Loss of ADSL BB today.

[HHGTTG]

This morning I tried to use DECT phone only to find 'Line cord error'  therefore went to corded phone in hall plugged into master socket only to find LCD display out and obviously no dial tone. Hmmm, after some minutes and loud crackling noise telephone service came back as did BB. Used BB on and off all morning until we went out to lunch.

Came back at 2pm only to find no BB only static Orange light. I phoned CS and they tested my line and I eventually spoke to engineer who confirmed there is some amiss external to my indoor wiring. They said it would be solved or fixed by next Wednesday at the latest but that it may come and go over the weekend. They also said to keep the Hub switched on.

My first time without BB in over 10 years. Thank goodness I have a mobile WiFi unit though with only a 12GB data SIM.

Needless to say they wanted to flog me FTTP but I declined at this stage. 

[Keith_Beddoe]

@HHGTTG 

Ring your home number from a mobile. Let it ring for about 20 seconds, then pick up the phone. You may find that your broadband comes back, and your phone is quiet.

[HHGTTG]

Thanks for that, but no good. If there's something external to my house then I guess the engineers will have to investigate back at exchange or integrity of connections at pole outside. 

[Keith_Beddoe]

Unfortunately overhead copper connections are not very reliable, especially the connections on the DP at the top of the pole. Recent wind and rain is likely to have caused water ingress and possibly loose connections.

I suppose that is why they are pushing FTTP, however I wonder just how reliable the optical splitters (CBT) on the pole are going to be in the long term?

The test I suggested is really only effective if the fault is within the exchange itself, where relay contacts in the signal path become high resistance, and the ringing current breaks that down, especially if the line gets very few incoming calls.

You will have to wait for an Openreach Field Technician (not an engineer), to look at the line.

[HHGTTG]

Yes, exactly.
I have good unsecured BB atm using BT/EE WIFI hot-spot and signing in with my BT details so all is not lost and higher DL/UL speeds as well.

[HHGTTG]

Can someone explain why, while my BB supply is currently not available and waiting repair my SH2's light, currently glowing constant Orange, does not go out at the time I set up in the Hub's Manager, in this case 10pm or 11pm (can't remember exactly)? Anyway, when working it goes off overnight for about 9 hours.

[HHGTTG · Accepted solution]

Well today, Saturday we had an unexpected ring at the front door and an Openreach chap had come to sort out my loss of BB. After much fiddling around with test gear at the master socket (and a change of faceplate, I think) he eventually established that there was 20Mbps BB at that socket and at the extension/s in which the Hub is plugged in but for all that, the Hub light would not go blue. He tried to explain to me that 'wires had got crossed' at the local Exchange less than half a mile away and so went of there to sort things out

During this time the lights and the router kept on flashing and after about 15 minutes or maybe less it went blue and he phoned me to say it was sorted. I was apparently being fed someone else's BB which my router was not recognising but frankly I didn't really understand what could have happened yesterday when the line went dead and then resumed until about midday when the BB went off. Anyway it's sorted and much quicker than I thought so good on them, Openreach.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@HHGTTG 

You must have had a disconnected or crossed line. This can happen if work is being carried out to provide service to another customer, and the cable pair records are incorrect, so your line would have been accidentally disconnected and taken for the new customer.

Because you still have dial tone from the exchange, its much easier to identify your cable pair, and correct the mistake.

Its going to get more difficult to fix faults, as fewer people are getting dial tone from the exchange. Its going to involve the time tested process of putting a tone on the pair, and tracing it to the customer.