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[Irvin]

I’m sorry for this long post but hopefully it will make sense and someone will be able to tell me what I need to do to get my broadband working properly…

I moved to Infinity2 in February this year and I have had nothing but problems with dropped connections. Now, after a Specialist Faults Investigator visit last Monday things are no better and BT say there is no fault on my line and are refusing to investigate any further.

After Infinity2 went live it lasted 1 week before I experienced continual line drops. An Openreach Broadband engineer duly came and found that the copper from the manhole into my house had degraded. We couldn’t even find where the cable came in so he drilled a hole in the wall and ran a new cable via our neighbour’s conduit out to the manhole directly outside our house, terminating with an MK3 faceplate. All of his tests came back good – as I remember the AC Balance was around 70dB and we were getting 50Mbps Down and 10Mbps Up. Phew…

That lasted for another week before more drops started. Back came Openreach and they detected a fault in the copper in the road – he had to do some work at a manhole one up from ours.

All fine then for a few months then more drops. Openreach found a fault “in the link between the cabs”. We’re connected to a Huawei but I can’t remember which model.

Now I get a bit hazy - sorry… At the beginning of October more line drops – worse than ever. BT tested the line and diagnosed a fault which they rectified. That lasted a few days. I spent hours on the phone to India and the UK, including raising a Complaint with Retentions. Eventually they sent a Line Engineer – as India heard me mention “noise margin” and thought I had a noisy line (which I didn’t). So he apologised and went away. BT then REFUSED to accept there was an issue and refused to send an engineer. More fighting later they agreed to send a Broadband Engineer – the guy in India couldn’t even do an SNR Reset due to the problem being so bad. The engineer tested the line and found no issue and said I needed an SFI as his equipment was better than his and that they would stay until the problem was resolved – regular Broadband guys only has 30 minutes per job…

However, after he’s shoved his 150V down the line things fell into a pattern. The line would drop and it would sync with a dreadfully low Upstream SNR giving me under 1Mbps Up (but still 50Mbps Down). I then noticed that if I received a call the line would drop and it would sync at my normal levels. I could replicate this easily so, harrah, I thought, a good old-fashioned high-resistance problem that the SFI would be able to trace in no time. I printed out some graphs to show him.

So, last Monday the SFI arrived. Despite my evidence he couldn’t find any fault so did a Lift & Shift – he said he may as well as “you’ve had everything else done”. At last, I had a nice flat line on my graphs (via the excellent RouterStatsHub 5A). That lasted until Thursday at 09.00. The Up SNR started to tail off and then I was hit by losses on connection every few minutes. And that’s where I am now. I’ve re-opened my complaint but India say that there’s no fault on the line and won’t send an engineer.

Here’s what I’ve tried:
2 x HomeHub5 Type A
(Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.204.1.11 (Type A) Last updated 23/10/16)
3 x HomeHub PSUs
Armoured ADSL cable
2 x Std BT-supplied ADSL cable
REIN & SHINE test – checked with neighbours that they haven’t anything that would interfere (Hub within 1 metre of connecting wall)
2 x DECT phones
1 x Std phone
No internal extensions
Wireless doorbell disconnected (433.92Mhz so shouldn’t interfere)
BT-supplied line filter straight into Test Socket to bypass MK3 faceplate
No PSUs within 2 metres of hub

Here’s what my HomeHub reports at the moment:

1. Product name:   BT Home Hub
2. Serial number:   +068342+NQ54302561
3. Firmware version:   Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.204.1.11 (Type A) Last updated 23/10/16
4. Board version:   BT Hub 5A
5. DSL uptime:   0 days, 06:40:17
6. Data rate:   834 / 54995
7. Maximum data rate:   953 / 65134
8. Noise margin:   10.8 / 9.6
9. Line attenuation:   21.1 / 19.1
10. Signal attenuation:   6.1 / 19.1

The graph for the Upstream SNR isn’t a nice flat line – it’s wavering continually. As you can see the Data Rate is fine Down but appalling Up.
We are 0.5 Km from the cabs by road, according to Broadband Availability Checker.
I’m about to replace the HomeHub with a TP-Link TD-W9980 as this is about the last thing I can think of but I can’t see that it’s going to help unless the chipset is more forgiving of a dirty connection

I’m a Field Engineer based at home working for the NHS. I rely on my broadband for VPN connections and we have an EE Fentocell for mobile signal as our mobile coverage is pants so I simply can’t do my job properly under these circumstances. And I’m getting in to hot water as I keep having to take time out to meet engineers…

If anyone can shed any light on this I would be eternally grateful.

Cheers
Irvin

[Chrysalis]

It is concerning, the best thing I can suggest is to  hook up a cheap hg612 as the modem and start pushing data to MyDSLWebStats which many of us use here, then this can serve both as a way for us to help you more, and for you to collect more evidence to show engineers.

[ejs]

The TP-Link TD-W9980 has the same chipset as the HomeHub 5A. It's possible to unlock the 9980 and other TP-Link models to extract some stats, but the stats collecting and monitoring programs do not work with the Lantiq chipsets as used in the 9980.

[Irvin]

Thanks guys,
Having just forked out £50 on a 9980 I'm not really in a position to try anything else! I set it up 90 minutes ago and I've had no drops but both SNRs appears to be fluctuating as before.

Here's the current Status page:

Device Information
Firmware Version:0.6.0 1.13 v0021.0 Build 160125 Rel.52064n
Hardware Version:TD-W9980 v1 00000001
System Up Time:0 day(s) 01:46:14
Line Status:Connected
DSL Modulation Type:VDSL2
Annex Type:Annex A/B/L/M
    Upstream   Downstream
Current Rate (Kbps)   8496   54996
Max Rate (Kbps)   14090   63509
SNR Margin (dB)   9.2   6
Line Attenuation (dB)   22.6   18.7
Errors (Pkts)   1082   499

I've just downloaded the latest version of TP-Link Stat Grabber and here's the latest dump from it. As I'm not familiar with this application or the router I'm not really sure how to interpret the results - sorry. I've connected two PCs and the Fentocell via ethernet plus the odd wireless device:

2016.11.12 12:04:02 xDSL Stats (1st,All):
[1,0,0,0,0,0]0
enable=1
status=Up
modulationType=VDSL2
X_TPLINK_CurrSupportLinkType=2
lineEncoding=
allowedProfiles=
currentProfile=
dataPath=
interleaveDepth=0
lineNumber=0
upstreamCurrRate=8496
downstreamCurrRate=54996
upstreamMaxRate=14600
downstreamMaxRate=62864
upstreamNoiseMargin=80
downstreamNoiseMargin=58
upstreamAttenuation=226
downstreamAttenuation=187
upstreamPower=140
downstreamPower=77
ATURVendor=
ATURCountry=
ATUCVendor=
ATUCCountry=
totalStart=6012
showtimeStart=242
quarterHourStart=0
X_TPLINK_Bitswap=On
X_TPLINK_SRA=On
X_TPLINK_AdslModulationCfg=Multimode
X_TPLINK_AnnexType=Annex A/B/L/M
X_TPLINK_SupportAdslMode=VDSL2:A,B,A/B;T1.413:A;G.dmt:A;ADSL2:A,A/L/M;ADSL2+:A,M,A/L/M;Auto Sync-up:A/B/L/M
X_TPLINK_PtmMainIfName=ptm0
[1,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[2,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[3,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[4,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[5,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[6,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[7,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[8,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[9,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[10,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[11,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[12,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[13,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[14,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[15,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[16,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[17,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[18,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[19,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[20,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[21,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[22,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[23,0,0,0,0,0]1
receiveBlocks=0
transmitBlocks=0
cellDelin=0
linkRetrain=0
initErrors=0
initTimeouts=0
lossOfFraming=0
erroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_ErroredSecs=0
severelyErroredSecs=0
X_TPLINK_US_SeverelyErroredSecs=0
FECErrors=208354
ATUCFECErrors=81108
HECErrors=0
ATUCHECErrors=0
CRCErrors=36729
ATUCCRCErrors=241
[24,0,0,0,0,0]1

Thanks again
Irvin

[gt94sss2]

Have you tried posting on the BT Community forums asking for their moderators to take a look? It takes a few days but they are a specialist team who will then 'own' your case until a resolution is found.


 It would also save you having to explain the history each time you call BT

[Irvin]

Thanks gt94sss2,

No - I haven't. I'll get on with that now.

FYI, I've just realised that the System Uptime reported by the router isn't the line uptime.. I've had one drop since I installed it:

2016-11-12 12:07:05   DSL   Notice   xDSL Enter Showtime!!
2016-11-12 12:07:04   DSL   Notice   xDSL Leave Showtime!!

Hmmm...

[Irvin]

Okay - I've posted on BT Communities and I'm now recommissioning the HH5A as the TP-Link has made no difference. It was worth a try...

3      2016-11-12 12:45:12   DSL   Notice   xDSL Enter Showtime!!
4   2016-11-12 12:45:10   DSL   Notice   xDSL Leave Showtime!!
5   2016-11-12 12:37:50   DSL   Notice   xDSL Enter Showtime!!
6   2016-11-12 12:37:49   DSL   Notice   xDSL Leave Showtime!!
7   2016-11-12 12:35:49   DSL   Notice   xDSL Enter Showtime!!
8   2016-11-12 12:35:47   DSL   Notice   xDSL Leave Showtime!!
9   2016-11-12 12:35:45   DSL   Notice   xDSL Enter Showtime!!
10   2016-11-12 12:35:43   DSL   Notice   xDSL Leave Showtime!!
11   2016-11-12 12:34:58   DSL   Notice   xDSL Enter Showtime!!
12   2016-11-12 12:34:56   DSL   Notice   xDSL Leave Showtime!!
13   2016-11-12 12:32:09   DSL   Notice   xDSL Enter Showtime!!
14   2016-11-12 12:32:08   DSL   Notice   xDSL Leave Showtime!!

[ejs]

I was thinking more of gaining shell access to the 9980 so that you can run /firmware/dsl_cpe_pipe.sh commands.

[gt94sss2]

Okay - I've posted on BT Communities and I'm now recommissioning the HH5A as the TP-Link has made no difference. It was worth a try...

I see the BT mods have asked you to email them your details - once you do this, it generally takes a few days to get to the top of the queue - and they will then liaise with the other parts of BT to see what can be done for your line.

[Irvin]

Thanks to everyone who's responded. I reopened my complaint and India arranged another Openreach visit. Then a mod called my to say he was taking on my case. This time the visit was a no-show due to resourcing problems. So another half day wasted. An engineer came the next morning unannounced so couldn't do much as nobody was home. The connection did stay up 35 hours though then went back to what had become normal. But I had a call from my Mod yesterday to say that he had tested the line and it reported an issue with a joint in the copper. He's escalating with Openreach now that they have their own evidence rather than just mine. I'm expecting a call today. I just don't know how I can wangle any more time off work...

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[Irvin]

Good News!  Two Openreach engineers turned up and spent a few hours looking at every joint from my house back to the PCP. They found some corrosion in the joints (concentric copper all the way) but nothing that would explain the continual drops. The senior guy knew his onions and said he would return the next day as he suspected a split pair. He duly arrived and ran new copper from the PCP to the DP which is in a manhole a few doors up the road. That was 18 hours ago and I'm on a steady 50 up / 10 down with no drops. We'll see...
The Mod is calling me back on Monday.

[burakkucat]

Thank you for reporting back with the good news.

Hopefully you have now seen the last of the problem. 

[Irvin]

Well - apart from the occasional re-sync the connection is now rock solid. All thanks to Dave the Moderator for taking my case on and to the Openreach engineer who didn't give up!

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[burakkucat]

. . . and to the Openreach engineer who didn't give up!

If you go to the Openreach Contact Us page and scroll down to the penultimate section, titled "Let Us Know How We Did", there is a link that can be taken to thank the engineer who was involved in resolving your problem.