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[Weaver]

Openreach engineer came out today to set up an additional line. He was puffing and panting as it was very sunny outside and no breeze, rolled his eyes when my wife said that the tech room is upstairs so not fit enough to climb our stairs maybe. He didn’t seem to know exactly what he was here for, said to my wife ‘I can’t climb poles’, which is true as the pole has a small ‘danger - do not climb’ badge attached to it. So what did Openreach think they were going to do here? Perhaps they were clever and knew that we don’t need an additional drop cable as we have one free (the defunct line #3), so that was why they didn’t book an unnecessary cherry-picker platform thingummy. But it seemed that no-one had told our engineer that.

He seemed to think I was mad when I told him that all I wanted was a pair swap, but managed to get through to him in the end. Line #4 is completely broken, AA and I decided it was unfixable after so very many attempts to fix it which worked but never stayed that way for very long. Am still ‘hogging’ that line so that I don’t get given it back again when I order yet another additional copper pair. Because of this there are two drop cables that are free for use: the defunct line #3 and the currently unused but live line #4. AA decided to map the new pair to my existing line 4 in clueless.aa.net.uk, so no config changes needed at my end other than powering the modem up, which had been off to make sure the sickly line was not used as it was so seriously bad. Told the engineer the plan and asked him to identify the line #4 drop cable at the DP which is the low-side pole down by the road.

There are two poles: one on low ground by the roadside, that’s where the DP lives, and a second pole high up, at the level of the house. From the high pole the drop cables run horizontally to the house wall right by the upstairs tech room windows and in under the edge of the roof. The high pole raises the level of the cable from the level of the road which is much, much lower than he house and it is that pole that is not to be climbed.

Having found the right drop cable at the DP he had to then find a free incoming EO pair. I couldn’t hear properly with his COVID mask on, but when he came back to the house I think he said there were two free pairs; we’ve just taken one, so now there’s one more left. That’s not good as it means that that pair might be the defunct line 3 which I very foolishly ‘ceased’, so when I order the next additional line I might very well be getting that completely useless pair back again.

Did a pair quality test which was fine, but no DSL signal evident, so I wondered if OR had done their bit at the exchange, if anything is needed hands-on. Does anyone know? Is everything needed at the exchange done remotely in readiness for a new line installation before an engineer arrives, or does an engineer always have to go to the exchange ? Said goodbye to our engineer and he went off to the exchange next. Gave us a call to let us know we were now up. Pleased with the result which is downstream sync rate = 2556 kbps @ 6dB target SNRM and would of course go a lot faster at 3dB - probably ~ 3Mbps like the other lines. The one disappointment is the upstream, which is slow, at sync rate 358 kbps @ 6dB, although not unusably so. This compares poorly with the other lines’ upstream: line #1 = 751 kbps (which is bizarrely high) and line #2 = 529kbps, both at 6dB u/s target SNRM.

So a really good result! Pity about the upstream not being brilliant but it is what it is. I’m now back up to a measured TCP throughput of 7 Mbps downstream.

Then what to do about the next additional line, which would bring me back to four lines. There’s the worry concerning the possibility of simply getting the duff former line #3 pair back again, but we just test it when it’s installed I suppose and then it is what it is. Will talk to AA tomorrow for a sanity check/further advice session.

Could anyone help me with a bit of advice and some answers to a few questions?

* How does OR identify/name/refer to a pair in a cable that contains a bundle of pairs ? Some sort of ID number?

* What is such a cable properly called?

* Does anyone have a picture of such a DP at a pole?

* How does an engineer find a free pair? Does she/he have to go through the whole lot listening to what’s in every single pair in the bundle, or is there some map of allocation in a BT database plus pair-ID labels at the DP or whatever it’s called?

* What does OR do when a cable-bundle is exhausted, and then someone puts in an order for a new copper pair but there are none free? (And say this is their only service, not a second line, so OR can’t say no. Is there a USO obligation in that case?)

* Can a copper pair be tested to see if it’s fit for internet usage before an installation is done? So making it clear to OR before an installation is done, that the customer has no interest in mere telephony, that’s not remotely enough.

Code: [Select]

xdslctl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime
Last Retrain Reason: 8000
Last initialization procedure status: 0
Max: Upstream rate = 312 Kbps, Downstream rate = 2880 Kbps
Bearer: 0, Upstream rate = 358 Kbps, Downstream rate = 2556 Kbps

Link Power State: L0
Mode: ADSL2 Annex A
TPS-TC: ATM Mode(0x0)
Trellis: U:ON /D:ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 6.1 5.9
Attn(dB): 65.5 41.3
Pwr(dBm): 17.9 12.4

ADSL2 framing
Bearer 0
MSGc: 62 11
B: 76 4
M: 2 16
T: 1 9
R: 16 16
S: 1.8915 6.9818
L: 719 110
D: 1 4

Counters
Bearer 0
SF: 105991 102659
SFErr: 0 2
RS: 3603705 979906
RSCorr: 3 148
RSUnCorr: 0 0

ReXmt: 5 0
ReXmtCorr: 5 0
ReXmtUnCorr: 0 0

Bearer 0
HEC: 0 5
OCD: 0 0
LCD: 0 0
Total Cells: 10335143 1447177
Data Cells: 135506 63751
Drop Cells: 0
Bit Errors: 0 302

ES: 0 2
SES: 0 0
UAS: 1727 1727
AS: 1714

Bearer 0
INP: 28.00 2.00
INPRein: 0.00 0.00
delay: 8 7
PER: 16.07 16.69
OR: 33.83 8.14
AgR: 2578.32 365.23

Bitswap: 69/69 17/17

Total time = 57 min 21 sec
FEC: 3 148
CRC: 0 2
ES: 0 2
SES: 0 0
UAS: 1727 1727
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Latest 15 minutes time = 12 min 21 sec
FEC: 2 4
CRC: 0 0
ES: 0 0
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Previous 15 minutes time = 15 min 0 sec
FEC: 1 85
CRC: 0 2
ES: 0 2
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Latest 1 day time = 57 min 21 sec
FEC: 3 148
CRC: 0 2
ES: 0 2
SES: 0 0
UAS: 1727 1727
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Previous 1 day time = 0 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 0 0
ES: 0 0
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
Since Link time = 28 min 33 sec
FEC: 3 148
CRC: 0 2
ES: 0 2
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
LOM: 0 0
NTR: mipsCntAtNtr=0 ncoCntAtNtr=0

[burakkucat]

Openreach engineer came out today to set up an additional line.

<snip>

So a really good result! Pity about the upstream not being brilliant but it is what it is. I’m now back up to a measured TCP throughput of 7 Mbps downstream.

A good result, yes. 

Could anyone help me with a bit of advice and some answers to a few questions?

I can only assist with one of your queries . . .

* Does anyone have a picture of such a DP at a pole?

The "low pole" and DP are solely to provide a service to Torr Gorm. The "DP" is nothing more than a BT66.

[meritez]

Code: [Select]

* How does OR identify/name/refer to a pair in a cable that contains a bundle of pairs ? Some sort of ID number?
ALK = Access Level Key. An address match from our Address Matching Dialogue Service > https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/aboutus/glossary.do
So you can have Gold Access Level Key and Silver Access Level Key, which match up to a physical address.

You then get an Access Line ID:

Telephone Number:   -- not specified --   
FTTP Priority Exchange:   no   WLR Withdrawal:   no
CSS Exchange Code:   NORTH   CSS Exchange Type:   NDXD03
Premises Type:   STANDARD   Were the results Truncated:   no
Can the CLI Be Retained:   no   Design DP:   42
No. of Spare Pairs:   0   No. of Stopped Lines:   0
No. of Working Lines:   1   DP Type:   INTERNAL
Working Lines:
Line access ID/number   OHP       MPF      

The above is most of the information of my telephone number on BTW's systems, I'm not happy about the FTTP Priority bit 

[j0hn]

I'm not happy about the FTTP Priority bit 

Very few exchanges have reached the FTTP Priority threshold so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Salisbury is the only 1 I've actually seen return a Y for FTTP Priority, though there's probably others.

[Weaver]

AA told me that they have looked up the state of the cable between Broadford and Heasta and it seems that I took the last free pair so there’s nothing free now. That’s great news - I can safely put in an order for my next line, to bring me back to four working lines, and BT will presumably either refuse the order or demand a million pounds. What happens if one of my neighbours puts in an order for a copper pair right now and there are none free?

[Alex Atkin UK]

What happens if one of my neighbours puts in an order for a copper pair right now and there are none free?

Maybe they will pay the million pounds? 

[Weaver]

Don’t BT simply have to do what it takes and absorb the cost if this is the neighbour’s only line? Errm, blah blah … USO - don’t know what I’m talking about.

[Chrysalis]

There is a limit I think as to what they are expected to absorb.

[Weaver]

And guess what - about a week after installation, the new line has gone spectacularly bad. Unusable, in fact. The upstream is so noisy that the modem has had to be turned off. The ZyXel VMG 1312-B10A modem’s Johnson firmware’s “easy stats” graphing feature, as I have christened it, shows huge downward-going spikes in the upstream SNRM which are large enough to take even a 9dB upstream target SNRM down to negative values.

So no luck there.

[burakkucat]

 

[Weaver]

Some potentially good news anyway. I ran a copper line test and luckily got the following error, repeatedly:

Test xDSL Copper Test:Fail Openreach network fault found(LN). Report fault to BTW.Fail Openreach network fault found(LN). Report fault to BTW. T051:FAULT - Battery Contact

Got the same error on a second test so it is hopefully repeatable. Have reported it to AA, will see what they say. But if it is not a red herring and we can get an engineer out then hopefully we can get a lasting fix for this line. This isn’t like the ‘hollow curve’ faults, where:

• the lines didn’t show a ‘fail’ in tests,
• upstream was fine,
• the downstream just got worse and worse,
• there was the infamous ‘hollow curve’ phenomenon, where the bit loading vs tones curve had a horrible shape with a dip where the max should be.

Whereas here:

• the line does show a fail in tests,
• the upstream is stuffed,
• the downstream sync rate is normal,
• there is no ‘hollow curve’ phenomenon.

OR engineer booked this morning; no date yet.

[burakkucat]

Hopefully something will be found and a repair is possible. 

[Weaver]

AA sent me an email at 06:35 UTC ! Saying they had booked an engineer, incredible early response! Amazing. The OR engineer came out this evening (Monday) to fix a bad joint near the Harrapul fank, which is a few hundred metres from the main road. And I’ve never had a repair done in less than one day intervening before. Engineer gave my wife a phone call saying he had fixed the battery contact fault but didn’t come to the house.

It’s too late now and I have realised I asked my wife to turn the modem off ages ago, since it was causing so many problems; it’s currently still off and my beloved is fast asleep having forgotten to turn it back on. So need to turn the modem back on first thing in the morning to assess the result tomorrow.


New line 4 looks good post repair, so we have three lines working now.

BT refused my order for a fifth line, which would have brought me back to four working lines, probably because there were no free pairs, we think. Not surprised, but we tried.

[burakkucat]

New line 4 looks good post repair, so we have three lines working now.

Some good news. 

BT refused my order for a fifth line, which would have brought me back to four working lines, probably because there were no free pairs, we think.

Yes, as expected.

[Weaver]

I don’t understand the weird magical incantation after "Location:" :

Code: [Select]

Between this point...
- Location: trooper.colleague.irritable
- Work Point: JB26
And this point...
Plant details...
- Plant affected: JNT50
- Plant type: UCJ
Multiple Intervention?: N
=== QBC Summary Start ===
Customer Report: End customer advised of no dial tone / voice on the line.

Actions to resolve: Engineer has resolved the fault located at the D-side including aerial cables / lead-in / block terminal.
The fault was located outside the end customer's curtilage and shown by damp / corrosion to wire / cable.
The fault was fixed by clearing in joint.

Final test results: Final PQT performed at the DP / external NTP. The test passed on 2021-07-12T18:15:43.

Final alternate test results: Final FastTest performed from the customer premise. The test passed on 12/07/2021 18:32:11.
=== QBC Summary End ===