How to appoarch EE customer services?

I've had a number of problems with my broadband line over the years but not been able to convince anyone at my ISP (BT, EE) that I have a problem because I can't get past the 1st tier customer support and their factory reset, filter change, test socket check list. The problem is intermittent and can reduce my broadband to pitiful barely usable speeds for a while before it slowly recovers. Because of the intermittent nature of the fault any tests they carry out always reveal nothing, so they don't take it any further despite complainants. They have also moved my line on to fast-path without asking and it appears to have gone very slow. I'm at least 1.5Mb below what I normally get.

Now... last week BT Openreach along with another company Kelly Communications had engineers up some of the telephone poles in the front street. One day on the way to work I noticed they were up the one the services my house. No idea what they were doing. Since then I've had severe noise on the line and broadband drops out if we use the phone. Some phone conversations are also difficult due to the noise on the line.

Given this problem and the lack of movement on any previous problem, how should I go about reporting this? Call customer service and complain about broadband failing or phone line noise? Any suggestions before I delve in would be appreciated.

If you unplug ALL adsl kit and filters and the phone is still noisy then its an easy case of reporting as a voice fault

Probably a high resistance fault, which means dodgy joint

DO as Mr Saffron suggests and dial 1470 17070 Opt 2 to do the QLT. Any noise report it as a voice fault to your phone provider (is that BT or EE?); do not mention BB.

In reply to a post by Kail:

They have also moved my line on to fast-path without asking and it appears to have gone very slow.

The DLM doesn't ask. It's auto, probably in response to the intermittent faults that you experience.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 10-Oct-14 20:02:04)

Thank you for the replies Mr Saffron, XRaySpeX both ever dependable, thanks.

I'm with EE. I used to be with BT a few years ago with the similar on going fault reappearing. Got pretty much the same treatment from BT customer services if only a little more clearly spoken.

I have a corded phone as a back up so I'll try the quiet line test with that tomorrow, when I have a moment. Thankfully no one has rung up while I've been using it this evening. Line Stats from router since last re-sync...

Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Fast Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)
Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 1055 (Kbps.)
Downstream 6439 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 5.5 dB 1.7 dB
Line Attenuation 25.6 dB 47.5 dB
Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.8 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction 0 0
Interleaved Path FEC Correction NA NA
Fast Path CRC Error 22879 412
Interleaved Path CRC Error NA NA
Loss of Signal Defect 36 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR 7329 183
Interleaved Path HEC Error NA NA
Error Seconds 24573 5343
Statistics
Received Cells 21252093
Transmitted Cells 1026257

The error seconds read 15267 down, 4997 up at the last re-sync which was 8hours 35mins ago. The sync speed has never been above 5.5Mbps since the switch to fast path. I always thought fast path used less error checking and was only used on stable lines unless the user requested it be changed. My line has previously gone for long periods with no symptoms, hence customer service line tests failing to identify anything. I'll report back when I've done the test.

Your speed is fine (and well above the 5.5 Meg you say), but:

In reply to a post by Kail:

Noise Margin 5.5 dB 1.7 dB

your Down NM is lowish, usually 3dB. It does reduce slightly at night, but mine is 3dB even now. See what it is in daylight.

You've had 36 discons since router last rebooted. ES are high at 1 every 3 secs; expect no more than 1 per min. Next time you post these stats also show 'Time Connected:' from initial Status page.

Fast Path does not do FEC Correction and is determined by the DLM.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Your speed is fine (and well above the 5.5 Meg you say)

Yes it is but for the first time in 2 months since the last glitch. It was hovering around the 5.1-5.3 but would not go above 5.5. I've always had 5.9-6.5 usually above 6. It thought the fast path was bring it down. I seems to have lost it's sluggishness as well.

I performed the quiet line test about 20-30 minutes before posting this. Used a corded handset straight into the socket no filter. There was a quiet hiss but it was surprisingly quiet given the nosey calls I've had previously. Towards the end of the test some regular tapping sounds could be heard. tap,tap,tap,tap,tap,tap... tap, then it repeated itself about 4 times and went quiet again before the end of the test.

I've made a few calls with the corded handset and reconnected my cordless phone and all calls appear to be back to normal again. Before the noise on the line would vary from almost nothing to barely able to hear the other person. It also got the point the broadband connection would drop when I got a dial tone, at the moment it is not doing any of these things. Someone I called pointed out it's not raining today, it has been raining most of the last week. I've not spoken to any neighbours but I suppose others may have had a problem earlier in the week as well and an engineer may have been out to corrected it? I doubt it though, I think it is more likely the intermittent nature of the fault again.

Stats before I disconnected to perform the quiet line test. These follow on directly from the stats previously posted.

Broadband Type: ADSL
Broadband State: Connected
Internet State: Connected
Time Connected: 22:32:31
Downstream Rate: 6439kbps
Upstream Rate: 1055kbps

Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Fast Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)
Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 1055 (Kbps.)
Downstream 6439 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 5.5 dB 3.4 dB
Line Attenuation 25.6 dB 47.5 dB
Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.8 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction 0 0
Interleaved Path FEC Correction NA NA
Fast Path CRC Error 120709 517
Interleaved Path CRC Error NA NA
Loss of Signal Defect 36 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR 41742 238
Interleaved Path HEC Error NA NA
Error Seconds 49058 5428
Statistics
Received Cells 43499297
Transmitted Cells 2645640

Then the stats reconnecting after quiet line test.

Broadband Type: ADSL
Broadband State: Connected
Internet State: Connected
Time Connected: 00:02:59
Downstream Rate: 6903kbps
Upstream Rate: 1019kbps

Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Fast Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)
Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 1019 (Kbps.)
Downstream 6903 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 5.7 dB 3.1 dB
Line Attenuation 25.6 dB 47.5 dB
Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.8 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction 0 0
Interleaved Path FEC Correction NA NA
Fast Path CRC Error 31 0
Interleaved Path CRC Error NA NA
Loss of Signal Defect 37 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR 53 0
Interleaved Path HEC Error NA NA
Error Seconds 49133 5428
Statistics
Received Cells 16832
Transmitted Cells 1779

I've not reset the router at all. You'll notice it has connected even faster this time but it is the middle of the day so best conditions probably. I don't think for a moment it will maintain that speed if problems persist.

On the noise margin, it has gone back up to above 3dB. When I first got the Bright Box at night it would hit 0 and just constantly re-sync. It was unusable as it would take up to a minute to re-sync and would only stay stable until you used the connection, before re-syncing again. The Netgear DGN1000 they sent coped with the low noise margin and would maintain sync throughout the night but neither router survives the disconnects I periodically get.

What is really strange is that usually when these problems occur I get very low speeds for a while. Sub 1Mbps down and painfully slow upload. It has gone the other way this time with the disconnects. Not sure what to make of it all.

Edited by deleted (Sat 11-Oct-14 13:39:46)

In reply to a post by Kail:

Loss of Signal Defect 37 0
Error Seconds 49133 5428

Better had you powered down router. It's only carrying forward this history to confuse future analysis.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Sat 11-Oct-14 16:21:41)

Update, sorry it's been a while. Your right I should have reset the router, but things appear to be on the up. The noisy line problem persisted for a few days but has not come back for a while now. I talked with neighbours who are connected on the same pole as my property. They are with another provider (not sure who) and they said they lost phone and broadband completely for several days. They spoke to the engineers I saw up the poles and they said they were out to fix the problem to my neighbours property. They also said the real problem appears to be a fault with the underground line from the poles going through the estate.

Regarding underground problems. I've a friend in another town who was told the same thing a number of years ago and that his phone would have to completely fail before they would likely fix it. His Fibre connection is only a few Mb faster than my current ADSL2+. His previous ADSL2+ connection was faster still, he feels totally conned into getting fibre.

Router has been connected at 6851Kbps for 2 weeks with no resync now and operating as expected. Stats...

Internet
Broadband Type: ADSL
Broadband State: Connected
Internet State: Connected
Time Connected: 14 days 12:43:59
Downstream Rate: 6851kbps
Upstream Rate: 1080kbps

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 1080 (Kbps.)
Downstream 6851 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 6.2 dB 1.5 dB
Line Attenuation 25.4 dB 47.5 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 87841427 55470
Fast Path CRC Error NA NA
Interleaved Path CRC Error 15192 3407
Loss of Signal Defect 51 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR NA NA
Interleaved Path HEC Error 165291 2581
Error Seconds 90923 8883
Statistics
Received Cells 10086587
Transmitted Cells 30680123

Suppose I'll have to wait for it to go funny again before pestering them or they won't believe me as usual. So till the next time Thanks for the responses.

In reply to a post by Kail:

Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 6.2 dB 1.5 dB

That low NM again! It's bearable but just watch it.

It might be worth getting one of those apps that monitors your NM over time. Dunno much about them but somebody else will.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Wed 29-Oct-14 23:39:40)

Running Routerstats lite here on EE. 1.4 db noise margin at the moment, about 2.0 during the day. Rock solid 11Mb connection now I have my other Billion 7800N up here.
http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/betatesters.htm

Edited by professor973 (Thu 30-Oct-14 00:02:50)