Regular internet disconnects, suspected voice fault as cause

[#1]

Note that the account to which this applies is not the same one as I previously posted a concern about, but I'm unclear how to advise you which account this applies to without posting that information publicly?

Hi, since Saturday early evening we have experienced multiple disconnects of our FTTC fibre broadband service.  At its first peak (on Sunday) the service was disconnecting every five minutes or so, although speeds generally remained quite high.  It then seemed to stabilise overnight Sun/Mon but has then started disconnecting again this morning - around five times between 8 and 9.30am; it then remained connected for just over an hour before disconnecting again around 10.40am and many more times since.  Prior to this weekend we had a very stable connection, also with good speeds, consistently around 71Mbps Down / 20Mbps Up.  Could you please post an image of the connection history for the past week or so? - I believe this should help visualise the fault.  The gaps of no connection for 10-15mins on Sunday will have been when I moved the router to the test socket and back (to keep things tidy I have now reassembled the master socket and things are set up 'as normal', but the issue persisted in the test socket so internal wiring has been discounted).

On Sunday I noted that, intermittently, there was quite a lot of noise of the phone line (heard either under the dial tone or via 17070 quiet line test, which I understand is a free of charge service).  When heard this noise resembled crackling, popping and what I would describe as occasional 'electrical noise', although after such moments there were then many minutes of no such noises.  It has been quite windy and wet the past couple of days and in my mind I aligned connection drops as following windy moments, but this is not scientific and could be unrelated.  I have continued to hear some noise on the line this morning (no crackling yet, but some popping), although it appears much less frequent than yesterday - irrespective the router disconnections persist.  I would add that over recent months I've heard some 'clicking' during phone calls, but they didn't appear to impact our broadband connection - perhaps this was an early warning of this fault?

On Sunday I moved the router to the test socket using an old microfilter and the problem continued, including hearing some intermittent noise on a phone plugged into the same filter.  I was unable to complete raising a fault online so called instead.  The agent ran a voice line test which returned no apparent fault (you may like to run another one?), however based on my feedback he proceeded to raise a voice fault with Openreach.  Perhaps no fault showed because it has to be tested at the very same moment as the noise is present/internet disconnects?

An engineer appointment was made for Weds am.  I hope that the noise remains by Weds or that the engineer is otherwise able to confirm a fault by local testing.  I am concerned about being charged £65 for an engineer visit if they cannot find the fault, especially given there are several days before the visit.  Hopefully you agree that the circumstances confirm that there is indeed some sort of fault - the connection history alone is good evidence, especially noting prior history of a very stable line with no internal changes in between.  Is what I have described consistent with an underlying voice fault or could perhaps the router be faulty instead (my first instinct when this started was to reset that - both with the button on the top and the recessed button on the rear - but it didn't help)?

I have also noticed this morning that voice quality through Microsoft Teams has been impacted, usually just before the internet service disconnects so is no doubt related.

Like many, I currently rely on a stable connection for working at home so hope that this can all be fixed on Weds and welcome your observations.  If you think the router might be at fault (possibly as well as an intermittent voice fault?) is it worth sending a spare router 'just in case'?  If the router is to blame please also confirm that the £65 charge won't apply.

Thanks,
David

[#2]

To add to my message above and for the benefit of others, the fault is no longer apparent today (no noise on phone line and broadband connection has been stable for about 15 hours at a good speed).  It is also notable that there are no high winds today, unlike Sunday and Monday when there were very regular broadband disconnections and occasional noise on the line.

As a result I am fairly confident that the fault was being caused by high winds and a tree flexing the drop wire in close proximity to the pole.  I have called Plusnet and we both agreed it was best to cancel the appointment with Openreach and close the fault as the weather forecast is similar tomorrow and there appeared a reasonable chance that the engineer would find no current fault on their investigation.  Alternatively, I could be completely wrong and something else has been fixed, but I have no way of knowing.

We will find out if the tree can be trimmed and monitor the line/broadband stability over the coming weeks and months.  It could always be raised by us as a new fault at a later date if necessary, but I'm certain this is the best course of action today and I'm very grateful to Plusnet for confirming that, given the circumstances, we will not be charged for the cancellation.

[#3]

To add to my message above and for the benefit of others, the fault is no longer apparent today (no noise on phone line and broadband connection has been stable for about 15 hours at a good speed).  It is also notable that there are no high winds today, unlike Sunday and Monday when there were very regular broadband disconnections and occasional noise on the line.

As a result I am fairly confident that the fault was being caused by high winds and a tree flexing the drop wire in close proximity to the pole.  I have called Plusnet and we both agreed it was best to cancel the appointment with Openreach and close the fault as the weather forecast is similar tomorrow and there appeared a reasonable chance that the engineer would find no current fault on their investigation.  Alternatively, I could be completely wrong and something else has been fixed, but I have no way of knowing.

We will find out if the tree can be trimmed and monitor the line/broadband stability over the coming weeks and months.  It could always be raised by us as a new fault at a later date if necessary, but I'm certain this is the best course of action today and I'm very grateful to Plusnet for confirming that, given the circumstances, we will not be charged for the cancellation.

[#4]

Hi there @DSA, I am sorry to hear about this and I hope the engineer visit tomorrow fixes this issue for you. You mention the noise on the line, so we would always need to look at the phone issue before we investigate the broadband issue as they are usually related.

Have you tried plugging the headset directly into the test socket without the filter? If you've done that and the noise still shows then you will not get an engineer charge for internal wiring and it is a line issue. If you have no joy with your services after one engineer visit, we wouldn't allow you to leave without early termination fees as you've not given us the opportunity to resolve the fault (I am just going on the comments on this thread) If after the engineer appointment tomorrow you're still having issues, you can chase this with our Faults Team (you'll have an open question on your account) or just reply here so we can review it for you

[#5]

Hi Noor,

I did try to post an update earlier this afternoon, but after trying to edit it to add some further clarification the post disappeared from the thread pending approval. Could you please reinstate it as it provides important further comments. The engineer has been cancelled for tomorrow.

As it happens we have, a few minutes ago, just had another disconnect, but hopefully it is a one off.

We currently have no intention to leave Plusnet but will need to monitor the situation and raise a fault again if necessary.

Thanks,
David

[#6]

I've located the text from my earlier message which disappeared as a result of trying to edit after posting; I wasn't sure if it was awaiting moderator approval after all; I think it had actually been automatically rejected for some reason.  Hopefully it will work this time, given that my response to Noor did post OK.  Chronologically it should appear as the second post in this thread.

To add to my message above and for the benefit of others, the fault is no longer apparent today (no noise on phone line and broadband connection has been stable for about 15 hours at a good speed).  It is also notable that there are no high winds today, unlike Sunday and Monday when there were very regular broadband disconnections and occasional noise on the line.

As a result I am fairly confident that the fault was being caused by high winds and a tree flexing the drop wire in close proximity to the pole.  I have called Plusnet and we both agreed it was best to cancel the appointment with Openreach and close the fault as the weather forecast is similar tomorrow and there appeared a reasonable chance that the engineer would find no current fault on their investigation.  Alternatively, I could be completely wrong and something else has been fixed, but I have no way of knowing.

We will find out if the tree can be trimmed and monitor the line/broadband stability over the coming weeks and months.  It could always be raised by us as a new fault at a later date if necessary, but I'm certain this is the best course of action today and I'm very grateful to Plusnet for confirming that, given the circumstances, we will not be charged for the cancellation.

[#7]

No worries @DSA, it sounds like the most common sense option.

Let us know if you need anything further.

Thanks – LF