Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[craigski]

My FTTP was activated yesterday. Today, I have had two 15-20 minute outages and both times LOS light came on.

I know with new FTTC connection there is a 10 day period whilst the line establishes a reliable speed, but I was assuming that with FTTP this is not the case, and once the line is active, that's it.

I have raised fault with my ISP (Zen) who said it could be Openreach working at exchange, they have raised a case for me.

I guess my question is, is it normal to get a LOS during the first few days of a new FTTP service? Or is 15-20 minute LOS normal if they are connecting other customers in the vicinity ?

[burakkucat]

It is not normal and should not happen. 

Monitor the situation and keep a record. If the fault comdition keeps occurring, notify your service provider and request that they pass the details to Openreach. (Possibly as an "early life failure".)

[meritez]

That's not normal

[craigski]

Thanks both. Zen are claiming that Openreach said it was a "software fault that has now been resolved" and couldn't give me any more details.

[burakkucat]

. . . Openreach said it was a "software fault that has now been resolved" . . .

Let's hope that is the case.

[craigski]

It is not normal and should not happen. 

Monitor the situation and keep a record. If the fault condition keeps occurring, notify your service provider and request that they pass the details to Openreach. (Possibly as an "early life failure".)

I have just been reading about 'Early Life Failure' or 'ELFs' as I now know them as in a Sky document from December 2020 on Ofcom website, claiming ELFs are increasing. It does make sense there will be more ELFs with an increase in rate of changes of Openreach infrastructure due to FTTP rollout.

Am I right in understanding the LOS is physical error, as its loss of light between my property and the exchange, and could only be caused by something or someone disconnecting/re-patching/re-splicing the fibre somewhere? I don't fully understand how this could be a software error, unless it was some kind of firmware update to my ONT or the other end? I guess I will never know the actual cause. But when faults happen or things break, its funny that it leads people like me on a discovery path of how these things actually work and are put together 

[burakkucat]

A LOS indication on the ONT is just signalling that the received light level is either non-existent or below the minimum power required for the satisfactory operation of the link.

There are many causes for a non-existent or a below the required minimum power of the received light . . .

[licquorice]

........including a software fault.

[craigski]

Happy to report LOS has not come on since 2 x 15min outages on day 2 of FTTP service.

I know I will never know exactly what the issue was, software fault etc.

But, I am curious with regard to outages, for those with inside info:

Is there some kind of policy / common sense with Openreach engineers with regard to taking down a FTTP service for a customer?

eg if there is only one customer on a PON and has only been connected for a day, and work is required to re patch/reboot/upgrade something that will affect only 1 customer for a few minutes, its OK to do that without the complication of change requests/ out of hours work etc?

Or maybe it takes a day or so for the service to me marked 'live' on the many internal systems, so may have been taken down legitimately for maintenance?

[Weaver]

You could perhaps use the thinkbroadband service which uses a Firebrick to regularly ping your device (ie IP ICMP real pings, as opposed to AA’s own service, with PPP LCP pings, which I have)? Or maybe use f8lure.mouselike.org.