This topic

Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 15:57:46 GMT

I'm not yet on Digital Voice but I know it won't be far away as the emails from BT telling me it's coming are getting more frequent.

I have Halo 3+ and I'm told by BT that when my Hybrid Connect kicks in to provide me broadband over the mobile network because the wired broadband connection to the house is not working, Digital Voice will not work. I lose the wired broadband far too frequently - I think several times per week. For example, the HC kicked in 3 times in 2 days at the weekend. The analogue landline continued to work every time.

This means, in my opinion, I am being forced to take an inferior service which is being trumpeted as better.

Does anyone have any experience or data about this reliability problem?

Thanks,

Chris

Re: Digital Voice reliability

licquorice — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 16:00:26 GMT

It is not a reliability issue with Digital Voice, it is a reliability problem with your broadband service.

Re: Digital Voice reliability

NeilO — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 17:59:59 GMT

Hi, @shed53 welcome back to the community. That's not good it shouldn't be dropping so frequently, are you on full-fibre broadband or fibre to the cabinet?

Thanks

Neil

Re: Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 18:33:02 GMT

Thanks for the prompt reply @liquorice

I understand the distinction is important. You’re absolutely right that the reliability problem I’m experiencing is to do with the broadband service. However, Digital Voice needs the broadband service to be up, so if broadband continues to behave like this once I’ve been moved to DV, my experience will be that DV is unreliable even if the central DV service is working.

Re: Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 18:34:52 GMT

Hi @NeilO,

Thanks for the reply. I’m on FTTC with copper between the cabinet and my house.

Cheers,

Chris

Re: Digital Voice reliability

NeilO — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 19:21:49 GMT

@shed53 That's what I suspected, do you hear any noise on the line if you dial 17070 and press option 2?

Thanks

Neil

Re: Digital Voice reliability

iniltous — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 19:25:21 GMT

If your current PSTN phone service continues during your apparent frequent broadband outages , that fact eliminates the copper pair loop as the cause of your problem, and given the overwhelming cases of broadband outages it’s the copper pair that’s at fault somewhere , you must presumably have either a faulty router or your port in the FTTC cabinet has issues, you should report your broadband as faulty , as stated you must have a fault on your broadband.
PSTN phone working when broadband is down is pretty unusual and although you are obviously entitled to your opinion, DV will undoubtedly be more ( not less ) reliable, for example a single leg disconnection of the copper pair , close to your home would stop your current PSTN phone working ,whereas your broadband, and with it DV could continue to work , and although there could be equipment failure that can knock off broadband, ( as you presumably currently have ) there could also be PSTN equipment failure that could affect your phone , what’s more the PSTN equipment in the exchange is 30-40 years old and is now much less reliable that the relatively new IP network equipment

Re: Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 20:20:30 GMT

@NeilO no noise - perfectly quiet.

Thanks,

Chris

Re: Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 20:33:29 GMT

Hi @iniltous

Thanks for the helpful and detailed reply. I think your explanation and analysis make sense.

I've had fun and games with BT intermittently over the past 2-3 years but the situation has been stable for about 12 months now, with the caveat of the Hybrid Connect having to take the strain. Mostly, I get a good service considering we're around 1km from the cabinet and 8-9km from the exchange. I test periodically and my download speed is 55-60 Mbps.

I'd like to have some rigorous data to challenge BT with so I can state confidently how frequently broadband fails and the Hybrid Connect kicks in. I suspect the Smart Hub 2's technical log would reveal this information but I don't know what to look for. When I have looked at the log file it suggests the logging function is verbose. Is there any guidance about what gets logged when broadband over the wire fails and/or when the Hybrid Connect kicks in?

Thanks,

Chris

Re: Digital Voice reliability

licquorice — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 21:02:58 GMT

Filter the log on the WAN and then look for DSL link down events.

Re: Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 21:08:58 GMT

@licquorice That's great - thank you. I've exported a CSV file with the filter set to WAN and I can see the "DSL Link Down" events, which helpfully include the duration.

Re: Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 10:45:40 GMT

Thanks again to everyone who commented and offered advice. I've extracted the events for the DSL link going down and coming back, for the failover sessions starting up and being closed when the connection is back and for when the hub is properly connected to the WAN.

From Sun 4/6 to Sun 11/6 inclusive, the DSL link went down 21 times!

I'm starting an online chat with BT technical support to raise a fault. Watch this space...

Re: Digital Voice reliability

shed53 — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 11:12:04 GMT

BT ran a line test and detected an external fault. OpenReach engineer booked for tomorrow morning.

🤞🤞🤞