Hi guys.
Thanks for having (maybe mis-guided) faith in me.
Archie, what a shame the problem has resurfaced. I cannot reiterate how difficult, problem-solving
some faulty broadband circuits can be. Further to my comments above (and also mentioned by B*Cat), you could indeed have a HR (High resistance) fault. These can manifest themselves
anywhere ,from the NTE5 back to poorly soldered joints on the MDF in the exchange. Thats why I questioned that even though it seems you had a decent engineer out, did he carry out
all the tests required ?? I would be surprised if you knew the answer to this Archie, unless you are a closet Openreach faultsman techniques-phobe ??
My advice would be to ring your ISP straight away. Insist on having another SFI2 visit asap, and
insist they put in their on-screen notes about the circuit losing synch when phone is in use. Don't go
too much into detail about times and what type of trunk calls etc etc, just say it's when the phone is used.
Hopefully, you will either get the same engineer , or another that doesn't worry about what his manager will say if he goes over the scheduled hours on the job, and will carry on until he fixes it.
As I've said on here many times before, 'remote virtual faulting' is ridiculous in itself.
I couldn't ever turn round and say "Its an outside fault on the D-side" without actually being present on the fault. What I can do, is give you a bit of info on what to ask the OR engineer to do. This type of fault is
usually one of two things, 1) HR ....... 2) Faulty SP equipment in the exchange.
When the engineer arrives I would ask that he utilises his TDR (Time/Domain Reflectometer) which is sometimes called a 'Mole', to see if there are any HR's visible on the line. If it's a HR in its early stages, it may not be sufficient to view with the 'Mole' without actually ringing the landline. As this draws roughly 90vac (as opposed to its normal state of 50vdc), then if there is a HR it should then be traceable due to the increase in voltage/current used. Simply put, engineer attaches the mole to the 2 wires where it enters your property and then rings the landline whilst looking at the mole for the HR.
I would also ask that he utilise simple faulting techniques like using his 'Butt' phone on 17070 when checking for synch along the cable route. At the end of the day, this is what your fault is, the modem drops when the phone is in use. Its no good just looking to just get synch at various test points along the way, he needs to also load the circuit up by drawing dial-tone with hiss 'Butt' phone as well.
I would hope he will do this as a matter of course, but as mooted before, we are only human and are all fallible to making errors, or just simply forgetting.
I just hope for all concerned that the fault is still present when the engineers attends site. An intermittent fault that is working perfectly well when we are in attendance, is a nighmare scenario. The engineer will have to hope he can 'see' a HR with his mole in that circumstance.
Apologies if this doesn't make much sense as I can ramble on a bit, but trying to put over what may be needed, without insulting previous engineers, can sometimes be difficult. Make the call Archie, get someone out asap.