This topic

Different speeds on two domestic accounts

stickybloke — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:40:39 GMT

I have two BT broadband accounts at my house. The second line was added for so my wife could work from home without her internet being slowed by the kids’ gaming.

The second, new line is tapped from the original socket; there’s only one phone line to the house. Both accounts have the newer Smart Hub.

Over the last two days the older household account has dropped to a third of its usual speed. It is steady on 10Mbps even with all connected devices offline. The newer account gets the 34Mbps which was common to both accounts until recently.

I’ve done the usual things like rebooting the affected Hub but to no avail. Would appreciate any ideas or thoughts people have, thanks.

Tech logs below (8HSZ is the affected Hub)

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

licquorice — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:46:46 GMT

@stickybloke wrote:

The second, new line is tapped from the original socket;

No idea what you mean by that.

there’s only one phone line to the house. Both accounts have the newer Smart Hub.

No, there are 2 phone lines to the house, but possibly only one cable supplying both lines.

Both lines look to be faulty, but if you only have one master socket I have no idea how the hubs are connected. There should be 2 master sockets if you have 2 lines.

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

imjolly — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:50:36 GMT

There is certainly a problem with original line so can you try quiet line test. Dial 17070 option 2 should be silent and best with corded phone. Any noise needs to be reported to 151

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

Starwire — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 17:23:00 GMT

A line being Tapped means someone is Listening into your Calls.

I think what you mean is the Installer has used a Secondary Pair on the Lead In.

Out of interest is your line fed OH via a Telephone Pole or Underground?

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

dave44 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 18:26:27 GMT

I would guess 8HSZ has developed a dis one leg fault. Does it have dial tone?
Or could it have been reverted to ADSL?

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

Starwire — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 19:14:25 GMT

ADSL with an Upload Speed of 9Mbps. 🤔

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

stickybloke — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 19:45:57 GMT

@dave44 and @imjolly thanks very much for the input. I've just plugged in a phone in - noise on the line (a cordless phone) and no dial tone/can't dial out. Looks like a fault on that line then. I'll get on to BT 😊

@licquorice A single cable runs from the pole to my house and then into the (faulty) master socket. The second "line" was installed by running a cable from that master socket to a second master socket. Apologies for my confused usage of "cable" and "line". I am a simple man and just fly big aeroplanes for a living; as far as I'm concerned, broadband is just another domestic utility. That's why I'm asking potentially stupid questions. Bit like my passengers do.

@Starwire Again, mixed terminology, but yes, I imagine the installer did that thing you said. The cable is an overhead line.

Thanks very much.

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

dave44 — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 19:52:10 GMT

@Starwire Haha fair enough. I missed that bit

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

Starwire — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 20:07:45 GMT

Did the Installer change the Drop Cable to your house or use the existing one?

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

samtheaspie — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 20:10:20 GMT

@stickybloke You have FTTP Mode on you might want to turn that off if you do not have an FTTP Connection..

Also, If theres no dial tone are you sure you do not have a SOGEA line (Broadband only) for the affected line? Get BT to check this too.

Massive discrepency between the line attuentions too.. Very bizzare!

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

licquorice — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 20:37:01 GMT

What service do you have on the second line as that is capped at 40/10. If it supposed to be fibre1, that line is also faulty and has been capped by DLM due to instability.

I suspect @dave44 is right in message5 regarding one wire being disconnected. Broadband can work, albeit very slowly, on one wire but telephony requires both.

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

stickybloke — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 22:00:26 GMT

@Starwire No, he used the existing cable from the pole. If I remember, the second line was installed by BT contractors who had to return twice due to very low speeds on the “new” line. It was finally rectified by a BT-badged engineer on a third visit; she spent most of her visit muttering about “bloody contractors”…

@samtheaspie Yes, the faulty line was our original landline/broadband line. We rarely use the landline though…

@licquorice According to my BT account, my max speeds are 33-36 down and 14-15 up.

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

RobbieBaron — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 22:44:02 GMT

You have a cable coming from the pole to the house carrying 2 line-pairs, as is common to residential properties. 1 line-pair has been connected to the original master socket. A new master socket has been installed to which the 2nd line-pair has been connected. The 2 line-pairs probably split off from the incoming cable behind the original master socket but not inside it. I have a similar set-up with my pair of landlines.

Considering that the 2 line-pairs are running in parallel within the same cable from the same cab, both lines should have about the same attenuation, but yours don't, 27 vs. 18 dB (Down). This suggests that the 1st line is suffering from a "one-leg broken" fault (technically "HR Dis"). A landline consists of 2 wires, both of which are needed for voice, but only any 1 for BB. Usually when this happens the BB runs slower than usual.

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

Starwire — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 06:16:54 GMT

OK, only reason I ask and to be honest it will probably have little bearing on the Speed is they’ve most likely put the new line onto Pair 2 of a Drop Wire 10 or 10b, which they shouldn’t do.

They’re supposed to change out the Drop Wire 10(b) for a Drop Wire 15, which is a 4 Pair Drop Cable.

That was the rule when I ‘USED’ to be a Customer Service Engineer for Openreach. Although for the last 7/8 years I primarily did FTTP and little work on Metallic Paths so the rules may have changed and they can use Pair 2 of the Drop Wire 10, 10b again.

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

stickybloke — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 15:47:25 GMT

Just discovered that my elderly neighbour also has no landline service at the moment. The cable to her house comes from the same pole as mine, suggesting a fault further downstream the system from my drop-line? (check me out with my terminology! 😄)

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

Starwire — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 16:18:26 GMT

One of the Engineers may have knocked it off by mistake, especially if it’s an old and worn out BT41 or 41a.

The amount of times I’d get down from a stick with one of those Blocks on it only for someone else to come out saying their line had just gone off.

You can be as careful as you like, if you catch something or press the Block Terminal Lid down to hard or at the wrong angle you could accidentally cut someone off.

Can’t remember the exact figure but I think something like 40% of all faults are caused by Engineers themselves.

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

stickybloke — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 16:29:43 GMT

Thanks @Starwire - a review of my Nest security camera from a few days ago is quite revealing... 😃

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

Starwire — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 17:05:37 GMT

They’re the kind of Vans Contractors use, specifically the ones who do Network Build.

Thats not FTTP they’re putting on that Pole is it?

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

stickybloke — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 17:57:03 GMT

😃 I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t know an FTTP installation if it punched me in the face whilst wearing a “I am an FTTP installation” t-shirt 😄

They’ve done something there - new tarmac and two new cables running up the pole to something technical at the top 👍🏻

Re: Different speeds on two domestic accounts

iniltous — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 18:20:57 GMT

Purple duct upto the pole , suggests it’s an ‘Alt Net’ ( Alternative Network Provider ) that is putting their kit on the Openreach pole ( may also explain the contractor vehicles in the image ) , no doubt when putting their kit on the pole they have managed to disturb your line and put a fault on it .