Home Hub 5 Reboots

My neighbour has HH5 and Fibre 1 (50/10 - I think these days). The neighbour has complained about buffering. Through remote logins and FaceTime I have got access to the HH5 logs.

It looks like there is an issue:

1. Product name: BT Home Hub
2. Serial number: Removed
3. Firmware version: Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.264 (Type A) Last updated 01/03/19
4. Board version: BT Hub 5A
5. DSL uptime: 5 days, 13:25:27
6. Data rate: 6320 / 24968
7. Maximum data rate: 6320 / 43548
8. Noise margin: 5.7 / 14.5
9. Line attenuation: 23.4 / 22.9
10. Signal attenuation: 23.4 / 20.6
11. Data sent/received: 6.6 GB / 11.5 GB
12. Broadband username: [email protected]
13. BT Wi-fi: Yes
14. 2.4 GHz Wireless network/SSID: Removed
15. 2.4 GHz Wireless connections: Enabled (802.11 b/g/n (up to 144 Mb/s))
16. 2.4 GHz Wireless security: WPA2
17. 2.4 GHz Wireless channel: 1
18. 5 GHz Wireless network/SSID: Removed
19. 5 GHz Wireless connections: Enabled (802.11 a/n/ac (up to 1300 Mb/s))
20. 5 GHz Wireless security: WPA2
21. 5 GHz Wireless channel: 48
22. Firewall: Default
23. MAC Address: Removed
24. Modulation: G.993.2 Annex B
25. Software variant: AA
26. Boot loader: 1.0.0


Event 1 - Reboot
04/04/20 18:16:44 (1211182.520000) OpenRG will go down for reboot in 5 seconds
04/04/20 18:16:49 (1211187.600000) OpenRG is going for reboot by IPC command
04/04/20 18:16:51 (1211189.530000) PPP LCP Send Termination Request [User request]
04/04/20 18:17:57 ( 33.640000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.264 (Type A)
04/04/20 18:18:03 ( 39.860000) WAN Auto-​sensing running.
04/04/20 18:18:51 ( 88.010000) PTM over DSL is up
04/04/20 18:19:42 ( 138.730000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=23830Kbps, Up Rate=6383Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.0dB, Up=6.0dB

Event 2 - Link drops and returns - during daytime - would this be DLM?
18/04/20 17:12:49 (1205711.860000) PPP LCP Send Termination Request [User request]
18/04/20 17:12:54 (1205716.530000) PPPoE is down after 20092 minutes uptime [Waiting for Underlying Connection (WAN Ethernet 2 -​ Down)]
18/04/20 17:14:20 (1205802.540000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=23830Kbps, Up Rate=6227Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.3dB, Up=6.0dB

Event 3 - Reboot
18/04/20 18:43:07 (1211130.120000) OpenRG will go down for reboot in 5 seconds
18/04/20 18:43:12 (1211135.120000) OpenRG is going for reboot by IPC command
18/04/20 18:43:14 (1211137.080000) PPP LCP Send Termination Request [User request]
18/04/20 18:44:22 ( 33.890000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.264 (Type A)
18/04/20 18:44:29 ( 40.900000) WAN Auto-​sensing running.
18/04/20 18:45:17 ( 88.820000) PTM over DSL is up
18/04/20 18:46:08 ( 140.220000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=23830Kbps, Up Rate=5299Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.2dB, Up=6.3dB

Event 4 - Link drops and returns
22/04/20 00:00:44 (278212.860000) PPP LCP Send Termination Request [Peer not responding]
22/04/20 00:00:48 (278216.680000) PPPoE is down after 4634 minutes uptime [Disconnected]
22/04/20 00:08:53 (278702.460000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=23830Kbps, Up Rate=5299Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.2dB, Up=9.6dB

Event 5 - Reboot
25/04/20 15:05:15 (591680.140000) OpenRG will go down for reboot in 5 seconds
25/04/20 15:05:20 (591685.140000) OpenRG is going for reboot by IPC command
25/04/20 15:05:22 (591687.290000) PPP LCP Send Termination Request [User request]
25/04/20 15:06:29 ( 33.640000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.264 (Type A)
25/04/20 15:06:37 ( 42.210000) WAN Auto-​sensing running.
25/04/20 15:07:23 ( 87.890000) PTM over DSL is up
25/04/20 15:08:20 ( 144.880000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=23830Kbps, Up Rate=6368Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.4dB, Up=5.9dB

Event 6 - Reboot
03/05/20 15:32:38 (692794.550000) OpenRG will go down for reboot in 5 seconds
03/05/20 15:32:43 (692799.550000) OpenRG is going for reboot by IPC command
03/05/20 15:32:45 (692801.360000) PPP LCP Send Termination Request [User request]
03/05/20 15:33:51 ( 33.470000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.264 (Type A)
03/05/20 15:33:57 ( 39.730000) WAN Auto-​sensing running.
03/05/20 15:34:36 ( 78.880000) PTM over DSL is up
03/05/20 15:34:57 ( 100.200000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=23830Kbps, Up Rate=6357Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.8dB, Up=6.0dB

Event 7 - Link drops and returns
05/05/20 01:01:41 (120502.570000) PPP LCP Send Termination Request [User request]
05/05/20 01:01:45 (120506.710000) PPPoE is down after 2006 minutes uptime [Waiting for Underlying Connection (WAN Ethernet 2 -​ Down)]
05/05/20 01:03:07 (120588.760000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=24968Kbps, Up Rate=6320Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.2dB, Up=6.0dB

I think the above is showing a combination of router restarts and possibly DLM overnight events. Do you agree?

I assume the router restarts are causng the low download rate. The router isn't restarted through human interaction. A new boiler / pump was fitted last year.

Perhaps we need to try a different router or possibly isolate the current router from any potental interference from the boiler / pump?

Any suggestions?

Take care

The router reboots aren't causing the low downstream rates.
It would take considerably more resyncs/reboots to trigger the DLM (multiple per day).
A reboot everyday would actually be fine.

The downstream has been banded/capped by DLM.
You can tell this from the data rate being considerably below the maximum data rate, the noise margin being way above the 6dB target and the down rate staying the exact same figure over multiple resyncs.

You can actually see the downstream rate slowly improving as time goes by.
It was 23830Kbps multiple syncs in a row then increased to 24968Kbps on 05/05/20.

It should keep increasing if the line remains stable.

Thanks j0hn83, I noticed a slight increase in the down rate but it has been low since I looked at it late last year.

19:24:36, 07 Dec

( 138.440000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=22372Kbps, Up Rate=6064Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.6dB, Up=5.9dB

01:19:07, 11 Nov.

(469955.900000) PPPoE is up -​ Down Rate=22372Kbps, Up Rate=5757Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.7dB, Up=6.1dB

Perhaps the rate is so low now because lots of reboots / resyncs were occurring over the winter months due to interference from the new boiler / pump which would have been in use during the colder weather?

I am tempted to configure my spare vr600 and ask the neighbour to connect to see if it improves the situation. There was no noise on the line in November when I did the quiet line test. The neighbours LRS is up for renewal and an email from BT has arrived saying if they sign up for 24 months they can do so for the same price which is about £10 p/m for Fibre 1 50/10. It would be better if we could obtain the minimum guaranteed speed but I think the problem is in the house and not on BT network.

Take care

Getting the VR600 working with social distancing could be a little complicated.

I think it would be easier for my neighbour to connect my old HG612 ECI modem to their master socket and then to the red port on the HH5. This way the BT parameters will be configured and the wifi SID etc will remain the same. Should be a relatively easy process to explain to my neighbout through the window, whilst up a ladder

Appreciate I won't be able to see logs in HG612.

I am assuming HH5 logs still show some limited info regarding the link status if the HG612 restarted/rebooted? For example, show that something happened during the day to the link?

Any views / comments welcome.

Take care.

In reply to a post by BarkingMad:

Getting the VR600 working with social distancing could be a little complicated.

Get a couple of cheap 25m Cat5e cables/patch leads and instruct the neighbour where to plug them in, you can then work from your PC in your own house.