So it begins

[Steve]

I could probably supply an unlocked OR modem as I don't use it.

[Niall]

Thanks for the offer fella, I'm just going to leave things for a bit. This is getting me far too stressed on top of a family member with terminal cancer and a close family friend slowly dying from heart failure.

I just really don't need much more to deal with at the moment

[pctech]

You poor guy

[Niall]

My speed dropped today, ironically as I was downloading a random file to see what speed I was getting. I've lost another 2mb down to 22mb, and upload is 6mb.

I forgot to update this thread with everything going on and my birthday. Miriam phoned me out of the blue at some point last week (completely forgotten what day!) saying they're trying to find out what caused/causes the line to reset before every visit, amongst other things. I've not heard anything back since so I don't know what's happening with Brian's search with BTs ticket system to find out who did what and why.

Basically after the last visit the line was reset and was giving me 24 down and 7 up it can't be looked at as a fault. So essentially I have to wait until it happens again, then hopefully IDnet will force BT to look for the ACTUAL problem as it's clear from what, 8 or 9 visits there's nothing they can test in my house and it's pointless running tests when they get here as SOMEONE keeps resetting the line so it shows as fine.

One of the things that bugs me is that if the line is fine and there's nothing they can see has having an issue, then how do they explain that the speed has dropped from 34mb to 22mb, or when it was at it's worst, 8.4mb? Obviously something has gone wrong for it to drop to that extent. BT CLAIM the cabinet is fine and the exchange is fine (which they initially said was the source of the fault, and incidentally they have blamed on several previous occasions, then the line resets, engineer turns up - bingo, no problems for them to fix) and lets give them the benefit of the doubt, although I'm not sure why I should, and they're not lying, then that leaves the copper from the cabinet to my house.

My next question that I've asked about 8 times now and no one has answered, which is REALLY annoying me now, is WHY AM I ON A CABINET HALF A MILE FROM MY HOUSE WHEN THERE IS ONE 300 YARDS AWAY? How about they switch me from the cabinet half a mile away to the one nearer me to see what happens? Surely a year and a half of me contacting support should be enough for a request to BT to at least try this? I've no idea what the cabinet number is near me as there's nothing written on it, or the telephony one next to it (unless a do not litter sticker counts!). Even if BT say there would be a charge to the ISP, surely the ISP could challenge this citing a laundry list of fault queries since being moved to the cabinet half a mile away, on both ADSL+ and FTTC?

I'm getting 7mb more on FTTC for a big jump in price than I was on ADSL+ before the problems started. Surely to god that tells SOMEONE there's an issue. 15mb on ADSL, 22mb on FTTC. Yeah, that works 

[andrue]

One of the things that bugs me is that if the line is fine and there's nothing they can see has having an issue, then how do they explain that the speed has dropped from 34mb to 22mb, or when it was at it's worst, 8.4mb?

Yeah it's frustrating. I'm in a similar boat but thankfully nothing like as bad. This morning when I was asked to try a temporary log in which seemed to prove it's not associated with my account or IP address. Unfortunately the switch back showed that the problem had cleared so we're stumped again now.

So we've eliminated my router, my line, the BTor network, BRAS and IDNet. There's not a whole lot left now. I'm guessing something running in the cab that only affects my port but it seems impossible to talk to the people that 'own' the cab.

[Niall]

Yeah I'm in a similar boat. However I'm not happy to let this lie. Personally I believe the ISP should query BT as to why I'm on the cabinet I am on, also why they removed the cabinet on my estate and connected me to one half a mile away without consulting any residents in the area either. I only found out by accident that this is almost certainly what is causing the issue.

The thing that annoys me the most is that I am the one that's done all the running around, had all the costs, all the stress, all the time off work and it's an issue BT and my ISP should sort. Clearly the fault is with the something in the physical line from the point it leaves my house to the point it reaches the cabinet. As my cabinet was removed from the estate that removes the chances of it being the copper from my house to at least the end of the cul-de-sac estate, so that's leaving just under half a mile for BT to look at and inform IDnet what the issue is. Now, if BT don't want to do this, they should put me on the cabinet 300 yards away, that will save them from faffing around (to be VERY polite) with the rest of the line.

I really think that for the money I'm paying things should be moving a lot quicker with BT, but they just don't care. I do, and I want my monies worth as I'm damn well not getting it. Also you can put money on the fact that no one will be giving me any money back for all the products I've had to buy to rule out things on my side. Funnily enough, when I've mention this along with the cabinet query on my emails to support, neither question is ever answered.

[Gary]

Sorry to hear about all your issues Niall. Not sure its up to the iSP to query what cab you are on though  that depends how you are wired up on BT's system surely? Your copper may go nowhere near that cab, I don't know the logistics but if your line is older then it may be terminated at a cab that's much father away as that's how it was set up when the line was put in. The cab that's nearer may be for other BT lines that were put in since yours, and changing cabs may involve a lot of work, work that's not financially viable for one line. 

[Niall]

Not really sure. I do know that from watching an old video of the area, the houses by the nearer cab were there first, before my estate, but only a handful of them. As I mentioned, my estate had it's own cabinet for 35 years until BT removed it with no warning, or advice to anyone around here. This is why I was annoyed, as it was only by pure chance that I found out that the little box there now is just a cap, not an active cabinet, and we've been rerouted to one half a mile away. Bearing in mind the way the housing appeared in this area, it stands to reason that the nearer cabinet would be the one I should be connected to. They have had to dig up the main road to connect the fibre from there, to the other side, so the copper lines would be running along the left side of the main road pretty much all the way into town. That would make sense considering the work done on the roads recently.

I suppose it's possible that BT leave a certain amount free on a cabinet, but where the one 300 yards away is, there is no possibility of further lines being connected as there is no more land to build on in the area.

Again, this is all guess work as no one is telling me anything.

[Niall]

Well I've waited nearly 4 weeks since being called by Myriam who said Brian was looking into who was resetting the line before engineers arrived at the property, and I've heard nothing.

Hmm.

Also, my line is slowly losing speed. It's now down to just over 20mb and the upload has dropped to 5.77mb (as of 10 mins ago).

[miriam_idnet]

Hi Niall,

I assure you we have not forgotten you!

I am repeatedly chasing our account manager for an answer to the following, taken from my email to him:

'Do BT reset the SNR of a line prior to a site visit as standard procedure?
If so, how do we make sure this does not happen next time as this makes the circuit appear fine to the engineer that attends only for the circuit to drop again within a few days.
Why would this customer be connected to a cab half a mile from his home when there is one 300m away?
Is there anyway of having him switched to the nearer cab?

The customer has taken several days off work to be available for engineer visits only for the line to be reset before the engineer attends and the case be marked as FNF and chargeable. He has tested everything possible to rule out a local issue and we repeatedly pass the case back to BT but continue to go around in circles.

We have asked all of these questions during the fault procedure but do not get an answer.'

I have also called and left him several messages to respond asap, unfortunately BT stretch their account managers to the limit assigning them up to 80 accounts in some cases which is why responses do not always come quickly.

As discussed in our call some weeks ago, regardless of waiting for the account managers response, if you are seeing the issue again please contact Support so we can relog the case and get it escalated for you. This will get your case in the hands of a team leader/manager within BTs faults team as a repeat case and hopefully avoid another useless engineering visit.

Kind regards,

Miriam
IDNet

[Niall]

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for my late reply. Busy day!

[miriam_idnet]

Hi Niall,

Tried to call you today. I have noticed your circuit is on Super Stable, it appears we added this for you back when you were on ADSL2+ but when switching you to FTTC it carried over.

Super stable will hold sync rate down to maintain the stability of a circuit so removing this may help however, the availability checker shows maximum sync your line would support is 27MB, you are currently syncing at 20MB so i think its worth a try unless you feel the Super Stable should remain?

Regards,

Miriam
IDNet Support

[Niall]

I'm all for anything that fixes the issues, so yes by all means try it

I've never heard of super stable, and in all my previous calls to support not a single person has mentioned this before!

[cavillas]

Super stable is where Superman has his horses.

[Ray]

 

[Den]

That sounds just like Rhosddu so it must be right   

[andrue]

I've never heard of super stable, and in all my previous calls to support not a single person has mentioned this before!

It's one of the few things (possibly the only thing) that an ISP can ask BT to do to 'adjust' an FTTC connection. I think they get a choice of three settings 'fast', 'stable' and 'super stable'. As with all forms of DSL you trade speed for stability or vice versa 

[Niall]

I was only ever told of interleaving

[miriam_idnet]

Hi Niall,

I have submitted the request to remove Super Stable, this should complete in 24 hours.

Regards,

Miriam
IDNet Support

[psp83]

Some information for you Niall

BT Wholesale Broadband Connect FTTC Stability Options

Stability Option	Description	Application
Standard	Allows a CP to offer a higher line rate, by allowing the line to have a lower stability target than the Stable Option provides.	This is the default level of stability, which would be more suitable for best efforts type applications.
Stable	This setting - aims to keep the line working with only a few errored seconds and retrains each day	Offers a higher level of stability and error performance
Super Stable	This option allows CPs to offer a higher level of stability by using increased error protection. The line will work at a lower speed than the Stable option and at times it may give rise to increased latency.	Offers the maximum level of stability and is more suitable for applications which require very good error performance and a higher level of line stability (e.g. video).

[Niall]

That may explain why my ping times suddenly doubled after having interleaving turned off. Initially I was seeing 14ms then it went to 44ms and after someone reset my line, it went to 33ms.

Thanks for the info Myriam and paint shop pro83 :p

[psp83]

That may explain why my ping times suddenly doubled after having interleaving turned off. Initially I was seeing 14ms then it went to 44ms and after someone reset my line, it went to 33ms.

Thanks for the info Myriam and paint shop pro83 :p

Haha that's a new one, normally get called "PlayStation Portable"

PSP is actually my initials and 83 is my birth year

[Simon]

83?  Bloody kids! 

[Gary]

83?  Bloody kids! 

I feel well old now

[Den]

You do    wait until you get to my age