Sky Connection

[Isitme]

You may have to report the problem to the Sky broadband help. The talk side is likely to send out an ordinary engineer, who is likely to say the line is OK as long as it passes the voice tests. A broadband engineer will look deeper into the problem. Sky may offer to replace your router, if they do just accept it and if it does not cure the problem, it can then be pursued further.

[Swift]

I really do wish that some BTO Engineers would learn a little about noisy lines. Routers do not cause noise for telephones. A poor quality microfilter would allow the ADSL noise to creep through into the voice line, but this is not what you described.

You mentioned that your line occasionally makes a crackling noise. This indicates to me that you have a broken line. An old microfilter or one that was no longer up to the job would allow you to hear a noise similar to the old dial-up modems or fax machines.

To confirm a faulty line, plug a corded telephone into the Test Socket, without anything else connected. Double check that any extensions are dead. Then dial '1' and listen carefully for any noise.

If you have overhead telephone cables, any the noise is more frequent during a windy period, then the problem is likely to be caused by a tree or something else hitting your telephone line.

Any qualified BTO Engineer should be able to identify this.

Underground cables can also have problems, but they can be harder to identify. A good example would be some roots that have grown close to the line. In bad weather the tree could move and thus the roots move with the tree. This is less likely though. It is more common for a permanent problem to occur with underground cables or one that is affected by wet weather.

P.S. Having your line with Sky Talk in this case makes things a lot simpler for you. All too often companies can get into a squabble over who is responsible for what.

Thanks for posting that, useful information for me to know so that I can bring it up with the engineer if he comes again. What do you suggest I do now, Sky said it will take 3-5 days for a new router to come and I don't think I can do anything till then.

I'm gonna be stuck with a shoddy internet conecction till then

[Swift]

You may have to report the problem to the Sky broadband help. The talk side is likely to send out an ordinary engineer, who is likely to say the line is OK as long as it passes the voice tests. A broadband engineer will look deeper into the problem. Sky may offer to replace your router, if they do just accept it and if it does not cure the problem, it can then be pursued further.

I'll wait till the new Sky router comes and then call them up again and tell them to send a broadband engineer.

[Scubbie]

If you get any more noise, take a look outside and see if there is anything potentially causing a problem with your telephone line. It will be between your home and the green street box.

If you can gather evidence and show what is actually happening then it makes the work of any BTO Engineer easier.

An important issue though, whilst the BTO Engineer can replace the telephone cable, he/she won't be responsible for any trees blowing against the line. You would need to find out who is responsible and contact them.

In the mean time I hope that things don't play up for you. in practise a replacement router will take around 2-3 working days, but there is the Bank Holiday weekend to take into account. It should be with you by Wednesday.

[Swift]

If you get any more noise, take a look outside and see if there is anything potentially causing a problem with your telephone line. It will be between your home and the green street box.

If you can gather evidence and show what is actually happening then it makes the work of any BTO Engineer easier.

An important issue though, whilst the BTO Engineer can replace the telephone cable, he/she won't be responsible for any trees blowing against the line. You would need to find out who is responsible and contact them.

In the mean time I hope that things don't play up for you. in practise a replacement router will take around 2-3 working days, but there is the Bank Holiday weekend to take into account. It should be with you by Wednesday.

Thanks, i'll give you an update later this week if anything happens.

[Swift]

Apparently router might come tomorrow after ordering on the 26th, and i'm furious. The worst thing is that i doubt the problem will be fixed by replacing the router anyway. Do you guys think I can get a free Sky+HD box out of all of this, don't want the subcription though, I am with a dodgy internet connection for nearly a month now!!

[Isitme]

I doubt if you will get a free HD box out of it as a ddogy broadband connection has nothing to do with the TV side, but I suppose you can ask.

[Swift]

Hey guys, i've finally got the new router today and here are my stats.

System Up Time: 0:04:01
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 409 419 0 28093 229496 0:02:18
LAN Down 0 0 0 0 0 0:04:01
WLAN Up 1113 1029 0 825718 112781 0:03:44
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1536 kbps 412 kbps
Line Attenuation 29.0 dB 17.0 dB
Noise Margin 28.6 dB 26.5 dB

Speed looks like its still slow and i've also noticed another problem. For the past few days in the morning the phone either has no dial tone or it makes this loud crackling sound, i hadn't noticed this before but that may be because no one really uses the phone early in the morning. It goes back to normal after a while but there is still a faint crackling noise.

What should I tell sky, should I tell them to get an engineer around again or ask for a broadband engineer?

[Scubbie]

I would certainly give Sky a call if you are paying them your line rental.

You definitely have a line fault if you can here all that noise.

Before you do though, I'd better ask, check that the noise is still present if you use a corded telephone in the Test Socket. It is possible that your internal wiring could create the noise if it is faulty.

[Swift]

I would certainly give Sky a call if you are paying them your line rental.

You definitely have a line fault if you can here all that noise.

Before you do though, I'd better ask, check that the noise is still present if you use a corded telephone in the Test Socket. It is possible that your internal wiring could create the noise if it is faulty.

I've tested the noise on THREE phones and I can here it on all of them.

Just got off the phone to them and it wasn't until the third guy I spoke to that they said they would send an engineer out. The first 2 said that they can only send a report to BT and then they would contact me after 48-72 hours and I was having none of that, so got transferred to someone in the UK finally and he said he would send out an engineer on Fri.

Hopefully this engineer is better than the one I had last time who said the router was causing it . I'll ask him to check the wires outside the flat, because i'm certain now that its the cause, I can't see it being inside the house.