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Please fix fault before weekend!!

ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Please fix fault before weekend!!

Current Fault ticket 36344330
Total loss of sync Friday evening 22/10/10, left router on and checked on Saturday, still no sync with Thomson  TG585 v7. Disconnected phones and network from master socket tested with Netgear DG 834G v2 at test socket, unable to synch. Re-tested later, again at the test socket with Thomson, unable to sync.  Left router connected at test socket and raised fault ticket.
Sun 24/10/2010, reconnected phones and moved Thomson router back to usual endpoint.
Mon 25/10/2010 Phoned for update told that fault sent to BT.
Wed 27/10/2010 Phone for updated told that BT had not yet located fault.
Thurs 28/10/2010 Phoned for updated, told that BT have fixed something. Whilst talking to CSC power cycle Thomson router. Still unable to sync. Re-test at test at master socket with Thomson router, unable to synch. Test with Netgear and eventually syncs but with ridiculous stats, indicating a definite fault still present. Post stats on ticket. Move Netgear router to normal endpoint, no perceptible change from test socket.
Sun 31/10/2010 Phoned Plusnet for update, “Waiting for Faults to talk to BT”.
Mon 1/11/2010 Phoned for update and told that still waiting for Faults, also told that the more times my ticket is updated as a result of my actions the further down the faults queue my ticket falls.
Tues 02/11/2010 Plusnet phoned me, “Fault with BT”.
It is now 12 days since I raised the fault and I am still waiting.
I might me be content to not keep asking Plusnet what is happening were it not for past experiences. I have had a number of faults that have taken a very long time to clear. I have seen faults going back and forth between Plusnet and BT, before in most cases BT Openreach making an appearance to fix a line fault. The quickest I have had a fault fixed is 12 days and the worst 52 days in 2007.
I have had at least one fault every year since 2007. OK the fault I had in 2008 was my internal wiring, and I isolated and fixed that without, obviously, raising a fault ticket.
The current ticket is the second for this year. Just so that people can get a flavour of my experience with Plusnet this year here is a synopsis of the trouble I had when changing my product to “Plusnet Premium”
Product changed to “Plusnet Premium” 19/04/10.
Plusnet E-mail stated:
Monthly Subscription £15.99
After 3 month(s) your subscription will change to £15.99
Estimated speed 8 Mbps

19/04/10
Phoned to query Monthly charge since there should be a 3 month introductory period, and also query the estimated line speed. Was told that the subscription would be corrected and that I would just have to wait to see what speed the line was capable of.
At this point I started getting phone line problems, no dial tone, and engaged tone if I phoned from a mobile. This was clearly not a Plusnet problem but off course did affect my Broadband.  After repeatedly reporting the fault to my phone provider it took until 30/04/10 before BT Openreach change my E side line. Decide that the Phone line Providers support was not good enough since fault was first reported 10/04/10 and had taken four calls before it was taken seriously. Change to Plusnet for Home Phone provision.
6/05/10
Open ticket 33232040, to request advice as to why my line was not ADSL2+. CSC analysts agrees that I am not on ADSL2+ and states that this has to be requested specifically, and that it is not done as part of the product change (seems strange to me).
Ticket passed to Provisioning team.
7/05/10
Ticket updated which states that ADSL2+ will be provisioned after my Phone service is transferred to Plusnet.
I update ticket asking:
1) Why was my line not ADSL2+ as part of my transfer to "Plusnet Premium"?
2) Why does the ADSL2+ update have to wait until the phone transfer has completed?
3) Why does this ticket now reference my phone transfer, I thought Broadband and Telephone services were supposed to be independent?
8/05/10
Told that ADSL2+ has to be requested specifically and is not done as part of the product change (seems strange to me, pity that is not made clear in the product details, or did I miss something).
Told that provisioning cannot be done until phone transfer is complete, because it comes down the same piece of wire (?).
12/05/10
Ticket returned to Regrades pool.
13/05/10
Regrade completed and CSC Analyst suggest power cycle router to force ‘re-sync’.
I update ticket to say that I do not think I have an ADSL2+ connection, Plusnet supplied Thomson Gateway indicates DSL Type as: G.992.1 annex A.
CSC Analyst states:
“Thank you for your query. I have double and triple checked your account and you are definitely on ADSL2+.”
14/05/10
Update ticket with actions I have performed and restate that router shows "G.992.1 annex A”.
CSC Anaylst comments  “I can confirm your are ADSL2+ enabled
Have you tried a Factory reset on you router? This may solve the problem.”
Phoned Plusnet to discus problem, it was suggested that I had an intermittent connection problem, by now I am frustrated and confused and indeed I have noticed that the Router/Modem has reset a couple of times for no apparent reason.
Decide to leave things alone for a few days to check stability.
18/05/10
Update ticket indicating connection speed, down stream noise margin, and down stream line attenuation, ask several question including “Why is my DSL g.922.1 and not g.922.5 (ADSL 2+)”
CSC response confusing.
19/05/10
Update ticket and once again ask “The router shows that is has an ADSL connection not ADSL2+, why do I not have an ADSL2+ connection?”
20/05/10
CSC analyst : “The Thomson routers do not show this information on our firmware. Your connection speed is 6.5mbps and your broadband line is on the new network so you are on ADSL 2+ but your speed is not higher than an ADSL connection. I hope this makes sense. “
I update ticket with a paste of the Router line information and ask again:
“1) Why does the router show ADSL (not ADSL 2+)?
  2) Why is my connection speed exactly as it was before I was supposedly connected as ADSL2+ ?”
21/05/10
CSC analyst cannot determine if order placed line on ADSL2+ and forwards to Provisioning.
Provisioning state “..........now that the query has been passed to the provisioning department I can advise you correctly, your line has been on the ADSL 2 network however it was only allowed to connect via an ADSL1 connection.............”
Finally on the 24/05/10 I get the ADSL2+ connection I thought I was getting on the 19/04/10.
Perhaps someone from Plusnet could explain why support staff kept telling me I had ADSL2+ when I did not! This trivial problem consumed a lot of my time.
If you find this boring reading imagine having to live through it!
22 REPLIES 22
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Hi ColinW,
It looks like we're going to need an engineer, can you give me 3 possible appt. times mon-fri 0800-1300hrs or 1300-1800hrs
Jojo Smiley
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Hi Jojo,
Thanks for the quick reply, please phone me, on my mobile number, to discuss situation.
Colin.
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Hi Colin,
Nice chatting to you, I have now updated your ticket with the details of the engineer visit.
Jojo Smiley
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

BT Openreach guy left about 30 minutes ago. The result of his investigation is that my E-side line has been changed, for the second time this year. Perhaps the fault is fixed but I will not be sure until the cap is removed that prevents me from syncing above 284 Kbps.
Can you pressure BT to remove the cap so that I do not have to wait for 72 hours before I have  anything like a Broadband connection? Perhaps you could indicate to them that because of their poor past management of my faults, and the number of faults I have had I am considering junking the line entirely and moving to cable.
Colin.
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

With the new line in place and the Netgear in circuit remote from the master socket I have noticed a number of sync losses; I was rather hoping this was as a result of BT test/verification activities. Today, Saturday morning, the router lost sync again around 0906 however when it came back in sync I had no internet access even though I had a DSL connection. I did not investigate this  other than to try tracert to www.bbc.co.uk, of course that got nowhere.
I left the router/modem to do its own thing just to see if access would come back, it did not. I took the following stats snap shot:
06/11/2010 10:42 Remote from Master socket 
System Up Time 122:15:12
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 99604 110974 0 288 983 23:19:25
LAN 10M/100M 1728934 1474593 0 3046 525 122:15:07
WLAN 11M/54M 168794 0 0 96 0 122:14:57

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 284 kbps 445 kbps
Line Attenuation 23 db 6 db
Noise Margin 31 db 23 db
The numbers are typical of the figures that have been present since the line was changed.
I performed an orderly disconnect thought the routers web page and removed the router from the line. Left it off-line for around 30 minutes and the connected it directly into the test socket and took another snap shot:
06/11/2010 11:45 At Test Socket. 
System Up Time 00:24:09
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 2587 2340 0 530 1402 00:23:15
LAN 10M/100M 12018 26 0 1919 1 00:24:04
WLAN 11M/54M 4099 14071 0 1905 2077 00:23:54

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 284 kbps 445 kbps
Line Attenuation 23 db 6 db
Noise Margin 31 db 24 db
The modem is in sync and I think you can see that the figures are very similar to the remote point with the exception of Upstream Noise Margin, but I think that may be insignificant. I will leave the router in the test socket until Monday.
I have not updated the fault ticket for fear that doing so will make it drop down the fault queue. It is now 14 days since I reported this fault.

Colin.
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Yesterday, 08/11/10, something very strange occurred. At around 1339 hours I lost access to my Netgear Router/Modem. I have no idea what happened since even with a direct cable into the thing I could not even “ping” it. At around 1352 it looks like an access attempt succeeded but not for long enough to get stats from it. When I looked at the router the DSL light was on and steady. I had no option other than to power it down, which I did around 1720 ish. I left it powered down until 1754.
Below are the latest stats from the router
09/11/2010 06:18:
 
System Up Time 12:26:45
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 23801 27061 0 187 659 08:47:15
LAN 10M/100M 24250 59 0 136 0 12:26:40
WLAN 11M/54M 129885 133313 0 1538 465 12:26:30

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 284 kbps 445 kbps
Line Attenuation 22 db 6 db
Noise Margin 31 db 23 db

The router is plugged in to the test socket. I suspect it does not like working at 284 kbps, I cannot tell if there is still a fault and unless some reasonable speed is obtained how can I?
It is now 17 days since I reported this fault, 18 days since the fault occurred.
Why is my line still capped, when it was rectified on Friday 5/11/10, or is there still a fault?
Colin.
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Quote from: ColinW
.... I lost access to my Netgear Router/Modem...........

I have been experiencing a problem with my own Netgear router/modem wherein the wired access to the router occasionally hangs but wireless access to the router remains and Internet access remains.  Perhaps this is router old age?  I use the wireless access to disconnect (cleanly) from the internet then restart the router.
Quote from: ColinW

Connection Speed 284 kbps 445 kbps
Line Attenuation 22 db 6 db
Noise Margin 31 db 23 db

It looks to me as if your noise margin has reached a ridiculously high figure of 31 dB and failed to correct itself.  If I am correct then you need Plusnet to ask to retrain the line.  Or is 31 dB the means by which your router represents a negative number, in which case there is still something wrong on the line.
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Quote from: ReedRichards
It looks to me as if your noise margin has reached a ridiculously high figure of 31 dB and failed to correct itself.  If I am correct then you need Plusnet to ask to retrain the line.  Or is 31 dB the means by which your router represents a negative number, in which case there is still something wrong on the line.


The noise margins are high, and they went high after the BT Opnereach Engineer changed my E-side line. The engineer actually looked at my stats and said they were the same as he got at the exchange. Unfortunately I did not notice the noise margin until after he left. I need someone at Plusnet to look at this fault; this is the whole point of posting here, since I have had poor response to my fault ticket.
With the line capped who knows what BT have done!!!!!!!!
[Moderator's note by Thomas (Be3G): fixed quote tags.]
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Hi ColinW,
I've passed the fault back for more investigation, I'd be happy to arrange an SNR reset but if the line is intermittent it'll delay the investigation. We'll let you know as soon as we hear back from BT (hopefully that should be later on today) and decide how to take things on from there.
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Hi Matt,
Thanks for picking this fault up.
Please apply any pressure you can to BT. It certainly appears to be their problem. This fault was first referenced to them on 25/10/2010, some 15 days ago. I suspect the fault flow does not show this, since I imagine that BT claim to have fixed; or not found a fault and close the record. I then have to wait for Plusnet faults to raise another fault record to BT.
Watching paint dry on a cold day is more entertaining than the process I am watching.
Regards,
Colin.
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Please!    
Could someone, anyone, from Plusnet tell me what is happening to this fault. The last action on my ticket, 36344330, was 9:49am, Tuesday 9 Nov 2010. It states that the fault has been sent back to BT. This is at least the third time BT have looked at this problem and it is now 19 days since I raised the fault to Plusnet.
Is BT doing anything about this fault?
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Hi ColinW,
Sorry for the lack of update - the fault is still showing as in hand but there's been no update since I rejected the clear back on the 9th. I'm on the phone to BT now to try and find out what's happening for you. I'll update shortly.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Right - they've found a fault at the exchange and have advised that an engineer will attend tomorrow to get it fixed. Hopefully that'll get it sorted, but I'll make sure to check on this tomorrow for you and let you know as soon as we do get any more information.
ColinW
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎21-08-2007

Re: Please fix fault before weekend!!

Thanks Matt.
My fingers are crossed.