Telephone calls affecting broadband

Can anyone suggest a way to resolve my problem with telephone calls affecting my broadband connection, please? This issue has been going on through numerous ISP's & phone providers yet none will take ownership.

To set the scene, I have no extension wiring active on my phone line, I have replaced filters numerous times in case one was faulty. I have changed routers and I have changed my phone handset. I have also changed ISP numerous times in that period.

Different routers and phone (wireless & corded) have been plugged directly into the NTE 5 test socket via filters for the last 18 months.

The problem is and has been that whenever I receive or make a telephone call, my broadband connection is affected by noise (you can hear it on the line. It is the sound of the router dropping connection and re syncing) causing the BB to drop. The BB will re sync during the first minute or two of the call at a substantially slower speed, typically 1.5meg down from aroun 6 meg before the call.

When I complained to my phone provider (IDnet) they says BT find no fault. They suggest I disconnect the router to see if the noise disappears! They totally dont grasp the telephone call affects the BB in some way causing the router to drop the connection then re establish it which is what I can hear. In other words, the noise is a symptom of the connection dropping not the cause.

When I complain to the various ISP's I have had, they all say it is a phone line issue and nothing to do with them. both parties say BT will charge me £200 if they check the line \ broadband and find no fault. IDnet said BT would disconnect the router and if the phone line was clear, I'd be charged!

Im completely chuffed off with this problem and am giving serious thought to having a second telephone only line installed but this will be expensive leading to double rental costs etc.

What on earth can I do!?

Sounds like a fault on the DSLAM/MSAN line card to me. In which case no amount of migration will help unless you go to LLU, which would cure it immediately.

I'm not suggesting you do that just yet, but which exchange are you on? The link to what samkows says would help.

Has any ISP mentioned a "lift and shift"?

When I complained to my phone provider (IDnet) they says BT find no fault.

Are they your ISP or not? If not, who is?

I am LLU and it still persists.

My exchange is LCCLV

I recently migrated to BE and the line speed and stability has increased significantly. But the BB dropping due to telephone calls and re sync at lower speed is still very much apparent.

No. IDnet are the phone line provider.

Ah, and the problem was there when AAISP were the ISP, from what you say? But which AAISP service was it, as they resell Be?

On the face of it my statement about LLU would cure it was wrong, but that was based on my thinking IDNet were now the ISP - hence my question when I realised.

IDNet are right I'm afraid, there is nothing they can do as it isn't a phone problem. They cannot get the broadband dropping investigated. They can only get the line tested for a working phone connection without the router connected.

All phone providers would say the same unless they were also the broadband provider.

It is Be who have to get this sorted out. Which ISPs have you been with while this has been happening?

Having said that, you mentioned different routers; filters; and a different handset. What about the phone base station, with its power supply? When you swapped routers, did you also swap their power supplies?

My other thought is a High Resistance (HR) fault. We haven't seen many of those recently and I had forgotten about them. It needs a bright and committed (Openreach broadband) engineer to find these. Many will not find it and you always do have that risk of a charge . You certainly need to cover the power supply bit above.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Ah, and the problem was there when AAISP were the ISP, from what you say? But which AAISP service was it, as they resell Be?

On the face of it my statement about LLU would cure it was wrong, but that was based on my thinking IDNet were now the ISP - hence my question when I realised.

IDNet are right I'm afraid, there is nothing they can do as it isn't a phone problem. They cannot get the broadband dropping investigated. They can only get the line tested for a working phone connection without the router connected.

All phone providers would say the same unless they were also the broadband provider.

It is Be who have to get this sorted out. Which ISPs have you been with while this has been happening?

Having said that, you mentioned different routers; filters; and a different handset. What about the phone base station, with its power supply? When you swapped routers, did you also swap their power supplies?

My other thought is a High Resistance (HR) fault. We haven't seen many of those recently and I had forgotten about them. It needs a bright and committed (Openreach broadband) engineer to find these. Many will not find it and you always do have that risk of a charge . You certainly need to cover the power supply bit above.

ISP's used

IDnet
ADSL24 reselling entanet service and cable&wireless
AAISP (there own service as far as Im aware)
Xilo reselling entanet service and now reselling BE 16

The BE services are both LLU.

My current phone is corded ie not cordless so has no separate power supply.

Each router has used its own dedicated supply (I have gone over and above what every ISP has recommended). I have even used different cables from the NTE 5 test socket to the routers to eliminate there being some fault with the cable.

Thanks for you help though!

I suggest you pursue the HR fault route with Be support. Good luck though, it is a nasty one. Let us know how things go.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I suggest you pursue the HR fault route with Be support.

Any help?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

My other thought is a High Resistance (HR) fault. We haven't seen many of those recently and I had forgotten about them. It needs a bright and committed (Openreach broadband) engineer to find these. Many will not find it and you always do have that risk of a charge . You certainly need to cover the power supply bit above.

I had exactly the same problem just over a year ago. Turned out to be a HR fault, I didn't involve my ISP at all, I reported via BT 151 a noisy line. Very fortunately a very experienced and competent BT engineer came to investigate. His test kit showed a fault about 80 metres away, he remade the connection in that manhole, (in fact he remade a couple of other joints in there that also looked dodgy). The problem was fixed, just as well because a month later I switched to FTTC.

My advice is report it as a voice (not ADSL) fault.

Edited by broadbandjockey (Fri 02-Dec-11 22:24:45)