Had no internet for 11 days - how to find out why?

[#1]

Had total loss of plusnet Fibre broadband service (FTTC) from early 12th July for about 11 days; apparently OK now, but how can I determine the true cause, to be sure?

An engineer confirmed it was not a house/router issue, but a failed DSLAM card in the Green roadside cabinet (nb landline telephone unaffected, just DSL).

I understand 11 days total loss of service is unusual, especially given it did not involve road works or vehicle collisions etc, and that Plusnet could do nothing to escalate the issue with Openreach until 48hrs after the 'estimated completion' date which kept incrementing to the next day. (So PN could do nothing but relay 'estimated' date/time, apparently indefinitely!?)

I'd now like to know if it's properly resolved in case it's only a temporary fix. So is there some way to now determine the original problem, when it involves the openreach network?

Thanks

Paul

[#2]

@Pauly9 I doubt you will get much of an intelligible reply - OpenReach won't talk directly to you, and the chances are that a request by PN for further information will just be met with 'plant/equipment/operational problems'.

To be honest, if the issue persisted over 11 days, I would expect OR to make sure the repair was permanent, but if it was a 'card' issue, then these repairs are as permanent as  any repair to electronics can be.

[#3]

Thanks.
The engineer visit suggested the card (in green cabinet) failed weeks prior to our own disconnection, and there were/are no spare connections. Like a plane with more passengers than seats. This raises the question of what happens in such a situation; whether different ISPs have different priorities; and whether we were simply unplugged.

I was wondering if openreach (or other) provide some online resource for 'outages' I've not found, or whether PN should request more details. I was surprised at an 11 day total loss of service in which PN were unable to even find out more, or 'escalate' the issue.

Paul

[#4]

If the fault is with BT/OR infrastructure - all ISPs whose customers connections are to the equipment concerned will be in the same position, be they BT Retail/SKY/TalkTalk or whoever. Did you check with neighbours if they had problems?

There is a link somewhere on (I think) the OpenReach site, but from my past experience, it doesn't give much detail, and a lot of what it does is in 'trade-speak', so the general public wouldn't be able to make much sense of it. OpenReach don't give much away, and unless the individual asking is aware of the right questions to ask, they will just get fobbed off.

BT/OR still work to the old Post Office Telephones principle, which is to regard their customers as a nuisance to be tolerated, and PN (or other ISP/CP) cannot tell them how to run their business.

The 11 days could be due to equipment/spares/engineer availability.

[#5]

re right questions [for openreach]

If it's possible to contact BT/OR I would ask: did not the hardware failure in the dslam cabinet precede the disconnection (by some days/weeks?) and what then happened at ~09:20 on 7th July to result in 11 days total loss of service.  In case it was manual disconnection of a plusnet customer.

I understand some neighbours had problems, others not - but have no details. 

[#6]

If I understand your above post correctly, @Pauly9 , the answer is 'no', because the hardware failure would be the cause of the disconnection.

Only those of your neighbours connected to that specific card in the cabinet would be affected - there is more than one card in the cabinet, so it was not 'a manual disconnection of one Plusnet customer'.

[#7]

Hi @jab1 . The OR engineer said they'd been at the cabinet for about 'three weeks' (before disconnection) and there were now 'no more spare' connections. The hardware failure clearly preceded the disconnection.  OR would  presumably know if they were at the cabinet at the time/date of the plusnet disconnection.

(I'm wondering what happens in practise when there's more houses than available/spare connections)

Paul

[#8]

That sounds like they knew the card/component was failing, and as individual customers reported a problem they moved them on to spare ports - these eventually ran out, so once there was nowhere left to move anyone to, they then had to replace the failed component to solve the problem for any other customer.

Note: I'm not a telecoms engineer, just someone who's been around enough to be able to make an educated guess.

[#9]

Yes that sounds plausible for the original fault; but I'm concerned the lack of available ports  may eventually attract differing responses from different ISPs. Plusnet seemed unable to 'escalate' no matter how long problem persisted. Working now, but Indefinite disconnection without explanation or PN escalation seems wrong. OR would know exact cause, if it's possible to get details - but maybe not.

Regards, Paul

[#10]

@Pauly9 If the fibre cabinet is full - i.e. no available ports, and the BT site (BT Broadband ) says so - then NO ISP can connect you, full stop. Equipment failures happen, and OpenReach, as the responsible company dictate the speed of repair. Individual ISPs/CPs cannot tell OR what to do.

[#11]

Yes, ISPs don't connect, OR does - when asked by ISP. Therein the problem. After 10 days I finally got 'Tony' at plusnet in Sheffield who clearly did something real. He was very helpful and we were soon reconnected. So ISP can influence OR (I think PN and/or OR call it 'escalate') and I suspect it could have happened earlier. Hence this forum question.

(nb Plusnet have previously said on the phone we can get info from OR, and they would email me details of how. No such email came - hence  asking on this forum.)

Paul

[#12]

I give up - you move the question, I attempt to answer, then you change again. I'm done

[#13]

Untrue @jab1, you falsly claim I move the question.

It was and is "no internet for 11 days - how to find out why?" because Plusnet have said we can get info from OR (how?)

So you should not say such things jab1/john. It's all there in the 1st post.  You just don't have the answer yourself, which is fine.. 

[#14]

@Pauly9  Just give it a rest, @jab1  has patiently explained the likely chain of events and I believe that he is correct. You cannot contact Openreach directly, "Plusnet have said we can get info from OR" which I would interpret as we being Plusnet.

There are many cases of FTTC cabinets being fully utilised with insufficient capacity to cover every possible line, basically because OR don't expect everyone to want FTTC broadband. OR can sometimes get it hopelessly wrong. There is an infamous site where 2 or 3 extra FTTC cabinets were added to meet demand, with many users waiting a long time before the extra capacity was available.

I can't fail to notice that no Plusnet staff have responded to your question, probably because they are busy with customers who have an actual problem with their service, as yours is now fixed there is no need to respond.  I don't really think Plusnet did anything proactive to fix the problem, with hardware faults they just have to wait until OR get it fixed so they just check the OR updates and when the failed line card was replaced everything was OK.

I will be surprised if you get any detailed answer from Plusnet.

[#15]

Thanks, @RealAleMadrid - I try, but sometimes I hit brick walls. Just doing the same with a 'know-it-all' on my local forum on a transport related issue.