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[Charles]

I'm troubleshooting a friend's new FTTC install, didn't see the van but it appeared to be one of the third party contractors.

Before:
Drop wire to master socket NTE5 at front of flat, one extension wired off this to an extension socket in the computer room. No other sockets. Telephone working in both sockets. No existing broadband service.

After:
New master socket NTE5 installed on the other side of computer room (where PC is) with MK2 VDSL SSFP. ECI modem connected to this. New cable installed from existing extension socket to this new socket.

Assumptions:
I haven't had a chance to investigate the wiring yet but I assume that the engineer crimped the incoming drop wire to a pair, which runs to the old extension socket, and then crimped that to a pair from the new cable to the new master socket. Then, using the other spare pair, wire the extensions back to the old extension socket and old master, I believe the term is "back fed" which I'm familiar with from my own set up.

The problem:
After install, a phone plugged into any of the sockets produce no dial tone:
new socket
new socket's test socket
old extension socket
old master socket
old master's test socket

The DSL light on the modem is on and the router has made a successful connection to the Internet, but at extremely slow speeds (7.5 Mbps on wired speed tests). Estimated speeds given were 69Mbps or thereabouts.

In an attempt to find the IP profile, BT Speed checker diagnostic states the following:

"Your speed test has completed and the results are shown above, however during the test an error occurred while trying to retrieve additional details regarding your service. As a result we are unable to determine if the speed you received during the test is acceptable for your service. Please re-run the test if you require this additional information."

Questions:
How is it possible for the Internet to work but not the phone, even when plugged into the test socket on the new master NTE5? Is it possible that the engineer failed to connect the voice pair at the green box?

Is the non-working phone the likely cause of the slow speeds?

I'm trying to determine if the issue is with end user wiring or some external factor. I plan to visit and check the wiring for myself when I get a chance.

[HPsauce]

If there is no dial tone in the test socket it's almost certainly a BT wiring fault/error.

Quite probably a poor connection on one of the two wires "somewhere".
Broadband can work (slowly) down one wire, so that suggests a dodgy connection somewhere between the property and the FTTC cabinet.

My money is on a badly-made connection and inadequate testing by the installer (not necessarily  a connection made by them though). 

Report a fault on the phone.

[Charles]

Thanks for the quick reply!
Good info, my concern was that the demarcation point has changed, and the previous EU owned wiring is now "off-limits". But if there was an existing problem with the EU wiring that turns out to be the cause, BT may then charge my friend for the repair.

I think I'll do a quick check first and then report the line fault.

Cheers

[Black Sheep]

I'm guessing (as that's all we can do), that the engineer has wired it up arse-about-face. This would give you the symptoms you describe.
In other words, at the Cabinet, he'll have connected the Copper E-side to the E-side cable of the Fibre, then the D-side cable of the Fibre back to the Copper D-side.

It should be ............... Copper E to Fibre D, then Fibre E to Copper D.

haven't time for a lengthy explanation, but others may. Cheers. 

[Charles]

Many thanks Black Sheep, that was enough of an explanation to persuade us to report the fault, they ran a line test and found a "disconnection issue", so a repair is now scheduled 
Cheers.

[Black Sheep]

No worries, Charles.  Should be a 10 minute fix, once an engineer gets the task ? 

[Charles]

Indeed it looks like a quick fix this morning! Pre line test report:

"Fault Type: NDT
Test Results: Dis One Leg In Network"

Internet speeds are up, but the IP profile is only 38.72 Mbps. Must be the DLM kicking in due to the terrible connection over the past day. Is there any chance of it sorting itself out?

The Huawei cab is about a minute's walk away and the estimated line speed given was 69Mbps.
The ECI modem has not been power cycled since installation.

[HPsauce]

Test Results: Dis One Leg In Network

Good guess. 

Quite probably a poor connection on one of the two wires

If it's "very" new wait and see whether DLM sorts it out, otherwise it's asking for the process to be restarted which "can" be done by your ISP, I think.....

[JamesK]

I think it could be worth power cycling it in case you're have a bad resync in the time it's been up. I'd power it down and leave it off for around 30 minutes before powering it back up again. Better to do this during the day than in the evening.

[Charles]

Good guess. 

Hehe, nice one

If it's "very" new wait and see whether DLM sorts it out, otherwise it's asking for the process to be restarted which "can" be done by your ISP, I think.....

It is a very new install but we decided to report the speed issue to the ISP, and they've already found a (new) fault and have scheduled Openreach again to investigate!

I think it could be worth power cycling it in case you're have a bad resync in the time it's been up...

Thanks, since making the report we've been advised to leave all equipment on while the issue is being looked at, but after that's all done will do a fresh power cycle if needed.

[Charles]

An Openreach engineer visited last week. My friend said he was really great and spent a lot of time checking everything.

Stats before:



Speed test: 37.54/2.93
IP Profile 38.72/20

He looked at the internal wiring and it all checked out fine.
Tested phone line - all green ticks.

He then performed a DLM reset which fixed the problem:



Speed test: 72.84/18.88
IP Profile 76.43/20

Just before he left he decided to swap the ECI modem for a Huawei, he said that he prefers the Huaweis.
The cab is Huawei.

After modem swap:
Speed test 73.34/15.95
IP profile 76.43/20

I could not understand why the Huawei was producing slower upload speeds, I eventually realised that it must be the QOS setting as it's enabled by default on stock modems.
I'm confident that disabling QOS will solve that. I will flash/unlock it some time

Thanks for all the help folks.