1939farmall update on DSL

Been reading up on how to use sidekick. I still have a lot to learn.

We went 5 days without issues. Tonight DSL got extremely slow. So I connected sidekick to old interface box inside garage with modem connected and running very slow.
No ACV. 45 VDC, ring + tip -. Switched to stress mode. Meter went to 80 for a few seconds. Sidekick kicked modem offline and stress went to 10. A few seconds later I could hear on sidekick the modem waking up taking with CO. Then stress went to 30. Modem is now up to full speed again.

What do you think is wrong? Why would the meter reset modem and speed it up?
Thanks
Geo

Sorry I didn't see your post last night. Lets tackle the voltage first. Here is how that works. When the customer (you) ordered service you got DSL and phone service. When you dropped the phone service and kept DSL the phone company had 2 options on how they provided just DSL to you house. They could put you on whats called a dry loop circuit which would have no voltage on the line, or the simply shut off the phone portion of your service which would leave voltage on the line. Either way is fine for DSL service. Since you have posted a couple of times reporting a fairly constant voltage I will assume they did the later of the 2 options and left voltage on the line. Normal phone line voltage is 48 to 52 VDC so that figures and is probably not the issue. It should be present no matter what you do.
I see two problems with how your testing: Remember that sidekick is nothing more than a fancy volt/ohm meter.
1) You cannot get a good reading using that meter with the modem tied into the line. It has to be unplugged from the phone jack then test. As it is right now all your seeing is the function of the modem, that is why your see the stress reading jump up and down. as soon as your hook that meter (or any device for that matter) into the phone circuit it will knock the modem off line. The modem will then try to reestablish its connection
which is exactly what the readings are showing you. In essence you are just resetting the modem no different than if you just unplugged it and plugged it back in.
By reestablishing the connection you can get a better connection speed but if there is trouble on the line it will be a short lived fix. Which is probably whats happening here.
2) Going back to the 45VDC on your circuit. IF that is voltage from the phone company then you are very limited on what tests you can perform with the side kick it is not designed to test for shorts or grounds with voltage on the line. The only accurate tests you can perform with it will be stress and volts.


This is how you should test your line with that meter with the line conditions you describe:

1) Go to the modem and unplug it from the phone jack.

2) You said you had two phone boxes on your property. Go to the one that receives service from the phone company first and disconnect the incoming line.

By performing steps 1 and 2 you have isolated your service into three segments: The modem, The house wiring, and The incoming service.

3) Connect the sidekick on the house wiring side of the phone box. Perform short, ground, voltage, and stress test in that order and record your readings.

4) Connect the sidekick to the incoming phone line. Test for volts dc and ac. If you have voltage the only other test you can perform with that meter is stress. record you results. If you have no voltage then you can perform the short and ground test.

Let me know what your results are and we'll go from there. Ive carried a sidekick for over 20 years its a good meter, and can give you lots of info about the health of your line once you understand how it works and how to use it correctly. Good luck. Ill try to watch for your update.

Thanks for your help.

Originally we had both DSL and landline, so that will explain why we have 45VDC now that we don't have landline anymore.

Before I found the sidekick, Resetting the modem didn't always correct the issue. When we were lucky to get someone to answer the phone, they said reset modem which didn't work. They would run tests and said Gee there is something wrong. Never said What, just we'll send a tech. Days later when tech shows up, problem has gone way.

If we have a short in wire someplace, how would resetting the modem with sidekick fix the problem and give us a faster speed?

I have done stress test with modem unplugged. Stress is around 10. I measured AC and DC voltages Tip to ground, Ring to ground, nothing. Tip to ring no ACV just DCV.

I've also plugged in old landline phone, get busy signal and digital signal when modem was working.

It will be interesting to see if there is ever an occasion when sidekick can't reset modem. There have been occasions resetting modem with on/off switch doesn't work.

When things are working well, We can use two laptops at same time, no issue. Stream movies from Amazon or Netflix without stopping to load. Even use a laptop and stream.

This is an intermittent problem, which before sidekick has been a big kick in the butt.

I'll keep you posted. Someday I may get lucky and find the problem. Many thanks.

The sidekick isn't reseting the modem, its actually interrupting the connection for the modem and making it reestablish a connection. If there is very light trouble you may see temporary improvement but that's all. Its hard to say with out being there to work on it of course, but from every thing you've said my guess would be that the trouble ( short, ground, or open) is coming and going. Remember you can have trouble on the line in varying degrees. A very light short can exist and not cause any noticeable trouble but if the line gets wet or is disturbed in some manor it can become a hard short and interrupt service. With voltage on the line you really only have the option to test the wires on your side of the box. My educated guess tell me the trouble is out in the main telephone cable, but again with out being there its just a guess. Keep playing with that sidekick it does come in handy. I use it in other applications too, even shooting trouble on tractor wiring!

Let me know what happens.