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[Black Sheep]

Result.

Not many engineers will be aware, but the newer type BT18C boxes fitted at the top of the DP's (Telegraph poles) have the 'push connection' modules, that do what they say on the tin .......... you 'push' the right hand side of the insert and it 'connects' the UG (Underground) wires to it. The left-hand side of the module is still a screw-terminal where the Dropwire terminates.

The issue with these 'push types' is that a percentage of the existing D-side cable feeding the DP's will be in the 0.32/0.4 mm region. These DO NOT terminate as well as they should, and cause a miniscule HR-type of fault. What should be done is that the existing UG feed be 'gel crimped' to a short piece of 0.5mm Cu wiring, and then connect this to the 'push fit' side of the module.

I've probably had half-a-dozen of these issues in recent history, but they were a pain to localise in the early days as they wouldn't 'appear' on the TDR screen as a 'HR'. Just sheer perseverance located the fault.  .

[Bald_Eagle1]

Update: Engineer has been, first he found no faults, and then I told him to run a TDR Test, he pinpointed a issue 72 metres away, that resulted to the top of the telephone pole. He changed the connection module and found it improved things, run some more tests, rang the phone as doing the tests, all come back fine. I then requested a profile reset which he did, now currently syncing at 40 meg, highest sync I've ever had, still as you know early days, but the next 72 hours will tell. Great broke that listened to all I had to say, happy at the moment but that can all change, lol.

Fingers crossed!

Hey JoshShep,

That's fantastic news

The engineer does indeed sound like a great bloke, willing to listen to an end user's concerns & react accordingly.
(very much in the same vein that I suspect a certain BS & one or two other engineers approach customer service)

Fingers crossed that it's a permanent improvement.

Just for reference:-

   What was your previous highest sync speed?
   Which equipment did he use for the TDR test?
   Did the engineer re-run a TDR test to look for any other "issues" after fixing the one found at 72 metres?
   Did you manage to see the reported line length, both before & after the repair work (or even snatch a photo of the instrument displays)?

[Bald_Eagle1]

Update 04/04/2012:

My own engineer's visit is now confirmed for Saturday am.

Email just received from Alex at Plusnet:-
"BT have confirmed the appointment for 07/04/12 AM.
I will add notes for checks for High Resistance and if possible the completion of a TDR or FDR test."

Hopefully, these notes will actually be passed on to the visiting engineer.

Not knowing for sure what a FDR test was, I looked it up:-

"Frequency Domain Reflectometers (FDR) test cable at specific frequencies or frequency bands. 
Time Domain Reflectometers (TDR) test a cable against the manufacturer’s Characteristic Impedance, which basically tests the cable for any and all frequencies."

If there is any issue with the engineer being uncertain which specific frequencies to test for the FDR test, I'll whip out my Hlog graphs as a last resort.

However, after all these months of intermittent instability I now basically want/need the whole lot testing (& RE-TESTING AFTER ANY WORK IS CARRIED OUT).

Who knows, 40 Mb may just be on the horizon 

[Black Sheep]

Hmmm ?? FDR ??

A guess at this, but it could be the CIDT test that some circuits are tested under ?? This is the basic low-frequency 'Fast Test' that all lines are tested under, then it performs the 3'rd test which has to be against a plugged-in router. It basically 'sends' different tones (Frequencies) to and from the router and then gives a final result.

Just a guess

[Bald_Eagle1]

Hmmm ?? FDR ??

A guess at this, but it could be the CIDT test that some circuits are tested under ?? This is the basic low-frequency 'Fast Test' that all lines are tested under, then it performs the 3'rd test which has to be against a plugged-in router. It basically 'sends' different tones (Frequencies) to and from the router and then gives a final result.

Just a guess

Who knows?
Who cares? (as long as it all gets fixed on Saturday).


Thanks for your useful snippets of info again, especially the "newer type BT18C boxes fitted at the top of the DP's".

Another one to keep up our sleeves (..........just in case........) 

[covlad1987]

sticking my nose in this one can i ask what this is pls "newer type BT18C boxes

[Black Sheep]

Bald_Eagle ....... no worries mate. I know you and some of the other guys appreciate the feedback. 

covlad ..... the 'newer types' are what we locally refer to as 'Coffin lids'. They are larger in size than any of the other we utilize. They look rectangular with small arcs on the two shoulders. Basically, probably nothing like that crap description I've given !!! 

Perhaps one of the others has time to post up a picture of one

[JoshShep]

Result.

Not many engineers will be aware, but the newer type BT18C boxes fitted at the top of the DP's (Telegraph poles) have the 'push connection' modules, that do what they say on the tin .......... you 'push' the right hand side of the insert and it 'connects' the UG (Underground) wires to it. The left-hand side of the module is still a screw-terminal where the Dropwire terminates.

The issue with these 'push types' is that a percentage of the existing D-side cable feeding the DP's will be in the 0.32/0.4 mm region. These DO NOT terminate as well as they should, and cause a miniscule HR-type of fault. What should be done is that the existing UG feed be 'gel crimped' to a short piece of 0.5mm Cu wiring, and then connect this to the 'push fit' side of the module.

I've probably had half-a-dozen of these issues in recent history, but they were a pain to localise in the early days as they wouldn't 'appear' on the TDR screen as a 'HR'. Just sheer perseverance located the fault.  .

Sounds like it did the trick, we will know in the next few days, I felt sorry for him up there in the snow!

[JoshShep]

Update: Engineer has been, first he found no faults, and then I told him to run a TDR Test, he pinpointed a issue 72 metres away, that resulted to the top of the telephone pole. He changed the connection module and found it improved things, run some more tests, rang the phone as doing the tests, all come back fine. I then requested a profile reset which he did, now currently syncing at 40 meg, highest sync I've ever had, still as you know early days, but the next 72 hours will tell. Great broke that listened to all I had to say, happy at the moment but that can all change, lol.

Fingers crossed!

Hey JoshShep,

That's fantastic news

The engineer does indeed sound like a great bloke, willing to listen to an end user's concerns & react accordingly.
(very much in the same vein that I suspect a certain BS & one or two other engineers approach customer service)

Fingers crossed that it's a permanent improvement.

Just for reference:-

   What was your previous highest sync speed?
   Which equipment did he use for the TDR test?
   Did the engineer re-run a TDR test to look for any other "issues" after fixing the one found at 72 metres?
   Did you manage to see the reported line length, both before & after the repair work (or even snatch a photo of the instrument displays)?

Thanks mate To answer your question BE,

1) My previous highest sync for 37 so nothing major there but since my drop wire was replaced it had gotten worse.
2) He used the standard kit that gives you results for sync speed and errors, excuse me, I have no idea what the there called.
3)Yes I asked him to re run the test when he had done the repair and he said it looked much better, and showed me a graph where there was a spike where the cable pair changed, the spike was much smaller this time.
4)And no sorry I didn't manage to.

Regards,

Josh

Edit, the tool he used was like a JDSU, but the other one. Very similar

Hope everything goes well for Sat!

[burakkucat]

Edit, the tool he used was like a JDSU, but the other one. Very similar

I guess, then, he must have used an Exfo. 

[JoshShep]

Edit, the tool he used was like a JDSU, but the other one. Very similar

I guess, then, he must have used an Exfo. 

That's the one!

[burakkucat]

That's the one!

Yay!   

[covlad1987]

Bald_Eagle ....... no worries mate. I know you and some of the other guys appreciate the feedback. 

covlad ..... the 'newer types' are what we locally refer to as 'Coffin lids'. They are larger in size than any of the other we utilize. They look rectangular with small arcs on the two shoulders. Basically, probably nothing like that crap description I've given !!! 

Perhaps one of the others has time to post up a picture of one

are thay on top of the pole lol if so im looking at 1 right now right out side my home

[Black Sheep]

They can be placed on top of poles, on external walls and even seen them on internal installations, (which is just sooooo wrong  ).

[Black Sheep]

Well, I've half-succeeded in my quest. 

The picture of the Box Conn is exactly the one we use, as mooted previously. However, the picture of the module is not what we use, and is only to give a rough idea of what they look like.
Whereby in the picture both sides of the module are 'Screw-fix', the ones we use are 'Push-fix' for the UG connection. It is this that causes the issues with lower than 0.5mm poundage cable, as there is a bit of a 'spring back' on the connector regardless of how hard one pushes.

Hope this gives a better insight as to what I'm waffling on about ??