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Author Topic: Can a faulty router cause line interference?  (Read 3176 times)

Bowdon

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Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« on: March 26, 2021, 11:22:40 AM »

Before I started testing different things I thought I'd pose the question.

About 2 weeks ago for some reason the BT router went offline and was stuck on green. I ended up having to pull the power plug. I waited a few minutes and plugged it back in, and the router connected.

Usually I get around 67, but it reconnected at 60. Since then it did the 14 day reboot and I expected it to start climbing in speed back to normal. But it didn't. It reconnected at the same 60.

Along side this it was brought to my attention that there is crackling on the line. The crackling is present even when just picking up the phone and hearing the dial tone.

I did the line test on the BT site and it said there was no fault. But of the options I had to select I couldn't select one that represented the issue. The closest I could select was poor quality phone calls. Which it is, but then it's more than that.

So I'm wondering if something happened to the line to knock the router off, or if the line recovered and now its the router causing interference?

I also did the quiet line test and there was crackling. I haven't used a corded phone yet. Though until now I'd never noticed crackling on the cordless phones.
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burakkucat

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2021, 04:17:36 PM »

There is a possibility but it is very small.

You know the correct course of action . . . A wired telephone connected directly into the test socket and perform a quiet line test. If that test fails, report an audibly noisy line to your telephony provider.
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2021, 06:33:04 PM »

As  I found out recently, crackling doesn't tend to trip any of the automated tests.  I could barely hear the dial tone over the crackling and it came back fine on the tests.

Worthy of note is it if its crackling or hissing, as hissing can be a failing filter and would go away if the modem/router was unplugged or of course you are using the test socket.

Crackling should always be reported as a "poor quality calls" issue, as theres a good chance fixing that will magically fix the broadband side too.  If it doesn't THEN you resort to the tedious process of trying to get to the root cause.

The way I see it, you don't want them sending a broadband engineer if a voice engineer can fix it.
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2021, 08:02:08 PM »

I decided to buy a new corded phone as the old one I was using is very big, from the old days.

It's a crackling sound and it starts by just picking up the phone and hearing the dial tone.

Hopefully I'll get the new phone early tomorrow then I can start doing the tests.
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2021, 11:43:09 AM »

A minor update.

After a few days of doing the quiet line test and getting the crackling I unscrewed the bt socket and tested the new corded phone in test socket. The crackling was even louder there.

So I've booked an an appointment for an engineer. He's due to arrive on the Friday 9th of April (1pm to 6pm). I made sure to report it as a land line fault, poor quality calls. It has effected the broadband but I unticked that as a problem. Though later on it said a land line fault can effect the broadband service.

I don't use the phone to make voice calls myself. It's my parents that use it, and they say the crackling is on every call. So hopefully it'll be easy for the engineer to hear the problem.
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burakkucat

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2021, 04:05:44 PM »

After a few days of doing the quiet line test and getting the crackling I unscrewed the bt socket and tested the new corded phone in test socket. The crackling was even louder there.

Good. You have definitely identified a defect.

Quote
So I've booked an an appointment for an engineer. He's due to arrive on the Friday 9th of April (1pm to 6pm). I made sure to report it as a land line fault, poor quality calls. It has effected the broadband but I unticked that as a problem.

That is a wise option. You only need the services of a telephony engineer.

Have you been able to make a recording of the problem? Just in case?
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2021, 11:36:41 AM »

Have you been able to make a recording of the problem? Just in case?

I haven't yet. But I've re-downloaded this voice recorder app on my phone so I'm now on the hunt for a crackle *sits next to the phone with a deerstalker hat on*  ;D

I noticed about an hour after I reported the fault BT sent a message which sounded like they had done something to fix it and was asking to confirm the appointment. But the message was confusing how it was written as it might have just been a confirmation message. So I'm not 100% sure they fixed it or not. So I keep checking the phone.
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2021, 01:23:32 PM »

So far since I reported the fault there hasn't been any crackling on the quiet line test. But I'm told by the parents that the phone still crackles during a phone call.

I had thought about unplugging the router to see if it re-connects at the usual higher sync rate but it did a reconnect on its own today around the same speed as before. So that side hasn't improved.

I think I'm going to have to do some in-call tests to people to see if I can pick it up there. I'm thinking that if the voice line engineer can't hear a crackle that the equipment won't pick anything up and I'm going to end up being charged for the visit?
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2021, 08:59:48 PM »

I think this is the first disappointing experience I've had with an OR engineer on a visit.

The crackling did come back since my last post, which I was thinkful for so it could be heard.

The engineer got here and assumed it was the master socket that was causing the problem, a known issue apparently. It was the socket with the 2 connectors top (broadband) and bottom (phone line).. and so she changed it to the mk4 master socket with the 2 connectors side by side. I'll post a picture of one similar to it that I got from an online source.

So she left and we assumed everything would be fixed. But just had a phone call and the crackling is as bad as ever. It is so bad it can be heard just by picking up the phone and listening to the dial tone.

I don't understand how she can have come to the conclusion that the problem was caused by a faulty socket when I'd done the check through the test socket. Maybe she was guessing or something?

So the problem isn't fixed.

I noticed in the email BT send out they assume the problem is fixed and don't ask if its fixed. So I'm going to have to be making another appointment soon  :(
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burakkucat

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2021, 10:09:33 PM »

I think this is the first disappointing experience I've had with an OR engineer on a visit.

<snip>

So she left and we assumed everything would be fixed. But just had a phone call and the crackling is as bad as ever. It is so bad it can be heard just by picking up the phone and listening to the dial tone.

D'oh!  :(

Take a look at this Openreach web-site page and then urge your service provider to raise a complaint regarding the above.
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2021, 11:20:22 AM »

I decided to wait it out and write some posts on the BT forum and eventually arranged for another OR engineer visit, that happened today.

This engineer was a lot more thorough. He tracked down the fault. It was a wire at the exchange. He said when he moved it one way the crackling happened. But when he moved it the other way it stopped. So he replaced the wire. So hopefully all is good now  :fingers:
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burakkucat

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #11 on: April 20, 2021, 05:47:45 PM »

This engineer was a lot more thorough. He tracked down the fault. It was a wire at the exchange. He said when he moved it one way the crackling happened. But when he moved it the other way it stopped. So he replaced the wire. So hopefully all is good now  :fingers:

A good result.

Just one thought . . . Was a DLM reset performed?
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #12 on: April 20, 2021, 10:00:21 PM »

Just one thought . . . Was a DLM reset performed?

No, not as far as I can see.
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Bowdon

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #13 on: April 22, 2021, 12:53:10 PM »

Ok, I spoke to soon in my last post about the fix. It's back to crackling.

I have managed to record it on my phone and transferred it to the pc.

What is a good upload site that I can use to share this to people?

It's an .mp3 file. It is 1.06MB file size.
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burakkucat

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Re: Can a faulty router cause line interference?
« Reply #14 on: April 22, 2021, 10:21:10 PM »

Ok, I spoke to soon in my last post about the fix. It's back to crackling.

  :wall:

Quote
I have managed to record it on my phone and transferred it to the pc.

What is a good upload site that I can use to share this to people?

It's an .mp3 file. It is 1.06MB file size.

Google drive, perhaps?
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