Intermittent disconnects

[#1]

Hi all

Since our connection was sorted and we moved over to the Hub One, we have been experiencing frequent disconnects. At seemingly random points, the light on the router will turn green then flick to orange and the Broadband LED with flash or stay solid red for a few minutes. After a few more minutes, the router will try to reconnect and eventually connects again.

I don't have anything that interferes with the signal, and the disconnects appear to happen at very random times. For example, it disconnected twice this morning sometime between 8am to 10am, was fairly stable during the day, then disconnected two or three times again tonight in the last couple of hours.

This is a new router (it's the one sent to me last week) and the cables that I'm using are all brand new and I've tried switching them too. The phone line is fine, and no noise that I've noticed. At a bit of a loss!

[#2]

Hi Pnda183,

I'm having the same problem. Since last week, the router has dropped all wifi connections intermittently. Some times it reboots by itself and other times I have to manually reboot it.

There does not seem to be any particular time (only when I am using the internet working from home!).

The router has been operating fine for over a year, but now it will have to go.

[#3]

@Pnda183 @rocky66

You may have different problems with different causes. If yours is a wifi problem, one thing it may be worth trying is to give each of the wifi signals from the Hub a different ID. There have been reports that some kit can have a problem with the Hub 1 broadcasting on 2 frequencies.  How to do that at https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Devices-stop-working-on-5-GHz-connection-Wifi-drops/m-p/1395....

[#4]

Makes sense, and sounds like it's a fairly solid solution for WiFi issues. Thank for the suggestion!

I've just experienced another random disconnection. To clarify, it's not just WiFi. Every device (whether it's wired or wireless) remains connected to the router, but the router seems to disconnect from the broadband.

[#5]

If it is not just the wifi (may be worth splitting the signals anyhow),  then I would run through the checks and report a fault: see what PlusNet make of it.

To report a fault, run though the checks at https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/connection-troubleshooting/ and report a fault at https://www.plus.net/apps/kbdfaults It takes a bit of your time but costs you nothing, and makes Plusnet aware of your issue. They have to look at it, and the report gets the issue into the queue for action.

There have been problems with the BT speed test (I'm not sure whether they are resolved) but try it with Internet Explorer. If there are still problems, report speeds from an alternative speed test such as at speedtest.net.

Please let us know how you get on.

[#6]

Hi @Pnda183,

Thanks for your posts.

Having run diagnostics, we aren't detecting any sort of issue with the line, however, your connection logs tell a different story:

Based on the above, I'd definitely recommend raising a fault here.

@rocky66, again I'm getting an interesting picture when checking your connection logs:

However - in your case I'm seeing the below:

Circuit ID	<REDACTED FOR SECURITY>	Service ID	<REDACTED FOR SECURITY>

Test Outcome	Fail
Test Outcome Code	GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_1625
Description	Impairment in copper joint detected most likely in local network. Please continue to submit a trouble report
Main Fault Location	CE
Sync Status	In Sync
Downstream Speed	40.0 Mbps
Upstream Speed	10.0 Mbps
Appointment Required	N
Fault Report Advised	Y
NTE Power Status	PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result	Pass
Bridge Tap	Detected
Radio Frequency Ingress	Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise	Not Detected
Cross Talk	Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	327.0
Upstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Downstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Home Wiring Problem	Not Detected
Downstream Policing Discard Rate	0.0
Customer Traffic Level	Upstream and Downstream Traffic Detected
Technology	VDSL
Profile Name	0.128M-40M Downstream, Retransmission Low - 0.128M-10M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2018-10-29T19:00:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	39.9 Mbps	39.9 Mbps	39.9 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	9.9 Mbps	9.9 Mbps	9.9 Mbps
Up Time	745.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	898.6 Sec
Retrains	0.0	4.0	0.0

Current and Last 15 Minute Bin Performance
Parameters	Last Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)	Current Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)
Start Time Stamp	2018-11-11T18:33:57Z	2018-11-11T18:48:57Z
Ingress Code Violation	0	0
Egress Code Violation	0	0
Errored Seconds	0	0
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

I've added these results to your file and have raised the case to Openreach for their investigation. We expect an update in the next 3 working days and will update you accordingly when we have further information available.

If you need any further assistance in the meantime, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

[#7]

Hi OskarPapa,
Thank you for the diagnostics. It’s interesting to note the timing of the interruptions — they’re all between 10am and 5:30pm. (pnda183 had interruptions at all hours.
I’ll await further info from OpenReach.

[#8]

Thanks all for your help, and thanks @OskarPapa for the shot of my connection logs.

I am back in the UK now, and have reported the fault. 

[#9]

Thanks for reporting the fault. I've just raised it with our supplier and have added an update to the account for you: https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=184594627 

[#10]

Responded. Thanks!

[#11]

Thanks for responding.

We'll get this picked up for you shortly and the open fault updated.

[#12]

Hi @MatthewWheeler

I've just updated the ticket, but basically the engineer said that he could not find any issues with the line or any of the cables - as far as he was concerned there should be no issues. He also mentioned that any issues might be the router, but given that it's brand new and I haven't made any significant changes to the settings, I don't know what else I can try to fix the intermittent disconnects. They still happen fairly frequently, although I'm generally not at home if they happen throughout the day, so I don't know exactly how often it happens.

Any help would be very gratefully received!

[#13]

Hi @Pnda183,

I'm sorry to see the issue is still occurring.
 

As the router was only sent in October, I agree that the router is not the cause of the fault. After retesting the line, your connection still shows multiple drops throughout the day with no external fault detected. I'm afraid we need to arrange a second engineer visit.

Please reply to the ticket with your availability, once you have replied let us know on here so we can pick it up as soon as possible for you. 

Thank you.

[#14]

Hi @Jubby

I will update the ticket with availability shortly. Could you explain what the BT engineer would be testing this time? I just want to avoid a situation where the sexond engineer performs the same or similar tests as the first engineer. Appreciate that it has been difficult to find out what this issue is and I haven't been available to be at home, but it's incredibly frustrating to have to deal with multiple disconnects, sometimes happening within an hour of each other.

Thanks!

[#15]

Hi there, 

A second engineer visit for a dropping connection issue would involve them running a full check of the copper line from your premises to the cabinet then the fibre connection to the exchange. This is just part of a set of "quality gates" that we'll be instructing the engineer to carry out.