This topic

Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Paxmin — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 23:32:31 GMT

Hi. So at first when joined my speeds were great, no interference what so ever. Half way through contract I suddenly get disconnecting for a few seconds, then slow speeds.

This problem has been going on for 3 months. I have had around 6 engineers out in this time. I have had filter changed, line checked, router restarted, external engineers, new router. The last person I spoke to over the phone said there is interference with my broadband and that an engineer could fix it... They couldn't, they said the interference could be anywhere and they won't be able to find it.

I'm so frustrated, they said changing/moving the router won't change anything.

So now I'm stuck with fluctuating speeds from 500kbps to 12 mbps (I have noticed this through a big download tonight) let's just say its taken 4 hours to do 7gb.

Can anyone fix this? Or send me in the right direction? BT can't seem to fix anything.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 06:38:05 GMT

Is there any noise on your phone calls? Dial 17070 and select option 2, there should be no noise between the announcements.

The engineers are from Openreach, not BT Retail.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Paxmin — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 09:06:34 GMT

No. As stated BT have tested all my line and said it's working perfectly.

They've said it is a interference.

Plus I haven't just had Openreach come out,the other company has been too (forget the name)

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 09:26:58 GMT

@Paxmin wrote:

No. As stated BT have tested all my line and said it's working perfectly.

They've said it is a interference.

Plus I haven't just had Openreach come out,the other company has been too (forget the name)

But have you checked the line yourself, as some faults cannot be detected by BT testing the line?

Do the quiet line test yourself, and listed for noise for a couple of minutes. High resistance faults are quite common, and do not show up on a test, but show up as noise on your phone calls.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Paxmin — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 09:32:20 GMT

No as I don't use my land-line. I don't have a house phone. I did watch the guy attatch his phone and saw there was no noise on the line. He did this for quite a while.

I'va had tons of engineers out now and none of them can fix my problem.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 09:40:01 GMT

@Paxmin wrote:

No as I don't use my land-line. I don't have a house phone. I did watch the guy attatch his phone and saw there was no noise on the line. He did this for quite a while.

I'va had tons of engineers out now and none of them can fix my problem.

A landline phone is essential for fault finding.

Why do you need phone connected to your line?

If the phone line is noisy or has a high resistance connection, then that will affect your broadband.

The lack of any current flowing through the wires due to the lack of a phone providing an occasional loop, causes oxidisation at any joints which causes the line resistance to increase. This does not show up on a normal line test.

There are quite a few people that do not plug a house phone in to check dial tone every so often. This can cause issues with broadband. Also, if one wire has become disconnected (quite common), then that will cause no broadband, constant disconnections, or a very low speed.

The solution is to get hold of a cheap (less than £5) wired phone, and plug it into the phone socket to see if you get dial tone.

Then dial 17070 (free call) and select option 2, quiet line test, and see if there is any noise on the line.

If you do not get dial tone, or there is noise on the line, then you need to report it as either no dial tone, or a noisy line. Do not mention the broadband problem, otherwise it will end up in the wrong fault queue, and take much longer to be fixed. There are plenty of people who can fix phone faults, but not as many broadband people.

Once the phone fault is fixed, then the broadband will get better

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Paxmin — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:04:26 GMT

OK so I have just tested using a phone.

There is a dail tone and there is no noise on the line. As suspected the phone line is working perfectly fine.

What now? As said above the problem is not the line. I have had everything checked as well as me just checking. The engineer said there is rain and also the bt fault team said there is an interference.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

mgylsk — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:31:36 GMT

Hi @Paxmin it's very strange that you have had 6/7 engineers but none of them could fix it. Do you know if they have tried changing your port or reset your port? Did they replace the wire outside if it's caused by rain? I highly suspect the issue is indeed outside of your property from BT side.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Paxmin — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:46:39 GMT

My line is perfectly fine. "rain" meaning there is an electrical interference with my router/broadband connection. That's what the engineers called it. They said they can't control if the neighbours are causing it etc.

The new router has helped with most of the disconnecting but I'm still getting slow speeds. I did a bt speed test last night an it said 8mbps, the engineers tested the speed direct last week and said it was 35mbps. I never get this speed.

Seems this is a hardware problem but they have basically tried everything. I predict it will start disconnecting again soon and my speeds will be lowered to meet a sustainable speed.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:51:17 GMT

Its REIN not rain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_electrical_impulse_noise

https://kitz.co.uk/adsl/rein.htm

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Paxmin — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:06:54 GMT

OK sorry I don't know anything about it just what the engineer told me in person. So I didn't know how to spell it etc.

I'm guessing there is no fix for this?

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

licquorice — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:41:16 GMT

Until recently unless the source of the REIN was located, no, but it would appear Openreach have developed a filter.

See https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,25062.msg420940.html#msg420940

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:00:46 GMT

Having many years of experience with radio interference, I doubt very much any form of filter is going to stop all interference, without it having a detrimental effect on the available bandwidth.

What can help is a filter which reduces interference which is picked up equally on both wires of a balanced pair, sometimes call longitudinal filters. These can be very effective on an ADSL connection where the bandwidth is limited, but would be difficult to implement on a VDSL connection without losing some of the available bandwidth.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Paxmin — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:40:59 GMT

Would moving the router to a new location or changing the frequency help at all?

I was wondering whether getting a better router would help but nobody from the bt can give me any exact answers to these questions nor do they know if it will help.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

licquorice — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:48:59 GMT

@Paxmin wrote:

Would moving the router to a new location or changing the frequency help at all?

No, if it is REIN the interference can be anywhere between your house and the cabinet. Change what frequency? Its not a wifi problem.

I was wondering whether getting a better router would help but nobody from the bt can give me any exact answers to these questions nor do they know if it will help.

Doubtful.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 15:01:19 GMT

@Paxmin wrote:

Would moving the router to a new location or changing the frequency help at all?

I was wondering whether getting a better router would help but nobody from the bt can give me any exact answers to these questions nor do they know if it will help.

Not really, as whichever router you use, it will still be affected by the same interference.

What can help however, is a router which can be locked to a specific connection profile so its not affected by signals outside of its spectrum. The home hubs all have an open profile and will attempt to identify the correct profile automatically. This can mean that if the connection is lost due to interference, it take longer to reconnect.

The cheapest VDSL modem/router with this facility, is the TP Link TD-W9970 which is usually under £40 and can often be obtained locally at Argos but cheaper on Amazon £33.

Bear in mind that if you use wireless a lot, then this only has the 2.4GHz band.

This is another dual band option https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/dsl-modem-router/archer-vr400/v2/

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

LeVzi — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 08:56:56 GMT

That's one of the biggest annoyances of the hub, you cannot fix a channel, it's on "smart" selection all the time.

I suspect I am a victim of this kind of issue too, but the Homehub actually copes better than the TP Link.

OpenReach are due this week, so hopefully the fault will be found.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

licquorice — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 09:02:49 GMT

Of course you can fix a channel if you wish. Smart is just one option, not the only option

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

LeVzi — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 09:55:13 GMT

No, I cannot.

I have fixed the 5Ghz channel to 44 from (Smart 36) and it changes the wifi password to something unknown.

You "should" be able to do it, but for some reason I cannot.

Re: Bt Engineers can't fix my broadband

imjolly — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 10:01:25 GMT

@LeVzi

I would factory reset your SH2 using recessed button on back and try selecting a specific channel for 2.4 and 5ghz. remember to save before exit. you should definitely be able to turn off auto select and choose a channel manually