Noisy Phone line (broadband dropping out)

[Bollard]

Hi all, I'm looking for some inspiration to try and get this fault fixed! Here's the history so far:
About two years ago the line became slightly noisy and as a result our broadband started dropping out. The problem was escalated with Sky and we had a visit from an Openreach engineer who spent a good couple of hours checking the wiring (i think) back as far as the cabinet and couldn't find any issues. He could still see that the broadband connection wasn't 100% but left it as 'you'll have to see how it goes'.
Over the last couple of years the problem comes and goes, sometime it can be OK for weeks on end then other days the line is noisy and the connection drops out constantly.
Last week we had another Openreach engineer visit and again he couldn't find the issue and left it at that!

So, as Openreach seem to be useless, does any body have any pointers that I can suggest to them on the next visit that I have booked for next week? All of the usual stuff has been done such as replacing the filter, faceplate, plugged into master socket, tried with phone unplugged etc.
Thanks!

[Saturday]

First thing to determine is whether the noise is originating your side or BT's side of the master socket (or both).

To do this connect your router to the test socket which is behind your master faceplate - assuming you have a relatively modern NTE5 master.

Compare your router stats between your normal connection and the test socket. If your attenuation drops and in particular noise margin rises with the test socket then you have problems your side of the master. If there's no significant change then the problem is BT's side in which case it's down to Openreach to sort. If it is an external problem, the drop cable (from your house to the nearest pole/junction) can often be the issue, Can you trace where yours goes?

[Bollard]

Hi, when I said master socket, I meant to say test socket! It's already plugged into the test socket.

[Saturday]

Can you trace the route of your drop cable? Is it underground or overground. If underground then water can be an issue, if overground then proximity to power lines or street lights can be a problem. For both, cable damage can occur over time (tree branches for overground, roots for underground, neighbour's building work etc).

[Bollard]

Yes, it's a fairly simple setup here, cable from the pole, down the front of the house and in through the front door to the master socket. No extensions and I unplugged the Sky box years ago. There is street lamp but not that close to the line. There is a pole that is closer to the house so I might suggest they run a new line to that. It's frustrating that they don't seem to want to do any work to fix the problem.

[seawright]

You say that the problem has been coming and going over the last two years. While keeping a diary between now and the next engineer's visit may not help, if the problem persists a diary comparing weather against noise and dropouts could help. If worse when windy then the drop line would be the obvious suspect. Temperature and humidity may not be so easy to associate with a particular problem area but poor broadband only occurring during wet or cold conditions could indicate a corroded connection at some point along the line.

[Saturday]

I might suggest they run a new line to that. It's frustrating that they don't seem to want to do any work to fix the problem.

If the drop line looks to be in good condition and the connections at the pole are OK then I doubt replacing it will fix the problem.

If you've had Openreach round and they've put their test equipment on your master and gone back to the cabinet and/or exchange to run tests, did they not find the line to be noisy?

You'll just have to keep pushing. They have a responsibility to give you a good noise free* voice line and no real responsibility to give you a good BB connection, so complain about voice quality, not any BB issues you have.


* in this instance "noise free" means doesn't interfere with a normal voice call, not completely silent, some slight noise is inevitable.

[ukgeoff]

Internet Software

download the 'lite' edition let it run..(its really easy to setup).you can save the results to a file or image...see if there any regularity in noise drops.....
it supports many routers......btw..many years ago..I had a similar situation... turned out the cable to the house had been damaged with a cable clip..and water ingress into the cable caused the problem...

[Bollard]

That's great thanks, I've got that software running now. Seems solid as a rock so far but we'll see how it looks when it drops out.
Incidentally, I have been experimenting today with an old router I have here but didn't get any luck getting it to connect even after extracting my username / password from my Sky router. But I did observe when connecting the Sky router back in that the noise came back on the phone line. When I unplugged it the noise remained for while but then stops. I found this thread that seems almost exactly the same: http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/techn...connected.html .

[ukgeoff]

what 'old' router did you try to connect?.. u will need to set the login details etc....''also the method u login by..pppoa... auto detect should do it.. but vpi=0 and vci=38