What does it all mean?

[#1]

The following is an extract from an Open Question on my broadband connection

Quote

[internal] talked to customer - RRT shows high SNR variations and so cse may not have been checking for the correct thing as fault was reported as a dcn issue - however the next cse should be advised accordingly and if they check with us or the SMC then RRT should help them with that - alt cpe has been tested so customer tests have been done - clear rejected so ensure BT are advised accordingly - perhaps contact to SFI desk during business hours as this is a repeat SFI visit - to advise them what they need to look for.

Can anyone help me to understand what RRT, cse, SMC, alt cpe, SFI all mean?
AFAIK  dcn is disconnection
I know it is all tagged as [internal] and not intended as direct communication to me, but I would still like to further my understanding!!

[#2]

Hi Maranello,
RRT - That's a system check on your line that we can do.
SNR - Signal to noise ratio.
CPE - Customer premises equipment, so your modem or router.
SMC - BT Wholesale support desk.
SFI - BT Engineer

[#3]

Thanks James, all makes more sense now. Would appreciate if you could answer a couple of further questions.
1. cse - another term for BT Engineer?
2. Can the RRT monitor SNR remotely, what sampling interval is used, how does it get past the hardware firewall?

[#4]

Slight edit to the above - SFI is the specialist faults investigation team (who do send engineers out). CSE is a customer support engineer.
We do have tests that will tell us the current SNR as recorded by the exchange equipment, but as far as I know there isn't an archive of SNR readings over a given timeframe.

[#5]

Customer Support Engineer? Is that for customers who don't have private medical insurance?

[#6]

Thanks Matt.
From your response to 2 you appear to understand where I might be heading. I'd like to know when the SNR dips to see if this coincides with anything happening internally, but I'd rather not have to keep the PC running Routerstats 24/7 and my router logs don't record SNR either (or if they can I may have the wrong settings). Clearly I can't expect Plusnet CSC to periodically run RTT on my line. If it's worth doing I can grab some stats whenever I happen to be using the PC, which should be more frequent over the next week or so as I am putting together a holiday.

[#7]

It'd only be a help really if we could find some correlation with the SNR drops and something happening in your area - if it shows that it's happening at the same time each day, that's a good start, or if you notice that (for example) it happens when street lighting comes on - that would give us (and BT) a starting point to investigate from. Unfortunately though if it just proves that it's happening at random times then there won't be much that could be done with the information.

[#8]

Thanks Matt.
I just want to eliminate any internal sources of interference. Anything outside I will leave to the BT Engineer. Apart from a few router logs of when disconnections occur I don't realy have enough evidence to show that there is no real pattern and therefore be able to discount things like central heating timers and the like. However, from memory and the limited monitoring I have done the disconnections occur randomly at various times of the day or night. It is believed that these disconnections are occuring when the SNR reaches a threshold that my router can't cope with.

[#9]

Worth giving this a try?

[#10]

Thanks for the link, Bob.
Think I'll head off to the local car boot sale this weekend to see if I can find an AM radio! I do miss Radio Luxembourg.