Repeated / ongoing broadband fault

[Martinw1]

We've had repeated outages with our broadband over the last 3-4 weeks. Initially the home hub was blinking purple. We've have 5 or 6 engineers out and each time we are back working again for a few hours or days then back to blinking purple.

We've just had another engineer today who has left us with a solid orange light but still no connection, he left the cabinet without calling us to confirm so I'm not sure what he did exactly, the customer care rep said he swapped our port, if that is the case it will be the 3rd time they've done that.

The engineers i've spoken to have all agreed the problem is outside of my property, most likely at the dslam but clearly they can't work out what it really is or, I suspect, haven't really put the effort in to find out.

Our router log is currently showing the error:

:PPPoE error: timeout

Does that mean anything useful?

What's the best way to get an openreach engineer out who will put the effort in to fix this properly, I feel like I'm just going round in circles through the standard customer service route, than call handlers are powerless to do anything other than leave notes that it seems either aren't sent to or read by the engineers?

We had a very similar problem a year or so again, back then our socket was replaced with a new type 5c which we are plugged directly into. We currently have a dial tone although that hasn't always been the case and the call back & line noise tests seem fine.

Cheers

Martin

[imjolly]

Do you have an internet connection just now ?  If can you post hub stats  advanced settings then technical log information 

[Martinw1]

No connection right now, here's the contents of that page though

Product name:
BT Hub 6A

Serial number:
+084319+NQ73970423

Firmware version:
SG4B1000E020

Firmware updated:
25-Mar-2020

Board version:
1.0

Gui version:
1.115.0

DSL uptime:
-

Data rate:
20.00 Mbps / 72.67 Mbps

Maximum data rate:
23718 / 73699

Noise margin:
6.7 dB / 6.3 dB

Line attenuation:
19 dB

Signal attenuation:
15.5 dB / 19 dB

VPI / VCI:
0/38

Modulation:
G_993_2_ANNEX_B

Latency type:
Fast Path

Data sent / received:
0 Uploaded / 0 Downloaded

Broadband username:
bthomehub@btbroadband.com

BT Wi-fi:
Active

2.4 GHz wireless network name:
BTHub6-X356

2.4 GHz wireless channel:
Smart (Channel 6)

5 GHz wireless network name:
BTHub6-X356-5

5 GHz wireless channel:
Smart (Channel 36)

Wireless security:
WPA2 (Recommended)

Wireless mode:
Mode 1

Firewall:
On

Software variant:
-

Boot loader:
9.2.0

[mgylsk]

Hi @Martinw1 I have had almost similar issue as yours and it took nearly 4 weeks to fix. After 3 failed BT engineer attempts finally they sent an Openreach Engineer. The thing is you can't directly book an Openreach Engineer, BT has to book them. If your hub is now showing solid orange that means an authentication problem and the why you are not connected to iinternet. I had this issue and the openreach Engineer did change ports also they had to reset the port remotely from outside of UK. After about 12 hours I got my connection back. I guess they have to do the same for yours. 

[Martinw1]

Thanks for the reply.

Of the 6 engineers so far 3 of them have been openreach. I'll ask them about resetting the port. Even if it does come back again I am still concerned that there is a bigger problem here and just keeping on moving my port isn't really the answer.

[Matt-S]

Hi @Martinw1,

Welcome to the Community and thanks for posting.

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you're having with your broadband connection.

It might be best if we take a look into this one for you. I've sent you a Private Message with details on how you can get in contact with the mod team.

Thanks

Matt

[Martinw1]

Thanks Matt.

I've replied to your pm.

We are relying on this connection to be able to work from home at the moment, we have a 4g mini hub that we are paying extra for but that keeps dropping out, I can't even make a teams call with the video off without disconnecting, distortion or lag.

We have been repeatedly promised that the next engineer will fix it and obviously that's not the case so far, I can't even begin to describe how frustrating this is, if there is anything you can do to get this picked up today it would be much appreciated, I have gone through all of the usual channels and given them a more than fair chance.

Cheers

Martin

[imjolly]

once you have replied to mods then you join a queue of other customers waiting for mod assistance all of whom consider their problem a priority and to ensure everyone is treated equally the mods reply in order the requests are received so could be a few days

[Martinw1]

We had an openreach engineer visit today. He ran some tests from both inside and outside the property and he said that his tests were showing a bridge tap.

We turned the whole flat upside down, including inside cupboards etc and there is no evidence of old wiring or another socket etc anywhere. It's a relatively new building and I don't see how or where there could be another socket. He thinks the single socket we have in the flat wasn't originally the master but has been converted. 

He ran out of ideas and left, we are still offline.

We ran the broadband checker tool against our own line it that says bridge tap: N

Is he wrong, is the checker tool wrong? Could this bridge tap he is reporting mean something else? Is it really the reason for us offline.

The openreach guy was fixated on this bridge tap saying there is no point in doing anything else until it's sorted or we'll have ongoing problems if we don't sort it.

He did say that our cabinet wasn't the best but didn't really expand much on what the problems are with it.

I really don't know where to go from here

[imjolly]

wait for mods to get back to you