FTTP Issue - 'you have told us your fault was fixed'. No I haven't.

[Davco]

I reported a fault. My fttp broadband was dropping intermittently for a few seconds at a time. Under normal circumstances that would be a niggle that I could cope with. However, I'm a presenter on two radio stations broadcasting three x two hour live shows per week and my shows are more often than not dropping. A real problem for me (and the stations).

Engineer visited my property today and confirmed that there was a fault and a new piece of hardware would be required (unit next to the modem) and he would be reporting the issue 'back to the exchange'.

I have subsequently had a text advising me all is now OK. It is not. I went onto the fault tracker, which now states 'you have told us your fault was fixed'. No I have not.

Why do people lie?

Any advice would be appreciated. 🙂

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Davco 

Are you a BT Business user, as you are using your connection for business use?

[Davco]

Thank you Keith

No, I'm not, as I would normally broadcast from a studio.

Live broadcasting from home will hopefully be (very) temporary.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@Davco wrote:

Thank you Keith

No, I'm not, as I would normally broadcast from a studio.

Live broadcasting from home will hopefully be (very) temporary.

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Not sure there is a lot you can do. The BT Smart Hub 2 cannot really cope with large uploads without buffer overflow, which is what I expect is happening. What sort of bitrate are you trying to upload?

ISP provided routers are never that good, and people have been using their own routers connected to the Openreach ONT.

[Davco]

Thank you Keith

90%+ of presenters on both stations are currently broadcasting from home and I'm the only one with this issue.

Everyone has encoders set to 320kbps for maximum quality. I have dropped down to 128kbps (CD quality) and it's still dropping out. Sometimes I can get through a whole show without a hitch, but at it's worst I have to stop broadcasting completely.

As much as the issue itself is very frustrating, the bare-faced 'you have told us your fault was fixed' lie is what's annoying me more.

I have subsequently been back in touch with BT (by phone) and during our conversation I was told an OpenReach engineer would be with me tomorrow 'between 1pm and 6pm', yet having now looked at the fault tracker information, that's been changed to 'our supplier has estimated that your fault will be fixed on Fri 28 May 2021'. So that leaves me not knowing if the engineer will turn up up tomorrow (Wednesday) as told or Friday.

Well, at least we can send a helicopter to buzz around Mars. 😀

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[Keith_Beddoe]

When you get the dropouts, do any of the lights change colour on the ONT, or the home hub?

I assume you are using a direct Ethernet connection into the home hub, and not a wireless connection, as wireless connections are subject to interference and disconnections?

You may find that forum members here, suggest that it may be better to use your own router instead.

[Davco]

Thanks Keith

Yes, ethernet cable all the time.

There is a red 'fault' light on the unit (I'm not sure what the 'ONT' is?) which I hadn't seen. The engineer spotted it instantly. He tried to reboot it without success and then told me it would need to be replaced... and he didn't have one with him.

[Keith_Beddoe]

The ONT is the Openreach optical modem.

It may look like one of these.

Or

If there is a red light on the ONT, then that indicates a problem with either the ONT, or the optical fibre route.

If there is a red light on the Smart Hub 2, then that would indicate a problem with that.

This is the Smart hub 2 connections area, so it may be worth checking the red lead from the ONT, to the Smart Hub 2.

[Davco]

Thanks Keith

There's a green light flashing intermittently on 'port 1' of the ONT (I believe it should be solid green) and the red light showing 'fault' is on the battery back-up unit.

I'm being sent a mini-hub, with a 4g sim card, as a short-term fix to keep me online, but that will be worse than useless for live broadcasting.

[pippincp]

The red light for the BBU normally means the batteries need replacing but I wouldn't bother as they were installed to keep FVA going in the event of a power cut and it has now been discontinued. You'd also need a UPS for the hub and PC/Laptop for it to be of any use.

As to your problem, have you tried a direct connection from the PC/Laptop to the ONT?

1. Go to windows SETTINGS.
2. Than select Network & internet.
3. Click on Dial-up and select Set up a new connection.
4. From a new pop-up select Connect to the internet and click on Next buton.
5. Now click on Broadband (PPPoE)
6. Now fill-up User name and Password as your ISP gave you. bthomehub@btbroadband.com Password BT.