FTTC Fault on Downstream & Hapless Fault Reporting System

[Robbie]

Hello all.

Long time since my last broadband fault only to find the current fault reporting system to be useless.  The online system took me through pointless steps and irrelevant wifi improvement steps.  I don't have a wifi issue, only a downstream connection issue between the DSLAM and my property.

Phone assistance was even worse.  A lady who struggled with English or just ignored my responses and wanted to know about the lights on my non-existent hub.  Or grasp that my wifi was fine and was not being used for the fault finding.  Or comprehend that my router is also fine and was also not used during the fault finding.  She had no interest in my actual fault and after going around in circles and 'what colour light do you have' I was just cut-off, again.

Anyway, not a complicated issue:

DN21 area connected to Cab 34 - FTTC (ECI)

Normal Downstream Attainable ~ 82Mbps and Upstream ~25Mbps (cabinet reasonably close, circa 100M, all copper, direct via conduit)

So the Actual Rate is service capped at the 79.99 and 20.00Mbps limit

Downstream for the last few days has become very erratic, the Actual Rate has now been lowered by the DSLAM to between 60 to 70Mbps with the dreaded interleave now on and commensurate leap in latency.  The Attainable Rate is still showing ~82Mbps.  Upstream seems unaffected by the fault and remains on fast path, albeit with the Attainable Rate lowered a little but still a 20Mbps Actual Rate.

Done the usual fault finding, direct to test port (ie no phone circuit), tried a different modem and tried a direct PPPoE connection from laptop to modem (ie taking my router out of the equation).  No change in results so fault is between me and the DSLAM.  Given the results it looks like a DSLAM issue.

And yes, they have been working in my cabinet recently and getting g.fast up and running.

So how do I actually report a fault to someone capable of listening and resolving the issue?

Step 1 is probably a DSLAM reset from Openreach.

Nothing glaring in the frequency bins or line stats, well apart from the interleave/capped downstream report:

Spoiler

> v s more

  ---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------

                  Near End        Far End    Note

 Trellis      :      1               1

 Bitswap      :      1               1

 ReTxEnable   :      0               0

 VirtualNoise :      0               0

 20BitSupport :      0               0

 LatencyPath  :      0               0

 LOS          :      0               0

 LOF          :      0               0

 LPR          :      0               0

 LOM          :      0               0

 SosSuccess   :      0               0

 NCD          :      0               0

 LCD          :      0               0

 FECS         :   4507            48454 (seconds)

 ES           :      0            3080 (seconds)

 SES          :      0              26 (seconds)

 LOSS         :      0             113 (seconds)

 UAS          :     34             885 (seconds)

 HECError     :      0               0

 CRC          :      0            4685

 RsCorrection :      0               0

 INP          :      0              15 (symbols)

 InterleaveDelay :      0             800 (1/100 ms)

 NFEC         :    255              85

 RFEC         :     16              16

 LSYMB        :   5410            21746

 INTLVBLOCK   :    255              85

 AELEM        :      0            ----

>  Restarting modem ...

> v s

  ---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------

   Running Mode            :      17A       State                : SHOWTIME

   DS Actual Rate          : 69918000 bps   US Actual Rate       : 20000000 bps

   DS Attainable Rate      : 81056888 bps   US Attainable Rate   : 23344020 bps

   DS Path Mode            :  Interleave    US Path Mode         :        Fast 

   DS Interleave Depth     :     1019       US Interleave Depth  :        1 

   NE Current Attenuation  :       11 dB    Cur SNR Margin       :        5  dB

   DS actual PSD           :    -1.-7 dB    US actual PSD        :    -1.-6  dB

   NE CRC Count            :        0       FE CRC Count         :     4685

   NE ES Count             :        0       FE  ES Count         :     3080

   Xdsl Reset Times        :        0       Xdsl Link  Times     :        4

   ITU Version[0]          : fe004452       ITU Version[1]       : 41590000

   VDSL Firmware Version   : 05-07-09-0F-01-07   [with Vectoring support] 

   Power Management Mode   : DSL_G997_PMS_L0 

   Test Mode               : DISABLE 

  -------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------

   Far Current Attenuation :       10 dB    Far SNR Margin       :        6  dB

   CO ITU Version[0]       : b5004946       CO ITU Version[1]    : 544eb206

   DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR    : < IFTN >

Direct to test port (phone circuit disconnected) and direct PPPoE from Mac to Modem:

> vdsl show statistics

DOWNSTREAM :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bin  SNR  Gain Bi - Bin  SNR  Gain Bi - Bin  SNR  Gain Bi - Bin  SNR  Gain Bi

      dB  .1dB ts         dB  .1dB ts         dB  .1dB ts         dB  .1dB ts

--- ----- ---- -- - --- ----- ---- -- - --- ----- ---- -- - --- ----- ---- --

   0    0    0  0 *    1    0    0  0 *    2    0    0  0 *    3    0    0  0

   4    0    0  0 *    5   49    0  0 *    6   50    0  0 *    7   51    0  0

   8   51    0  0 *    9   50    0  0 *   10   50    0  0 *   11   50    0  0

  12   50    0  0 *   13   50    0  0 *   14   49    0  0 *   15   49    0  0

  16   48    0  0 *   17   48    0  0 *   18   47    0  0 *   19   47    0  0

  20   46    0  0 *   21   46    0  0 *   22   45    0  0 *   23   45    0  0

  24   45    0  0 *   25   44    0  0 *   26   44    0  0 *   27   43    0  0

  28   43    0  0 *   29   42    0  0 *   30   42    0  0 *   31   41    0  0

  32   41    0  0 *   33   40    0 14 *   34   39   15 15 *   35   38  -19 14

  36   37    0 15 *   37   36  -19 14 *   38   35  -19 14 *   39   33    0 14

  40   32    0 14 *   41   31    0 14 *   42   30    0 14 *   43   29    0 14

  44   28    0 14 *   45   26    0 14 *   46   25    0 14 *   47   24  -19 14

  48   24  -19 14 *   49   23  -19 14 *   50   23  -19 14 *   51   23  -19 14

  52   23    0 15 *   53   23    0 15 *   54   23  -19 14 *   55   23    0 15

  56   23    0 15 *   57   23    0 15 *   58   23  -19 14 *   59   23    0 15

  60   23    0 15 *   61   23    0 15 *   62   23    0 15 *   63   23    0 15

  64   30    0 15 *   65   39  -19 14 *   66   43    0 15 *   67   44    0 15

  68   44    0 15 *   69   45    0 15 *   70   44    0 15 *   71   44    0 15

  72   44  -19 14 *   73   44  -19 14 *   74   43    0 15 *   75   42  -19 14

  76   41    0 15 *   77   41  -19 14 *   78   41    0 15 *   79   40    0 15

  80   40  -19 14 *   81   40    0 15 *   82   41  -19 14 *   83   41  -19 14

  84   41  -19 14 *   85   41    0 15 *   86   41    0 15 *   87   41    0 15

  88   41    0 15 *   89   41  -19 14 *   90   41    0 15 *   91   41    0 15

  92   40    0 15 *   93   40  -19 14 *   94   40  -19 14 *   95   40  -19 14

  96   40  -19 14 *   97   40  -19 14 *   98   40    0 15 *   99   40   15 15

 100   40  -19 14 *  101   39  -19 14 *  102   39   15 15 *  103   39  -19 14

 104   39  -19 14 *  105   39  -19 14 *  106   38  -19 14 *  107    0  -19 14

 108    0  -19 14 *  109    0  -19 14 *  110    0  -19 14 *  111    0  -19 14

 112    0  -19 14 *  113    0  -19 14 *  114    0  -19 14 *  115    0  -19 14

 116    0  -19 14 *  117    0  -19 14 *  118    0  -19 14 *  119    0    0 14

 120    0  -19 14 *  121    0  -19 14 *  122    0    0 14 *  123    0    0 14

 124    0  -19 14 *  125    0  -19 14 *  126    0  -19 14 *  127    0    0 14

 128    0  -19 14 *  129    0  -19 14 *  130    0  -19 14 *  131    0    0 14

 132    0    0 14 *  133    0    0 14 *  134    0    0 14 *  135    0    0 14

 136    0    0 14 *  137    0    0 14 *  138    0    0 14 *  139    0    0 14

 140    0    0 14 *  141    0    0 14 *  142    0    0 14 *  143    0    0 14

 144    0    0 14 *  145    0    0 14 *  146    0    0 14 *  147    0    0 14

 148    0    0 14 *  149    0  -19 13 *  150    0  -19 13 *  151    0  -19 13

 152    0  -19 13 *  153    0    0 14 *  154   37  -19 13 *  155   37  -19 13

 156   36    0 14 *  157   36  -19 13 *  158   35    0 14 *  159   35  -19 13

 160   35  -19 13 *  161   35  -19 13 *  162   35  -19 13 *  163   35  -19 13

 164   35  -19 13 *  165   35  -19 13 *  166   35  -19 13 *  167   35  -19 13

 168   35  -19 13 *  169   35  -19 13 *  170   35  -19 13 *  171   35  -19 13

 172   36  -19 13 *  173   35    0 13 *  174   35  -19 13 *  175   35  -19 13

 176   35    0 13 *  177   35    0 13 *  178   35    0 13 *  179   35    0 13

 180   35    0 13 *  181   35    0 13 *  182   35    0 13 *  183   35    0 13

 184   35    0 13 *  185   35    0 13 *  186   35    0 13 *  187   35    0 13

 188   35    0 13 *  189   35    0 13 *  190   35    0 13 *  191   35    0 13

 192   35    0 13 *  193   35    0 13 *  194   35    0 13 *  195   34    0 13

 196   34    0 13 *  197   34    0 13 *  198   34    0 13 *  199   34    0 13

 200   34    0 13 *  201   34  -19 12 *  202   34    0 13 *  203   33  -19 12

 204   33  -19 12 *  205   33  -19 12 *  206   33  -19 12 *  207   32    0 13

 208   32  -19 12 *  209   32  -19 12 *  210   32  -19 12 *  211   32  -19 12

 212   32  -19 12 *  213   32  -19 12 *  214   32  -19 12 *  215   32  -19 12

 216   32  -19 12 *  217   32  -19 12 *  218   32  -19 12 *  219   32  -19 12

 220   32  -19 12 *  221   32  -19 12 *  222   31  -19 12 *  223   32  -19 12

 224   31  -19 12 *  225   31  -19 12 *  226   31  -19 12 *  227   31  -19 12

 228   31    0 12 *  229   31    0 12 *  230   31    0 12 *  231   30    0 12

 232   30    0 12 *  233   30    0 12 *  234   30    0 12 *  235   30    0 12

 236   30    0 12 *  237   30    0 12 *  238   30    0 12 *  239   31    0 12

>  

> v s

  ---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------

   Running Mode            :      17A       State                : SHOWTIME

   DS Actual Rate          : 70387000 bps   US Actual Rate       : 20000000 bps

   DS Attainable Rate      : 81502856 bps   US Attainable Rate   : 23251614 bps

   DS Path Mode            :  Interleave    US Path Mode         :        Fast 

   DS Interleave Depth     :     1024       US Interleave Depth  :        1 

   NE Current Attenuation  :       11 dB    Cur SNR Margin       :        5  dB

   DS actual PSD           :    -1.-7 dB    US actual PSD        :    -1.-6  dB

   NE CRC Count            :        0       FE CRC Count         :     4702

   NE ES Count             :        0       FE  ES Count         :     3091

   Xdsl Reset Times        :        0       Xdsl Link  Times     :        1

   ITU Version[0]          : fe004452       ITU Version[1]       : 41590000

   VDSL Firmware Version   : 05-07-09-0F-01-07   [with Vectoring support] 

   Power Management Mode   : DSL_G997_PMS_L0 

   Test Mode               : DISABLE 

  -------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------

   Far Current Attenuation :       10 dB    Far SNR Margin       :        6  dB

   CO ITU Version[0]       : b5004946       CO ITU Version[1]    : 544eb206

   DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR    : < IFTN >

> 

 > v s more

I need actual technical help and have no idea how to achieve it.

@SeanD 

[pippincp]

Any noise on your line? 17070 option 2. Best with corded phone.

[Robbie]

No, nothing audible.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Unless the line speed is lower than the minimum rate specified in your contract, or you are getting multiple disconnects, there is nothing that can be done.

[Robbie]

Hi & thanks - the line speed is important no doubt, but the stability and latency are the real area of concern.  

Whilst I have enjoyed a good BT FTTC service to date, shrugging off a fault and accepting it is not really acceptable.  The infuriating web and phone customer service adds another irritant.  It appears to drive the customer into believing they have a wifi problem.  In my case the online fault checker offered to sell me a BT wifi extender and I have zero issues with my wifi.

Openreach allows ISPs to request a DLM / concern counter reset, I cannot request this myself.  I am very accepting that broadband disturbances can happen when the guts of my street cabinet are pulled out whilst upgrades and testing are ongoing.  These things happen.

My line speed remains at 82Mbps, it is the DLM banding and interleaving that was my first concern, followed very quickly by the abysmal online fault reporting system and the unhelpful scripted / contracted-out call centre.

I remain hopeful BT can at least try to do something.  As it is Openreach will have no idea that this end user has an issue and I have not even achieved a fault number that can be tracked.

That said, if this really is the new reality in that BT will not do anything in the coming days then I guess I will have to shrug and try a different ISP.

[Keith_Beddoe]

I am just a customer, so all I can say is that BT are unlikely to investigate your complaint, as there is no actual fault as such.

You would not get a reset unless the line is performing below your contracted rate, after a fault on your line has been repaired

Unless you find an ISP who does not use the Openreach network, then you are going to be stuck with the same pair of wires, and the same equipment in the cabinet.

[Robbie]

Thanks Keith but at the moment I am struggling to find a way to even register the fault without being stuck on a call centre script.

Speed isn't everything, stability and quality of service count too.  The speed achieved when the connection drops is, well, zero.

[Robbie · Accepted solution]

Managed to get through the wall of no help at the overseas call centre after a few weeks of trying.  A fault was begrudgingly raised and forwarded to Openreach, who acknowledged it and said they had a team in the area so would be able to check the cabinet that same day.  

Within a couple of hours I was informed that it was an 'easy fix' (due to a misconfiguration after G.fast work) and that my speed and stability should return to normal.

The stability improvement was instant and the speed recovered to normal over a few days and has remain so for the last few days.  I don't have quite the same margin over-and-above the capped rate as I had, but that does not impact my service and may improve with routine DSLAM tuning.

I must acknowledge that once the fault was with the actual faults team the communication, updates and the relaying of information about the fault to and from the Openreach team was excellent.

The 'front door' of BT broadband fault reporting needs a serious adjustment, but once through that painful obstacle everything was great - especially the 'live-chat' support.

Running Mode            :  17A                                  State                          : SHOWTIME
DS Actual Rate            : 79995000 bps             US Actual Rate       : 20000000 bps

I nearly got a pack of chocolate hobnobs to the Openreach guys who worked on my street cabinet in awful weather, but they pulled away just before I got there!