Query

2022-08-26 15:30 GMT
I use three apps which all appear to have intermittent internet problems.
BBC Sounds, Zoom and a game.
All three happily manage to reconnect themselves.
I am convinced that the problem is not at my end.
Is it likely that Broadband Quality Monitor
can shed light on the situation please ?

Having a look at router stats is good too.

Are you saying just those three apps are [censored] about, and all else works OK ? If so I’d say it was the apps themselves

I suspect the OP may just have a phone with a data allowance.

2022-08-27 12:10 GMT
Thank both of you for your replies.
I am not familiar with the abbreviation OP.
I looked it up and apparently there are 103 different meanings !
I do not actually know how to access my router's stats,
but I suspect they would give me just averages.
What I am hoping to find is an app which can be run for a few hours
and provide a graph with horizontal time and
vertical internet access availability.
That would allow me to see if what I suspect is actually true.

In a forum context such as this, OP = Opening Post or Opening Poster. In this case it referred to you, the Opening Poster.

‘OP’ Original post or poster, in this thread that’s you.

Router stats are not averages, they are real time statistics about the routers performance.

Which router do you use ? Often the stats are amongst the data revealed by accessing your routers web based interface. To access the router I use for instance, I would type http://192.168.1.254 into the web browser address bar of a device connected to the router. You will often be prompted to enter a username and password to reach additional detail, these will usually be found on the router itself somewhere.

In reply to a post by pluralist:

In a forum context such as this, OP = Opening Post or Opening Poster. In this case it referred to you, the Opening Poster.

I went for Original Poster.

It would help us help you if you give us a little more information. What type of equipment you are using such as Windows, Apple Mac, or an Android phone or iPhone or tablet.

What internet product are you on from which provider? The problem may just be the way they work.

What router do you have. Some cannot provide the information for BQM, but most give at least basic connection data. The method of getting the data or letting it create a BQM graph varies by manufacturer and sometimes also your ISP.

That too .

2022-08-27 17:10 GMT
Thank both of you again for your replies.
Well, I can get to my BT router.
"Hub Manager, Home, Advanced settings, Technical log
Information and Event log"
"This shows all events that have taken place on your Hub since the last time it was reset."
I turn the router off for a few minutes every morning, so I suppose that counts as a reset.
Page 1 of 500 has about 20 entries from 16:11 to 16:30 when I logged in.
However, the entries are pretty much gobbledegook as far as I am concerned.
Apparently it can be exported, so if I could understand it,
it might be very useful.

Thank you for the explanation of "Original Poster" ( OP ).
My computer fails to display your left and right quotes.
They are displayed as ‘ and ’.
I think my computer does actually have both those characters, ` and ' ?

Windows, iPhone & iPad, BT not fibre.

By the way, you don’t really need to start each new post by manually inserting the date and time. That’s taken care of automatically by the forum software, and noted next to each post 😁

I turn the router off for a few minutes every morning, so I suppose that counts as a reset

Can I ask why you do that or why you think you should? Routers don’t need to be reset in that manner, certainly not daily.

Switching off the router even once a day as you are doing can be interpreted as a fault by the remote line management system (dynamic line management or DLM) so should be avoided where possible.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

so should be avoided where possible.

Cough, last three paragraphs:
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/9280-electric-pr...

Past advice has been to leave broadband hardware switched on 24/7 since it is possible an overnight switch off might trigger the dynamic line measurement system (DLM) and slow a VDSL2/FTTC/partial fibre service down over time. This advice still stands but if away from home for more than a day and wanting to reduce the base load it is now worth the risk.

My bold.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

My bold.

But it also says now worth the risk.

I guess nobody will agree, but main page is (we know) read much more than forums.

People will need to weigh up the cost saving of switching their router off compared to the likely hood of false flags by doing it, personally I think the router is better left on whether the line has or has not got DLM on it.

In reply to a post by dect:

People will need to weigh up the cost saving of switching their router off compared to the likely hood of false flags by doing it, personally I think the router is better left on whether the line has or has not got DLM on it.

I’m pretty sure thats what Andrew’s article says, but maybe its just how I read it.

In reply to a post by TMNIr1sh:

Is it likely that Broadband Quality Monitor
can shed light on the situation please ?

Can you please post your BQM here?

2022-08-28 17:00 GMT
My date and time record when I have composed a post,
not necessarily when it gets posted.
I compose it in Notepad and copy to the web site.

Thank you all again for your replies.

I have no particular reason for turning off the router briefly every day,
I just like the idea of it starting up again regularly.
If BT have ever noticed and thought there was an error,
they have never done anything about it.

I have not actually installed a "Broadband Quality Monitor".
I just thought it might be relevant.

This morning I spent some time looking for a BT document
explaining the Smart Hub 2 Event Log messages without success.
I imagine that there is such a thing,
but perhaps they do not let the public see it.
I have decided that such a document would be very useful.

I also looked at the Event Log again.
It is still 500 pages,
so I suppose that is the amount of router storage available for it,
probably enough for a few hours, depending on how busy it is.
At the worst it could be serving 2 computers, 3 iPads, 3 iPhones, 3 switches,
an EE device, a British Gas monitoring device and up to 3 printers.
Obviously they are not usually all on at the same time.

2022-09-08 11:25 GMT
Thank you all again for your replies.
Since my last post, I spoke to BT Broadband
and they arranged for an engineer to visit yesterday.
He is an Openreach engineer, so is concerned only with the external connection.
He checked that the connection to the local exchange was satisfactory
and suggested that the problems might simply be due to the router.
I got the impression that he regarded this as a not uncommon problem.
Anyway, I spoke to BT Broadband again and they are sending a replacement router.
We shall see whether that makes any difference.
In the week up to yesterday I took SpeedTest readings
from my iPhone four or five times a day.
The approximate Mbps were download 2.50 and upload 0.25.
The few occasions when I noticed that the EE device
had kicked itself in produced some very odd readings.

Date & time _ _ _ _ Conn Type _ Conn Details _ _ Download Mbps _ _ Upload Mbps
01/09/2022 19:32 _ Cell _ _ _ _ _EE LTE _ _ _ _ _ 65.99 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _21.45
01/09/2022 19:29 _ Cell _ _ _ _ _EE LTE _ _ _ _ _ 34.87 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _16.46
01/09/2022 15:55 _ Cell _ _ _ _ _EE LTE _ _ _ _ _ 114.14 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9.75
31/08/2022 14:33 _ Cell _ _ _ _ _EE LTE _ _ _ _ _ 42.98 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _18.23
31/08/2022 14:23 _ Cell _ _ _ _ _EE LTE _ _ _ _ _ 42.67 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _11.79
31/08/2022 14:22 _ Cell _ _ _ _ _EE LTE _ _ _ _ _ 43.46 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _12.75

I shall post again after the replacement router has settled in.
I have just had to do editing to get the spacing above reasonable I hope.

That looks like a mobile data connection. Not a landline.

In reply to a post by pluralist:

That looks like a mobile data connection. Not a landline.

Probably BT’s product with EE backup.

Yes, but what if it has been running on it most of the time? Getting info from the OP has been a blood from stone job.

In reply to a post by pluralist:

Yes, but what if it has been running on it most of the time? Getting info from the OP has been a blood from stone job.

Yes, for debugging I would disconnect the EE add-on from the BT router.