Sunny afternoon = intermittent Broadband

[#1]

"Normally" I have fantastic full speed internet, fibre to cabinet, the cabinet is opposite my house and connected via telegraph pole (copper wire). BUT when it's a hot sunny day, in the late afternoon my connection becomes intermittent. The cabinet faces directly into the setting sun at this time. Do the cabinets have any temperature sensitive control? Obviously it could be the copper wire, I have had trouble with this before, normally in the Winter (bad weather) when the wire gets blown around.

Difficult to report a fault as connection is back up by the time I send the Text, however the bot did report it had detected a fault (presumably high resistance). Today it is overcast and I have no problems.

Just to add that my router is not in the sunlight, it is upstairs mounted vertically, well ventilated underneath a compter desk. The last Engineer told me there were interference problems with the cabinet and some 4G Masts about 100m away which neither company would take responsibilty for. The local exchange is only 1ml away.

The big problem with intermittent internet these days is that it affects so many things, the main one being streaming TV.

[#2]

@gregshaw 

If a fault has been reported then their should be an open question on your Members page. Log in and have a look - if it's there then it may give information (or may not as the cse may be!!).

Brian

[#3]

It's been overcast in the afternoons since my initial post & everything has been wonderful......until today.........Bright late afternoon sunshine and intermittent internet. This time I follwed through and spoke with a very helpful and patient (local) plusnet advisor who rang within a couple of minutes. He listened and I was pleased that he could in fact see the dropouts in his diagnostic reports.....Hurrah!

He went away to investigate and rang back later, he had checked back in conjunction with weather reports and times and found the intermittent internet matched, always between 15.30 and 20:30 on sunny days! Perfect outside those hours. He then had to convince the Engineers on my behalf. I was so pleased that the faults are showing up AND that they are OUTSIDE my house. @bmc  He has now opened a question on my account

The bottom line is that Openreach are booked to attend tomorrow (Saturday) or Monday and they do not need access to my property.

[#4]

Openreach Engineer was knocking at my door 9.00am Saturday morning, good response, however I knew what would happen next. Yes, he listened to my story, carried out all his checks and found nothing wrong! Away he went, problem fixed and the proof in his logs......let's see.

It's been a beautiful sunny day today and sure enough at two minutes to 5.00pm OFF again, I've had intermittent internet since! Now 8.00pm sun is going down and internet is back on (mostly) so another call to another adviser and another visit by Openreach logged. I told them it only happens when it's direct sun at 5.00/8.00pm and at all other times I have no problems, I can't see any way out of this situation.

[#5]

See if you can get that helpful person who correlated your outages with weather reports (he sounds like someone who went well beyond the call of duty!) to send you something you can show any engineer that comes again. And add a report of the engineer visit to your ticket, so they can send out another one - hopefully at the right time!

Do you know which neighbours are served by the same cabinet? If you do, can find they have the same problems, and you all can report it, it might help - though difficult if all are with different ISPs.

As a final thought - and I DON'T think you should have to do this, I'm just resigned - could you erect some sort of shade for the cabinet? (Or maybe "accidentally" spill some white or silver paint on it?)

[#6]

Still not resolved, perfect all week and then 16:00 bright sunshine, no clouds, no internet.

Contacted plusnet again who were very helpful and can confirm they can see the outages.

While the sun shines it's on/off, when the sun goes down it's on.

[#7]

I'm going to purchase another fibre modem in order to rule that out. When internet is down the modem light flashes (sync to exchange). Therefore I don't think it is it's my (seperate) router

copy/paste of message received from plusnet...........

Thank you for speaking with me today about the problems you are having with your connection I can see on visual radius (unfortunately I was unable to attach a picture like I was hoping to do) as you say the drops are mainly at teatime and only when the sun is shining on the cabinet, you did not wish to have another engineer appointment or new router just yet as you are going to purchase a new modem to se if that makes a difference. I will keep an eye on your account after you let me know by text that you have the new modem.

Kind regards,

[#8]

@gregshaw Whereabouts are you - I can't see the current temperatures doing that, they are not that high, and TBH you are the first person I can recall with this problem. Have you checked with others on the same cab if they have this issue?

[#9]

@jab1  Thanks for your reply, I am near the Clay Cross Exchange, Chesterfield. As far as I know it's only me, I compare it to a double-glazed window steaming up when hit by direct sunlight (condensation in the cab?) I'm just pleased plusnet can also see the outages. I don't think it's ambient temps as such, I realise it all seems nonsense but I'm at the point that when it's bright sunshine at 16:00 I'm waiting for the internet to drop and it does!

I've ordered another fibre modem (obsolete) c/w power supply to rule that out, my router is seperate and I'm convinced that is OK. If I tether my mobile phone to it, all is well, plus the modem is flashing to warn it's syncing to the exchange (hence router has no connection). When the internet is down (when the sun shines brightly (16:00 - 19:00) the modem sync light goes out (no connection to fibre).

Plusnet also confirm that I am "connected" with "no internet" on their system as well as "down" other times.

[#10]

If it was anything in the cab, it would affect more than just you - have you seen how 'cluttered' those cabs are inside? I suspect it is something between the cab and your property, but as the only item  I can think of that fits that description is your 'last mile' of copper, I can't say anything else.

[#11]

Yep, can't disagree. Cab only across the road 50m of wire at the most, telegraph pole to telegraph pole. Still struggling now 20.45 as sun goes down, just that wire is on the other side of the house where the sun rises. No problems with bright sun in the morning.

Regards

[#12]

Half-time in the England match 20:45, sun went down, internet connected, now midnight and running perfectly since then.

The sun does not nor can not shine on my router or modem  at any time, I have no South facing windows, it's not hot (21C max in the house) but daft as it is, when it's bright sunshine & no clouds (sun shining on the cab front doors) between 16:00 and 20:30 my internet goes down on/off.

Bright sunshine in the morning does nothing.

[#13]

A point of interest what is your modem router pair?

Have you been offered a Hub two from plus net, this can be configured to bridge mode (as a modem) as well as a DSL/Router device. Usually the cost to you would be P & P.

[#14]

Thanks for the info @Dan_the_Van  I was offered a Hub2 but have declined so far. I have the original BT openreach modem located next to the master socket, supplied when I signed up to fibre broadband, paired with my own Asus router located upstairs. My pc & printer are wired and everything else is Wi-Fi.  I also have a couple of ethernet flying leads to connect up random pc's for internet/updating etc.

The fact that the DSL light on the modem goes out when the internet is down, leads me to believe the fault is upline from the master socket and not my router. Replacement known working modem & power supply on its way from ebay to test. Dull weather so far today and all is well!

[#15]

The DSL light flashing would suggest there is a 'last mile copper fault' or maybe a modem fault.

What is the master openreach socket?  A 5c can suffer from poor connection between the faceplate and test socket behind, this is caused by poor seating with the retaining clips not holding the face plate securely. This issue can be exaggerated with a MK4 dual port faceplate.

Do you have a landline phone? during the periods of disconnects dial 17070 take option two, listen out for a noisy line, there should be none.