At my wits end, no idea what to do next...

Nocky24 · 18 Dec 2009 at 17:56

Since october i've been getting cut outs on and off and intermittent noise on the line. Sometimes it can be stable for like 6 days and then be completely unstable for an entire night afterwards. I've called o2 (isp) and anything like this they almost always refer you to BT.

Anyways after 3 Openreach callouts over the past 2 and a half months its still happening and tonight i've been getting a lot of noise again. If i call o2 they'll just refer me to BT, if i call BT im going to be very open to a charge if they turn up again for a fourth time and theres no noise (again) as its very intermittent. So that leaves me with useless net + a useless line. Any ideas what i can do? :confused:

My only option i can think of is wait for my contract to expire in march and change to Virgin. That way i'd have everything under the same company and have none of this passing the buck all the time.

Redgie · 18 Dec 2009 at 18:58

The intermittency makes it a lot more difficult I know, I'm in your exact situatin but it seems to have stopped now. Are you using the supplied 02 router? And if so how long ago did you receive it?

Also, have you tried running the net off a master socket test port? My reccomendation is to note down the important stats such as line noise, wait till the net has been off for a few minutes, and then plug straight into the master socket test port, if it still doesn't work, it'l likely to be the cabling between the master socket and the outside world, or the router!

Nocky24 · 18 Dec 2009 at 22:00

Redgie said:
The intermittency makes it a lot more difficult I know, I'm in your exact situatin but it seems to have stopped now. Are you using the supplied 02 router? And if so how long ago did you receive it?

Also, have you tried running the net off a master socket test port? My reccomendation is to note down the important stats such as line noise, wait till the net has been off for a few minutes, and then plug straight into the master socket test port, if it still doesn't work, it'l likely to be the cabling between the master socket and the outside world, or the router!

Yeh i do all those test socket checks when it happens and all i get is an open reach engineering changing a fuse at the box which doesn't work. I'm convinced its the cabling from my master to outside (i did mention this to the last two engineers), but if it isn't i'm pretty sure i'll get charged as it'll be the fourth time if i call them out again. I've also had o2 send me out 3 different routers and all do the same so no luck there :/

Redgie · 18 Dec 2009 at 22:04

Well mate if you've ruled out internal wiring (By using the test port on the master socket) and tried 3 routers, it is presumably from the socket to the outside world. HOWEVER, you might want to try disconnecting ALL the other sockets from the master, this means you are only wiring the master socket up and cuts out the possibility of interference, would also reccomend completely recabling the master socket, even if it's just taking the cables out, snipping the ends a bit, and putting them back in.

If after all this it still happens, you need to speak to BT and tell them this, and get verbal confirmation that what you think the problem is, is! That way when they come out and say it's something else you can refuse to pay when they spend 3 hours drinking tea and having their arse on show.

tolien · 18 Dec 2009 at 22:15

They're not sending them out to appease you so evidently something somewhere thinks there's a fault. O2 will be sending you to BT because you're mentioning a voice fault - they typically get fixed faster than ADSL faults and BT are presumably the company providing your voice service (certainly O2 are not).

It's not a case of passing the buck - if there's a voice fault, it's got nothing to do with O2. If whatever's broken is also affecting your ADSL, there's a far higher chance of you getting BT Retail to fix it via a voice fault than O2 beating BT Wholesale over the head.

Redgie · 18 Dec 2009 at 22:38

toilen makes an interesting point, other than changing a fuse, have any of the technicians told you what they have been doing during the visit?

Nocky24 · 19 Dec 2009 at 10:59

Redgie said:
toilen makes an interesting point, other than changing a fuse, have any of the technicians told you what they have been doing during the visit?

Changed stuff over at the exchange and changed fuses at the box outside. I have mentioned wiring as i've said twice to the last two engineers. One engineer said he'd come back after he went to change some stuff at the box to check my wiring, but never did! If they're not competent to do these checks properly (especially when he told me would check my wiring, but buggered off) then whats the point? Does it really take me having to call out 4 engineers now to get this sorted.

Rabtech · 19 Dec 2009 at 11:13

This does seem like a voice issue to me causing problems with your broadband (as to be expected with noisy lines).

Report the voice fault to BT as a noise fault and mention its intermittent - DO NOT MENTION BROADBAND!

Does it happen more after its been raining (or the day after) etc?

Nocky24 · 19 Dec 2009 at 11:44

Rabtech said:
This does seem like a voice issue to me causing problems with your broadband (as to be expected with noisy lines).

Report the voice fault to BT as a noise fault and mention its intermittent - DO NOT MENTION BROADBAND!

Does it happen more after its been raining (or the day after) etc?

Yep i've done all that, i usually wait untill its noisy and then call bt so they can hear it. I've been checking for patterns when it happens and its entirely random. It can be literally hammering it down outside and i can have a perfect line and then for no reason in good conditions i get noise.