This topic

Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Fri, 19 May 2023 15:24:51 GMT

Hi there, I'd like to open this up to the community cause you guys have been amazing with help in the past!

I don't have fibre broadband yet, it's still ADSL. Every year there are new faults, new problems, and I pretty much have to trial and error stuff to remedy it.

Starting a couple months ago, broadband disconnects, struggles to reconnect (sits flashing purple for 5 mins) and then struggles to regain speed. Overnight, it dropped 10mbps. I'm aware that speed tests are not affirmation of a fault, however, they are a fairly reliable indicator that something has changed.

It then began disconnecting every single day, with the same symptoms afterwards. This issue is replicated on 2 different routers. It's wifi AND ethernet wired.

Two engineers have been out. Firstly a Cube engineer who said he can see disruptions, but no issues with home set up. Then an Openreach engineer, who moved a branch off the line and said 'try that.' Of course, the issues persist!

I was hoping that someone could please take a look at the last disconnection, and see if there's anything odd in the event log? https://imgur.com/a/y5ExJed

I work from home, so as you can imagine these unpredictable and random disconnections are very annoying during calls and work.

Thanks so much for any help. Below are the hub stats:

Product code:Hub
Serial number:+091298+2037002192
Firmware version:v0.38.00.10147-BT
Firmware updated:Thu Feb 23 08:14:38 2023
Board version:R01
GUI version:1.77 20_05_2022
DSL uptime:0 days,13 Hours13 Mins05 Secs
Data rate:8.789 Mbps / 54.548 Mbps
Maximum data rate:8.778 Mbps / 54.109 Mbps
Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:Off
Noise margin:5.6 / 2.6
Line attenuation:10.1 / 21.2
Signal attenuation:10.1 / 23.8
VLAN id:101
Upstream error control:Off
Downstream error control:Off
Data sent / received:129.0 MB Uploaded / 1.2 GB Downloaded
Broadband username:bthomehub@btbroadband.com
Public Wi-fi status:Activated
2.4 GHz wireless network name:BT-KFAKW2
2.4 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 1)
5 GHz wireless network name:BT-KFAKW2
5 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 36)
Wireless security:WPA2
Wireless mode:Mode 1
Firewall:On
MAC address:E4:75:DC:24:C9:77
Software variant:-
Boot loader: 0.1.7-BT (Thu Nov 30 09:45:22 2017)

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

imjolly — Fri, 19 May 2023 15:29:38 GMT

@Pale91

you are on fibre to the street cab and copper to your home so FTTC not ADSL

is there any noise on your line assuming you dont have digital voice can you dial 17070 option 2 should be silent and best with corded phone

your noise margin at 2.6db is very low and probably not helping maintain connection

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Keith_Beddoe — Fri, 19 May 2023 15:29:52 GMT

You are on FTTC not ADSL. ADSL comes from the exchange with speeds of below 20mbs and upload speeds about 1mbs.

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Fri, 19 May 2023 16:17:08 GMT

Okay, thank you for the correction. I get confused with the copper wires part! I just know it's not fibre or whatever.

Noise test sounds about the same as it always has, nothing obvious standing out there! Cube engineer checked it too.

Thank you!

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Fri, 19 May 2023 17:34:47 GMT

Does anything look odd about the disconnection? I can find others if necessary!

Thanks for your time. Getting desperate!

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Sat, 20 May 2023 13:44:50 GMT

@imjolly

Does everything else look normal?

What can I do about the noise margin being too low? Noise test sounds same as usual I think, cube engineer checked that too.

Thanks for the info!

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

imjolly — Sat, 20 May 2023 13:53:34 GMT

when you say noise sounds 'same as always' there should be no sounds on quiet line test it should as the name suggests 'quiet' any noise is a problem for your connection

has your connection dropped since yesterday?

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:04:33 GMT

Yes, it has disconnected twice since then. The latest one a couple minutes ago. It disconnected when the house phone rang, the exact same time. A quick disconnect and the Data Rate on the homehub Information has once again changed. It's very inconsistent, it changes every time there's a disconnect. Fluctuating between 38mbps and 55mpbs. That's the Data Rate, not a speed test. Speed test varies wildly.

Noise margin has also changed. It's all very inconsistent, fluctuating per disconnect. Please have a look at the changes:

Product code:Hub
Serial number:+091298+2037002192
Firmware version:v0.38.00.10147-BT
Firmware updated:Thu Feb 23 08:14:38 2023
Board version:R01
GUI version:1.77 20_05_2022
DSL uptime:0 days,00 Hours01 Mins38 Secs
Data rate:9.188 Mbps / 47.212 Mbps
Maximum data rate:9.188 Mbps / 49.832 Mbps
Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:Off
Noise margin:6.1 / 3.9
Line attenuation:10.4 / 21.5
Signal attenuation:10.4 / 22.0
VLAN id:101
Upstream error control:Off
Downstream error control:Off
Data sent / received:83.0 KB Uploaded / 333.9 KB Downloaded
Broadband username:bthomehub@btbroadband.com
Public Wi-fi status:Activated
2.4 GHz wireless network name:BT-KFAKW2
2.4 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 1)
5 GHz wireless network name:BT-KFAKW2
5 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 36)
Wireless security:WPA2
Wireless mode:Mode 1
Firewall:On
MAC address:E4:75:DC:24:C9:77
Software variant:-
Boot loader: 0.1.7-BT (Thu Nov 30 09:45:22 2017)

I'm tearing my hair out over this, it's very frustrating. My line has issues every year, and every year BT and the support tries to convince me it's anything BUT a fault on the line. They tell me it's probably ''radio interference'', or my heating coming on (it's off) or wireless interference (I'm wired) or a busy line (in a village). Anything and everything but a fault.

The Openreach engineer suggested there's probably corrosion on the line - but there's nothing I personally can do with that information. I can pass it on, but won't be believed. What is my next step here? What does ''DSL Link Down: duration was 325503 seconds'' mean? Does that not suggest the problem is elsewhere, rather than in my home? Is there anything within the event log that points to a cause? 😓

If anyone has the time, patience and kindness.. my profile has info dating back years, from previous desperate attempts at a reliable connection! This current problem has been happening for months:

Huge thanks for your time.

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

pippincp — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:19:56 GMT

If an Openreach engineer suggested what the fault was then he should have resolved it. That's his job!

Report the fault again.

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:30:21 GMT

I hear you on that...

That'll be the third day off work for an engineer. I simply can't afford to keep doing it. Especially since it's entirely hit or miss, and I'll get the same script that it's caused by me. Or by the router (I've tried two as previously mentioned). Or aliens even. Anything but a fault! I guess I just have to keep trying until I get an engineer that's competent?!

Assuming that nothing stands out to you on the event log? Just looks like a ''normal'' disconnect? I'm not sure how to read it. Trying to pinpoint ANYTHING.

Thanks so much for replying.

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 21:06:48 GMT

Hopefully it's okay reopening this post.

6 months into this fault, 4 engineers, 3 routers.

Is there no other recourse for me at this point? Is my only option to have a neverending stream of engineers who approach this as they approach every single generic fault, with no ability to look deeper? Not one of them has looked outside, at the wires, or the physical parts.

Does anyone know if there's some form of... I don't know, escalation? It's impacting my livelyhood every day, yet I'm still paying £60 a month for a temperamental service. Is there no way to contact Openreach and have a specific case manager of some sort? I feel that's not too much to ask, considering the scale of Openreach & BT, and the length of this fault.

Symptoms are still the same as every other time I've discussed this. Net fine for a couple days, disconnects, struggles to reconnect, micro-disconnections & extremely elevated MS/lag until I manually restart router. Repeat.

Hoping someone knows of a way out of this torturous loop of engineers...

Thank you

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

imjolly — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 21:26:30 GMT

Are you using the test socket with a filter to see if that helps stop the connection drops?

If you phone your home number from mobile does that cause your connection to drop?

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 21:48:02 GMT

Thank you for your response.

Yes, been through all of that 10x. No, mobile doesn't cause connection drop.

I'm way, way past that testing phase within the home now. It's been 6 months of that, over and over and over, so I can safely rule those things out.

At this point I'm interested in escaping the endless stream of engineers who aren't willing to investigate!

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

Pale91 — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 21:56:40 GMT

Oh just to add! It was fine for approx. 3 weeks after changing router for the 2nd time. However, the fault is back again, as it was before. Disconnect into slow speeds + lag, until manual restart.

Re: Disruptive disconnections, speed dropping

JohnC2 — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 08:09:08 GMT

Hi @Pale91, sorry that this fault has come back yet again. I've sent you a Private Message so you can get in touch with the Mod team and we'll see what we can do to help you get this fixed.

Cheers

John