"Bad copper"

aphex · 23 Aug 2006 at 19:49

My ISP Be has told me that I am getting regular loss of signal due to "bad copper". How do I get my line fixed? They just told me to "check my internal wiring"....well there isn't any wiring since the router is plugged into the test socket...

Atm I'm only syncing at around 2.2mb on ADSL2+ and snr of 10db but in the past 3 days or so I've had over 30 signal losses.

Also tried to call BT and they told me they don't sort out broadband problems even if it is to do with the phone line...

Anyone got any ideas?

bigredshark · 23 Aug 2006 at 20:06

you could be stuffed, BT will only do anything to the line if it's of insufficiant quality for voice calls. there's no guarentee you can get broadband.

you may just have to live with it

common tricks include: call BT and tell them there is noise on the line when making call, say it's intermittant, they may well send an engineer, i got the drop cable from the distribution point replaced and a new NTE5 fitted for free this way, nearly doubled line speed.

Order ISDN, then cancel it, they may well have to upgrade your line to provide it, when it's switched back to analogue it should be better quality. note, this is very expensive.

VeNT · 23 Aug 2006 at 20:29

he's GOT adsl, he's just moaning its not fast/good enough.

Teal · 23 Aug 2006 at 23:48

bigredshark said:
common tricks include: call BT and tell them there is noise on the line when making call, say it's intermittant, they may well send an engineer, i got the drop cable from the distribution point replaced and a new NTE5 fitted for free this way, nearly doubled line speed.

Order ISDN, then cancel it, they may well have to upgrade your line to provide it, when it's switched back to analogue it should be better quality. note, this is very expensive.

With trick one do be aware that BT are very aware of this sort of tactic and are quite likely to hit you with a charge for the Engineers time if he reports no problems from the voice perspective.

Trick 2 used to be a way to get rid of DACS on a line so you can get ADSL in the first place, but the planning limits on the cost to remove DACS have been increased I believe so that shouldn't be much of a problem for most either.

bigredshark · 24 Aug 2006 at 00:18

VeNT said:
he's GOT adsl, he's just moaning its not fast/good enough.

and???

aphex · 24 Aug 2006 at 00:23

Sounds like both ways could end up being pretty costly and a load of hassle :/

The thing is that things were fine in the 1st month, synced at 6.5mb but after that either BT or Be buggered something up and I get like 2-3 drop outs a day normally now. Be keeps saying they got BT to check out my line already but tbh seems like bs...

bigredshark · 24 Aug 2006 at 00:24

Teal said:
With trick one do be aware that BT are very aware of this sort of tactic and are quite likely to hit you with a charge for the Engineers time if he reports no problems from the voice perspective.

Trick 2 used to be a way to get rid of DACS on a line so you can get ADSL in the first place, but the planning limits on the cost to remove DACS have been increased I believe so that shouldn't be much of a problem for most either.

yes, be careful BT will try and charge you if they can't find a fault, I tend to say the fault is intermitent to excuse the lack of any actual noise on the line. It helps if you know your stuff and what BT are looking for and testing, it also helps if you get a good engineer. But yeah, be a little careful they don't charge you

how far are you from the exchange? to be honest, the chances of getting a substancial improvement unless there is an actual fault on the line are reasonably small and it'll involve a lot of effort. you're probably best off just working with what you have, 2mb is plenty fast for most situation at home tbh.

you could try a different router, i'v heard rumours the speedtouch boxes are very good on long/noisy lines (not actually the boxes but the specific chipset but i don't remember it right now) might be worth a try, however if you're with BE, then chances are you have a speedtouch 780 or similar already, so no luck!

bigredshark · 24 Aug 2006 at 00:27

aphex said:
Sounds like both ways could end up being pretty costly and a load of hassle :/

The thing is that things were fine in the 1st month, synced at 6.5mb but after that either BT or Be buggered something up and I get like 2-3 drop outs a day normally now. Be keeps saying they got BT to check out my line already but tbh seems like bs...

Well, tbh i don't think they could get BT to check out your line, knowing how retentive BT can be about stuff like that.

If it's drop outs then keep on at BE, i'm not convinced as to the quality of their kit at both ends, i know a few people on BE and most drop out a couple of times a day at the moment. There are a few things not quite right with their network in my opinion

aphex · 24 Aug 2006 at 11:21

bigredshark said:
how far are you from the exchange? to be honest, the chances of getting a substancial improvement unless there is an actual fault on the line are reasonably small and it'll involve a lot of effort. you're probably best off just working with what you have, 2mb is plenty fast for most situation at home tbh.

you could try a different router, i'v heard rumours the speedtouch boxes are very good on long/noisy lines (not actually the boxes but the specific chipset but i don't remember it right now) might be worth a try, however if you're with BE, then chances are you have a speedtouch 780 or similar already, so no luck!

Samknows says 2.42km straight line distance so my line is fairly long. I'm fine with having 2mb its just constant drop-outs that annoy me...esp when I'm playing games it drops out when I'm about to headshot someone

Yeah no luck regarding the router...think my best bet is to find a more reliable ISP

. Can't migrate either which is annoying. Anyway thanks guys

bigredshark · 24 Aug 2006 at 17:50

aphex said:
Samknows says 2.42km straight line distance so my line is fairly long. I'm fine with having 2mb its just constant drop-outs that annoy me...esp when I'm playing games it drops out when I'm about to headshot someone

Yeah no luck regarding the router...think my best bet is to find a more reliable ISP . Can't migrate either which is annoying. Anyway thanks guys

I dunno, i have two broadband lines at home, 1 is a work connection that is addressed in our management subnet and i can work from home on, the other is BE for my flatmates to share. Line length is 2.67km (actual line length rather than straight line that is and it syncs anywhere between 5.9 and 8.5Mbps. Which is a lot better than it was since BT replaced cable and NTE5. BE aren't awful, i'm just suspicious of their reliability. It's certainy a lot worse than my work connection (though thats on a completely new line)

V F · 24 Aug 2006 at 18:49

I had this very same problem about a year ago. BT checked the line couldn't find a problem, lots of testing here and there till they eventually sent out an engineer. He couldn't find the problem so done more testing disconnecting every device thats plugged into the line.

After several hours of testing we traced it down to two faults. One was the Sky digi box that developed a fault with its phone thingy majig and was creating havoc on the line, second a few filters went bad. So he replaced the filters with one big main filter box that supplies the house, and after a few Sky digi box replacements the problems were gone.

bigredshark · 24 Aug 2006 at 19:23

V F said:
I had this very same problem about a year ago. BT checked the line couldn't find a problem, lots of testing here and there till they eventually sent out an engineer. He couldn't find the problem so done more testing disconnecting every device thats plugged into the line.

After several hours of testing we traced it down to two faults. One was the Sky digi box that developed a fault with its phone thingy majig and was creating havoc on the line, second a few filters went bad. So he replaced the filters with one big main filter box that supplies the house, and after a few Sky digi box replacements the problems were gone.

this took a BT engineer more than 15 miutes to wrk out?? jesus!

the first thing they *should* try is testing the line from the master socket, thatwould rule out all those things

V F · 24 Aug 2006 at 20:34

He was here for an hour and a half or so, we done most of the testing and such before he came. He actually tested the master socket last when everything else failed, and he still couldn't work it out till I mentioned everything that was hooked upto the phone line. The two he said usually cause most problems with broadband is sky digi boxes and these oil meters that phone home. After that it was trial and error.
Though thank goodness the way it worked out we didn't end up with a hefty bill.