Lack of support from Plusnet

[#1]

Hi James, Thanks for your input. The first point I would like to make is that since November this problem has arisen 3 times and each time through the forums I have been in contact with you personally and I think you will agree that I've done everything I can to assist in tracing the cause. It must surely be obvious that this is an intermittent fault which needs to be traced and rectified yet BT show no interest in admitting a fault even exists and make false statements about their actions to correct the problem. If the system is built to increase the SNR Margin as noise increases then surely it should also decrease the Margin as noise decreases, this I would have thought was an obvious requirement, but it doesn't, my line has now been stable For ten days and my SNR Margin has not moved, When I'm asked to make a statement that I won't make any future requests to have my Margin lowered I see red, you and I know this will occur again and you ask me to just accept the matter?, I'm sorry I can't do this.
I thank you for requesting a reset and hope it goes through quickly but when it happens again, as I'm sure it will I will again be requesting a reset.
Can't you convince BT there is a problem and get them at least to inspect the wiring from the pole to my flat?, regards, Jack.

[#2]

Jack,
We can certainly request an appointment - but please be aware that BT Engineer charges may apply.
If you're convinced there's a fault - lets get the SNR dropped again first and if it reoccurs, I'll take personal ownership.

[#3]

James, Thank you very much and I'll take you up on your offer to take control next time, Jack.

[#4]

Hi Jack,
well you've had an excellent response from James (which I would have predicted). I'm sure he will do all he possibly can to assist in this.
Well done for running RouterStats.
Meantime, as you've answered all the points about routers, filters, etc. this problem is now clearly narrowed down to 2 possibilities.
1) A problem with the BT line (or possibly at the exchange)
2) Locally generated electrical interference, sometimes called REIN . You may like to read that link, it's quite technical, but well explained.
This is of course the reason I mentioned electrical equipment in my previous post. Such a source of interference needn't be in your flat, it could even be outside the building - usually the most difficult to track down unless it's something obvious like a faulty streetlight. Don't rush to try and eliminate everything in the neighbourhood, just mull it all over a bit, possibilities may come to mind in due course (obviously try and eliminate any potential sources in your flat and immediate locale).
So a quick question or two about when this has happened in the past.
I know you've said your line starts to drop every few minutes from time to time and this lasts for about 48-72 hours, but can you give an indication as to whether there may have been any pattern to this, difficult I know if you weren't monitoring (graphically or otherwise) at the time!
For example, did it start and say carry on for an hour and maybe stop for a few hours before starting again? or
Did it only occur after dark, with any noticeable stop/start pattern? or Was it only during daytime working hours or daylight? etc. Was there any temporary works going on inside or outside the building where any electrical tools or equipment may have been in use?
I'm sure you can get the drift. With all these sort of things in mind, should this start to occur again, apart from monitoring with RouterStats 24/7, you'll be well armed on what possibilities to go looking for.
Don't forget of course to look for anything visible happening to your line when it's occurring eg. violent movement in the wind or even the reverse, confirm it's not happening when your line is moving violently in the wind - all helps to narrow things down.
Anyway, sorry this has been a bit long winded, but I hope it helps, food for thought.
Post back any information that might be useful.
Regards,
Chris.
Edit: Don't forget to listen for any intermittent noise or crackling on your phone line.
(P.S. I'm waiting for someone to ask if it happens when there is snow on the line - sorry my feeble attempt at a pun there  )

[#5]

Hi Chris Thanks again for your interest and I'm sure having support from James will be a big help.
About 12 months ago I was getting a lot of interferance on my TV and involved OFCOM in trying to trace the source they sent an investigator who checked out all local sources like a radio station trasmitter which is about 100m. away and a taxi office about 200m away without success and decided that the cause was an aqurium water heater (he even said it was produced in Spain!) and went calling on everyone asking if they were the source after about 4 visits he left never to be seen again, and the immerssion heater in the adjacent flat went, after this was replaced no more interference, my point in telling this is that it supplied a good test on local trouble spots and all were clear.
The time of day also differs, the last time it started mid afternoon and I know this because I was on the phone when the line got noisy and I checked my router and saw it dropping, the noise is only present on the line when the problem is active, at other times the line is very quiet the previous time it started early morning or maybe during the night as when I started the computer it was dropping the connection. I can't tie it down to any waether conditions and I'm pretty sure it's not caused by anything in the building. Also it doesn't have a regular period between occurances as the last break was only a few days and the time before that it was 3 months.
As you can see it's not easy to reach a conclusion but my bet would be on the cabling from the pole to where it enters my flat but that is only based on the fact that this is where the problem was when I had a problem with my phone line and the engineers had to get a cherrypicker to reach the top of the building, regards, Jack.

[#6]

Stop right there! - we've been wasting our time. You need to report this to whoever you pay for your phone as a voice fault. Next time it happens you need to call in and make sure that you get to speak to an operator (don't rely on any automated system). Get them to confirm that they can hear the noise. You will probably need to get the ADSL faults cleared down as BTw will only accept one fault at a time on a line.

[#7]

Hi Jack,
Yes, I think that last post could well have provided the key. If James gets gets your SNR reduced that should return decent speeds until the interference occurs again and your ticket should be closed off once this is confirmed.
When the interference returns, hopefully you will hear noise on the line and the problem should be handled as a voice fault reported immediately as jelv said. Alongside this your Broadband will likely be screwed but that is a side effect of the real problem, and has to be lived with until the real problem is cured.
Once the voice fault has been solved it is likely that its effect on your broadband (increased target SNR) will need resolving, but Plusnet should be able to get that done based on elimination of the line problem that caused the target to increase.
David

[#8]

This noise on line was there for a very short period of time and was noticed the last time I reported by the CS agent who took the call, he mentioned it but made no comment about reporting a voice faultm my provider is Plusnet. The other problem with this is that if I report a voice fault by the time an engineer calls the noise is no longer there and nothing will be done, the only proof that there was a fault is my increased SRN Margin, the other point is I've been told not to close the Ticket by a CS agent,  regards, Jack.

[#9]

Did the agent record that the line was noisy on the ticket?

[#10]

A confirmed intermittent voice noise fault usually results in an engineer checking/redoing joints and testing and/or swapping cable pairs. The important thing to do is make sure that the adviser can hear it and logs it, and logs as intermittent, and this information to be passed to the OpenReach engineer. It is only a bad engineer that will do nothing just because it is not present when he calls. Is there anyway you can check if it was logged?
Edit: jelv beat me to the question

[#11]

Whether it was logged or not I can't say, I've just checked the ticket and just says that I've reported it has returned and that it's confirmed on radius (whatever that means!) He sounded one of the more competent agents so maybe it was reported, Jack.

[#12]

Just to thank everyone for their imput and let you know my SNR Margin was reset at 08.30 this morning (thanks James) and I'm running at 5.9dB with an IP Profile up to 7616 kpbs and steady as a rock (until the next time!!) regards, Jack.

[#13]

Thanks Jack.
Glad that was sorted fairly quickly.
If it happens again, check your phone.  If there's noise, report it to us straightaway and we'll take things from there.

[#14]

Hi James, Hope you pick this up, my line has started to drop again and there is considerable noise on the phone, I've added a comment to my ticket and added the log from Routerstats, regards, Jack.
My SNR Margin has now risen to 17.5dB!!

[#15]

Hi Jack,
Can you call our Home Phone Faults team as they'll be able to look into your noisy line *now* rather than once the ticket is picked up.
It needs fixing so that the noise margin variations dissapear.