broadband fault reported but no further info?

[#1]

so last month, our phone line died. no dial tone, but the internet somehow was still working at like 20mb down but with like 200kb uprate, which made playing games impossible. and 20mb down these days is really not cutting the mustard with 4 people watching even 720p videos :s

i reported the fault via the text message thing, it was during non-working hours. the automated system detected the fault. later on a person saw it and went yep, booked the engineer, the engineer came and did whatever thing he did without needing to even say hello. all done.

jump forward 1:47am yesterday, router goes blonk. reconnects. 12mb down, 2mb up. phone still has a dial tone.

report the fault via text, this time during working hours.. fault detected! you will need to book an engineer, text book to book the next available slot. book. cool.

sometime later, "someone needs to call you to say some things"

this is the problem part. i can't use the phone. there is nobody else around that can call on my behalf right now (which is lucky making the 12mb and 2mb speeds not so bad to deal with on my own..).

so i don't know if my problem is being worked on or if they just gave up after trying to call me and getting no answer?

the question id is 225849878 and the latest message there just says "called customer, no answer and left a voicemail" which is 100% a lie, because neither the landline, nor the mobile phone number you have has voicemail activated! so how they managed to leave a voicemail when there is no voicemail service is quite a magic trick.

anyway, yeah. i need to know if the fault is going to be fixed or if i am stuck in perpetual limbo until someone who can call for me comes home (which wont be until the 18th).

very disappointing after last months seamless resolution.

[#2]

Sorry for your situation. One of the Help Team will hopefully pick this up later - possibly tomorrow, but if you would like an informed guess at the problem (and who knows, a possible work-around), can you post screen shots of the info requested below?

For Community members to be able to help, information from these two sites, as screenshots:-

BT Broadband(obscuring your phone number) and BTW Performance Tester - Over a wired (ethernet) connection if at all possible, please report the 'ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSTICS', and sight of the broadband connection status from your Hub would be a good starting point.

For the Hub One -

Navigate from the Home Screen to Troubleshooting > Helpdesk

For the Hub Two -

Navigate from the Home Screen to Advanced Settings > Technical Log > Information

It may also be a good idea to report the results of a Quiet Line Test - dial 17070 option 2 from a (preferably corded) phone. After the confirmation of your phone number, there should be total silence apart from the regular 'Quiet Line Test' announcement. Any other noise - report a PHONE fault first.

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[#3]

Hi there,

I'm really sorry to see what's happened.

I'll make sure feedback's passed on as it's certainly a bad experience when trying to report a fault. 

I'll be happy to arrange an engineer visit with you from over here, but I've just tested your line first and the tests are showing what's known as a bridge tap, which is generally a wiring issue.

If you haven't already, would you be able to give the troubleshooting steps Here a go? The main things to do is to connect your router into the master telephone socket and ensure there's no extension cabling between the router and socket. 

If you're still having issues, could just drop me a private message with your full name along with when you'll be available for an engineer visit? The type of engineer I'd like to arrange is from Qube, who work on behalf of BT.

These engineers are available in 2 hour timeslots 8am to 10am, 10am to 12pm, 12pm to 2pm, 2pm to 4pm, and 4pm to 6pm, on both weekdays & weekends. Once you've got back to me, I'll book the engineer for you.

[#4]

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[#5]

yeah everything is set up correctly, nothing inside has changed any time within the last 3 years at least.

routers in the master socket, i use ethernet on my computer which is doing all these tests etc. lights are all happy. the quiet line test was silent.

i'll send you a message thanks

[#6]

@lortfort Thanks for those screen shots, they paint a horrible picture.

I appreciate @Gandalf has picked up a bridge tap, but to me, there looks to be something deeper going on, especially as, I presume, this wasn't identified as an issue previously.

However, he is the guy with more tools than me, so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, the Qube engineer reports.

[#7]

@lortfort  I would suggest that you refuse the offer of a Qube engineer, they only check the internal connection to the router and that everything is plugged in the correct places which we know it is.

I agree with @jab1 that the supposed Bridged Tap problem is not the real fault and I am surprised that @Gandalf has not picked up on the phone being dead with no dial tone but the broadband working at a very low speed. Looking at the modem stats this has all the symptoms of a disconnection in one of the phone lines between the premises and the FTTC cabinet.

The fault is unlikely to be within your house wiring so you need an Openreach engineer appointment.

[#8]

@RealAleMadrid You echo my thoughts, but I suspect Qube 'engineers' are cheaper than OR ones, and this change of emphasis comes from higher up - HT staff have to follow policy.

[#9]

@RealAleMadrid From what I can see they’ve specifically stated in their post that their phone does have dial tone.

I’m not in the office today but I can pick this up tomorrow and take another look before booking the engineer unless one of my colleagues can beat me to it.

[#10]

@Gandalf  Yes you are correct, misread the opening post, there is dial tone but for some reason the OP is not able to use the phone. Still looks like a line fault, the attenuation is very high, the downstream speed is about 12Mbps when it should be over 70Mbps.

@jab1 I won't say here what my opinion on Qube engineers is but it isn't good.

[#11]

 There might well be an underlying fault but if a bridge tap is detected then this also needs attention as it might mask other issues. It may also mean the replacement of ugly dangly filters with a new filtered faceplate.

I replaced a faceplate with a filtered one for a friend, which possibly removed a detectable ‘bridge tap’. His speed went from 3 to 13 Mbps, so they should not be ignored.

[#12]

In message #4, picture #1 under Premises Environment, Bridge Tap is defined as 'U'  = Unknown?

[#13]

And in message 3 we are advised that one is now detectable. Maybe a random connection has appeared due to technicians rooting around in cabinets, which could cause this slow down in speed?

[#14]

Don't want to argue with you, @Baldrick1 - it is too hot - but in that case what use will a Qube engineer be, they can't/won't touch BT/OR equipment?

[#15]

Nothing if the fault is in a BT cabinet. Potentially a fix if it's at the OPs premises, you have to start somewhere.