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I'm having a 'mare of a time with my connection. I'm with Zen who are being really great, but we appear to be getting nowhere fast.
I'm connected to the test socket, no other sockets in the house, have tried 4 different filters and 2 modems (Thomson and Siemens), 3 different phones, different cables, wall sockets, you name it.
Current log details below...
Uptime:
0 days, 15:07:47
DSL Type:
G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:
448 / 192
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]:
0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:
11.5 / 12.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:
22.0 / 37.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:
11.0 / 25.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):
TMMB / ALCB
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):
39 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):
34 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):
0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):
94 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):
98 / 2,715
CRC Errors (Up/Down):
98 / 2
HEC Errors (Up/Down):
71 / 1
The story: My broadband has been set up since July or so and although the line was noisy the connection speed was fast enough that I didn't have to think about it. No stuttering youtube videos etc. I left the house on the 17th Oct for a trip and when I got back about 10 days later I couldn't get a connection and when I finally did, it was down at the 127kbps level and dropping all over the shop. Since then Zen have been trying to fix the problem and I've had a BT engineer out, who found that there were no problems with the line (obviously)
Even with a corded phone you can hear the modems syncing and things have got so bad that I can only connect by picking up the phone first. The connection is a more stable today, so I'm getting this off before it goes again. The line was put in in 2008 and I had this problem then. It was only remedied then by killing the broadband and living someplace else for a year (due to work)
Having gone through a similar thread here I think my only options are buying an AM radio and walking the streets or getting Virgin cable.
I'm running a Mac, so the stats software isn't an option unless someone knows of a mac based job.
Oh and the best bit....Bt's estimate of what broadband speed I can receive by postcode is 6mbps, but by phone number 0.256mbps (down from 6mbps last week). This is also what happened the last time.
Any ideas?
Edited by deleted (Wed 04-Nov-09 08:59:31)
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Even with a corded phone you can hear the modems syncing That should never be possible with a valid setup. That suggests a lack of filtering and would certainly explain your problems.
In the above scenario where is the modem plugged in and where is the telephone plugged in?
If you had a master faceplate I would wonder if there might be some frayed insulation somewhere allowing the external line to leak into your internal wiring. But a more typical installation with telephones plugged into filters should never allow you to hear the modems syncing.
The fact that making a call allows the modem to connect suggests a resistive fault. Using the telephone can be enough to overcome the problem ( http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/connectionprobs.htm )
Oh and the best bit....Bt's estimate of what broadband speed I can receive by postcode is 6mbps, but by phone number 0.256mbps (down from 6mbps last week) Not sure what you mean by that. If true it suggests a rare example of BT updating their database. Are you sure you're using the same tool? There's an estimator which is largely based on guesswork then of course there's the speed tester which is a specific benchmark. The latter can vary every time you run it but the former (I'd have thought) is updated once in a blue moon if BT can be bothered or remember how to.
Edited by Andrue (Wed 04-Nov-09 10:37:39)
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From my experance have you got noise with the modem removed, if not its likly a problem on that side effecting the line (it was, it turned out, with my line when a fault ended when I was moved to datastream and back (it didn't work!) with the result all my line noise went! and speeds etc went up.
Edited by john7 (Wed 04-Nov-09 11:08:19)
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Thanks for the reply. The modem and phone are plugged into the same filter which is plugged into the test socket. The engineer from last week said the problem was probably at the exchange with Zen's equipment. But when Zen pointed out that they don't have any equipment there, he wouldn't note that down officially and another engineer is coming out tomorrow morning to listen to the sync and have a fiddle about and hopefully agree that the fault is in the BT splitter card there. The last engineer also said that the house setup and line were kosher and all the boxes were ticked on his kit.
I only mentioned the "suggested" line speed thing because the last time this happened, I had the broadband disconnected and stayed someplace else. Then I waited until the suggested speed went back up to the correct value and then had everything reconnected and moved back in. Don't really fancy going through that again though!
Yesterday I had to make a phone call in order to make a connection with the modem, so yup high resistance and noisy modems.
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From my experance have you got noise with the modem removed, if not its likly a problem on that side effecting the line (it was, it turned out, with my line when a fault ended when I was moved to datastream and back (it didn't work!) with the result all my line noise went! and speeds etc went up.
No modem, no noise. Doesn't matter what modem you plug in, as soon as it starts to sync you get noise. If only it was a duff modem, I'd be happy.
The "smoking gun' in all this is that someone entered the exchange on the 17th Oct to fix something after a major outage and my problem started then according to the logs. Try convincing BT of that though.
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Yes I had noise/problems with 3 diffrent modems. I was never told to see if the line was OK with no modem only no phone. Even now with the problem removed I get the feeling those invoved don't really accept it was a problem in the exchange removed when I was physicly moved to datastreem and back.
The resion I rased it was my ISP insted I got the phone line sorted, but that was OK and ended with me being charged for call outs as there was no voise line problem but a ADSL one effecting the phone line and expencive diffrence the way BT works.
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if you have an engineer visit make sure you see it is in sync and note the speeds, anything under 288k downstream connection speed is a fault and obviously you should be getting close to 8M with your downstream attenuation.
Phil
MaxDSL - goes as fast as it can and doesn't read the line checker first.
MaxDSL diagnostics
Are your kids pirates ? Limewire, Bearshare, Kazaa, BitTorrent, eMule are all tools of the trade. |
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f true it suggests a rare example of BT updating their database
active BT wholesale lines provide the BRAS profile as an input to the number checker so it does update with "real" data, but has the downside of reflecting faults as in this case.
Phil
MaxDSL - goes as fast as it can and doesn't read the line checker first.
MaxDSL diagnostics
Are your kids pirates ? Limewire, Bearshare, Kazaa, BitTorrent, eMule are all tools of the trade.
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Not a rare example, database does follow line data fed into database
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Cheers peeps...the engineer is due tomorrow a.m. so I'll update after he's poked about. All advice taken on board and armed with!
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How did the engineer know the line was kosher? Did they connect an ADSL modem at the exchange end and get full rate ADSL? They should ideally also test at the street cabinet to rule out the last bit of line to your home.
From what you say it sounds like a conclusion has been jumped to without ruling out the possibility of things like a High Resistance fault/dodgy joint in the line from exchange to property.
As for the ticked boxes, invariably this means anything that produces any ADSL passes.
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Well the engineer's been and he got the same problem on his kit and his filter. He said he'd never come across this before and headed off to the exchange to check the splitter. He called me back and asked if the line was better and it wasn't and said that the problem didn't happen at the exchange end. So he's off to have a dig about and a think about it.
In a nutshell, my line tests fine, but acts as if there is no filter when modems are connected to it and the exchange end is fine and works properly.....mmmm. I wonder if I'm on a lay line or something!
He's going to call back later, but I think we're looking at a dodgy joint all right.
Edited by deleted (Thu 05-Nov-09 13:42:33)
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The line tests fine - for the tests they do. Its a little like buying a car just because its got an MOT and then finding it has numerous other problems, i.e. the remote tests often do not reveal everything
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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The engineer's just been back on the 'phone. He's says he's changed everything inc the "green cable." It still it makes no difference and after 10 years in the job he's baffled. He's going to pass this onto someone more "specialised" and get back to me.
All I can say is that I'm appreciating the amount of effort that's going into this.
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sometimes you've just got to keep badgering them to do it properly 
After almost 3 months of to-ing and fro-ing with LLU provider, they've had BT out now 5 times to my fault , and it looks like today may have finally done the trick (fingers X'ed, touch wood, etc.) and changed the pair from exchange rack to entry point (but without the lift & shift that last OR bod recommended). Am now monitoring performance to see if it's fixed or not, but the point being you need to keep on at them (ISP,BT, whoever) if it's still not right....
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sometimes you've just got to keep badgering them to do it properly
After almost 3 months of to-ing and fro-ing with LLU provider, they've had BT out now 5 times to my fault , and it looks like today may have finally done the trick (fingers X'ed, touch wood, etc.) and changed the pair from exchange rack to entry point (but without the lift & shift that last OR bod recommended). Am now monitoring performance to see if it's fixed or not, but the point being you need to keep on at them (ISP,BT, whoever) if it's still not right....
My ISP (Zen) has been brilliant and the BT engineers have been really good too. You get to speak to proper people at Zen rather than Mr Script in Gawd-Knows-Where and I haven't had to do any badgering. Apart from the fault itself, I'm happy with the progress made trying to remedy it. I need to find out what's causing the fault for "certain" reasons (hint: it only happens a few weeks after I start to live at that house again), however if it proves just to be a fault, I'm going to bail onto Virgin cable after all this.
At the moment, were down to badness being someplace between my house and the green cabinet, which is only a few hundred metres down the road.
I spoke with an ADSL person I know yesterday and he explained the whole set up to me and I can see how low frequency interference would cause sound to come through the phone, as well as the fall off in the download channels and all that.
All in all, trying to get this fixed could be a lot more hard work than it's been so far for which I'm really grateful. Imagine if I was with Tiscali for example!
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Well No3 engineer has just been.....and Lo we may have cracked it! He changed the phone connection from the pole to the green cabinet and the line noise has gone. Connection details are now....
Uptime:
0 days, 0:26:34
DSL Type:
G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:
448 / 4,928
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]:
0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:
11.5 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:
21.0 / 35.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:
22.0 / 15.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):
TMMB / ALCB
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):
0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):
0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):
0 / 35
CRC Errors (Up/Down):
0 / 1
HEC Errors (Up/Down):
0 / 1
My profile speed is still dog slow, but hopefully that'll come back soon and my max estimated line speed for my phone number is up from 256Kbps to 6Mbps according to bt.com.
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Back up to 3meg on wireless.
Duff connection between pole and green cabinet.
Thanks Zen/Bt
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