Line fault - advice before I report to Plusnet/BT

[#1]

*Aimed at Plusnet Support for advice*

I have a problem with my FTTC service. When someone uses the landline phone, it knocks out the broadband and it re-syncs at poor speed. When the phone call ends, I have to restart the router to get back to normal sync speeds.

The line is also noisy when using the phone, a hissing with occasional static crackles. I have done a quiet line test (dial 17070) and the hissing remains.

Being a technical engineer, I have done the usual diagnoses. No improvement when using just the master socket's test socket and the Router plugged into it. The hissing disappears completely when the VDSL modem is turned off, and this happens with two modems - both different manufacturers. I can see from the PSD stats on the modem that during a call, the signal db strength drops by over 70%.

Reading forums and various technical sites, I am confident that my line is suffering from a HR (High Resistance) fault. Both the symptoms above happening together are consistent with this type of fault. HR fault basically means a fautly connection somewhere from the cabinet to the socket.

So...

From reading other peoples experiences, I have heard of some issues with BT and BT Openreach with regards to a HR fault - mainly around:

• The 'standard' BT engineer is not usually equipped by BT with the necessary diagnostic kit to detect HR faults and their standard kit will read the line as fault free. A 'specialised' engineer is required to successfully diagnose HR faults.
• Many instances of customers being pushed between BT and Openreach engineer departments because the Phone Engineers say its a broadband fault, and the Broadband Engineers say its a voice fault, because neither are equipped to test for HR faults.
• Cases of customers having multiple visits by engineers who (due to lack of the necessary diagnostic kit) cannot find the problem - they re-seat the cables in the master socket and tell the customer to re-report it if it happens again. Granted, this is in cases where the fault is completely unknown.

So what I am asking advice on is what is the best way for me to report this problem and have it dealt with from the start as a suspected HR fault, rather than a BT engineer being assigned who wont have the kit to test for it?  Like most people, I will have to take time off work to be there for an engineer visit and hate the thought of a needless visit if the right type of engineer could be sent in the first place. As a service support engineer myself, I want to save BT the time as well as my own.

[#2]

When we test for a fibre fault, if the result is a HR fault it will report it through as such.

However... testing your line right now is showing:

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	LN
Sync Status	In Sync
Downstream Speed	37.7 Mbps
Upstream Speed	13.9 Mbps

Problem Explanation: [OD502] OR test has failed and Appointment Not Required.

Can you report this at https://faults.plus.net and let me know when you have so I can get this pushed through to Openreach?

[#3]

Thanks Chris.

I have done that, but it hasnt given me a job number yet.

Steve

[#4]

Thanks, I've passed that on to Openreach. At the moment it's suggesting the issue is external, but as your testing suggests it may wind up needing an engineer to visit. We'll keep an eye on the fault report and let you know updates.

[#5]

Thanks Chris.

As ever, the Plusnet service is quick and efficient. 

[#6]

Hi Chris (also updated Support call on Member centre).

Came home from work to find a note on the door that BT called while I was out. (see attached). The note states that the broadband speed was right for my area - interesting as speed was not the fault reported - and of course it would be fine as the fault with internet only happens when the phone is in use.

I have checked, and the line is still noisy and the internet still drops out when the phone is in use.
I guess we need to schedule a visit from BT then.

Many thanks
Steve

[#7]

Its all gone quiet since Friday evening, is there any news on this?

[#8]

Sorry for the delay in our response. I can see that we've picked up your fault ticket yesterday and an engineer is booked for tomorrow morning. I hope that it goes well.

[#9]

Fault now sorted. Turned out the problem was with my port in the cabinet and not the indicitave HR line fault. Slightly worrying as that's the second time in two years I have had to be swapped ports due to faults in the cabinet.

Nice prompt, courteous and professional service from the Open Reach engineer. The only frustration was the lengthy 4 hour wait for the system at the exchange to perform the 'lift and shift', that's a lot of thumb twiddling for the engineer.

[#10]

Glad to hear that's sorted now. Thanks for letting us know.