Internet keeps dropping/disconnecting at random times

[#1]

As per title.  At random times the connection just drops, both the DSL & internet lights on my modem go off and then it automatically reconnects.  This can happen multiple times in a short space of time or it can happen once every few days.  This morning though, about 05:00 it dropped and when it reconnected my speed has dropped from the usual 12Mbps to a paltry 5Mbps which means I can't even stream video without it constantly buffering.  In fact I can't do anything really.  Is wanting my speed back and a stable connection too much to ask?

Have tried multiple modems and it still happens exactly the same, so I don't think the problem is on my end.

[#2]

Hello @Azagoth

Thanks a lot for reaching out and I'm really sorry to see that you've been having problems with your broadband service. I'll pop a visual radius below which does indeed show quite a few drop outs on the line. testing it has not found any underlying issues, though the line does appear to be banded. This could be causing the issue, but we'll know for sure once we've performed a DLM reset.

I've just requested to reset the DLM profile on the line as it was previously banded at 6Mbps, this process should take around 4 hours to complete. See how you get on with your connection tomorrow and pleas reach out if things have not improved.

[#3]

@adam945 Something has happened.  Was just downloading a file (at 5Mb) and the line dropped again.  It  reconnected straight away and is now back up to the usual 12MB speed again.  Don't know what you did, but nice one.

[#4]

Hey @Azagoth, 

I'm glad to hear that Adam's changes have taken effect so quickly. I've had a look at the connection today and I can see that the connection seems to have remained stable since yesterday and everything's performing as we'd expect, so it may be worth just keeping an eye on things from your end over the next few days. If any more issues crop up, please let us know and we'll be happy to review the case further

[#5]

@TheMightyAJ 

Spoke too soon.  The line has been stable since the fix and running at my usual 12Mb.  However, I've just got back in from work and turned the computer on, started doing stuff and the connection dropped/reconnected twice in 15 minutes (first at 06:00 and then at 06:15) and is now currently connected at only about 9Mb.  I think it needs another kick.  Whatever this is. it's something that's outside of my control. 

It's bad enough living in the middle of a city and not being able to get fibre, and due to BT and their incompetence I can't get it from any provider, so as you can imagine all the speed I can get is needed - and even the best speed I can get, 12Mb, is paltry these days when patches alone are 10's of GB.  

[#6]

Edit:  I know you're not really supposed to do it, but I thought that before I climb into bed I'll just flick the modem/router off and on again at the plug and see what happens.  To my surprise it reconnected at my usual speed again.  How stable it'll be through the day when I'm asleep and the PC is off though is anyone's guess.

[#7]

Hi @Azagoth, thanks for getting in touch and I'm sorry to hear you've been having speed and performance issues as of recent. Checking your connection from this side I can see straight away the signal strength set for the length of your line line looks to be low and could be behind the performance issues and drops seen. In which case, I've put through the order to bump the setting sup to where they should be which should take effect within the next hour.
If then you can please let us know how the connection is looking in an hours time or later and should issues persist let us know and we'll dive into this one further for you.

[#8]

@BD  @adam945  It's doing it again. It's been fine for a few weeks, constant speeds of 1.5MB and only ther odd drop. I Turned the PC on today at 16:00 and the connection has been repeatedly dropping and reconnecting. Speeds have also tanked, can't game, can't stream, can't do anything,. Can you give it another kick please? As you can imagine, when my only option is relying on a crappy ADSL2+ connection I need all the stability and speed I can get.

[#9]

Thanks for getting back to us @Azagoth

I'm really sorry to see you're having issues with your connection again.

I've taken a look into this for you and I can see things have definitely gotten worse. 

Unfortunately there isn't anything we can do remotely in this instance, because your line speed isn't artificially restricted and what's known as the SNRM target (signal to noise ratio) is already set at the optimal level of 6dB, but the actual SNRM controlled by automated software at the exchange has rocketed to 21dB.

It's done this to try to combat the drops because a higher SNRM means more stability at the expense of speed though it seems to be failing as your connection's still dropping despite this.

I'd like to arrange an Openreach engineer visit with you to investigate further. Could you reply to the ticket I've logged on your account Here with when you'll be available for a visit?

If you can post back once you've responded, I'll make sure we book the engineer as soon as we can.

[#10]

The speed tests reported on this thread - are they sync speeds or data speed test results? The persistently increasing SNRM suggests some underlying issue which the DLM is managing aggressively.

The trust that quiet line tests are being done regularly to look for intermittent line noise? If there is no audible noise and line tests are not reporting any faults, the the next culprit could be REIN.

The best way of profiling that is by running router stats 24x7. Which router are you using?