This topic

Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

paddyb80 — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 00:36:10 GMT

Hi all,

Wondering if someone can take this case onboard or direct it to someone that can fix our issue once and for all.

Since we've moved into our property I must of raised numerous tickets regarding our phone line and our broadband and each time an Engineer has been out to the property and done some tinkering then one of a few things has been said

Couldn't find any issue on your line
Checked the Exchange , switched you onto a different socket
Rain could have caused an issue with your drop line
Had a new drop line installed
New Master Socket installed

So we've been through a catalogue of responses, fixes and whilst there has been improvements and times where services seemed to be running well, the issue always seems to crop it's head again.

Phone line being noise (crackling etc)
BB disconnecting due to the symptoms on the phone line

There was a period time where everything was running perfect, now in the last 2 months we've started noticing disconnects again, thus requesting an engineer to visit our property, whom couldn't ascertain the problem but said in his own words "jiggled a few things" so should be fine now.

Again, seemed to run fine for a few days (obviously allowing for stabilisation on the line and the line finding it's optimum speed etc) , then no more than a week later, disconnects reappear.

Can I ask someone or @Matt-S (whom I dealt with directly with one of my previous issues and he was massively helpful) to take this on board as we're on the verge of just sacking BT products and going with a 3rd party.

When the Broadband is working it's reaching advertised speeds

Data rate:20 Mbps / 76.99 Mbps
Maximum data rate:26.311 Mbps / 77.829 Mbps

I remember there being issues with Noise Margins / Attenuation etc previous, I'll list them as they current are from the log.

Noise margin:9.9 / 6.3

Line attenuation:4.7 / 14.2
Signal attenuation:4.7 / 13.7

Like I said, we're at the end of our tether as at lot of what we do requires internet access and a stable connection (due to working from home) and depending on our shift patterns working through the evening (and the evening seems to be the time the disconnects frequent more, as in 00:00 onwards)

again , any direction or if anyone can pick up on this would be much appreciated.
Any further info required I'll gladly supply and or contact info if you wish to speak to me directly.

Kind Regards

Paddy.

Re: Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

Starwire — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 08:15:18 GMT

Sounds like you have either a High Resistance Fault or Possibly a Rectified Loop.

Try calling your Landline from your Mobile and watch your Router, if it drops Sync I’d definitely say it’s a HR.

If you call your Landline a few times in quick succession and the Noise disappears, be it for 2 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, etc then I would say it’s a Rectified Loop as the 75 AC Ringing Voltage is Temporarily burning it out.

Unfortunately both can be difficult to Fault and with the pressure Openreach Engineers are under combined with their lack of training it might take half a dozen if not more visits before you get a good one or for one to get lucky.

Re: Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

PaddyB — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 10:22:14 GMT

Hi @paddyb80,

Thank you for posting. I'm sorry if you've been experiencing issues with the stability of your connection.

Have you tried ringing your landline from your mobile as suggested by @Starwire?

How often is your connection dropping? When it disconnects does it reconnect straight away? How many disconnections are you seeing in a 24-hour period?

To get a better understanding of how the connection is performing, please could you post your router stats?

If you are using the BT Smart hub you can get your connection stats by, Opening a new web browser on your connected device and type 192.168.1.254 or bthomehub.home into the address bar. This will open the Hub Manager. Click ‘Advanced Settings’ and then ‘Technical log’

Thanks,

Paddy

Re: Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

paddyb80 — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 16:51:58 GMT

Not going to lie, had to double check I didn't reply to my own thread then, haha.

Thanks for the responses @PaddyB @Starwire

* Rang landline both on my mobile and wife's and the lines are clear currently but earlier today there was severe crackling. So currently hit n miss whether there's noise on the line or not.
* Disconnects then reconnects immediately
* Disconnects 2-3 times per day, again usually in the evenings and early hours, but has been known to drop during the day also.

Funnily enough today's probably been the most stable day of recent, 16 hours without a drop.

Pasted Log below;

Product name,BT Smart Hub 2
Serial number,+091298+1929005478
Fireware version,v0.33.00.12274-BT (Mon Dec 27 16:35:30 2021)
Board version,R01
GUI version,1.74 12_11_2020
DSL uptime,0 days 16 Hours 20 Mins 12 Secs
Data rate,20.0 Mbps / 77.0 Mbps
Maximum Data rate,26.3 Mbps / 77.8 Mbps
Noise margin,9.8/6.2
Line attenuation,4.7/14.2
Signal attenuation,4.7/13.7
VLAN id,101
Upstream error control,Off
Downstream error control,Off
Data sent / received,1.8 GB Uploaded / 2.1 GB Downloaded
Broadband username,bthomehub@btbroadband.com
Public Wi-Fi,Active
2.4 GHz wireless network name,BT-RWA8XW
2.4 GHz wireless channel,Smart (Channel11)
5 GHz wireless network name,BT-RWA8XW
5 GHz wireless channel,Smart (Channel36)
Wireless Security,WPA2 (Recommanded)
Wireless mode,Mode 1
Firewall,On
MAC address,04:A2:22:94:24:6D
Software variant,-
Boot loader, 0.1.7-BT (Thu Nov 30 09:45:22 2017)

We're in a position where our contract has ended and I'm obviously getting the spam to renew with better deals etc but unless this issue can be resolved, not inclined to tie ourselves down for another 18 months etc.

Re: Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

licquorice — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 18:09:46 GMT

Doesn't matter which ISP you use unless you move to Virgin you will still be using the same Openreach infrastructure and fault.

Re: Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

imjolly — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 18:41:34 GMT

It is interesting that with the number of daily drops in connection you mention your connection speed is good and almost at attainable as I would have expected the DLM to have taken action reducing speed and increasing noise margin to try and stabilise your connection

Re: Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

Starwire — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:17:01 GMT

Depends where the Fault is.

If the fault was on say BT’s Exchange Equipment, i.e. the Line Card, Concentrator or MDF Block them moving to an LLU Provider like Sky or TALKTALK would resolve the issue as the Line would be moved onto their Exchange Equipment.

The Openreach Access Network only consists of the Cabling from the MDF to the NTE in the case of a Metallic Path. Anything prior to that is the responsibility of the owning CP or Wholesaler.

Re: Regular Disconnects / Phone Line noise (after various Engineer visits)

paddyb80 — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 09:00:38 GMT

Apologies for the lack of interaction on this thread, been away on business.
Asked the Mrs to keep tabs on things and she's stated everything has been fine, including the phone since I left

So I'm scratching my head currently as it was terrible at the time of posting on here.
I haven't logged a fault as of yet as we'll see how currently it fairs before committing to anything

Current (snippet) router log

DSL uptime:4 days,08 Hours45 Mins22 Secs
Data rate:20 Mbps / 76.99 Mbps
Maximum data rate:26.124 Mbps / 77.678 Mbps
Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:Off
Noise margin:9.7 / 6.2
Line attenuation:4.7 / 14.2
Signal attenuation:4.7 / 13.7

I'll continue to monitor the situation but appreciate the responses and feedback.