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Broadband slowdown when it rains?

UberMensch
Grafter
Posts: 75
Registered: ‎11-09-2007

Broadband slowdown when it rains?

Now this might be nonsense, but it seems the weather is in direct correlation to my broadband speed!
I live way down in Southampton, and I've noticed that when it rains, my internet speed reduces to a crawl. Weather goes good? Back again!
I've been with PlusNet for about 6 years now I think, and this has been quite a common occurrence for me. I'm actually unable to run a speedtest because it drops out before I can finish it. When I can get anywhere, my speeds are usually around 0.20Mbps both ways.
Is it conceivable that there might be some flooding somewhere, which is affecting the quality of internet service? What do you think?
17 REPLIES 17
maximod
Grafter
Posts: 139
Registered: ‎15-08-2010

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

Snap !
My sync and snr is solid as a rock when the weather stays good, but after several days of rain it goes down.
Problem here is will it play up when bt tests the line of comes out to diagnose ?
That is the reason why i have not persued it yet !
Paul.
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

Hi both,
Suggestion for you, when it's wet (like now!) and your speeds are slow, can you hear any crackly noise on the phone?
Who do you pay your line rental to?
maximod
Grafter
Posts: 139
Registered: ‎15-08-2010

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

No Crackle on line when raining, and as the fault is delayed it is all but impossible to get it to show by the time bt try to trace it !
I strongly suspect the junction box  on top of the pole, that connects the dropwire to the property here.
As  i am on a long line with 62db attenuation, i sync at approx 2800+kb, which is good, but when it rains it errors then re syncs to 2200kb (today).
And as the plusnet profile always seems to get reduced, it never seems to increase back even after weeks or months later when the sync stays good.
I have heard crackle on the line when it rains hard for many days though.
Tomplus73
Rising Star
Posts: 68
Thanks: 3
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎13-04-2010

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

If its any help...................about 1/2 mile down the road from me,is a BT Junction box,which is where my line ends up....................2-3 years ago,it several times suffred from damp,due to rain getting in,so you could have a dodgy box up a pole (a friend has her box up a pole and the damm lid has been hanging off for two years !) or you could be like me and have a junction box,on a street corner........which lets the rain in  Undecided
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

@maximod
Right, judging by the forecast in the next few days, an opportunity may arise. You need to report it as a Phone line fault to your Line Rental provider and don't mention the broadband as you get the run around. You need to report it whilst the line is crackling, get the agent to confirm they can hear the noise and log it and log it as intermittent and to note that the detail is passed to the Openreach engineer. That's important, you don't want a £60 bill if No Fault Found because it went away before an engineer came.
@UberMensch
Same suggestion for you.
@Tomplus73 et al
There used to be a separate number for BT to report faults to external equipment such as Poles , Cabinets etc. but I can't find it at the moment.  A search on BT's website ultimately takes you to the standard reporting  method, with that option removed  Angry
I don't know if any of the Plusnet staff may know a good number and post it here.
billnotben
Community Veteran
Posts: 7,689
Thanks: 2,164
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎23-09-2010

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

And it certainly rained a lot in Southampton yesterday.
Had a similar intermittent crackly problem years ago. Used to complain, BT did something but the crackles would return in a few months usually after a long wet period. Eventually after several complaints a BT engineer said he would check all the joints. Apparently a heavily corroded one was repaired/replaced and now years later the broadband doesn't change come rain or shine.
The real problem is to get BT to do something other the the temporary fix of the test zap down the line.
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

That can be the problem! and unless it's a really bad joint, very often if you have an incoming call, the ringing current temporarily cleans the joint, so it goes away for a while.
maximod
Grafter
Posts: 139
Registered: ‎15-08-2010

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

Quite right !
The problem here is trying to estimate when the line plays up.
For instance yesterday the router re synced from 2900+kb to 2200, and stayed that way until i re trained the router, it has since stayed at 2848kb.
So the glitch on the line happened once, the problem is guessing when it does it again.
When the weather is fine it stays rock solid for weeks/months at a time.
For crackling on the line to be heard takes a more continuous line fault, so all i can do is wait till the line deteriorates where the fault is more consistant, otherwise if i call bt out, what is the chance the fault is going to show itself at the same time ?
Now if i was on 21cn, i would not have the stupid dlm problem, so a re sync would re set the profile quickly instead of waiting forever, especially as my profile never seems to lift even weeks later, it requires intervention by plusnet's staff.
To be fair the "Digital care team" have always been helpful !
Paul.
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

It is a tricky one, because raising a BB fault on an intermittent connection far too often results in a BTw/OR tech sitting with his lappy plugged into your line for two hours & then upping you Target SNRM to try to stabilise it. Instead of going and remaking all the joints at Cab/DP etc.
The way they work is a .......... joke, well it wouldn't pass the swear filter on here  Wink
It wouldn't be so bad if they got their Hawk tester on the line and did some proper checking  Roll_eyes
maximod
Grafter
Posts: 139
Registered: ‎15-08-2010

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

Totally agree.
The junction box on the pole is just off our property line here.
I am tempted to get out a long fishing pole and hook a bag over the top of the pole and junction box to see if that proves anything !
It is a pity as when the weather is good i have a very stable and high sync rate for a long line, 5+ km, 61+db attenuation, and sync at 2800-2900kb, and using a 2wire 2700hg-b router that is superb on long lines.
It's classed as living "out in the sticks" !
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

I totally sympathise and know where you are coming from. I'm lucky as I'm only 3.1kmaway. What are your neighbours like - those off the same pole - do they have any problems? If so, maybe some sort of "class" action - all complain to your line rental providers at the same time - that might get the correct attention from BTO. Otherwise all email/write to the BT CEO at HQ.
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

Well done that man, I hadn't gone back to search further yet, but you'd think the main bt.com site would have had a link to that. Anyway I've bookmarked the page for future reference (note to self - sort out bookmarks, it's probably there in a folder somewhere already)  Roll_eyes
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Broadband slowdown when it rains?

I screen grab anything like that I come across, bookmark everything, and text save !!
Glad to be of assistance, I know how hard it is to recover visited sites, my history is also set at one year !
( In this case it was to do with tree branches bouncing off BT line, neither party interested until the line went down !)
My PlusNet bookmarks run to 4 pages now, I even remember to rename them sometimes as I save them to make them easier to find, otherwise, it's load all, and tab through them...!