No internet for 4 days and counting

[klipp]

Hello dear friends.  Let me tell you my sad story lol.

For the past 6 months I've been having ongoing problems with my internet.  These problems feature unusual sound dips on the telephone and losses of sync occuring on average 10 times per week.  Each time it got so bad that my IP profile becomes trashed I would have to sweet talk IDNet into resetting my profile.  They told me that on the long run, short of calling out a BT engineer there is nothing much that can be done.

Of course the BT engineer comes complete with the £200 fee threat, which scares me off the idea and so I just make do.  However 4 days ago I lost sync and it seems that I could only regain my connection if I connect the router to the master socket and no phones at all on the circuit.  So the once intermittant problem had become a permanent feature.  Annoying, but this actually gave me the confidence to finally call out the BT engineer knowing that the problem would still exist when he arrived.

Today an engineer arrived at about 2:30pm.  He spent the first hour and a half running a bunch of tests to see if the problem exists on my side of the wire.  He eventually agreed that my wiring and equipment were not at fault.  The task then began to diagnose and rectify the problem in BT's own equipment.  He started off by replacing my rather old looking master socket with a nice new Openreach socket.  Only trouble is this did not fix the problem, in fact, it made it worse, because even with no phones on the circuit the router will no longer sync at all.  He then got in his van and drove up the road to the cabinet and did some tinkering.  Came back but still no joy.  A few minutes later a second van arrived.  It was his manager.  They took it in turns to climb the telephone pole near my house.  Still no internet!!!  At this stage he seemed to give up.  He came in and tidied up the wires on the new master socket and said he'll speak to IDnet about how best to proceed next.  Not sure why IDnet would need to advise a BT engineer on how to proceed with maintaining a BT issue.

Meantime he apologised for the fact that I've gone from internet+no phones to no internet at all.  I said don't worry, my IP profile would be trashed by now anyway, as my router had been attempting to sync once per minute, every minute, for the past 72 hours.  We shared a laugh at the likely sync rate.  At least the telephone still works!!

So there you have it.  My story of no internet.  Keep tuned for the next installment, probably on Monday (aka day 7 without internet).

[Glenn]

I wonder if it is a problem with the line card in the exchange?

[Steve]

Fingers & toes crossed for you.

[klipp]

Steve, cheers.

Glenn, I haven't a clue (and apparently nor does the BT engineer).

I hope they can sort it out on Monday though.  But could be later, as IDnet won't be contacting me til Monday.

[DorsetBoy]

Unbelievable incompetence......... sign up with the other BT Klipp ....... Bush Telegraph totally free and has no packet loss.

How can 2 "engineers", one a supposed manager not be able to find a connection fault to the exchange?  It really is time that BT lost the right to provide telecom services in the UK, it is clear they are incapable of the task.

[Rik]

I can add nothing to what Dorset has said - BT has shown utter disdain for their customers this year. The Openreach monopoly has to be broken up if we are ever to have a good service in this country.

[Gary]

I can add nothing to what Dorset has said - BT has shown utter disdain for their customers this year. The Openreach monopoly has to be broken up if we are ever to have a good service in this country.

I cant see that happening in a hurry, Rik. 

[Rik]

Me neither.

[cavillas]

Only if we pester our MP's and Watchdog etc.  Make a lot of noise and complain, eventually something will be done.  Unfortunately most people in this country like to just complain and criticise and take no action, it's time we all changed our attitudes and did something.  We should do the same with petrol prices and domestic fuel prices as well as car insurances as well.  Lets start to do something.

[Rik]

Petrol prices are set to rise by another 4p or so a litre at the beginning of January.

I agree, Alf. Mass action is needed, but it will never happen.

[pctech]

Apathy seems to be King here.

I'm by no means a telecoms engineer but simple hardware diagnostics should make them try replacing the line card now.

[Rik]

They're probably still looking for one, Mitch.

[pctech]

Hmmmm yes

[Steve]

My other thought is that they may have decided that the line is not fit for adslmax hence why involve IDNet.

[Rik]

Always possible, Steve.

[klipp]

Someone has kindly failed to disable BTOZ on their BT home hub so I'm on wifi at the moment.  Better than nowt.

The engineer seemed to indicate that the fault existed somewhere between the cab and the telephone pole.  He confirmed this by connecting my wire to someone else's house and sure enough their modem lost sync immediately.  He said one solution could be to connect me to a different telephone pole.  I don't like this idea because it would increase the length of my already long line and besides which, why not just fix the problem so I can stay on my existing pole.

[klipp]

My other thought is that they may have decided that the line is not fit for adslmax hence why involve IDNet.

I'm on ADSL2+, although I have tried ADSLMAX in the past and the intermittant problem still existed.

[pctech]

I thought the copper loop from your Master Socket terminated in the cab so if he connected the line to another loop and it lost sync it sounds like something between the cab and the exchange or as has been suggested, a line card fault.

[DorsetBoy]

They have probably connected and tested the wrong pair    sounds just like another "certain incident" involving BT and IDNet.

[klipp]

Another day on BTOZ.  BT engineer is back tomorrow to replace cabling.

[Glenn]

From your home to the pole?

[Lance]

North or south? 

[Rik]

[Glenn]

Depends on the BT chap, is he at the zenith or nadir of his career?

[Rik]

 

[klipp]

From your home to the pole?

Yes I believe so.

[klipp]

Well they "reset my port" at the exchange (whatever that means) which seems to have helped a bit.  I am now able to use my internet service again although with a reduced downstream rate.  1900kbps on a 51db Line Attenuation.  It's still dropping sync a lot but at least I have some kind of service for the first time in over a week.

I can't help feeling that it's a half finished job.

They talked about wanting to "lift and shift" my line but somebody, somewhere in the chain of command has said they are not allowed to do it, even though the engineers feel confident that would fix my line completely.

I'm this close to cancelling my internet completely because it's reached the stage where it is simply more trouble than it is worth...

[Rik]

I sympathise, klipp, but things will get better if BT follow their normal pattern.

[pctech]

If they are using Cisco kit at the exchange that could be a physical or virtual port.

[klipp]

No calls from IDNet or BT today.  The engineer said I'd hear from one or both of them.  Anyway, resetting my port at the exchange seems to have made a big difference which might be why there's been no further communication.  Currently synced at 2100kbps with 52db LA and 6db SNR.  My router log shows there was a drop in sync twice this morning at around 9:30am but stayed connected the rest of the day.  Perhaps the powers that be consider this to be stable enough to close the case.

[klipp]

Just had Brian from IDnet on the phone.  Seems the port reset only had a very short term success.  I lost sync a lot so far this morning.  He's been in touch with BT and insisted that the Lift and Shift should happen, so they're going to do that tomorrow morning.

I like Brian.

[Rik]

He's good. I did try and get some info earlier, but Simon's computer was down, so he passed it across for me.

[klipp]

Thanks Rik.  I'm hoping that this Lift and Shift should put an end to all my internet woes.  The BTOR engineers seemed to indicate it would make a big difference.

If I've learned anything this week it is that the problem must surely exist at the exchange since resetting the port allowed me to go from no internet to some internet.

[Rik]

All it takes is getting BT to admit it.

[Glenn]

And having a BT willing to go the extra mile to resolve the issue.

[Rik]

Or even 100 yards.

[klipp]

I assume the lift and shift has happened.  My router log was showing no line signal for about 20 minutes this morning.  I've had a couple of sync drops this afternoon but this could be due to my line being retrained (each resync has resulted in a higher downstream rate).

I will continue to monitor closely.  Hopefully I'm reaching the conclusion of my internet woes.

[Rik]

It sounds like it, 20 minutes is about right for a lift and shift. 

[klipp]

Dunno what happened yesterday lol.  BTOR engineer just phoned 10 minutes ago to say he's done the lift and shift.

[DorsetBoy]

 

[Rik]

Dunno what happened yesterday lol.  BTOR engineer just phoned 10 minutes ago to say he's done the lift and shift.

The mind boggles.

[klipp]

I've been synced for 6 days without incident.  That's a record.  SNR is kinda high though, 10db.  Doesn't seem to be effecting speed so I'm not bothered.

[Rik]

It's costing you about 5-700k, klipp, but if the line is stable, effectively you're going to get better speeds because your profile won't keep getting hit.