Has My Line Been "Banded"

[Paul608085]

For over a year now, my FTTC broadband has been very reliable - since Openreach moved us over to the cabinet which can be seen barely 50 metres from our front door. We were getting the full 80/20 sync with "Max Data Rate" figures of around 30 Up  / 86 Down, and "Noise Marins" of approx 12dB/ 6.8dB.

Yesterday afternoon the broadband started dropping every 10 minutes or so, (we always has dial tone still, and a very quiet line). We noticed a couple of Openreach engineers were working in the cabinet - not unusual, but they were there for a few hours, which did seem unusual.

About 7pm I called 150 from the home phone, who tested the line and could find no problems - though the broadband was still dropping regularly and taking much longer than normal to restore. On their instructions I factory reset the hub, (SmartHub 2). When the broadband came back it was still dropping out regularly whilst I was on the phone to 150, so they booked me an engineer visit for tomorrow, (Thursday), morning.

Soon after I finished speaking to 150 the broadband seemed to stabilise, and remained so for the rest of the evening - still syncing at the full 80/20.

This morning, I noticed that the hub re-synced at just after 3am this morning, but the download sync speed has dropped to 74 - with max figures still of 33 Up and 86 Down, and Noise Margins gone up to 13.9 and 9dB. Line has remained connected though - ie no more drop outs.

I am wondering if there was a fault somewhere either at the cabinet or exchange that has since been rectified, but the repeated fails yesterday has made the cabinet think that my line is faulty and dropped my speed - "Banding" I think it is called?

Is this likely to be what has happened? If so, is there anything that can be done to restore the full speed, either by BT remotely or the Openreach engineer who is booked for tomorrow still? Or, is it just a case of leaving it alone to fix itself?

As I said above, the broadband is now staying connected though at a reduced speed. I agree that I probably won't notice the relatively small drop - but I would like it to be as fast as it can be, (and was for over a year)!

I have until 4pm today, (Wednesday), to cancel the Openreach appointment for tomorrow morning.

[imjolly]

your connection time only shows 1hr so is there still problems with internet dropping connection.

[pippincp]

I'd cancel the engineer and give DLM time to restore your speeds.

[Paul608085]

@imjolly 

"your connection time only shows 1hr so is there still problems with internet dropping connection."

Well spotted - I accidentally knocked the power button on the back of the hub when straightening it up on the shelf earlier! That wasn't the problem yesterday though.

@pippincp 

How long should I leave it for the DLM to restore the speeds? ie I will cancel the engineer now, but when should I think about calling 150 again if the speeds don't go back up?

[imjolly]

unfortunately  a drop in connection is the same to DLM whether line problem or accidentally switching router off

you could be in a banded profile if you had as many drops in connection as you suggest and that could take a few weeks to rectify

[Paul608085]

@imjolly 

Thanks.

I'm going to cancel Openreach for tomorrow.

"a few weeks to rectify" - should a month be sufficient, before I start thinking about calling BT again?

[imjolly]

4 weeks maybe slightly more but you must have a stable connection with no drops/resets during that period

[Paul608085]

@imjolly @pippincp 

So, I have just called BT with the intention of cancelling tomorrow's Openreach visit. I left if longer to be sure that the broadband remained connected still, (it has).

I explained the details of yesterday's problems and that apart from me knocking it off this morning, the broadband has been stable, (from my perspective), for almost 12 hours - also mentioned the advice from this forum - and asked them what they advised. They said that according to their diagnostics, the broadband dropped 38 times yesterday! They also said that they were not happy with the line's "stability" - though wouldn't elaborate on what they meant by that - and said that Openreach still needed to come tomorrow. I was given assurances yesterday that I definitely will not be charged for this, but I'm wondering what else could be wrong still that they think Openreach need to fix?

I'm assuming that with the advice on this thread being just to leave it alone and be patient, isn't Openreach breaking the circuit down for testing, (that's the first thing they normally do isn't it?), just going to make the DLM think that there is another fault and at best delay a return to full speed?

[imjolly]

@Paul608085 

assuming it is a broadband engineer and not just phone then hopefully engineer will find problem causing drops and then ask for engineer to request a DLM reset save waiting

[Paul608085]

@imjolly 

I had been led to believe before that engineers were unable to force or request a DLM reset - that is what BT were saying. I'll certainly ask though, can't do any harm? 😀