No improvement after engineer visit.

[#1]

The last week has seen numerous disconnections of my connection, resulting in a D/S sync rate currently at 22.4Mbps (was 39.99Mbps), upstream 2.00Mbps (was 4.8Mbps),  D/S SNRM 15dB, upside 10.2dB.

Examining the router logs showed that every day for nearly the last week, the disconnections cleared for between 9 and 12 hours after a daily morning incoming landline call from a friend, before resuming with a vengeance from about 5pm onwards.

I explained this to the engineer, who arrived shortly after yesterday's phone call and was therefore unable to detect any noise on the line. Whilst acknowledging that the broadband performance was severely impacted, he stated that he was unable to try to trace and rectify a fault he was unable to detect. Stalemate! 😥

Although he checked the DP connection, no other work was undertaken, so needless to say the disconnections returned later in the day (86 between 1602 and midnight, 122 between midnight and 0700, which is when I rang my own landline from my mobile which temporarily cleared the fault again.)

Fault Ticket 223861636 now has the reply:

“Following your recent engineer visit a period of monitoring is needed. We will be back in touch once we have had a chance to review your connection for any improvements in performance and stability.”

The ticket has been put on hold until 1100 Friday.

Would a Plusnet staffer please assist – the fault is only ‘intermittent’ thanks to the daily morning incoming phone calls - my broadband would otherwise be unusable all the time rather than most of the time.

I need an engineer who is prepared to, and actually capable of locating this fault (yesterday’s engineer said the probable bad joint could be anywhere between my property and the exchange, which suggests to me he wasn’t even aware mine is a FTTC connection!)

[#2]

@JayG I'm not PN staff - obviously - but sight of your WAN event logs might be useful. Which Hub are you using?

[#3]

It's a BT HH6.

Can't post any useful logs at the moment as I replaced my original HH6 this morning having substituted my (new) spare HH6 for a few days (to no effect, needless to say.)

[#4]

OK - a pity, but hopefully one of the HT will pick this up. Obviously, that engineer was a bit of a waste of time.

[#5]

Router WAN log for the past few hours - multiple disconnections starting around 1900 yesterday.

Data rate currently down to 20.0Mbps/1.30Mbps, SNR 14.6 up and down - think it's fair to say this fault has not been resolved!

07:11:43, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
07:11:24, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
07:11:24, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
07:11:24, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
07:11:24, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=47481Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
07:10:54, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
07:10:50, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 1937 seconds
06:38:53, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
06:38:34, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
06:38:34, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
06:38:34, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
06:38:33, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=47266Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
06:38:04, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
06:38:00, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 2782 seconds
05:52:00, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
05:51:38, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
05:51:38, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:51:38, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:51:38, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=46930Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
05:51:19, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
05:51:15, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 511 seconds
05:43:06, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
05:42:45, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
05:42:44, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:42:44, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:42:44, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=41151Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
05:42:15, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
05:42:12, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 2263 seconds
05:04:51, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
05:04:29, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
05:04:29, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:04:29, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:04:29, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=39856Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
05:03:45, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
05:03:41, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 41 seconds
05:03:16, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
05:03:01, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
05:03:00, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:03:00, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
05:03:00, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=41299Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
05:02:31, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
05:02:27, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 310 seconds
04:57:35, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
04:57:18, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
04:57:17, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
04:57:17, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
04:57:17, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=39745Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
04:56:58, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
04:56:55, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 225 seconds
04:54:31, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
04:53:29, 27 Apr.,ppp1:The NTP server used is: ntp.homehub.btopenworld.com
04:53:10, 27 Apr.,ptm0.101:VLAN VLAN_DATA connected
04:53:10, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_TV disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
04:53:10, 27 Apr.,:connection ATM_DATA disconnected.[ERROR_USER_DISCONNECT]
04:53:10, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL link Up: Down Rate=29797Kbps, Up Rate=1296Kbps, SNR Margin Down=0.00dB, SNR Margin Up=6.00dB
04:52:50, 27 Apr.,:VLAN VLAN_DATA disconnected
04:52:46, 27 Apr.,dsl:VDSL Link Down: duration was 61 seconds

[#6]

Not good - needs re-investigating! Also note the 0.00 D/S SNR margin - I've never seen that before!

[#7]

@JayG 

Whilst you are getting these repeated disconnections have you tried a quiet line check (ring 17070 then option 2) to see if there’s any background noise?

[#8]

Thanks @jab1 and @Baldrick1 for your interest.

I sometimes hear a slight crackle during my daily morning (incoming) landline call, usually at the start of the call. The call temporarily clears the fault as previously mentioned, so the line passes subsequent quiet line tests (especially when the engineer is present during the daytime! 😥)

I've not tried the quiet line test as such (as distinct from ringing my landline from my mobile) when the disconnections are actually happening - might try that this evening or early tomorrow morning, although I would have expected the level of interference to be much more obvious at all times given the level of disconnections being experienced.

[#9]

Hi @JayG, I'm really sorry to see that the engineer visit didn't lead to much, I think the best course of action would be for us to raise an escalation and arrange another engineer visit passing on specific notes about what exactly is triggering the issue. I'll take care of that for you. Could you drop us a reply back on the fault ticket with your availability please? https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=223861636

[#10]

Will do, thanks Adam.

[#11]

No worries JayG, I'll make sure we get you sorted. 

[#12]

Did quiet line test yesterday evening, once whilst still connected (blue light on router), once whilst 'down' (orange light.)

Line appeared quiet during both tests.

This morning, disconnected and unplugged DECT phone and answering machine 'just in case', leaving just a single corded phone connected.

Tried quiet line test - lots of crackling, broadband connection went down, reconnection rate now 18Mbps/800Kbps, both SNR's in the high teens... 

[#13]

@JayG 

Have you tried taking the front off your BT master socket and plugging a filter in the test socket located in the back box?

This sounds like a line connection problem, doing this removes your faceplate and any internal wiring from being the cause.

[#14]

Running from the test socket was the first thing I tried @Baldrick1  (2nd thing was substituting brand new HH6, PSU, and connecting cables.)

[#15]

---

@JayG wrote:

...The call temporarily clears the fault as previously mentioned, so the line passes subsequent quiet line tests (especially when the engineer is present during the daytime! 😥)

---

That points rather firmly to bad joints which can be rectified by use of the phone line.

Given you comment about high SNRM you might also has susceptibility to REIN - something which can be difficult to track down and is best done by persistent monitoring of the router stats.  Unfortunately the HH6 does not work with the de-facto tool for this - routerstats.

Try to see if you can correlate the drops not associated with the use of any electrical equipment, particularly anything using a power "brick", central heating or anything else which switches on and off through the day.