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[magicone]

Hi All,

I upgraded my connection from ADSL2+ to FTTC last November and everything had been running smoothly until the past month.

I happened to be working from home one day in January and noticed that the connection was really slow, buffering Iplayer/Youtube etc. I ran a BT speedtest and noticed that the I.P profile had dropped signifantly from 38717Kbps down to 22617Kbps. The pings had also increased from around 12ms to 30-40ms. DLM had kicked in at this point and remained on the line for 2 weeks.

As I had no idea why DLM was still active on the line I asked my ISP to arrange for a BT Engineer to come and take a look. The BT Engineer came and tested by line with his JDSU and confirmed that the line was able to support 40 Meg Up/10 Meg down . He reset my line and also ran a speedtest at both the cab and the exchange and there were no issues with the tests. He left and asked me to keep an eye on I.P profile which had now been reset back to 38717Kbps. All was running fine until around 4pm later that afternoon when I noticed the connection had dropped and the DSL light was flashing on the Openreach modem. This happened for around 3hours and then everything had gone back to normal. However the next day this happened again and not only had the connection dropped but my I.P profile had dropped as well.

As I had feared the reason for DLM kicking in was because the line was dropping at certain times during the day. I had a second engineer round who did the same tests as the engineer above but also provided a new Openreach modem. He also tested the line with his JDSU and the connection box coming into our property. He said the stats were fine but what he did say is that when he plugged the modem into our mains socket, his colleagues at Openreach noticed errors on the line. He said this could possibly indicate a REIN issue. He said that Openreach would arrange a REIN Engineer.

I contacted my ISP this week and they have informed me that BT have located the issue as being caused by a problem with the 'Access Network'. Does anyone know what they are referring to?

As I can't extract line stats from the Openreach modem I have been using the TBB monitor and ass you can see below, where there is packet loss is when my line drops/slows down.

Could this be a REIN issue or is it possible there is an issue on the port I am connected to at the DSLAM?



Thanks in advance for your help!

[UncleUB]

Can't help with your problem but..38717kbps  .....I shall now retire to turn green with envy 

[Oranged]

This is going to be a good thread to watch as it's the first, that I'm aware of, concerning a vDSL connection fault, so perhaps we're all on a learning curve.

I'm not sure if REIN affects vDSL in the same way as ADSL.

Does this problem occur at the same times every day ?

[Azzaka]

Magicone, who is your provider?

The access-network is the BTW network. It means the fibre itself is the source of the REIN. This coule be the line card termination or Cross-talk.

~azz

[magicone]

This is going to be a good thread to watch as it's the first, that I'm aware of, concerning a vDSL connection fault, so perhaps we're all on a learning curve.

I'm not sure if REIN affects vDSL in the same way as ADSL.

Does this problem occur at the same times every day ?

Monday:



Tuesday:



Wednesday:



Thursday:



Friday:



Saturday:

[magicone]

Magicone, who is your provider?

The access-network is the BTW network. It means the fibre itself is the source of the REIN. This coule be the line card termination or Cross-talk.

~azz

Aquiss is my provider, when you say line card termination do you mean at the cab or exchange? Thanks

[razpag]

Hi

Firstly: 'The Access Network' is indeed the cabling/wiring from the exchange, through to your premises. Doesn't matter if it's Fibre,Copper,Aliminium or Lead, it's all 'The Access Network'.

Secondly: Fibre cannot be affected by REIN. It will only affect the metallic cables that makes up your circuit. You say you are on FTTC ? if so, then REIN will only affect your circuit from the Cabinet onwards to your premises.

Thirdly: I'm in total agreement with Oranged, this is going to be a great learning curve for all. I've only recently (in the last 2 months) had my FTTC and associated EU Installation course and am therefore not au-fait with trouble-shooting these circuits. Having said that, the only real problems are going to still be with the Cabinet onwards and as such, it's business as usual.

Fourth: The REIN engineers are very good. The hard part is getting them there. We have to prove we have done various 'fixes', and tested the circuit to hell and back before they will even entertain raising a job for the REIN team.

Good luck pal.

[magicone]

Hi

Firstly: 'The Access Network' is indeed the cabling/wiring from the exchange, through to your premises. Doesn't matter if it's Fibre,Copper,Aliminium or Lead, it's all 'The Access Network'.

Secondly: Fibre cannot be affected by REIN. It will only affect the metallic cables that makes up your circuit. You say you are on FTTC ? if so, then REIN will only affect your circuit from the Cabinet onwards to your premises.

Thirdly: I'm in total agreement with Oranged, this is going to be a great learning curve for all. I've only recently (in the last 2 months) had my FTTC and associated EU Installation course and am therefore not au-fait with trouble-shooting these circuits. Having said that, the only real problems are going to still be with the Cabinet onwards and as such, it's business as usual.

Fourth: The REIN engineers are very good. The hard part is getting them there. We have to prove we have done various 'fixes', and tested the circuit to hell and back before they will even entertain raising a job for the REIN team.

Good luck pal.

Thanks razpag.

During the last visit Openreach said they would send out a REIN engineer , but then a few days later they changed their mind as apparently they found an issue with the Access Network. What do you think I should expect when the engineer comes again tomorrow?

I am 300metres away from the cabinet which as you say is all copper so could be effected by REIN?

[razpag]

  Like I say, getting a REIN engineer out is quite a task in itself.

I've not been on your job, so have no idea what has gone on previously. It seems that the other engineer commented you should be able to get 40Meg Downstream and 10Meg Upstream (not the other way round as in your OP ...  ). He then says there's lots of errors which could be REIN ?

I work on conventional ADSL every day, and a large percentage of my jobs are 'High error counts'. An extremely low percentage (prob about 2%) of these, are due to REIN.

As I say, I've never installed/faulted VDSL and am unsure as to what tests the original engineer did, but I would be asking the next engineer to test at the cabinet to see if there are extremes of errors there, and if there aren't, then fault the rst of the line like they would ANY type of broadband circuit. If 'they' say they've found a fault with the Access Network, I assume they've performed a 'remote low end line test' as they do with any fault, and found electrical fault conditions ? IE- Batt/Earth contact, Short circuit or 'Dis' type faults. 'They' cannot test remotely for REIN.

I've said this before a few times now, what you get told and what really should happen are not always the same.

[magicone]

Like I say, getting a REIN engineer out is quite a task in itself.

I've not been on your job, so have no idea what has gone on previously. It seems that the other engineer commented you should be able to get 40Meg Downstream and 10Meg Upstream (not the other way round as in your OP ...  ). He then says there's lots of errors which could be REIN ?

I work on conventional ADSL every day, and a large percentage of my jobs are 'High error counts'. An extremely low percentage (prob about 2%) of these, are due to REIN.

As I say, I've never installed/faulted VDSL and am unsure as to what tests the original engineer did, but I would be asking the next engineer to test at the cabinet to see if there are extremes of errors there, and if there aren't, then fault the rst of the line like they would ANY type of broadband circuit. If 'they' say they've found a fault with the Access Network, I assume they've performed a 'remote low end line test' as they do with any fault, and found electrical fault conditions ? IE- Batt/Earth contact, Short circuit or 'Dis' type faults. 'They' cannot test remotely for REIN.


I've said this before a few times now, what you get told and what really should happen are not always the same.

The first engineer tested the line with his JDSU and it was syncing at 40 Meg down and 10 Meg up, he also tested at the point of entry and the cab and exchange as well. He didn't detect any problems. He had the line reset but a few hours later the connection dropped again.

The second engineer came and this time tested his own Openreach modem at the point of entry, he said when he powered the modem through our mains , his Openreach colleagues at the other end of the line detected some noise on the line, that is why he suggested a REIN engineer.

I am hoping they try something different tomorrow.

[razpag]

As always, I stand to be corrected, but by "Detecting noise on the line" I'm pretty sure they mean SNR and not REIN. I'm not saying REIN isn't the cause of your fault, I'm saying i've never known anybody be able to detect it remotely.

[magicone]

As always, I stand to be corrected, but by "Detecting noise on the line" I'm pretty sure they mean SNR and not REIN. I'm not saying REIN isn't the cause of your fault, I'm saying i've never known anybody be able to detect it remotely.

I am hoping to god it isn't REIN as I can imagine it's going to be an absolute nightmare to find, hope it gets sorted soon though as the connection is dropping more frequently and can only be used after 8pm/9pm until it drops again the next morning.

[razpag]

How well do you get on with your neighbours ?? As in, have you asked them if they too are experiencing similar problems . REIN tends to affect more than one circuit at a time. 

[magicone]

How well do you get on with your neighbours ?? As in, have you asked them if they too are experiencing similar problems . REIN tends to affect more than one circuit at a time. 

Good point, if the engineer doesn't fix the fault tomorrow I will ask my neighbours if they have had similar issues.

[razpag]

Nice one. Bear in mind your neighbours may be on Virgin Media (if its available in your area) and REIN wont affect them. If they are on Openreach wiring, then those are the ones who may be affected. No harm in enquiring.