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Broadband dropping out after site visit

aliballibee — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 09:02:00 GMT

Good morning

We have a BT Halo package and recently had an engineer visit our home, as the land line was showing a fault.

After testing the external line and removing the master socket we discovered the issue seemed to be a faulty internal cable we were using to directly connect our smart TV.

The engineer did not refit the original master socket but installed a new one, Master Socket 5C, with two outlets, one connected to our broadband router, one connected to our old telephone handset.

Before this visit we had next to zero drop outs; since this visit, we’ve had anywhere from 5 – 10 a day. The hub is turning orange and generally resets itself after a minute.

Any thoughts on cause or possible solution before we look at another engineer visit? Thanks

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

aliballibee — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 09:19:41 GMT

As a quick update I ran a connection test and it threw up a broadband fault - an engineer is booked for Monday.

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

imjolly — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 10:06:32 GMT

did you try using test socket with filter to eliminate the faceplate as a problem? did you check faceplate is securely clipped in place as a slight knock can dislodge it causing internet connection problems

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

aliballibee — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 10:20:56 GMT

Interestingly when the engineer was on site previously he told us we could remove all the filters e.g. telephone, sky etc as the Master Socket 5C has this "built in"?

Haven't looked at the plate but could do in advance of our engineer arriving on Monday morning.

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

imjolly — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 10:38:11 GMT

the new socket does not use filters when connected to faceplate however to connect to the test socket behind the faceplate then you need to connect a filter

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

aliballibee — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 10:50:18 GMT

Thanks for the confirmation - don't have the equipment / knowledge to try that out but appreciate the suggestion.

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

Keith_Beddoe — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 11:53:48 GMT

@aliballibee

That master socket is known to give problems, and maybe the cause of the disconnections.

As mentioned https://community.bt.com/t5/Landline/2019-Master-Socket-kit-loose/m-p/1985566#M6775

Try connecting things up as shown below, and see if you still get disconnections. Leave it like that for a few days.

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

aliballibee — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 16:06:56 GMT

Hi Keith

Face plate removed and test socket located.

I've stolen the filter from our cordless telephone system, plugged it into the test socket and connected both the landline and router.

The landline telephone connected above when I rang the house from my mobile but the cordless system didn't, presumably because it was no longer connected via a filter.

Broadband has returned to correct "blue" state and we'll see if it now remains stable over the weekend before the engineer comes.

Looks like it is the socket and we'll see if they might change it out again.

Many thanks

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

aliballibee — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 22:51:16 GMT

Just by way of a follow up the engineer arrived and replaced the master "5C" faceplate with a single outlet plate and we have plugged our landline and router in again via a filter.

The engineer also advised that he tested the line and detected a fault which he went off to repair.

After leaving he came back after about 15mins, citing he detected slow speeds on the line. He then proceeded to disconnect all the internal sockets that are connected to the master ( internal radial / daisy chain) claiming that would improve our speed.

Although my wife was a little unhappy about this (although we don't actually use the internal extensions - installed when we bought the house new) we decided to run with the current setup. No disconnections / drop out since since and a steady 50Mbps download speed.

Anyone else think the internal extension disconnection sounds strange?

Re: Broadband dropping out after site visit

licquorice — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 08:16:37 GMT

Not at all, star wiring of internal extensions is a major source of broadband problems.