ADSL fault 43 days old

[#1]

Can someone at plusnet help resolve my ADSL problem?
I have had my current fault for 43 days now, although to the casual observer it may not look like that. It started on the 9th of July when around midday I lost ADSL and POTS, which seemed to come back when the POST OFFICE, my phone provider, phoned my landline. From then on I had problems with ADSL. This is all detailed on Ticket number 22319401. I performed a number of tests on my equipment and I felt I eliminated CPE. The LLU provider, I assume Tiscali, was unable to find any fault and of course I was continually requested to re-test my gear.
I was then transferred to the BT platform and the fault report with all of its information on was closed. The fault was and is still present on the BT platform. I raised TICKET 22545471, which detailed all of the fault symptoms that I had observed. I also included a spreadsheet, which gave detailed information of my testing at the Master socket, including the number and type of micro-filters used in combination with two different modems and two different corded phones.
In progressing the fault plusnet raised TICKET 22553629 which was subsequently closed by plusnet in error. However a new TICKET 22592439 was raised and because of the diligence and perseverance of the CSC Analyst involved progress began to be made.
This progress resulted in a BT OPENREACH Engineer making a call to my house on Thursday 16th August. He tested at the master socket with his own equipment and was able to see the fault. By a process of elimination the Engineer ended up at the EXCANGE and with my copper pair disconnected at the Distribution Frame tested into the EXCANGE and could still see the fault.
If the level of competence exhibited by the OPENREACH guy had been extended into the EXCANGE my fault would have been fixed by now.
On the 17th the TICKET was updated to say BT had fixed a fault. They may well have done but not the fault I had reported. The fault was sent back. However on the 18th the fault ticket said “BT have tested the line and were unable to find any fault on the service”. As I am sure I indicated on the TICKET the fault is in the EXCAHNGE not on my line and was observed by BT OPNREACH.
On the 19th my TICKET, with all the information on, was closed by plusnet in error. Ticket number 22636726 was raised by plusnet.
Very late on Monday 20th I phoned plusnet to determine what was happening and was told that the fault would be sent back to BT, I was very surprised and concerned that this had not already been done.
During the progressing of this fault since the 9th of July there seems to have been a great deal of confusion. This has resulted in my having to phone plusnet rather than update the ticket. I have now spent hours on the phone; I hate to think what my phone bill is going to be. I have also spent hours testing my equipment simply to convince people that the fault is not CPE, even though I have believed for some time that the fault is external.
I am now unsure what progress is being made. It seems to me that the only time progress is made is when someone takes personal responsibility for fault resolution. This was being done until the previous ticket, 22592439 was closed.
It would be useful if I knew what BT is doing or had done about this fault. During the course of things at some stage, before BT OPENREACH came out, they attempted a fix, which resulted in me loosing POTS for 24 hours. They subsequently claimed to have fixed a fault at the EXCHANGE presumably the one that they had caused. As a result my faith in them is not all that it should be.
I believe the original fault may have been cause during 21CN upgrade, it would be interesting to know. This fault has being going around in a series of circles can someone please straighten it out again?

[#2]

Hi Colin,
I've called BT wholesale regarding this (literally just off the phone) and the (extremely helpful) lady on the other end found the engineer notes from the visit you had on the 16th. These showed that a lift and shift was required, as such the latest incarnation of this fault has been passed through to have the lift and shift actioned.
As soon as any further information is available it'll be posted on to your ticket, though please PM me if you'd like it chasing.
(A lift and shift is the moving of your line from one set of jumpers in the exchange to another - apologies if this was known).

[#3]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for the help. I think I would like this chasing. I still have the fault but today my modem was failing to connect at the PPP layer. I observed this when I tried to connect at around 9:0am this morning. The modem connected at 1410 hours. This of course may be a symptom of some other problem.
However it just seems too much of a coincidence and considering BTs previous rectification attempts in the ECHANGE I have concerns.
Colin.

[#4]

I'll have a look and get right back to you.

[#5]

Right... BT sent an engineer to the exchange this morning (2.15am) and he was tasked to carry out the required lift and shift. I wouldn't expect feedback from that until tomorrow, but it should be sorted with this... I'll check on it when I get in tomorrow, if you could post in here as to whether it's working or not that would be great. If not I'll call tomorrow and we'll see where we can take this.

[#6]

I was afraid something had been done. The fault is still present as of now. I guess we have to wait to see the BT report.

[#7]

Matt,
Thanks for the call, afraid I was driving at the time so could not answer it.
As far as I can see the problem, or at least the symptoms are exactly the same as they were 45 days ago. I noticed at around 0633 that I lost both ADLS and POTS so I assumed that work was in progress, it all came back at around 0636 it was not fixed. I have no idea what caused the loss at around 0823.
I also notice that my BT platform ticket 22545471 describing the fault has been closed automatically, I think this hides the fault flow and the fact that this fault has been present since the 9th July.
I am becoming very twitchy.
Colin.

[#8]

Quote

Thanks for the call, afraid I was driving at the time so could not answer it.

No worries at all, hope the message wasn't too garbled.
The fault is currently being tracked on ticket 22636726, it's been raised manually rather than via the automated system so you won't get any automatic updates anyway - the automated ticket was closed when BT closed the previous incarnation of this issue.
As per BT wholesale's usual practice the fault has been cleared following the work this morning so I'll pass it back to them, the next step will most likely be another engineer visit. I'm tempted to request a cease and reprovide rather than a further engineer visit but I'll let you make that call - let me know. The cease and reprovide will take 5 working days or so, but hopefully will move you to a different line between the exchange and green box - this might be requested following the next engineer visit but he may also detect something else. The fault notes suggest that this will be an SFI (specialist faults investigation) engineer who will be monitoring for sources of electrical interference though he should also test the line.
Hope this helps,

[#9]

Matt,
Can you give me a ring, I am currently using dial up @ 24.kbps, this is not a good experience.

[#10]

Matt,
I have just seen a ticket response that says, “BT have corrected a fault on the network which they believe has fixed the fault”. Is this the “lift and shift” that we already know has not fixed anything, or have they tried something else? Either way the fault is still present just has it has been for the last 46 days.
I will update the ticked with appropriate text, just as soon as I have stopped twitching.
Colin.

[#11]

Matt,
I was thinking of the transitions that I am aware of, that this fault has travailed through.
1. Fault on LLU platform observation that there is some sort of cross talk between POTS and ADSL.
2. Line tests on POTS and ADSL indicate no problem.
3. Switch from LLU platform to BT platform …fault still present.
4. BT Openreach Engineer observes problem at master socket and exchange indicating exchange problem.
5. Lift and Shift, problem still present.
Now I know that other things have been tried at the Exchange, for example I lost POTS for around 24 hours, do not know what they were trying then. 
My thought is that in all of this quite a lot of circuitry has been eliminated and yet the fault remains.
You may have already considered all of this but I thought it might be worth adding this to the cauldron.
Colin.

[#12]

Matt,
On the fault ticket the two latest plusnet comments are a little confusing. One states that BT want to send out a “special faults engineer “, the other says that the fault is still under investigation by BT diagnostics.
As far as I can see the fault has all the symptoms of an Exchange splitter problem. So far a number of attempts have been made to fix my fault, but I do not know if any of these have resulted in a new Exchange splitter being put in circuit.
In any event I still strongly believe that the fault is an Exchange problem. If BT assert that they have fixed the problem observed by the BT OPENREACH Engineer, when he tested into the exchange with my line disconnected, then there must have been two faults present.  Seems unlikely.
Just to be sure that the fault symptoms have not changed and are not caused by my internal wiring or the filters I normally have in circuit I have just checked at the Master Socket, faceplate removed all internal stuff thus disconnected.  One of my spare filters one phone and spare modem connected. Fault still the same.
 
Colin.
 

[#13]

Just to update this. The fault was finally fixed on 30/08/2007. The line from the DP to the Exchange was changed, so I don't know if there was another fault at the Exchange that was fixed earlier. Anyhow 3 days after the fix I had a good stable connection.
Now I wonder if there are any lasting effects due to the fault being present during the Maxdsl 10 day training period?
My current Netgear stats are:
                              Downstream      Upstream
Connection Speed 6966 kbps          488 kbps
Line Attenuation    25 db                  6.5 db
Noise Margin          10 db                  26 db
Interleaving is switched on. I am around 1 mile from the Exchange.

[#14]

Hi Colin,
I'm gald to hear everything is now fine and your line stats look pretty good.
Fyi, we and BT are profiling your line at 5500Kbps, although you should be able to get 6000Kbps if you continue to receive the same synchronisation speeds.

[#15]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. It was helpful to have an opinion about my stats, currently my Downstream Noise Margin is around 15db, which seems a little high.
Anyhow I am still confused about what was achieved during the 10 day training period. I thought this was a time when the capabilities of my line were assessed. If this is the case then the assessment was carried out on a faulty line, which has subsequently been replaced. Any information gained during this time would no longer be relevant, and would not be valid if used for managing my present connection.
Regards.