BT FTTC Broadband keeps dropping connection & re-syncing speeds

[pavlex]

Hi everyone,

I am posting this as a last resort because I've tried going through CS and they always seem to do the same thing but our problem persists. 

We've had BT broadband for more than 2 years now and only started experiencing problems since around March time this year. It took me a while to figure out what exactly is happening. Basically, the router (BT Smart Hub 1) drops the broadband connection (lights go amber) and it connects back again but syncing at different speeds. We were getting 80/20 speeds for two years and suddenly now it started doing this. Speeds vary from 70meg to usually about 25/10. At the moment it's at 27/13. I understand everyone is at home using their broadband more than usual, however, I don't understand why the router keeps dropping the connection and re-syncing at different speeds! This is hugely disruptive when both my spouse and I are trying to work from home! 

We had two Openreach engineers out who did the same line tests and all tested fine. The last engineer that came said he cannot go inside the house because of Covid and that I should stop calling as there is nothing wrong with the line and that I should just live with the issue until end of May or so until they are allowed to go into our property, implying the issue is with the wiring. There is nothing wrong with wiring, it's a new build house and why would it be working fine for more than 2 years to start having issues now? It is highly unlikely. 

It more seems that BT are reducing the speeds to cope with demand, which again, I understand, but the router shouldn't be dropping the connection and resyncing at different speeds! This is the first time I'm seeing this, usually the speed throttling is done on the providers end while router syncs at original speeds, even though it might not be getting that. 

Last CS person I spoke to said it is probably due to the router, so sent out a new Smarthub 1 router. It didn't help, same issue reappeared soon after plugging in. We had a stable connection for around 4-5 days with no disconnects and then it started happening again this week. Today about 4 disconnects so far. 

Is there anyone that can help? The CS lady I chatted with today said she can only send an engineer out and they will then assess what next, however, from previous experience this has proved to be a waste of time. These engineers are just old school telecoms engineers who specialise in wiring, they don't seem to know much about IT.

Anyone?

Thanks,
Pav

[pavlex]

Forgot to attach a screenshot of the Smarthub stats:

[imjolly]

Post stats from advanced settings then technical log information 

check phone line. Dial 17070 option 2 should be silent and best with corded phone 

have you tried using test socket with filter to see if that helps stability

enter phone number and post results remember delete number 

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

[pavlex]

Hi,

Here's the info from Advanced Settings as requested:

Product name:

BT Hub 6A

Serial number:

+084316+NQ91552554

Firmware version:

SG4B1000E020

Firmware updated:

15-Apr-2020

Board version:

1.0

Gui version:

1.115.0

DSL uptime:

0 Days, 23 Hours 37 Minutes 48 Seconds

Data rate:

7.71 Mbps / 29.43 Mbps

Maximum data rate:

20511 / 73921

Noise margin:

19.8 dB / 18.9 dB

Line attenuation:

18.3 dB

Signal attenuation:

15.7 dB / 18.3 dB

VPI / VCI:

0/38

Modulation:

G_993_2_ANNEX_B

Latency type:

Fast Path

Data sent / received:

12 GB Uploaded / 39 GB Downloaded

Broadband username:

bthomehub@btbroadband.com

BT Wi-fi:

Active

2.4 GHz wireless network name:

Pacman

2.4 GHz wireless channel:

Smart (Channel 1)

5 GHz wireless network name:

Pacman-5

5 GHz wireless channel:

Smart (Channel 36)

Wireless security:

WPA2 (Recommended)

Wireless mode:

Mode 1

Firewall:

On

MAC address:

98:1E:19:FF:C9:8F

Software variant:

-

Boot loader:

9.2.0

Also, I should've said in the first post - I did the quiet line test already a few times, it was one of the first things I checked (I'm an IT & telecom support technician). Tried it on the master socket with & without faceplate. I even opened up the socket and disconnected the extension sockets that were wired in and left only the BT line connected. But no change. 

Here's the info from the BT wholesale website as requested:

Thanks

[pavlex]

An Open Reach engineer attended site yesterday (third one in 3 weeks) and did his tests as previous engineers did. He said he was getting a "cross talk" fault on the line the first time he tested it, but after doing the test again it all tested clear. After I told him we already had 2 engineers out and that the problem still persisted, he agreed to swap me to a different pair and see if that makes a difference. So now we are waiting to see if it made a difference in the long run. We haven't had a drop connection for 17h so that's a good start.. Download speed has been reduced to 64meg (from 77 we used to have) but if it's consistent & reliable, i dont mind it...
The Engineer did say that he was getting around 72meg coming out of our "port" in the bt cabinet so it was unlikely I would be getting that speed by the time copper reaches my house (even though we are super close). Not sure why it's giving him only 72meg in the cabinet now when we were having 77meg just the other day.. but let's wait and see now.

[imjolly]

from the dslchecker results your speed was 77/20mb on 26/4 and has really gone downhill in last couple of days

is quiet line test still ok?

if line now appears stable don't really want to change anything and cause another reset

[pavlex]

Yeah, quiet test is still fine. I need to wait and see a few days if the re-syncing starts happening again or not. Longest I went before was about 6 days with no drops and then it started doing it regularly again. Will update in a weeks time!

[nova1989]

This is exactly the problem I have been having for the past few months speeds and reliability was fine but then noticed once the speeds dropped from 76mbps I was getting for the last 6/7 years to 64mbps it's all gone down hill.

[rkrees]

I am also haing the exact same issue , with absolutely no help from BT. 

They are all saying everything looks ok.

Old speeds around 50~60Mb, now can only get around 17Mb

[DavidM]

Hi @nova1989,

I see you're getting help on your own thread at https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Fibre-broadband/Ping-Jitter-Spikes/m-p/2037977#M303430 .

Cheers

David