Engineer called out, speed now cut in half?

Hi,

I have had problems with my broadband disconnecting on and off for years! and horrible line noise on my land line phone. Finally managed to get Orange to send an engineer out only after my land line went dead and my internet losing connection for hours at a time.

The engineer told me the spare BT socket wire was damaged, couldn't get any signal through and was only getting worse. He offered to fix it but I'd have to pay £104 for the privilege or disconnect it as I never used it. I opted for the disconnection.

Now I have noticed that my download speed for movies, mp3's etc used to be from 850 kB/s - 1.5 Mb no longer goes past 300 kB/s.

Could this be because the engineer did something to my router? It may be a novice question but I have no other explanation.

Browsing the internet is still fast, line noise gone, no dropped connection. Just the speed of my downloads is now an issue.

Also was I really liable for the £104 fee seeing as I am renting my line from Orange?

Appreciate any replies

Router: Brightbox

Please post your router stats. For BrightBox: Advanced Settings / Accept /. System / ADSL Status

Also run BT Wholesale Broadband Performance Test then Further Diagnostics at foot and post the text boxes.

You are responsible for, and pay for, all wiring beyond the test socket of the master socket. I take it that 'spare socket' was an extension socket.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Wed 07-Aug-13 21:27:15)

Here is my ADSL Status. I'll post the Performance test asap thank you.

ADSL STATUS

This page shows information about your ADSL connection if applicable.

Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Interleaved Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)
Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 888 (Kbps.)
Downstream 3071 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 16.9 dB 30.3 dB
Line Attenuation 6.8 dB 13.0 dB
Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.6 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction NA NA
Interleaved Path FEC Correction 33 235
Fast Path CRC Error NA NA
Interleaved Path CRC Error 0 0
Loss of Signal Defect 0 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR NA NA
Interleaved Path HEC Error 0 0
Error Seconds 0 0
Statistics
Received Cells 24741663
Transmitted Cells 35843918

The massive noise margin if your problem. You should be seeing 20+meg with that line attenuation. Have you tried giving your router a re-boot to see if that helps?

Yes I've rebooted my router to see if that helps but nothing. Just find it odd my download speed dropped after the engineer came out and consistently staying below 300 kB/s.

30dB noise margin is not a normal setting, so suggestion is that the connection has been heavily banded to introduce stability. Down to EE support to spot this and get the DLM reset so that banding is turned off

I made the call and got my connection reset. My downstream rate has gone from 3071 Kbps to 17239 Kbps which I'm really happy about.

Was told to not touch my router for 10 days but we noticed I was still getting line noise on my land line so that has to be sorted which I feel is going to cost me money to rectify.

I forgot to ask the engineer if I will experience any internet disconnection in the 10 days after my reset so if anybody knows can you let me know.

Other than that thank you all for your help I really appreciate it.

Amanda.

What is your Down NM now? You could be getting 22-23 Meg sync speed.

Do a BT Quiet Line Test (dial 17070 Opt 2) with a corded phone in the test socket with the router discon'ed for the mo' (no harm if done occasionally). Any noise, report it to your landline provider (Orange?) as a voice fault; don't mention BB. It is their responsibility and should not be charged as long as you can demonstrate it at test socket which is the termination of their equipment (NTE=Network Termination Equipment).

It is possible that DLM will re-sync your line occasionally.

The 'no touchee router for 10 days' is a myth. Just don't do it often.

My Down NM (noise margin?) is now:

Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 16.1 dB 6.1 dB
Line Attenuation 6.9 dB 13.0 dB

Unfortunately I don't own a corded phone or more importantly my Master socket is the old style and does not have a test socket.

Pity but I think with old style master socket the socket itself is the NTE.

Try the test with a cordless, but is always worth keeping a cheap corded phone in reserve. What if there is a power cut and you have an emergency? I know, use mobile but ...