Internet / Phone Problem

[Andy™]

Customer of mine has a problem with their internet - it keeps disconnecting, and usually runs very slow (0.27Mb/s down, 0.58Mb/s up,instead of 15+) when it is working

as expected, BT have said there is nothing wrong with the phone line, and its something inside. been there for a bit today, switched off power to the building expect the socket circuit for the 2 rooms where the router is plugged in, and switched everything else off. it still disconnects.

filters & router have been replaced

Any idea's on likely causes or what else to try?

i have a graph of when its working / not working. apart from a lot of random times, there does seem to be some pattens, however, they dont have anything in common with the building or anything connected that i can find. there is no-one in the building from around 1700 - 0830 and almost everything is switched off

 

[Blue Duck]

Throttling?

 

[Andy™]

no, they have asked about that and told its nothing on BT's end, and it must be a fault / interference within the building

 

[Lurch]

Unless the exchange has burnt down BT will always tell you there is nothing wrong their end.

What are the specs on the line, SNR etc? What sort of connection, FTTC or ADSL? What routers? Do they use the phone at all? Sometimes worth diconnecting all wiring and filters and just connecting the modem directly to the test socket or VDSL port with nothing else at all.

 

[Andy™]

yep, im well aware BT will say nothing at their end. even if smoke is escaping their their cabinets / exchange, it must still be a fault elsewhere

no idea on specs on the line, but im sure its ADSL and a draytek router. telecoms is not my thing, i was just asked to go along with their IT bloke to see if i had any ideas on what could be causing the problems

good point on the phone - they do have some and they were working as normal, but i cant remember if they were connected to a different phone line or VOIP

 

[Blue Duck]

Can you borrow or hire a tester?

 

[Andy™]

i probably could but id be like a 5DW with a test kit. i can easily connect it and press test, but i wouldnt know what its trying to tell me

and not sure how far they want to go with it either, before getting BT etc out. just after some other ideas that could be tried first to be sure the fault is outside the building, which im almost certain it is

 

[Badger]

have you tried swapping the phone pair to anoth pair of wires and checking the wires are clear of shorts etc?

looking at the graph id say it was a throttle been placed on in peak times. where is the graph from ie how did you get the graph showing all the info.

 

[Andy™]

the graph came from the internet provider, it doesnt show speed, just if connection was dropped once or more in 15 mins or down for the entire period

havent tried swapping pairs, most 'testing' ive done on the phone line was a visual of everything i could see

 

[Doc Hudson]

What does the audio quality of the phone line sound like, is it a very noisy (poor quality) line. Is the phone cable overhead or underground, could there be some external cable movement causing intermittent breakdown between conductors e.g. due to wind & rain? 

Doc H.

 

[Andy™]

phone lines all work OK. its overhead to the pole outside - couldnt see anything obvious

but i dont think its something like wind / rain - although many times are random, there is too much of a patten to some of it

 

[Blue Duck]

tried 17070?

 

[kerching]

Can you Run a temporary cable from where the line enters the property to your BT master socket?

If that cures it then it is either the master socket or something after the Master.

If it does not cure it then it must be external

Using a spare pair is ok as long as you KNOW that the spare pair is a ggod one. Dont be tempted to split pairs as this will cause an unbalance and the line will,sulk like a petulant teenager in a monk

 

[Lurch]

no idea on specs on the line, but im sure its ADSL and a draytek router. telecoms is not my thing, i was just asked to go along with their IT bloke to see if i had any ideas on what could be causing the problems

good point on the phone - they do have some and they were working as normal, but i cant remember if they were connected to a different phone line or VOIP

There's not a lot you can do, if you can get it connected as I suggesteed it should be a pretty strong pointer towards it being an external problem. With this info you can hopefully get an engineer out who will be able to do some proper testing to confirm it and get something repaired/replaced. Most likely swapping to a different card at the exchange will cure it but you will not get someone from the call centre to do this, it will need to be instigated by the bloke who comes out and finds it faulty.

If there are other phones and internal wiring currently connected then the customer and the IT bloke haven't done step 1 of the flow chart so I wouldn't offer any more help until this is done.

 

[Andy™]

problem has been found: faulty connection on phone line external to the property

 

[Blue Duck]

Probably a jelly crimp flapping in the wind

 

[Andy™]

maybe. all the IT bloke said was BT came and found a fault outside somewhere. not sure exactly where, but i think it was between pole & building