Slave Suddenly Stopped and Slows Speed from NTE5

[wayneuk]

Hello,

Any help on the following would be appreciated.

My BT HomeHub is connected to a slave using CW1308  spec cable from pins 2 + 5 in the NTE5 to the same pins in the slave. It has been this way for 15 years and has been perfectly fine and been getting 40mbps on Fibre.

It suddenly started dropping connection randomly and the speed slowly decreased to the point where it was very unstable then just kept saying 'no connection' in the HomeHub, however plugging in a phone worked fine and could dial in and out.

I thought maybe the cable was old so I spend 2 days ripping floor boards up and re-laying brand new CW1308 cable, it still says 'No Connection' with a solid orange light.

I have replaced the microfilters in case these was faulty, still no connection.

I replaced the Slave Socket thinking it could be  a capacitor even though a phone works, fibre uses wider frequencies, so replaced this, still 'no connection'.

Unwired everything, took the HomeHub to the 'Master Socket', plugged it straight into the Master Socket and it connected but took ages and at half speed, instead of 40mb I got 20mb,

Took the faceplate off, plugged into the test socket both with the microfilter and phone attached and also on its own, got 36mb instead of 40mb but a major improvement.

Put NTE5 Faceplate on, back down to 20mb. Ordered a brand new NTE5, installed and still only get 20mb from the front and 36mb from the test socket.

I disconnected the cable that runs from pins 2 + 5 to the slave, and plugged the router back into the front, I get 36mb like it's plugged into the test socket. As soon as I add a cable to pins 2 + 5, it disconnects and speed drops.

So with the brand new NTE5 and some left over brand new cable I decided to run a small section off it to see how it reacted and it dropped speed and kept disconnecting and yes microfilter is being used.

Old NTE5 and New NTE5 react the same. The new and old slave socket reacts the same and both old a new BT spec cable reacts the same.  Also tried 4 different microfilters to no avail.

I have tried a quiet line test and cant hear crackling, and not sure if it's totally silent or if I can hear some hiss.

I'm plugged into the test socket at the minute and still not got my old speed back but at least I'm back online. I can't stay like this forever though as I have my network switches etc upstairs as I work in broadcasting and need to plug everything back in to work properly.

I've tested the incoming voltage with a multi-meter and getting 50.2v, 2v higher than the usual 48v.

Sound completely stupid but it's almost like the signal coming in is really weak and can't go any further than the test socket before it starts to degrade which is completely stupid.

The line outside runs to a box on the top of a telegraph pole across the street and there is a tree next to it with the branches rubbing on it in the wind and many years ago I had issues and they put it down to water ingress. Could anything like that cause issues like this?

Thanks for taking the time to read my very long explanation but wanted to explain what I have done to this point.

Best wishes,

Wayne

[iniltous]

Very strange, running from an extension socket isn’t great, but you do seem to have replaced everything that may have degraded over the years ( and your service was previously fine from the extension ), but by using the test port on the master socket , and getting acceptable performance, pretty much eliminates any external problems, but the fact remains you have something wrong.
Strictly speaking you shouldn’t interfere with the master socket , but as you already have, with the new NTE5 connected , but no extension wiring connected to the removable consumer panel, do you get the same sync speed in the test port and with the master socket consumer panel attached ?,

[wayneuk]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply and your help so far. Apologies if I mis-construed. I purchased a complete new NTE5 and replaced the faceplate (same type) in case it was that but there is no difference.

I'm at least 3km from the exchange with fibre to cabinet. The extra few meters on a BT spec cable really didn't make any noticeable drop in speed and I've used it this way without issues for donkeys years until now.

There is definitely something wrong and I'm at a loss as even adding 1 meter of cable from the NTE5 and plugging the homehub in sat next to it makes the connection drop massively. I have even tried the cable that was getting me 40Mbps not it barely gets 20Mbps. May I add that both my old cable and new cable are not 'Argos' styled extension cables, these are lengths of cables I purchased to BT Spec on Reels and I, IDC punch the pair onto pins 2 + 5 on the removable plate on the NTE5 and obviously the same pins on the slave.

I can use the old cable, that I thought was the problem, or the brand new cable and it drops speed and becomes unusable. If I had changed or done something I would understand, but this was a gradual decline in speed until it just said 'no connection' in the end which is why I thought it was the cable.

What I have noticed is and not sure if this helps (and I have tried this with 2 separate cables and separate pairs. The longer I make the cable the further the speed drops and when it gets to a certain length it doesn't connect at all, even though I can plug a phone in and dial in and out.

Here is the breakdown in answer to your question:

- Test Socket = Down 36Mpbs / Up 7Mbps
- Consumer Panel Attached (Without anything connected to pins 2 + 5 - Similar to above
- Consumer Panel Attached (With any cable attached to pins 2 + 5 = Down 20Mbps / Up 3Mbps*
* HomeHub plugged directly into the NTE5 with a cable attached pins 2 + 5

Previous to this issue magically appearing itself - HomeHub connected to the end of a CW1308  spec cable from pins 2 + 5  on the consumer panel approx 10m in length = 40Mbps Down / Up 8 Mbps

I have also noticed connection is dropping more than it used to, several times a day even in the test socket now and sometimes whilst downloading it will jump from 3mpbs to 400kbps for example then jump back up and down like an unstable connection.

Frustrating as to why this has started and I've replaced everything I can think of 😞

Best wishes,

[imjolly]

From your posts there is no mention of the use of filter

[wayneuk]

Hello,

As per my first post a few sentences down, I have tried 4 different micro filters now 🙂

Also on further investigation my HomeHub Firmware updated a few weeks ago when the connection speed started dropping day after day to the point of no connection. Could this have something to do with it?

Noise margin:

6 dB / 5.1 dB

Line attenuation:

43.9 dB

Signal attenuation:

28.1 dB / 43.9 dB

And that is plugged directly into the Test Socket. I'm on Halo Fibre.

[imjolly]

Which hub and firmware?

[wayneuk]

Hello,

BT HomeHub Version: BT Hub 6A

Firmware version:

SG4B1000E020

[wayneuk]

So I've had my Router plugged directly into the Test Socket without the faceplate for a number of days now and my speed has dropped even further to 33Mbps.

Baring in mind before my issues started it was 40Mbps, then 36Mbps when I first plugged it jnto the test socket and now it's dropped a further 3Mbps without touching it.

What has annoyed me even further is I can no longer use my phone upstairs anymore as as soon as I plug anything in and reconnect the Faceplate it drops. So I now fear I'm going to have to keep the router plugged directly into the test socket without the faceplate which means my phoneline is no longer fit for purpose as I cannot use my phoneline properly.

Regards,

Wayne

[wayneuk]

And the mystery continues as to when I've logged into my BT account it says there was a problem with my internet on the 3rd of June that was fixed on the 13th of June. I don't remember even logging a problem and I cannot use my phoneline upstairs without it disconnecting the router downstairs.

I don't understand what's changed. I haven't changed any config to the setup, it's just stopped working properly like the signal is struggling to get anywhere past the master socket and I've tried 2 faceplates.

Best wishes,

Wayne

[imjolly]

how many extensions socket do you have

there also appears a problem with the HH6 firmware

https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Fibre-broadband/Line-Attenuation/td-p/2018008