This topic

Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 08:21:31 GMT

So, for the last 9 years i've had 50mbps or there abouts, however a fault appeared on my line a few days ago and my speed dropped to 25mbps, and kept dropping.

Two faults in the cable due to water ingress were fixed, but the issues persist and the line wont go faster than 25mbps, without dropping.

This is unacceptably slow when I pay for full fibre and i've been informed that the very old copper cables here wont be replaced.

I also no there are no spare pairs to swap me to, so what can I do?

I'm stuck with terrible internet speed, and no way to fix.

Is it possible to force BT to replace the 900 feet of copper to the green BT box?

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 08:24:26 GMT

To add, as soon as I plug a phone in, my connection drops and then reconnects!

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

imjolly — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 09:17:07 GMT

sounds like high resistance fault

assuming you have filtered faceplate have you tried removing faceplate and connecting filter to test socket and see if that stabilises your connection and stops line dropping when using phone

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

WSH — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 09:39:31 GMT

“This is unacceptably slow when I pay for full fibre…”

It’s not “full” fibre if it’s coming over copper. Its FTTC, fibre to the cabinet and copper to your door. Perhaps an upgrade to FTTP, i.e. a full fibre optic connection, if available in your area, would be worthwhile?

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:15:13 GMT

I know it's copper to the cabinet. No, fibre is years away in my area. Open reach confirmed this, so it's copper or nothing

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:37:42 GMT

Presumably to have a guaranteed speed of above 25Mb, so just keep reporting the fault. If it's not fixed within 30 days you can claim £20 & exit your contract without penalty.

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/what-is-bt-s-stay-fast-guarantee-

The only other option is to look at 4/5G or satellite.

But check the test socket as @imjolly suggested for starters. Also if you still have analogue phone service, do a quiet line test by dialling 17070 & selecting option 2. It should be near silent with no pops or clicks. If there is noise then my experience is reporting the noisy phone line is more productive than reporting the broadband issue.

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:41:22 GMT

Thanks, will try the quiet line test. Problem is, it drops the connection as soon as I plug in my phone. The outlet is new, replaced yesterday by the engineer.

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:00:06 GMT

@natswright

That socket is probably the most recent, but it does have some reported issues due to poor connection between the front and back.

The filtered faceplate may have a fault within the phone filtering circuitry. Using the test socket, or connecting things up as shown below, would prove it.

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:59:07 GMT

Deleted by poster

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 10:25:26 GMT

Thanks.

There is definite noise on the line, and although it can connect anywhere from 25mbps to 67mbps, it is only stable for a few hours, then it drops

To add, it drops when my phone calls outbound, when the dial tone starts. I even purchased a new phone to test, and its the same on my old or new phone. This is since the faceplate was replaced.

So in essence I cannot make calls without my broadband dropping.

It gets worse when it rains, so I suspect the water ingress found on Monday is worse than what the engineer found. I suspect water has tracked along the cables and the while the joints have been repaired, there is still moisture in there. Maybe when an analog phone is connected, its causing a short, or change in resistance thats enough to drop the line.

Either way, another engineer is coming on Thursday to take a look.

If they cannot fix it, i'll call it a day and move to virgin as there is literally zero prospect of openreach replacing the cables here. They were it a poor state 10 years ago, when I was without internet for 6 months while they replaced around 50m of the cable. There are so many joints in it, its no wonder today, 9 years later it has failed again.

There are no spare pairs either, this much I have been told.

So my hand is forced if they cannot fix it tomorrow.

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 19:34:03 GMT

Well, an update,

3 faults fixed and 2 engineer visits later and still no further forwards. The line still has intermittent crackling on it and drops as soon as an incoming or outgoing call is taken. I now have to wait until 26th for another engineer and to be honest, i've had enough

BT make vast vast profits but simply do not invest this in the crumbling infrastructure.

Virgin have now moved into my area and its tempting to simply order super fast broadband from them.

Oh, and I cannot fault the openreach engineers, they have done all they can, but when they have to work with the rubbish excuse BT offer as in infrastructure, how can one expect them to fix something that needs replacing?

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

WSH — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 20:26:51 GMT

BT don’t own the infrastructure, Openreach do. They are separate companies today.

And Virgin support… Well, I suggest you read their user forum and make your own mind up.

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 01:18:23 GMT

BT own Openreach, so my original point stands

Our company | Openreach

BTs Tech support is not great either, and i've spoken to a lot of folks about this and all say Virgin is very good and reliable. Forums are often full of people complaining anyway so are not a good guide.

Irony? Kind of, as here we are with me complaining. You see folks dont wake up in the morning and think, hey, my broadband is great, I'll go on the forum to say how great it is.

BT have facebook groups dedicated to how bad they are too.

Personally, of the last 9 years with BT, i've had 7 months of issues, and i'd say thats pretty bad going for them.

Openreach wont leave calls open, for a week, in case a fault comes back, so you have to log a fresh one each time for intermittent faults.

And I work in the IT support industry and yes, I leave calls open for customers that have issues like this, so they dont have to go through reporting it all over again.

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

PaddyB — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 10:54:23 GMT

Hi @natswright,

Thank you for posting. I understand your frustration and I'm sorry if the fault hasn't been fixed. If you hear noise on the line when using your phone this would indicate a high-resistance fault. This would need to be reported to BT as a telephone fault. These types of faults can harm the Broadband and by their nature are difficult to pinpoint. If you send me your details, I'll take a look at the fault and run a few checks on your line.

I have sent you a private message with instructions on how to contact the team. You can access your messages via the envelope icon at the top right of the screen, or click on this link, Private messages

Thanks,

Paddy

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 11:11:05 GMT

Thanks @PaddyB I have managed to report this to BT, and a 3rd engineer is attending on the 26th, March. Its just frustrating as the issue is really down to the state of the lines. Mine is joined in so many places now and as there are no spare pairs, they have to keep fixing it.

Lets see what happens on the 26th, this is BT's last chance as far as I'm concerned, after that, i'll be moving to virgin as I need a reliable broadband connection.

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

PaddyB — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 11:23:50 GMT

Hi @natswright,

Thank you for replying. Please keep us update and let us know how things go on the 26th.

Thanks,

Paddy

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

natswright — Sat, 18 May 2024 20:58:57 GMT

Hiya @PaddyB, this has finally been resolved after around 7 or 8 engineer visits and my broadband seems fairly stable. Its dropped a few times while the line stabilises.

The line crackle has gone and I can make and receive calls without the broadband going off.

However one very annoying thing is that BT have made no attempt to apologise for 3 months of terrible service and have offered no compensation.

Where is my compensation after 2 months terrible internet, line faults, endless engineer visits?

natswright — Sat, 18 May 2024 21:22:36 GMT

Finally, last week engineer number, I forget, seven? Maybe number eight? Well, they found the fault on my line that had been causing the broadband to run slowly and drop all the time, an intermittent crackle on the line and the broadband also dropping when I made of received a call.

While I'm happy this is working, and the overreach engineers have worked their socks of and kept me in the loop, BT themselves have been a appalling. They never really got in touch, when they did, they never followed up on my calls.

I was promised compensation for 2 months of a continuous fault, yet have had nothing. I've paid £120 for a none existent service this last 2 months, and have had to take countless days off work to be in for engineers.

Why have I had no letter of apology? Why no compensation?

I had to pay for another internet service as internet is essential for my job, much of which is homeworking. This was a cost I could ill afford.

Nothing has been forthcoming

Whats the best way to complain and speak to someone who actually knows what they are doing?

Can a BT mod help here, and get the ball rolling?

Re: Connection Dropping and slow, terrible old cables

DavidM — Tue, 21 May 2024 12:26:09 GMT

Thanks for sending over the details and for taking my call @natswright .

I'm glad I was able to sort this out for you.

All the best

David