Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => FTTC and FTTP Issues => Topic started by: Terry74 on July 25, 2018, 09:21:22 AM
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Hi there,
Wanting some advice please.
On 10th July the local cabinet went live for FTTC so I duly ordered it for my connection which was ADSL1 at around 4Mb/s. I didn't expect miracles as the cab is still 1000m away,but was told to expect 16 - 25 Mb/s.
Thursday 19th July was changeover day and at 1100 the smart hub light went yellow and I lost my connection. At 1200 BT sent me an e-mail and text to tell me my new service was now available. The hub light was still yellow!! I phoned the connections people(the phone still works), on the number in the modem booklet and was told to wait until midnight. At midnight it was still yellow!!
Next morning early, I tried a few checks. The smart hub stats page still showed I was on ADSL1 (modulation G_992_1_Annex_A) the attenuation still showed 55dB. It looked for all the world as though nothing had changed.
I swopped out the modem for another smart hub (they told me I had to have a new smart hub when I ordered). Switched on, reset, and low and behold, this showed exactly the same stats.
Again swopped out the smart hub for my Zyxel, which I eventually intend to use, switched on, reset and stats indicated the same with the additional info that the far end chip set was Lantiq ie same as at the old exchange set up. The new cabinet is a Huawei.
I swopped back to the latest smart hub and rang BT. 2 hours later after going through the modem tests rigmarole (and being told my modem was faulty - until I produced the second modem with the same result) BT finally accepted there may be a problem and arranged an Openreach appointment for Monday. Would I like morning or afternoon? Opted for 0800-1300.
I sat there on Monday morning like a dummy, awaiting the arrival of said Openreach engineer. No show!! Afternoon, rang BT again to be told engineer was never intended to come to my house! Only to the cabinet. We would have to await his report expected Tuesday. They would ring me. No call!!
Noticed yesterday that BT/Openreach are obviously able to see my modem as it reset, all by itself, the green light coming on and eventally changing to yellow again. It was a proper factory reset, as the smart setup 'off' and 'split' wireless I had set up after the last of many resets during the BT testing phase, had gone back to nominal.
Now to the questions..... What can possibly have gone wrong?
As I understand things, it should have just been a matter of a couple of jumpers changed in the new cabinet.
Why am I still seeing ADSL1 ( G992.1) on the modem?
6 days on and still no connection! I tried to suggest going back to basics and "proving" the circuit to the cabinet from here using BT's tone generator and wand( do they still use these?), but they don't seem to listen. Are their records correct? Am I on the pair they think I'm on?
You knowledgeable guys here have surely come across similar before and will hopefully have the answers.
Terry
sent using wifi hot spot from my phone.
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Welcome to the forum and best wishes Terry. There are people here who really know their stuff and I am sure someone will be able to assist.
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As Weaver says, sure someone knowledgeable will be in shortly to give you good advice. From my experience of the ADSL to VDSL switchover, in the morning of the assigned day the modem dropped sync and the previous cap of 8mbit (very old contract) went away and the modem synced at what it could with ADSL2+, around 12mbit/s, but the CHAP authentication stopped working, so I could see the connection stats but no connectivity. Then the openreach guy switched the jumpers at the PCP in the afternoon and away it went with a VDSL connection... seems like this is yet to happen with your connection.
Seems crazy that that could happen even with your second PCP visit... mislabelled connectors? Engineer on crack? The mind boggles.
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Thank you Weaver and Johnson for your good wishes. I think I may be the first to order from this new cabinet. Not a bright thing to be a "guinea pig".
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Yes it's just a simple jumpering job in the cabinet which hasn't been done.
They don't need to visit your property they can find your pair and confirm the number by connecting to it (in the cabinet).
Sounds like someone messed up somewhere.
I would be absolutely insisting that the engineer assigned this job next time must call/visit you to confirm service is active.
My number 1 advice is don't speak to the Indians.
I'm not a racist in the slightest, but they are untrained script reading idiots with no authority.
There is absolutely no point spending even a second following their script and doing modem tests if the modulation shown is wrong. Your line isn't jumpered to the FTTC cabinet, period.
Kick up a fuss and get a case advisor. They have the authority to phone OpenReach directly and read their case notes.
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Thank you j0hn for your advice.
The staff I've talked to on 6 different occasions have been British and have been very courteous.
I will be ringing them again shortly to hear the engineer's report they promised to ring me with yesterday!!
I will ask for a case advisor - thank you for that suggestion.
I have already asked why the engineer didn't contact me directly. I mentioned that because they offered me a preference of times. Why would they (BT/Openreach) do that if the engineer wasn't meant to talk to me?
We'll see. I'll report back.
Terry
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Well... progress maybe.
Having just talked to BT advisor, he has arranged for an Openreach higher level engineer to come to my house tomorrow afternoon to progress the fault.
A case advisor has been allocated, but they are several days behind with their workload.
So, I won't hold my breath.
As an aside, a few days ago, BT contractors turned up in our lane, unexpectedly, laying fibre through the ducts passing my house and attaching it to new connectorised distribution blocks which they put at the top of several telegraph poles. Looked like 2 of 12 connectors and 1 of 8 connectors. ie on 3 poles. Unfortunately, these only started at the pole one up from "my" telegraph pole.
I wonder whether BT/Openreach will add insult to injury and only offer FTTP to those house furthest away from the cabinet that might not achieve 15Mb/s ordinarily.
Or am I being negative?
Terry
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Would you please post the name of your serving telephony exchange, the number of the primary cross-connection point (cabinet) through which your circuit is connected and the output produced by inserting your telephone number into the BT Broadband Availability Checker (https://www.dslchecker.bt.com). (Obviously obfusticate your telephone number in the output.)
We might be able to spot something . . . :-\
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Enter your phone number and full address here
https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/when-can-i-get-fibre
By entering both I mean do it twice, once with number and once with address. Perhaps also try the address served by the other pole.
Sometimes it specifically says you have FTTC but we are upgrading you with FTTP.
If they are rolling out FTTP for those with poor FTTC speeds then tend to cover anyone who gets under 25Mb/s
It is entirely possible your neighbours pole is the cut off point in their calculations.
Post what burakkucat asked for also as both sites will tell us different things.
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terry74 ..... you have had the basic SI (Self Install) module ordered by your own ISP for we (Openreach) to attend the Cabinet and perform simple wiring (Jumpering) tasks, to provide you with FTTC broadband.
There has been a massive push of late to get these SI tasks right, as there were all kinds of instances of re-visits for one thing or another. Suffice to say, each and every task is now scrutinised to the nth .... and I DO mean .... the nth degree !!!
They added a further element to the process a little while ago, which means we try to contact you, but only to advise that we are to begin work on the changeover, and to plug your new router in. The job itself still states to 'not visit the EU's premises' (as the ISP isn't paying for us to).
So with that in mind, onto the potential culprits causing your issues ....
i) It has been incorrectly jumpered in the Cab
ii) The task has been built against the wrong Cab
iii) It's a brand new Cab and the commissioning hasn't been done, or has gone awry
iv) The 'circuit build' is incorrect (C-Tag, S-Tag, BBEUxxxxx number)
v) There is an issue with the ISP's authentication layer (If your Hub has a steady yellow/orange light, it means it has synch, but no PPP Session)
vi) The card (not just your single port) you are on in the FTTC cab, requires a full reset
Tomorrows visit will bear more fruit, I'm sure ..... all you can do if it is an authentication issue, is try to force a new session by performing a hard reset on your Hub by using a cocktail stick/needle to hold the reset button in for approx. 30-60 seconds ... until all the lights go off and come back on again.
Nothing more I can add, I'm afraid.
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Sorry for the delay in replying.
I had difficulty posting the reply with the screen grabs.
I'll try again in a few minutes.
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Trying for the fourth time.
@burakkucat
Exchange is EAWTN Watton in Norfolk. Cabinet is 35.
The ADSL checker has changed since I ordered my VDSL connection. I wonder why?
Attached are two screen grabs of ADSL checker and part of the e-mail sent from BT after my order.
Lets see if this works before any more.
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@j0hn
Thanks for your patience j0hn.
Attached 2 screenshots as requested, scrolled up to hide vital details. First is phone number 2nd is address.
Terry
I'm working here using a mobile phone as hotspot. The problems I was having sending cleared by my logging out and in again.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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@Black Sheep
Hi there,
Thanks very much for your reply. OK, I now understand the lack of communication and the why. Hopefully, I'll be face to face with the engineer tomorrow. I'll get the biscuits out.
I did apply within hours of it becoming available, maybe I should have waited but I'd already waited sooooo long.
The list of possible faults looks horrendous. That latest ADSL check and Openreach screen dump don't look promising. Maybe they have a major problem.
Anyway, I'll perhaps find out tomorrow.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my bleats. I do appreciate that.
Terry
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@burakkucat
Thanks once again for your helpful reply.
Out of interest, I've put the phone number of one of my neighbours into ADSL checker.
This is more like I saw when I put the order in, except mine was slightly better.
Terry
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Things don't quite add up but I can't put a "paw" on it, right now. :-\
I see that you are a fellow East Anglian, located in Nelson's county. And having typed that, something has just come to me . . . Are you aware of the B4RNorfolk project? It is based on the B4RN principles and is connected to the B4RN network via London docklands.
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@j0hn
Hi j0hn,
Just for completeness:-
About the fibre feed past my house.
Screengrab of ADSL checker for neighbour up the road with the fibre distribution point on the pole outside. The 3rd furthest with 12 outlets.
Maybe my theory was wrong, but why put up 3 of these in a sort of central point of the lane. There aren't enough outlets to provide every house with a feed. I should have asked the contractor when he was doing the job, but I sensed a reluctance to answer questions other than "Its fibre."
Terry
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@burakkucat
Hi,
Yes been down her for about 6 years, not native. I'm a Mancunian.
Yep, heard of B4RN but thought they were the other side of Norwich. If they ever come our way I might be interested, especially if nothing comes of the fibre they have just run up the lane.
I'll post the outcome of my visit tomorrow.
Thanks for your interest.
This is a great website!!
Terry
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Did you check your neighbours (the ones with the FTTP equipment) on the Openreach site?
https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/when-can-i-get-fibre
That may indiate if they have FTTP coming.
It certainly looks like there has been an issue with the commissioning of the cabinet.
VDSL FTTC and SOGEA is currently not available on this cabinet due to following reasons:- This cabinet is temporarily unavailable for fibre orders due to engineering works..
Why they didn't pass this on to you I have no idea.
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Just to add...
I didn't expect miracles as the cab is still 1000m away,but was told to expect 16 - 25 Mb/s.
My last GEA test showed my line to be 1022m and I make it between 1000-1050m from Google Maps.
I got 55/7 on signup (ECI cabinet) which changed to 55/11 when I was switched to the new Huawei cabinet.
After a few years crosstalk has knocked me down a wee bit
adsl info --stats
adsl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime
Last Retrain Reason: 0
Last initialization procedure status: 0
Max: Upstream rate = 7451 Kbps, Downstream rate = 45030 Kbps
Bearer: 0, Upstream rate = 7451 Kbps, Downstream rate = 44681 Kbps
Bearer: 1, Upstream rate = 0 Kbps, Downstream rate = 0 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode: VDSL2 Annex B
VDSL2 Profile: Profile 17a
TPS-TC: PTM Mode(0x0)
Trellis: U:ON /D:ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 3.2 5.7
Attn(dB): 24.7 0.0
Pwr(dBm): 13.4 3.5
Not bad for just over 1km from the cabinet.
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Hi j0hn,
In reply to #18 I've attached a screenshot of house opposite to last connectorised fibre installation as per your question.
I don't think they are commisioned yet, as it's only a few days ago that they were installed. No tails attached yet.
As far as the problem at the cabinet, I think it was my order that has shown this up. I think they were under the impression that everything was OK until then.
In reply to #19 BONG!!!! That was the sound of my chin hitting my chest. I daren't even dream of connection figures like that.
Certainly, prior to this fill-in cab35 being provided, the predicted figure from cab 8 which is only about 600 metres further away, were less than I was getting from ADSL1, about 3Mb/s if I remember correctly.
However, that Attenuation figure of 24.7dB is useful to know, so thanks.
Terry
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Yah!!
Those wonderful people from Openreach immediately diagnosed the problem and I now have about 23 down and 4.5 up.
As suspected the records were wrong. They traced the pair to the cabinet and provided the service.
Have to say they were a very pleasant pair of chaps, chatty and competent. A pleasure to deal with.
Very pleased. Got better figures than I expected.
Terry
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Thanks to everyone for their help and advice.
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Thanks to everyone for their help and advice.
You are welcome. :)
Please now take a few moments and go to the Openreach "Contact Us" > "Tell Us Something" (https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/contactus/tellussomething/tellus.do) web-page. Scroll down to the "Let us know how we did" heading, click on the "send them a thank you message" link and then tell the management of your appreciation of the technicians' work. It will be noted. (And recorded.)
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Result!
Given the Huawei cab you can probably expect a decent increase in the coming weeks as G.INP and Xdb target kicks in. For reference I have around 34db reported attenuation and a downstream sync just a smidge higher than you have right now with G.INP and 4db target, so its more than possible you will be well over 30mbps in the end.
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@burakkucat
Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I didn't know it existed.
I have indeed taken the opportunity to send my thanks for a job well done.
Terry
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@johnson
Thanks for the info. That would be the icing on the cake.
Terry
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Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I didn't know it existed.
I have indeed taken the opportunity to send my thanks for a job well done.
Thank you for doing so. It will be appreciated. :)
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In the first screenshot is VPI/VCI 0/38 correct?
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In the first screenshot is VPI/VCI 0/38 correct?
Maybe its just showing the settings left over from the PPPoA connection? VPI/VCI has nothing to do with a VDSL connection as far as I know.
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It is, indeed, a left-over which is totally irrelevant. For completeness --
For G.992.1, G.992.3 & G.992.5 (the "main" three variants of ADSL) ATM, VC/MUX & VPI/VCI = 0/38 are applicable.
Whereas for G.993.2 (VDSL2, FTTC) only PTM is applicable.
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I'm glad its redundancy has no adverse effect, but thought no harm to ask.