[funsec] DSL - slow first hop - maintenance mode?

[Gary Funck]

A bit off-topic, but after a few vain Google searches, I thought I might
run my question by this group of net wizards ...

I've got DSL service at home via SBC, or whatever it is called now.  Had
some problems with the telephone line out front do the combination of
wet weather and squirrels who were busy eating away at the wiring over the
course of the summer.  Got that fixed, and everything seemed okay, except
some time later I noticed that the first hop (from the DSL modem at my
house to the first entry point into the CO) was slow -- as in nominally
55 msec., rather than nominal 5 msec.  Everything else was okay: throughput
ok,
error rates low, and so on.  It took me a couple of calls into the
Bangalore support office to get my call escalated to the point that I
counld get a tech. on my side of the Ocean to look at the problem.  Once
he did, the fix was quick and apparently simple.  He said that my DSL
line had been put into "maintenance mode", which as I understand the
tech. to say was "saving" packats, just in case they needed to be
retransmitted.  Does that make any sense at all?  Can you provide more
detail on what was likely going on?