Constant ADSL Disconnects - What do I do next?

Hi All,

I am having a nightmare with our BB line at the moment. Ever since a storm back in April the broadband has been getting worse.

So to give the back story, a storm hit our farm and took down the broadband for around 3 weeks. After numerous calls and engineer visits and BT replacing things left right and centre it came back up, but has been unreliable since. The broadband disconnects at least once every day some days it can disconnect 3 times. This is causing DLM to kick in and slowly degrade our speed.

Other than the disconnects our line is rock solid with no packet loss and very low pings.

Before this storm we were on a stable 15mb connection, but now with the disconnect we have to get the line profile reset every month or we are on a 2mb connection that continues to disconnect so that obviously isn't the issue.

We have had 10 BT visits, with the master socket being changed (Newest BT ADSL Filter Faceplate), the router being changed, and most of the line and junction boxes changed due to water damage and part of the line due to the actual cable being snapped. I still think there is a physical issue somewhere as it randomly disconnects and its is reliable all other times. This has lead to engineers visiting site and saying they cannot find any faults and just leaving.

We seem to have hit a point where I do not know what to do next as BT doesn't seem to be helping any more as well as our ISP (Daisy Group PLC). What can I do next? I have the line stats below which don't really look all that healthy.

When the broadband disconnects I see a spike in Loss of Framing and Loss of Signal, but I don't know what this is or know if it is relevant.

Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 5:34:14

DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.5

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 446 / 9.726

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/GB]: 47,79 / 1,99

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12,0 / 21,8

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 16,0 / 30,5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 16,7 / 12,7

System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ----

Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / TSTC

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 338 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 38 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): -

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 1.019 / 212

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 135.695 / 22.913

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 5 / 5

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 3 / 16

I really have no idea what to do next?

Appreciate the help.

Any problems with the phone/voice side of things? If so you could try the quiet line test to see if any noise is audible as if there is it needs reporting as a voice fault in order to get fixed.

Dial 17070 and take option 2, use a corded phone.

We did get noise on the line when it was down. I haven't got a corded phone, but will get one and give that a test.

Thanks

Certain makes/types of cordless phones+base units can also cause issues but you would have seen that before the effect of the storm took place assuming it's the same cordless phones in use.

Have a read of these when you've time:- http://tinyurl.com/pm4m2ac & http://tinyurl.com/ndhwcs4

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

Certain makes/types of cordless phones+base units can also cause issues but you would have seen that before the effect of the storm took place assuming it's the same cordless phones in use.

Have a read of these when you've time:- http://tinyurl.com/pm4m2ac & http://tinyurl.com/ndhwcs4

Had a look at those pages. thanks. Ended up changing a really old power extension and the power supply itself to see if that is causing the problem.

Did the quiet line test after this and can hear slight buzz that is only there when the router is turned on. Other than that there seems to be a very subtle sound every second or so, but this is extremely quiet.


Edit: Well this hasn't worked. Just had a disconnection so it is still unstable. There is no electronic devices by the router at all any more as it is in a room by itself. I am guessing I will have to contact my ISP again. I am just not sure what to say...

Edited by deleted (Sun 02-Aug-15 18:43:31)

You said your ISP is Daisy so that means you have a business broadband package?

https://daisygroup.com/products-and-solutions/busine...

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

You said your ISP is Daisy so that means you have a business broadband package?

https://daisygroup.com/products-and-solutions/busine...

Yep, we would move from them, but really want to get the fault fixed first and also dont want to start a new contract before fiber is available.

In reply to a post by typk:

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

You said your ISP is Daisy so that means you have a business broadband package?

https://daisygroup.com/products-and-solutions/busine...

Yep, we would move from them, but really want to get the fault fixed first and also dont want to start a new contract before fiber is available.

So what is the latest response from Daisy re. the disconnections?

You are using a new router and microfilters aren't you?

Do you have a Sky TV package?
Home security alarms?

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

In reply to a post by typk:

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

You said your ISP is Daisy so that means you have a business broadband package?

https://daisygroup.com/products-and-solutions/busine...

Yep, we would move from them, but really want to get the fault fixed first and also dont want to start a new contract before fiber is available.

So what is the latest response from Daisy re. the disconnections?

You are using a new router and microfilters aren't you?

Do you have a Sky TV package?
Home security alarms?

Sorry for the delay. Got onto Daisy yesterday and went thought the same process as last time. They almost treat each call as a new one so they support representative resent the line profile and is monitoring the line until Thursday when he will call back with an update.

So we are using a new router Daisy sent to test and we have also had BT change the master socket to the very latest one with the filter built in.

No Sky TV package and no security alarms, all the internal wiring except the office has been cut off and the bell wire has also been cut.

Thanks

So, a bit of an update for everyone and it isn't good news.

We have had a total of 14 BT engineers come to the premises with almost every one finding a different fault with the line, be it moisture in the junction boxes, damaged cables or rust(All external to the building). Some even came and just left without checking anything physically which led our ISP Daisy to reschedule another engineer due to the fault not being fixed.

We did eventually get a REIN engineer that determined that it was not the fault even though there was a fair bit of interference from nearby electric fences. In the end he said it was most likely a physical fault and to upgrade to FTTC when available, as this runs on a different frequency and should be more stable if REIN was an issue.

The next engineer after this found multiple faults on the line and did attempt another fix, but suggested the whole line might need to be redone, this never happened as the next engineer seemed to fix the issue and the connection is a lot more stable.

So we have just noticed our monthly bill was £200 in September in engineer fees and over £800 in August automatically taken out of our account by Daisy via DD. Now since this is a business the costs can be sucked up for now, but over £1000 for engineers when all internal wiring was completely new and never found at fault. We have had to open a dispute for these charges as it is obviously a physical fault, the last engineer changed something on the poles and miraculously the issue seems to be fixed now and our connection is stable for 3-4 days at a time. However the speed still degrades after each disconnection which Daisy believes is still a fault...

So after all this the final engineer seems to have made the line somewhat stable when 13 others couldn't, BT have charged over £1000 in fees for the engineer which seems ridiculous as visits were automatically scheduled by our ISP due to the ongoing fault and the fact the last visit fixed the issue, concluding it was a physical fault all along!

Oh and to top it off FTTC is now available, but Daisy have a 90 day notice in their terms...

If anyone has any advice on how to get BT or Daisy to refund the fees that would be much appreciated, also any advice on the 90 day notice would be great too. Really just want to up and leave, but feel stuck at the moment.

90 day notice - if in the terms then that is the contract and comes down to legal arguments over what forms a reasonable attempt to provide a service.

Some business providers would have fought those charges probably before they even got to you, e.g. AAISP certainly if the internal wiring is shown to be fine and the issue is not REIN created by yourself then no reason for them to have been raised and you should have been disputing them since the first charge was raised.

Some providers simply pass on the bills and don't actually look too deeply into whether the charge was raised correctly or not.

Take Daisy to the small claims court. Doesn't cost much (£30?) but claim that they are charging you extra for a basic fault in their service. Most times for small-ish values companies will just settle out of court as their expenses for challenging would be greater than their loss.

Put it in writing and make sure you send it to them with a copy of youe letter.