Installation issue

After the digital region network closure on the 14th august , my internet was cut off.
waited 3 weeks for a tag to be removed before I could place an order to get bt infinity fibre.
Got an install date, lovely gentleman came, hooked us up at cabinet, only to find that the port was faulty, waited another week for port to be fixed, then another engineer came to connect us. Nothing. 3 1/2 hours later as lots of phone calls the gentleman couldn't do anything, fibre was coming through on the line test, but not to my home hub, tried 3 other home hub 5s and 2 home hub 4s ad nothing. He replaced the face plate on the socket, even tried 2 filter sockets. Nothing. He said we needed another engineer because fibre is coming through but it must be really weak that it's not connecting to the hub, so another engineer with more sophisticated equiptment needs to check the line.
So yesterday another engineer came, checked the line and said it was all fine an had no idea why it wasn't working.
Anyone have any ideas, because clearly the engineers don't

Hard to say. What speeds did you get from Digital Region? The Openreach cabinet should not be that far from the old DR one and thus similar speeds should be possible and if its not working suggests an issue with wiring, most likely at the cabinet end, i.e. down to the removal of the DR segment.

The engineers kit should have given them a connection speed, and you should then be able to see similar values from the Home Hub.

Were the engineers actually Openreach, or perhaps contractors who will probably have no idea of the possible impact being an old DR line might have.

I've had 2 open reach engineers and 2 sub contractors. All were oblivious to the problem. I have another appt on Monday and they have promised to have this sorted. I've told all the engineers about being on the dr network. They all get the connection with the optical network box and have tried many line tests and it all comes back fine. They tried 5 different home hubs including 2 home hub 4s and 3 home hub 5s and but just won't work.

'They all get the connection with the optical network box' what do you mean?

They plug in an orange device to the phone line at your home, and can see the VDSL2 signal OR do you mean if they goto the Openreach cabinet in the street they get a signal?

The signal is effectively the same as the Digital Region just that it originates from a different box in the street, but if the old box is still partly connected to your line it will cause havoc, or they may even be seeing the old DR signal. You can see a signal and still have no Internet access too, i.e. the HH5 will report a connection speed but give you no actual Internet connection.

An ont it's the open reach network thing lol I'm not knowledgable with his stuff. They plugged it into my telephone master socket and it all showed up as workibg they said. Just can't get the connection to the modems.
One engineer said there must be a problem on the line between the cabinet and the house and needed to call another engineer with the sophisticated equiptment to find the problem, so another one came out and he had no idea.

I'm just furious because I've been without internet since the 14th august.

Edited by deleted (Fri 17-Oct-14 13:51:15)

You mean something like http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/news/4011-bt-ft...

You then connect this to the HomeHub and plug the cable into the WAN port on HH5.

If you are plugging the HH5 directly into the socket marked by the black arrow in http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/faceplate/images/facepl... then you plug the RJ11 lead into the DSL port on the HH5 and no need for an Openreach modem.

Yeah that's what he did. And it all worked on his modem , just not on any of the bt home hubs. (All 5 of them). It's so bizarre

The most annoying thing is that I can't talk to openreach directly, ad has to be done through bt who just keep sending me out new fibre install dates.

If the Openreach modem can produce a SYNC i.e. solid DSL light, then they could have left you with that modem and connected via an Ethernet cable between LAN1 on the modem and the Ethernet WAN port on the HH5.

If that does not work, then the issue is NOT the VDSL2 but an authentication/port mapping issue, i.e. the hardware at cabinet is mapping you to another ISP and not BT Consumer. So an authentication issue.

Have you tried looking at the web interface for the HH5 when connected directly to the line using the DSL port, in that mode the stats in the web interface should show

VDSL Line Status.


Connection Information

Line state: Connected - Yours may not say connected if there is an authentication problem
Connection time: 2 days, 04:55:43
Downstream: 78.12 Mbps - You should get a figure here if synced but not authenticated.
Upstream: 19.53 Mbps

I think I'll have to wait for Monday because I only have the hh5 and that doesnt connect. I'm using mobile data on my mobile, have been for 9 weeks.

I didn't know the openreach modem could be left with us, I assumed it was their equptment.

I'm gonna have a look and see if I can find my old modem from my previous ISP see if that does anything.

Edited by deleted (Fri 17-Oct-14 16:54:18)

With the HH5 what leads are you plugging into where? It is easy to plug the lead into the wrong port and you get no error messages.

Lol yeah they're in the right place

Sounds to me as though the issue is 'sync but no PPP' mention this to the next engineer, and if they look blank, ask if they might ring the FTTC DCoE for some more 'informed' support.

Will do. Fingers crossed I'll have internet tomorrow!

Well, engineer left and still no internet

An authentication issue, which two of us suspect at least is fixable remotely, so entirely possible the engineer if just testing for VDSL signal would see no problems and find nothing to fix.

Two stages to a working connection

1. Getting sync at ADSL or VDSL level and only then can point (2) start
2. Sending authentication details and getting a successful reply before everything times out.

This is why we have asked what is plugged into where, since if the DSL port of the HH5 is plugged into the Openreach VDSL socket on the faceplate we should be seeing line speed data in the HH5, the same as the engineers are suggesting.

So what do I do now?

If it was me, I'd have a lead from the VDSL socket to the grey DSL socket on a HH5 (or any other device that has a built in VDSL2 modem) and find the page in the HH5 that lists the connection speed which should be visible even if the router cannot actually authenticate. Only persisting at mentioning this as have seen people claim to have HH5 wired in right, but since an RJ11 lead fits almost all the sockets on the back of it, people have sometimes plugged it into the wrong thing.

On my VDSL install I left the installer to get on, but if this was my fault I'd also be asking them to explain more about what their test kits i.e. the JSDU should actually a connection speed and if that is similar to what you had on Digital Region suggests wiring is fine. If that speed is say 5 Mbps when you have 70 Mbps from Digital Region then points at a wiring issue.

For now though it is keep on at provider support and let them know you would like compensation for the time its taking to sort this out.

Well I got the hh5 page up and no speeds were shown. All were 0.00.
Spent an hour 45minutes on the phone to bt only to be given yet another engineer appt.

There's nothing I can do which is really annoying me.

Would you mind posting the details on the Helpdesk page in the Troubleshooting tab on the Homehub 5 please, just the first 12 lines or so?

Edited by deleted (Tue 21-Oct-14 12:40:09)

I don't know how to do that?

I've had feedback from bt and apparently there is yet another fault on the line D- side. This will be the fourth fault so far. Ugh.

You don't know how to copy and paste?

Yes but I have no computer, only mobile devices and tablets and a smart tv. The home hub shows no internet speed as there's no connection, I checked this morning. I've been told there's. Another fault at the d side at cabinet so awaitin more news

You can copy and paste on an iPad, and I assume on an Android device.

I have this...
WAN Status

Connection Information
Line state: Connected
Data Transmitted/Received: 0.0 MB / 0.0 MB
Downstream: 0 bytes
Upstream: 0 bytes

1. Product name: BT Home Hub
2. Serial number: +068343+NQ42313090
3. Firmware version: Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.173.1.6 (Type A) Last updated Unknown
4. Board version: BT Hub 5A
5. VDSL uptime: 0 days, 01:06:21
6. Data rate: 5045 / 26330
7. Maximum data rate: 5072 / 28439
8. Noise margin: 5.8 / 6.1
9. Line attenuation: 0.0 / 24.2
10. Signal attenuation: 0.0 / 24.2
11. Data sent/received: 0.0 MB / 0.0 MB
12. Broadband username: [email protected]
13. BT Wi-fi: No

Okay the fact it states CONNECTED means that it can see a VDSL2 signal and the issue looks to be an authentication one.

The page at http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/46981... will guide you to the figures that show the connection speed between the modem and the cabinet.

Looks like he found the page while you were posting.

Is it giving you internet access now then?

No still have no internet at all. I've contacted bt ( again) but not heard back yet.

Two possibilities:

Authentication issue like we have figured out all along
OR
The line is still connected to the Digital Region cabinet and the cabinet is somehow still turned on.

Who do I contact about authentication? I've had 2 engineers say I'm no longer on the drn

How do the speeds:-
6. Data rate: 5045 / 26330
compare with the DR ones?

What have you got in the password field?

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 22-Oct-14 15:39:22)

In terms of who you contact, it will be who you ordered the service from, so I believe BT Retail in your case.

I was only getting 5-6 Mbps on the dr which was much better than copper!

Okay so the improved connection speeds says the line has been moved to the new cab and both wires are connected, pointing towards an authentication issue, i.e. where the port you are connected to in the cabinet is mapped to the ISP - this can be wrong sometimes.

Eventually someone in support should realise this and get things sorted out, but you will need to keep chasing.

The password in the Home Hub?

It may even be worth doing a factory reset on it.

I've been in contact again and it's not even activated. They won't activate it Untill the engineer has been and installed fibre... I've told them that it has been installed and is all connected to the fttc. They refuse to simply turn it on Untill the engineer has been

That indicates that Openreach haven't signed off on the install.

Ok ty