I used to monitor my upstream and downstream levels in my older modem but the new one Spectrum gives out cannot be accessed. 

[0culus]

What was the dB attenuator value?

I used to monitor my upstream and downstream levels in my older modem but the new one Spectrum gives out cannot be accessed. 

I don't know what I did with it (75 ohm is not useful in my lab anyway), but if memory serves, it was a 6 dB pad.

[bitseeker]

Yep, like the time I tried to tell the phone company that the signal-to-noise ratio was too low to reliably deliver the DSL bandwidth they claimed they could get to my house. They sent a truck out three times, where each technician gave a different story about what the problem supposedly was and/or that they fixed it. After three weeks, they finally concluded that I was too far for the speed they were trying to deliver.

Yep, similar issue with Cable internet when I first moved in here. Kept dropping out. I knew it had to be a low signal issue but couldn't prove it. 3 different techs couldn't determine the problem either even though they have the tools to monitor the signal. Finally after me bitching enough they sent their hot shot lead tech. In 5 minutes he identified the issue. Low signal.  They raised the signal on the line amplifier and problem solved.   

LOL! Speaking of cable Internet, when my neighbor got cable a few years after I did, the genius tech disconnected my line in the process. I had to wait all weekend for them to get another tech out to fix their mistake.

Boot to the head!

[bitseeker]

Boot to the Head (TEA edition)

Sellers who can't pack a box,
Used gear that's just dead,
Shippers who drop everything,
Give them a boot to the head.

Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Na, na, nah...

Ripple on the power rails,
Solder without lead,
Components with fake brand markings,
Common wires colored red.

Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Na, na, nah...

PC's that won't boot up right,
Phones that just go 'ding',
Macs with keys that break from dust,
Who the hell designs these things?

Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Na, na, nah...

Technicians who failed basic math,
Support people who can't think,
Vendors who pull sneaky tricks,
Hackers who spread malware links.

Boot to the head!
Nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot to the head!
Nah, nah
Boot! To! The! Head!

[mansaxel]

LOL! Speaking of cable Internet, when my neighbor got cable a few years after I did, the genius tech disconnected my line in the process. I had to wait all weekend for them to get another tech out to fix their mistake.

Boot to the head!

Back when we had DSL here I had a similar problem. It ended up being not in my end, because when we swapped the pair coming in to the house (We, for some unknown reason, have 6 pairs, and it's no add-on, it seems like it was built so 50 years ago) it came back without frequent renegotiations and similar. Took 2 iterations of tech visit. I was lucky enough to have the same tech both times, and the second round I wasn't even home, but I was able to convince him that I'd done everything I could and could we please swap blue/white pair for orange/white; he could do his (CO) side and I'd repatch in the LSA-Plus as soon as I got home.

Now we've got fibre, a single-strand line that links at 1Gbit. Problems so far mostly relate to longer power outages (there's an UPS in the concentration node but only with 2h backup time, and I've got perhaps 3h in my end) and last week a fat-fingering incident that required a truck roll to fix..  Slightly shorter drive than between Nottingham and Manchester, though.

Fibre service is practically flawless from a link POV, and performance is OK. I have 1-3ms RTT to services in town, and that is on top of a tunnel I run to get more than one IP address.

We as a world really need to exterminate all those short-haul "cable reuse" schemes (DSL, DOCSIS, etc) based on metal cable in favour of optical. And not do it half-assed with GPON. Point-to-point, with the opto-electrical translation in the home, is the only really good method. It is so much better.

[med6753]

I think I'll be long dead and buried before Verizon decides to string my neck of the woods with Fiber. My only choice for internet is copper provided by Spectrum. I pay for 60Mps down but typically get 85+Mps. Plenty for me and video streaming no issues. I think they offer 200Mps up to a max of 400Mps. But as of today I don't need it.

[mansaxel]

I think I'll be long dead and buried before Verizon decides to string my neck of the woods with Fiber. My only choice for internet is copper provided by Spectrum. I pay for 60Mps down but typically get 85+Mps. Plenty for me and video streaming no issues. I think they offer 200Mps up to a max of 400Mps. But as of today I don't need it.

Oh, the wonders of continous lobbying by large telcos to get FCC to hand them unsupervised (and more so now, with that sodomised-by-industry Trump puppet as FCC chair) monopolies. Must be a wonderful boost to the free trade and competition by quality that has made USA a prime nation in the world 

Seriously though, this is broken in so many places around the globe. Telia, Telstra, Deutsche Telecom, BT; they all have a lot to answer for.

Edit: There is no such thing as "enough bandwidth". Which is why I'm upgrading my internal network to 10Gig Ethernet at some potential choke points. Also, it's because it is the TEA style thing to do. Remember, "overkill" is interpreted as "enough". Right?

[capt bullshot]

So another chinese ebay seller failure:

Bought this charger, was delivered quickly. Label and ebay description clearly say "60W, 2A, 29.4V". Tested this thing before releasing to intended usage, reveals a poor 83% efficiency at 1.25A maxim output current @230V and even less (1.15A, 80% eff. @110V - tested just because I can). This thing also gets quite hot, more than 80 °C at some places, draws a maximum of 41W input power.

Opened a case "item not as described". Sellers asks for photos, which I uploaded (showing the charger w/ electronic load). Seller claimed couldn't find photos, so answered "I've uploaded them to ebay". Offered 30% refund, which I declined because unit isn't suitable for my purpose. Now got an offer for re-sending the unit - thought about it for some time and agreed. Will have then two chinese crap chargers to do and document some smoke testing and Diode gone wild style teardown of a super dodgy chinese charger 

[Zucca]

Hey capt, you don't wanna know how many chinesium DC power adapter I busted with my eDC Load.
A normal user will 70% do not complain, or thinking the device receiving the power is really damaged.

Bastards.

[med6753]

Edit: There is no such thing as "enough bandwidth". Which is why I'm upgrading my internal network to 10Gig Ethernet at some potential choke points. Also, it's because it is the TEA style thing to do. Remember, "overkill" is interpreted as "enough". Right?

I would love to max out my MIP rate "just because" but I already pay a ridiculous $82/mo just for 60. 400 would be over $40/mo more. And that's just internet. No TV or VOIP.

Edit....and I own the modems. No rent fees.

[AVGresponding]

Given bd's recent home brew sa purchase, maybe this will float his boat:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353180084478

[Robert763]

Why would anyone buy cheap far eastern PSUs / Chargers??? Do you want an insurance claim for the house burning down or something?
We know these things are crap, I won't let them in the house.
Had a similar dsicussion on a ham group about £5 inc shipping 12V 240W "meanwell" modular PSUs. You get what you pay for, people have died because of this crap.

[capt bullshot]

Had a similar dsicussion on a ham group about £5 inc shipping 12V 240W "meanwell" modular PSUs. You get what you pay for, people have died because of this crap.

If it's a genuine Mean Well, it'd be a real bargain. Mean Well is one of the PSU manufactures from far east that make "known good" PSUs.

[tggzzz]

Edit: There is no such thing as "enough bandwidth".

There is "enough bandwidth". You know you've reached that point when the problem is actually "too much latency". You can buy wider bandwidth, but not reduced latency.

(Or too many tracking/advertising requests. NoScript etc are your friend)

Which is why I'm upgrading my internal network to 10Gig Ethernet at some potential choke points. Also, it's because it is the TEA style thing to do. Remember, "overkill" is interpreted as "enough". Right?

Yup.

[capt bullshot]

A normal user will 70% do not complain, or thinking the device receiving the power is really damaged.

Bastards.

No, just unscrupulous fraud. Ferengi.

[Robert763]

Had a similar dsicussion on a ham group about £5 inc shipping 12V 240W "meanwell" modular PSUs. You get what you pay for, people have died because of this crap.

If it's a genuine Mean Well, it'd be a real bargain. Mean Well is one of the PSU manufactures from far east that make "known good" PSUs.

That's why I put the makers name in quotes and all lowercase. Clearly you are not getting a genuine Mean Well for £5 inc shipping but some people can't see past the moths in their wallet.

[capt bullshot]

That's why I put the makers name in quotes and all lowercase. Clearly you are not getting a genuine Mean Well for £50 inc shipping but some people can't see past the moths in their wallet.

£50 for a 240W MeanWell?
That's a normal price tag IMO:

[med6753]

That's why I put the makers name in quotes and all lowercase. Clearly you are not getting a genuine Mean Well for £50 inc shipping but some people can't see past the moths in their wallet.

£50 for a 240W MeanWell?
That's a normal price tag IMO:

Gee, those look very familiar. A smaller version of the IBM Z Series used those types of supplies and we had a whole boat load of them that were NG. Turns out they were something like 0.2V to 0.3V off but enough to trip the system controller as defective.

[Zucca]

TEA Rule #43
Never buy the cheapest chinesium, unless it is for explosion investigation purposes

[mansaxel]

but I already pay a ridiculous $82/mo just for 60. 400 would be over $40/mo more. And that's just internet. No TV or VOIP.

I pay ~ $40 per month for symmetrical 100Mbit.  GE symmetrical would set me back ~$75 (which is a new-subscribers-only deal).

[Robert763]

That's why I put the makers name in quotes and all lowercase. Clearly you are not getting a genuine Mean Well for £50 inc shipping but some people can't see past the moths in their wallet.

£50 for a 240W MeanWell?
That's a normal price tag IMO:

Typo (now corrected), £5 per my earlier post.