BT Modem Reliability

[#1]

My modem appars to have failed now after about 6 weeks. I've raised Question #42809480 by phone as cannot get on line.
If I reset the modem and it is still warm it will not connect and the DSL light just flashes or remains off. If I leave it off for about half an hour then switch it back on I get about two minutes of connection, then it dies.
The modem runs 'warm' but not particularly hot and is on a shelf with the router.
Seems to be a crap cheap bit of kit! About time someone bought out an alternative...
Looking forward to getting back up and running soon as using an iPhone is not fun!
George

[#2]

Draytek 2750 has VDSL modem built-in and works directly on FTTC also AVM Fritz!box WLAN 7390
Not sure what BT's policy is on this though...
An iPhone not fun...that's new 

[#3]

Earlier today I tried out an experiment on the BT modem: what happens if you pack it in around freezer blocks? Answer: I get about 40 mins of connection to the Internet!! Therefore it must be the modem that is at fault and not the line or anything else.
If only the fridge freezer was near to the modem then I could try shutting it in there to see how long the connection would stay up for!!
BT: this is a very poor piece of kit.
@knowdice- I'm not an apple fan and never will be. Fortunately I dont pay for the iPhone, my employer does!!
George

[#4]

You'd probably get the same if not more benefit from pointing a desk fan at it (not sure I'd want to be sat with one whirring away all day though!).

[#5]

Sounds like you need to get this one swapped out...

[#6]

Openreach came round, swapped the modem and I'm now back on line. He says this is not the first locally! He has been trained only recently for the launch of FTTC here in Ashford, Kent and since the FTTC launch two months ago he has changed quite a few!
Time to get modems re-spec'd and issue good ones!

[#7]

I've been interested in the comments below as Monday 23rd approx 18:30hrs my internet connection via FTTP went down. The connection from PC to Router (ZyXEL)  which is wireless is fine, router to BT / Huawei terminal is fine except data is not being sent or received. A call into plusnet confirmed no faults in my area (MIlton Keynes) so set about resetting the equipment - still no connection!
I've gone back to ADSL to regain connection (from 20-40mb to 0.5mb!!!), I wonder if the BT terminal is the problem? LED status on it is fine, appears to have solid connection, but nothing being received. I await a response from the techs at Plusnet.

[#8]

Just had the BT engineer in to replace my modem, he said there was a problem with them and that they were looking at a replacment for them.

[#9]

so if bt decide there's an issue, will we get an auto replacement or will we have to wait till it all goes horribly wrong...
of course i know what the lkiely answer will be 😞

[#10]

FWIW, my Huawei modem went pop after a simple power-cycle. 
The Openreach engineer completed my FTTC upgrade on the 20th of May. I wall-mounted the modem on the same day. On the morning of the 25th, I power-cycled the modem...and lost sync. I know, I know...what was I thinking?! Everyone knows that you can't expect Huawei fibre modems to withstand such an invasive stress-test.
Anyhoo, I raised a fault with Plus and had to make do with a laptop tethered to my Android phone for 'net access (cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth.) Openreach pitched up again on the morning of the 28th. The engineer watched his handheld sync straight away, rolled his eyes and wandered back to the van for another modem. After swapping the old Huawei door-stop, *cough*, sorry, high-quality modem with a new one, he said that over 90% of his FTTC faults are due to modem failure. He went on to say that BT's management are aware of the problem because one of them spent a day out and about with him and was surprised with the frequency of their failure.
Let's hope they kick Huawei's finest into the tall grass as soon as possible.

[#11]

I know we're not supposed to connect a different modem in place of the Huawei, but I have to say that I'm *very* tempted to have something around to swap-in if need be, just for the sake of a fast fail-over.
The galling thing then would be that I would have a much better piece of kit, which is capable of telling me the useful line stats, sitting idle.I'm not sure I'd leave it idle for long 

[#12]

I'm with you WWWombat, I don't want to be waiting days when the BT modem fails.  I think I'll try the "is ADSL still live on this line" check when/if the modem dies.
Strangely I think I'm the only person who uses these forums that just wants a Modem for FTTC rather than a combined modem and router.  Simple reason is I've a very capable firewall sitting behind it, and the moment I have to put a router between them, I negate the benefit of the firewall a chunk (And make my networking a tad more complex, double NAT anyone?)

[#13]

Doesn't your firewall do routing as well?

[#14]

I'm not convinced at the prospect of my FTTC modem being faulty but I thought I'd ask anyway.
I'm on the fifth day of my installation and I've only had service for one day and that was the following day; at the moment I'm stuck with a modem that's sync'd but no ethernet frames are being exchanged, no PPPoE negotiation takes place.
Still waiting to hear back from the faults team, currently sharing 3's HSDPA which is working wonderfully - if only the same could be said for FTTC.

[#15]

Here is a question for all those that have had faulty modems replaced:
Prior to my modem going down I had an IP Profile of over 38 meg down and over 8 up :D! This status quo remained until my BT modem decided to hoist up the flag and stop working :'(. This was replaced on May 24th, and ever since then I have an IP profile of 19359kbps down and am getting just over 2meg up. PN quote "It can take a period of solid connectivity to return your connection speeds to normal. We would recommend you maintain connection for a further 48hrs before powering off your Openreach modem and Netgear router and straight back on again. This should cause your speed to improve however please reply to this message if not and we will investigate further".  I have reset the modem and router, as requested, and to date no improvement...... 
What have others experienced with their speeds when their modems have been replaced?
Just in case anyone from PN is looking into this the open question number is #42809480
Regards,
George