LD T1 Dropping

[GStim]

Scenario: I have a dual T1 card in slot A with a PRI in port 1 and the LD T1 in port 2. I have another PTP T1 in slot B on a single card. PRI Provider SBC, LD and PTP Quest. The entire T1 will randomly drop all calls that are active and come back up 4000,s later. I have the PRI getting its timing off the LD T1 and it has never gone down. TWIST: I had a SBC LD T1 working on this port for about a year with no issues. When Quest runs a 2,8 Test (they are telling me that this is a standard stress test) it fails. When they run it against the PTP it passes and when SBC runs it against the PRI it passes. The problem has been there as long as the T1 has been in place (about 4 months). Late November, Quest replaced the smart card and aerial cable and the problem cleared up for about a month till the 31st when it started again. When I swapped the T1’s (LD and the PTP the problem followed the LD T1.

Question: Is there specific setting that are directly related to Quest? Could this be a Bad T1 card? And finally has anyone else experienced this?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[bwilch]

If I read you right, you said you swapped the T1 and the problem followed the LD T1, additionally you said the PTP T1 was in a different slot, therefore that would indicate it's not a problem with the T1 card in the IPO.

If the ariel cable and smartjack replacement fixed the problem for a short period of time, I would look back to that being the issue since it's started again.

Lastly, since they replace the smartjack and ariel cable, does the circuit pass their stress test?

 

[Ragnorak]

This is definitely a problem with the T1 on your carrier's end and it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in whoever maintains your "last mile" of cable.

The newer T1 cards have a DB9 connector on them. You can use hyperterminal (I think its 9600 or 19200 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop, harware flow control but I'm not sure-- play around with settings until it brings up an ASCII Menu interface) It allows you to set up loopbacks and a number of other nifty things. It also maintains an error log in the memory of the T1 card. (Not enabled by default on all cards) That log should prove that the T1 is taking hits on the carriers end.

Replacing the Smartjack is the simplest and easiest thing to do and is usually done by people who have no clue how to troubleshoot the circuit but want to say they did something. The smartjack is basically a PCI slot in a metal case. It has no chips or parts that can really fail; its just metal contacts. Sure the pins in the jack can get bent but this is the absolute least likely component to ever fail. There is an RJ48S/RJ48C jumper that changes the wiring pinout of the jack but it won't change itself.

The ariel cable is simply the cable that runs into or past your building on the telephone pole. Ariel means that there it runs to a junction box where it is cross connected to the "underground" cable that goes back to the central office. There may be 50 or 100 pairs in that ariel cable. The phone company technician only transfers your T1 to a different pair in that same cable. There is no "replacing" involved.