topic Re: Line drops in Broadband

Line drops

PabloBruno — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 22:39:35 GMT

Hi,

After a recent broadband issue which took a while to resolve, I am now experiencing a few drops in service and would appreciate it being looked at in case this is the start of another lengthy problem.

If anyone could test my line and see why the outages are occurring then it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Re: Line drops

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 22:44:37 GMT

Have you tried Plusnet's troubleshoot by text service ?

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 23:08:04 GMT

Yes, but all that tells me is that my line is working - which at THAT moment it is.

It would help to find out of there is yet another pattern of outages (there have been two major ones in the last year or two) to see if the problem can be caught before a major one happens.

Re: Line drops

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 23:46:11 GMT

OK, a Plusnet staff member should be able to post a plot of your line drop history.

Have you considered signing up for a free SamKnows Whitebox ?

With all its automatic line monitoring, one of the plots it can give are your recent line drops.

Here's mine right now -

Re: Line drops

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 23:44:54 GMT

Another useful free tool for monitoring line drops is the ThinkBroadband Broadband Quality Monitor

Here is my plot for yesterday - can you spot when BT Openreach were doing scheduled maintenance at my exchange ?

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 00:00:54 GMT

Rather than using another 3rd party 'tool' I would like the company I pay for providing me with broadband examine why I keep getting outages... yet again.

Can someone test my line and answer the question of why it keep happening please? It would be much appreciated.

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 11:46:55 GMT

Any updates would be much appreciated.

Re: Line drops

James30 — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 09:53:53 GMT

@PabloBruno - Hiya, here you can see the drops causing you the grief @ http://visualradius.plus.net/visualradius/generated/image16915741039074.png, I'll need to give you a ring so I can go though a few checks of the router setup in your property if you're free?

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 12:46:12 GMT

Hi James,

I'm afraid I am working solidly during the day for the rest of the week so could it be after 18:00 or on Saturday please.

Can I ask why you think it might be the router? The signal is solid other than the short lived drops.

Re: Line drops

James30 — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 12:54:03 GMT

@PabloBruno - Not really the router but more of where it is and what's near it as anything electrical near it has the potential to cause the drops. Pictures will be Ok instead if you can send on here one of the front, the back and one of the surrounding area of the router. Feel free to send me them on a DM instead if you want as well

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 13:04:48 GMT

The router is in the corner of the room plugged into an extension cable (together with my PC). The closest electrical thing to it is my pc but that is at least 4-5 feet away.

My PC is linked to it with an ethernet cable. When the drops happened there was no power outage and my PC was stable. That's what makes me think it has nothing to do with the router. However, I will bow to your greater experience and am grateful for any advice.

Re: Line drops

James30 — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 13:58:34 GMT

Cheers would you mind showing me where the phone socket is too?

Re: Line drops

Dan_the_Van — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 15:04:35 GMT

@PabloBruno

Looking at the radius graph your session went down around 14:00 Friday 7th and did not come back again sometime after 19:00 Sunday 6th. Then you had intermittent connection drop from then until around 03:00 Monday 7th.

There is a significate number of drops between 00:30 and 03:00 Monday 7th which might suggest some maintenance work on the network, network issues or line issue.

There were further disconnect around 19:00 Monday 7th and then again after 01:00 Tuesday 8th.

Was the Hub turned off between Friday 14:00 and Sunday 19:00, perhaps away for the weekend?

Edit: Have you seen any drops outside of those times?

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 17:04:07 GMT

Yes, the hub was turned off between Friday 14:00 and Sunday 19:00 - I was away.

The connection has been solid since 03:00 Monday.

Is it best for me simply to keep an eye on it seeing as the drops were only over a short-lived period?

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 17:07:47 GMT

Re: Line drops

Dan_the_Van — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 18:51:55 GMT

@PabloBruno

Your connection didn't look very stable over Sunday evening with a few drops, the period early Monday morning could be a fault on the network somewhere, suggested by the multiple drops over the time period 00:30 (ish) to 02:45 (ish) this is the time period Openreach and BT perform network maintenance work.

In some circumstances the front plate of the MK4 Openreach Master Socket can become poorly seated as it's only held in position with clips rather than screws, the could cause intermittent noise on the line, which would be noticeable on a landline phone as crackling.

I would keep an eye on things for now to see if anything further happens.

Have you noticed a drop of speed since the weekend?

HTH

NB; it is recommended the Hub is kept switched on at all times to prevent the headend system thinking there is a fault when the Hub is powered off.

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 18:06:38 GMT

Hi,

I have now noticed another drop, so would really appreciate some more action here please.

I will be around tomorrow (Sat) and free to take a call now this busy work week is over.

Any advice and/or help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Re: Line drops

adamwalker — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 18:21:52 GMT

Hi @PabloBruno Sorry about the connection dropouts you've been experiencing. Line tests aren't revealing any obvious causes for that. Mind sending over photos of the socket where the router plugs into the wall and also the back of the router just so we can check your setup? Feel free to send those over on a PM to me if you'd prefer.

Re: Line drops

PabloBruno — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 10:29:50 GMT

@adamwalker

Re: Line drops

MatthewWheeler — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 15:36:59 GMT

Hi @PabloBruno

Things look to be more stable now.

How has the connection been on your end the past few days?