Regular connection drops

[Platty]

Hi all, after some advice please.

I've been with BT Fibre for around 4 years and never had any connection issues until recently. My home hub 6 keeps dropping its internet connection and it's highly infuriating. There doesn't seem to be any pattern and the first event log always begins with "dsl:VDSL Link Down".

It reconnects pretty quickly without me having to restart the hub but as a gamer this is very disruptive as it chucks me out of online servers. It also impacts BT TV when watching the channels delivered via the internet and anything else connected bums out - like alexa streaming music.

Nothing has changed with my set up, no new devices, no new wiring, no settings changed. The only thing that has changed is I renewed my broadband contract last month which is a similar time these drop outs started to occur. Coincidence or linked? I stayed on the same deal - Fibre 1 so I can't therefore fathom why that would cause this significant shift in drop outs and that there would be a need to change any settings BT's end?

I contacted BT via phone and they said on 06th November I had 7 connection drops which is most unusual. They run some tests on the line and couldn't find anything wrong, I have also performed a quiet line test and that is all clear. 

They are sending an engineer out this Thursday to investigate further but I can't imagine the engineer finding any faults this end and the only thing I can think of is something at the exchange or cabinet has changed or my home hub 6 has started to play up?

When I have a connection it's spot on. Consistent fast speeds of over 70mb d/l and until these drop outs I couldn't have been happier.

Any help is much appreciated. I've now become completely obsessed with the technical event logs. I can post recent logs if useful.

Thanks!

[pippincp]

Post the connection stats from the hub5 Troulbleshooting/helpdesk.For HH6/Shub Advanced settings/technical log/information.

Try a quiet line test, 17070 option 2, best with corded phone. The line should be silent between announcements. May get a dull hum with cordless phone.

[Platty]

Hi Pippincp. Thanks for the reply. 

As mentioned in my post I've done the quiet line test and it's all clear. That is with a cordless phone too!

Stats below:

Product name:

BT Hub 6A

Serial number:

+084316+NQ71424784

Firmware version:

SG4B1000E020

Firmware updated:

24-Mar-2020

Board version:

1.0

Gui version:

1.115.0

DSL uptime:

0 Days, 4 Hours 36 Minutes 4 Seconds

Data rate:

12.67 Mbps / 78.35 Mbps

Maximum data rate:

12674 / 81336

Noise margin:

6.2 dB / 3.4 dB

Line attenuation:

32.7 dB

Signal attenuation:

22 dB / 32.7 dB

VPI / VCI:

0/38

Modulation:

G_993_2_ANNEX_B

Latency type:

Fast Path

Data sent / received:

155 MB Uploaded / 1 GB Downloaded

[pippincp]

But for the uptime those stats are perfect. I think you'll have to wait for the engineer.

[Platty]

Glad to hear they look good. As I say, when connected it's great. Good speed, multiple devices, no issues. Just frustrating these regular drop outs have started.

3 today. So not as bad as it has been at 7. But pre October I don't really remember many drops at all. 

[Platty]

Scratch that. Just had a 4th disconnect of the day at 23:29. All back up and running at 23:31 and same settings synced. 

I was in the middle of a warzone game so it booted me. Highly annoying. 

[Platty]

Thought I would provide an update for anyone else who finds themselves in this situation.

BT engineer has not shown up. I received a text message yesterday confirming the appointment for today between 0800-1300hrs. I've waited in all morning and no show. No calls, texts or emails either.

I've checked on the "track my fault" page and it states that the engineer visit was complete..... so I suppose that could mean a visit to the telephone exchange or green box on my road. Either way, notification of that would have been nice if that has happened.

In terms of disconnects, the last few days have been bad:

09/11/20 - 4

10/11/20 - 6

11/11/20 - 5

12/11/20 - 2 so far. Both this morning with the last one being at 0748. I have been connected since then with really good sync stats as I always am when it re-connects.

[Platty]

Logging another update.

Phoned BT this morning to find out what happened yesterday with the no show/no comms. Turns out that an engineer wasn't assigned to my ticket. Something went wrong with the booking and the job didn't go to wholesale team and has just sat there despite the "track my fault" page updating with "engineer visit completed". Not good.

Infuriating when I took a day off work to sit at home waiting for the engineer to not even get a phone call/text/email with an update. If I didn't phone up today, I would be none the wiser. So so frustrating.

Anyway, a very helpful chap called Sean answered my BT support call today and has sorted it all out and re-booked me for Monday. He has even provided me with his own email address should anything else go wrong, so I can contact him direct. That's better.

In terms of connection drops. We had a good day yesterday. Had an uptime of 25 hours! First time since the end of October. Re-synced straight away and same good stats again thus far. See how we do over the weekend.....

[pippincp]

Scroll to the top of the page and click on the link in the "BT's coronavirus response" banner.

[Platty]

Thanks. Appreciate the COVID times, but that wasn't the issue. The ticket was listed to go to the "boost team" when it needed to go to the wholesale team, but it had the wrong issue number so fell between the cracks - Sean's words.

He explained that the ticket should have been closed after the wrong team was assigned and a new ticket raised with the correct issue number so it went to the right team - the wholesale team.

He sorted all that out on the phone to me, and raised a new ticket to the right team and booked me in on Monday.