Totally daft idea, but you never know. Have you checked, (by unplugging and replugging), every cable in and out of the UPS? One of them a fraction loose may cause trouble.

And of course any other power cables anywhere.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Totally daft idea, but you never know. Have you checked, (by unplugging and replugging), every cable in and out of the UPS? One of them a fraction loose may cause trouble.

And of course any other power cables anywhere.

Every cable that is on the ADSL connection route has been waggled and checked - except the UPS that supplies the room itself oddly enough. It's hidden in a corner and so overlooked.

When I drop the connection to change the router, I'll give the UPS and a connector en-route to the equipment the once over plus the umpteen other sockets I have. I also have a spare UPS, assuming the battery is okay, that I could dedicate to the routers if necessary...

Thanks for the thought, you never know.

I'm starting to wonder whether there might be an arcing mains power insulator or similar somewhere - there is a pole transformer a hundred yards or so north of here and another the other way. When the drops happen, there is no sign of any additional noise around 612kHz as is often recommended to check. I could maybe borrow a spectrum analyser...

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Totally daft idea, but you never know. Have you checked, (by unplugging and replugging), every cable in and out of the UPS? One of them a fraction loose may cause trouble.

And of course any other power cables anywhere.

Well, I pulled the power last night and cleaned out the UPS connections etc and a junction en-route to the Modem power sockets. Also put the Billion back on as the stats are much better. All running but no overall change or any drops yet on either line. I'll check the rest of the cables later in the week.

Here is a photo of the cabinet up the lane - if the inside is in the same state as the outside it might explain a few things, but then it belongs to a previous era. I have seen it open (may not be difficult looking at the lock(s)!) not too long ago [and not with a green van next to it] and I've never seen another anywhere nearby. And no, the photo wasn't taken in the local cemetery:

GPO Cabinet

And now, the real arghhhhhhhhhhh!

Black Box Inside

Did BT ought to come and sort this out, maybe do my sockets at the same time? Line 1 is on the orange pair.

Disregarding any problem due to that, I still remain to be convinced that at least six of the drops in the past month are not made by a piece of equipment following a script as they are so predictable and I assumed this was the DLM/Training in action.

The standalone drops out of the blue much less so.

Two comments on the photographs.

The cabinet picture show just how well they were built - peeling paint has no effect and it is probably still fully weatherproof.

As for the cobwebs - you might have problems persuading BT to come and clean them out, but think about doing it yourself (carefully). Webs and spider excrement can cause a short or low resistance path between terminals - so it is worth considering.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Two comments on the photographs.

The cabinet picture show just how well they were built - peeling paint has no effect and it is probably still fully weatherproof.

As for the cobwebs - you might have problems persuading BT to come and clean them out, but think about doing it yourself (carefully). Webs and spider excrement can cause a short or low resistance path between terminals - so it is worth considering.

In reality, I couldn't agree more about the rather ancient cabinet. I was just thinking what a nice new coat of paint could do for its appearance...

The black box is about 19 years old now and hasn't been touched since then AFAIR. What with that and three elderly BT terminating boxes plus unused cables all over the place from old installations (ten years since last used) it would be nice to have the whole lot sorted FOC. Yes, I can easily do it myself but I'm not supposed to am I...

As for FOC, Openreach would only do that if there was a proven line fault.

Your external box will not be the only one with the spider issue.

Let's hope his cricket box isn't another.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

As for FOC, Openreach would only do that if there was a proven line fault.

Your external box will not be the only one with the spider issue.

Yes, I know that, it's just a hope.

I'm sure there are loads of boxes with spiders in but this one is all my own [Ed: correction: BT's] I'll probably end up hoovering it out. It also has next door's phone in as well...

Edited by tbailey2 (Mon 02-Jul-12 17:29:10)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Let's hope his cricket box isn't another.

That is so old it has holes in so they don't stay and play...

Inside the black box looks messy, but seems OK. Cobwebs are not service affecting. The termination blocks are gel filled, so the damp isn't getting in there.