REIN

[#1]

Hi Maranello,
Just taking a look at this ticket now. Will post an update shortly.
EDIT - appt booked for tomorrow, as discussed I'll give you a ring around lunchtime when that's complete and we'll see where we are.

[#2]

BT Engineer visit #3 was last Friday (10th Oct)
I was expecting an SFI Engineer with experience of REIN faults. I guess there wasn't one available so they apparently sent  an SFI engineer without relevant experience, accompanied by his manager who was having a day 'out in the field'.
They plugged in a laptop and at first it seemed they were only expecting to do a 10 minute check. I mentioned the fact that this wouldn't be long enough for them to see the variation in SNR margin, and their response was that as I was on ADSLmax the SNR margin was fixed! When I queried (well argued) this they 'phoned a friend' to find out a bit more - it seems they had confused the SNR margin reported on router stats with the target margin set at the exchange. In the meantime, the SNR margin changed from 14 to 16dB, so they assumed that this shouldn't happen and decided to go to the local cabinet to run a 'load test'.
They didn't return until an hour and a half later. Apparently they had been to the exchange and done a 'lift and shift', and as a result neither the voice line nor the broadband would work! So another trip to the exchange where they had to replace a 'jumper' and phone connection was restored. They came back and told me what had happened, and suggested that the problem with the jumper could have been the cause of the variations in SNR margin,  but if not and I still had problems then I should report to my ISP.
In short, apart from cocking up the changes they made at the exchange, they did no more than the engineer did at the first visit, and seemed from the outset not to expect to do anything more than they did. This is the second time I have had my time wasted due to a BT engineer appointment which failed to investigate the fault adequately, and despite an assurance from PN that the engineer would be fully briefed and expecting to perform more extensive investigation into the noise margin variations.
Still, when their laptop/modem was connected to my line it reported a downstream speed of ~1400kbps at SNR margin of 14 and a line attenuation of 54. Why would the line attenuation using their equipment be so different from that reported using mine (63dB)? Is this significant and a possible indicator of what the fault might be?
After re-instating my own equipment I only managed 832 kbps at 15 dB. Checked the stats on evening of the 11th and the SNR margin had dropped to 10.6. At around 10.30am the next day it was down further to 5.8. Connection was dropped at least twice between then and 5:30pm that evening. So I still have a fault. I don't know what the load test was supposed to show, but I'm assuming BT will report back to PN. They mentioned something about putting 60dB on the line, but they did this from the cabinet, I think therefore that this doesn't test anything between the cabinet and my master socket. To date, the line between master socket and cabinet has not to my knowledge been checked as a potential source of my problem.
To say that I am disheartened by the lack of any progress would be putting things mildly. I appreciate that what BT do is outside of the control of PN, but I am losing confidence in the likelihood of getting any resolution to my problem and anticipate that much more of my time will be wasted to no avail.

[#3]

Hi Maranello,
I've just had a look at the fault and one of our more experienced agents is calling BTW to chase this as we speak. That should get us a bit more information on their notes and as they're asking for a repeat engineer visit it's now with the repeats team - this is essentially the escalations team as was. If we don't get a sensible update from them (which is unlikely) then we'll be escalating it regardless, but either way I'll post an update as soon as we have one.
Sorry for the continuing hassle,
Matt

[#4]

Thanks Matt for escalating this. Just had a phone call from a member of the BOT - DSL logged Faults team. The ticket response also suggests there is still more that can and will be done.

[#5]

Quote from: maranello

Thanks Matt for escalating this. Just had a phone call from a member of the BOT - DSL logged Faults team. The ticket response also suggests there is still more that can and will be done.

Can you elaborate on what is being suggested that could be done?
My ticket has reached an impasse.
Are still getting line drops that require you to take the phone off-hook for 30s to restore your ADSL?
SW.

[#6]

see also http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,69353.msg553225.html#msg553225 for engineers visit saga

[#7]

Hi SW
I will do my best to elaborate, although I hope I haven't misrepresented what I have been told
Plusnet have confirmed that the downstream SNR margin fluctuations that I have recorded are consistent with their own monitoring, and are abnormal even for a line as long as mine. There is also unusual variation in the loop loss reported in their testing, changing from 42dB to 63dB. Plusnet arranged for another BT Engineer visit to investigate what is classed as a 'complex fault'. This happened yesterday, but I don't believe that the engineer sent by BT was expecting to do any more than the basic 10 minute test. I'm currently waiting on a call from PN to get more details about what the engineer did or didn't do compared to expectations.
Phone calls made or received do seem to knock the connection out but not every time. I suspect this occurs when the SNR margin has dropped to a low value and the additional noise on the line when the voice line is used takes it over the noise threshold for broadband stability. But I don't run routerstats 24/7, only do manual periodic monitoring, so can't confirm that this is what is happening when the connection is dropped. Sometimes the connection will come back up after the call ends, sometimes not. Sometimes the connection wil drop randomly without me or my wife noticing, but connection can be restored most of the time by taking the phone off the hook and replacing after 20-30 seconds. Sometimes I get fed up and forget to monitor whats happening. Sometimes I get really hacked off and post a rant on the forum, and this often results in my fault ticket getting a kick!
Thanks Pierre for saving me the trouble to add the link  to my rant