BT Fibre to the premises problem

[Paul608085]

@CliveH1969 

"Note: If I power off my neighbours EE hub, then I am able to access the BT hub manager via the 192.168.1.254 and it is my hub. But as soon as the EE hub is powered back on then we start from square one."

I have seen something similar to this in a professional capacity:

A few years ago, I used to work in BT's TV Outside Broadcast department. We had equipment installed at unmanned sites across the country, but for economics, not every site was permanently equipped - some kit was moved between venues as required.

Each venue had it's own allocated IP address on the BT network, so when the Field engineers moved equipment around they had to change the IP address before connecting up at the new venue. If they inputted the wrong IP address, it was possible that two different venues both had equipment on them that had the same IP address programmed in. In the Control,we could only interrogate the equipment by connecting to the internal BT network and inputting the relevant IP address for the venue we wanted to look at. If two venues had the same IP, we saw similar effects to what you describe - until the IP address error was corrected.

You also said:

"BT then sent a second Openreach engineer who said that the ONT serial numbers were mis-matched but this was at BT CP's end and not Openreach."

General question to other forum members:

Is it possible that BT/EE have allocated the same IP address to both the OP and his neighbour?

.

[licquorice]

No, but with fttp, all ONTs on a pon receive all 32 channels of data and the correct channel only is then forwarded to the router in accordance with the correct serial number. The IP address is dynamic and not a fixed IP.

However, that doesn't explain the connectivity with no input to the hub WAN.

[CliveH1969]

Hi  rbz5416,

I have removed the network cable from the main powerline and also from the hub and this now enables me to reach my BT hub manager on 192.168.1.254 and also I now receive no internet connection if I remove the WAN cable from the hub. I'm still checking a few other things and I've also asked my neighbour to monitor and let me know if their situation has improved. I will report back in a few days time on this.

So far it looks like you are correct and the powerlines for some reason were bleeding through.

I've also been told that my neighbours have wireless powerlines that they connected to their hub using WPS.

It is strange as the previous powerlines that I had bought worked no problem (until one failed) and that the ones supplied by BT are either faulty or too powerful. The only change that I can see it that when I installed the original ones the main one was plugged in to an extension block and not directly in to the wall outlet.

I'm going to ask if BT can send me a new pair of powerlines today as well.

Thanks again for helping out with this problem, it is appreciated.

Clive.

[CliveH1969]

Hi Paul608085,
Thank you for contributing to my post. I think we have it sussed and looks to be BT supplied powerlines that are causing the issue. I am still going through some final tests and will let everyone know if this is the cause shortly. I am pretty convinced that it is however.
Many thanks, Clive.

[tonysmini018]

Pop up a picture of your power lines.

This is definitely an odd one, but I’m glad it seems to be sorted.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@CliveH1969 

The powerline adapters are encrypted, so its unfortunate that you both ended up with the same code.

All you need to do is to factory reset yours, then set them up again, when your neighbour`s ones are powered down. Once that is done, and yours are working, then your neighbour can power theirs back up again. It highly unlikely you will both end up with the same encryption code. 

Its possible when you originally set yours up, they configured themselves to your neighbours system. 

[CliveH1969]

@Keith_Beddoe 

the powerlines are using cables they are not wireless, so the setup is basically plug each end in run a cable from the main one to the hub and at the other end run the cable from that one in to a device or switch. Which I am using a Gigabit switch to supply internet to a couple of devices that do not have wifi capability.

Clive.

[Paul608085]

@CliveH1969 

"the powerlines are using cables they are not wireless,"

Powerline adapters work by sending radio frequency signals using the mains cabling as a transmission line.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@CliveH1969 

They are not wireless, they work by transmitting radio frequencies along the main wiring, usually in the range 8-30Mhz.

The data is encrypted so that the receiver has to match the same encryption key, for it to be decoded.

The encryption key is initialised when the units are first pained up, or after a factory reset. If the pairing button is pressed, the units will attempt to connect. However if there is another pair of adapters detected on the mains wiring, even next door, then it will attempt to connect to that one, especially if they are on the same mains phase, or the wiring is in close proximity.

Even if yours are paired, then next door pressing their pairing button, may cause theirs to connect to yours.

Its quite an insecure method, and issues like this have been reported before on this forum.