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Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

Mark23
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎14-11-2017

Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

Summary: I have a v. slow & unreliable broadband connection. I believe the problem is either my router, or the line, or even both. But I can't tell and don't know how to find out. I don't have a spare router to test.

Given your experience do you think the router or the line is the most likely problem? If the router I can buy a new one, but would be gutted to spend the best part of £100 only to find it doesn't help.

 

What Happened:

About two weeks ago my phone stopped working. An openreach engineer fixed a loose wire at the exchange and this fixed it. Later that day -- and from then on -- broadband has been v. unreliable (and v. slow). I also have lots of line noise on the phone (which I've never had before); and this is usually worse when the router is on, but even if I switch off the router there's still some line noise.

An openreach engineer disconnected my extension and installed a brand new master socket. I bought a brand new microfilter. I tested two different phones to make sure that my phone wasn't a problem, and I tried with and without the microfilter, both the test socket and the normal socket.

My router's software claims it is running fine (TP-Link Archer A9, 25 months old). But it can't sustain a connection especially if I use the phone.

I've asked plus.net to advise me whether the problem is the line or my router (or both). The openreach engineer didn't have a microfilter (so couldn't check if my old ones were bad), nor a router (so couldn't check if my router was faulty). You'd think they'd have these as items of equipment for just such tests.

10 REPLIES 10
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

Hi Mark,

A warm welcome to the forums.  You have all but answered the question yourself...

I also have lots of line noise on the phone (which I've never had before); and this is usually worse when the router is on, but even if I switch off the router there's still some line noise.

Broadband is not going to work well if the "phone" line is not working properly.

Please perform a quiet line test - dial 17070 select option 2 using a corded phone plugged into the test socket behind the face plate of the master socket. It should be silent. A noisy phone line (or no dial tone) will have a marked adverse impact on the performance of broadband.

If the line is noisy or there is no dial tone, then a PHONE LINE fault needs to be raised with your phone provider. If this is PlusNet, you can report a fault on line using the button below.


Rather sounds like whatever the engineer did was not a full rectification of the previous fault.  Sadly there is a tendency to look for only one cause and not ensure that the line if fully functional. 

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

azc
Rising Star
Posts: 71
Thanks: 18
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎16-10-2015

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

If your phone line is still noisy surely you should report that as a fault

Mark23
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎14-11-2017

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

I did the quiet line test exactly as you specified.

I had a dial tone, with a tiny bit of crackle. I then dialed the number and chose option 2. There was no noise during the recorded message and complete silence after option 2.

I remember that the openreach engineer did several quiet line tests and said that it was fine.

Do you think this means that my router is the problem?

Thanks.

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

Difficult!!

Noise is not persistently present, it might be intermittent.  Keep an ear out for noise when using the phone, particularly when picking it up.  Do QLT test periodically.  The use of a phone (dialling / receiving calls) can rectify bad joints ... for a little while.

At this juncture, I would not be suspecting the router.

You could try installing routerstats (lite?) and see if you can make it work with the TP A9.

Have you changed the filter?  That can be the cause of internet drop when using the phone.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Mark23
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎14-11-2017

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

I bought a brand new filter from PCWorld which wasn't cheap so should be decent quality.

So, if the router is unlikely to be the problem I guess I need to report it as a phone fault?

(I'll try the routerstats if I am able to.)

Thanks.

Mark23
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎14-11-2017

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

Oh, I can't use routerstats since I'm using Linux. There don't seem to be any that work with the T-Link Archer D9.

Browni
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 2,673
Thanks: 1,054
Fixes: 60
Registered: ‎02-03-2016

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

You can find a Linux version of DSLStats here.

I use a Docker version of that on my QNAP NAS so I get 24/7 monitoring.

Kitz has a dedicated forum to router monitoring software here.

Mark23
Newbie
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎14-11-2017

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

Thanks, I tried dslstats but it said wrong username or password even though I copy pasted the ones I use to log in to the router from my password safe (so no typos). Maybe because it doesn't support TP-Link Archer D9 -- it only had one TP-Link in the list so I just tried that.

Browni
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 2,673
Thanks: 1,054
Fixes: 60
Registered: ‎02-03-2016

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net

Might be worth while asking in Kitz forum?
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Router or line? Two weeks of unreliable broadband and now silence from plus.net


@Mark23 wrote:

Oh, I can't use routerstats since I'm using Linux.


 

I've been running both the full and lite versions of RouterStats on Linux (Ubuntu) for years without any problems.

Just install WINE first, and then it just launches and works as expected.

 

Whether it compatible with your router is another matter, that I can't help you with