I have a possible REIN fault

Huw · 14 Sep 2011 at 14:40

Tealc said:
So Routerstats is showing a constant SNR value now? Mine only fluctuates by 0.1-0.2 dB now all day. By how much has the sync speed dropped? Has the SNR risen since before the sync speed drop?

Yeah, Rx noise fluctuates between 11.9 dB and 12.1 dB. However, Tx noise tends to hop between 6 dB and 12 dB, although most of the time it's doing just what Rx noise is doing. It's not as stable as Rx though.

Have BT done anything besides check for a fault? My calling Engineer was most helpful and even though he couldn't find a fault he still replaced two things on the line, and fitted a new faceplate.

Not really. Both engineers ran the same few tests each. The first installed what I think is called an RF3 filter as well, which the second seemed happy to leave there. Nothing was replaced though. They were both nice enough chaps and were clearly sympathetic. They assured me that if there was anything they could do, they'd do it.

Dunno really. The next step is for Zen to analyse the second engineer's report and decide what to do about it. For now the line seems pretty stable so I'm as happy as I can be at this point. I'd rather it was dealt with once for all, of course.

Huw · 14 Sep 2011 at 17:08

Update!

Zen called after looking through the engineer's report. They were quite ****ed off with BT; the Zen chap said that the second engineer just repeated the same tests that the first engineer did, which was completely pointless. He said that BT can protest all they like; there's definitely a fault and they must fix it. He also said that the RouterStats data I've been sending are useful because if BT should ever say "our engineers never find anything" Zen will send them the relevant graphs as proof that there is an ongoing fault before and after the visits. So again - many thanks to those of you who suggested that fantastic little program.

A third visit has been scheduled for tomorrow. Apparently BT will be asked to check "quality gates" (if I got the name right), which is the first in a series of deeper tests that will pinpoint the fault. Oh, also they no longer believe it's a REIN fault, by the admission of BT's own REIN team! WOOOOOO!

Also, when I told Zen that the engineer said a lift-and-shift would not be done because the line isn't completely dead, Zen said that's crap and it's basically BT being lazy. If it comes to it, Zen will make them do one.

I love Zen. I can't imagine some of the ISPs I've been with in the past going to anywhere near this sort of trouble with BT on my behalf.

liamcrane · 14 Sep 2011 at 18:15

Really hope you get this sorted mate i feel for you, i have a similar issue where my connection will drop at least once every 24hrs, i ran router stats through the night and the SNR was steady according to the graph was roughly going between 6.5db - 7.0db through out the night then at 8am boom straight to 0db no gradual fall at all. I have since changed my router to a TP Link WD8960N which has held connection for 2 days now which is a start. I have a street light right outside my door and i have always wondered if thats the course but who knows.

Keep pestering them tho till they sort it, zen sound like a good isp so your lucky there that they are doing the pushing for you which is great. Do you know if there is a way to save the graph or log the SNR fluctuation from router stats that you have had running over however many days?

Huw · 14 Sep 2011 at 21:34

liamcrane said:
Really hope you get this sorted mate i feel for you, i have a similar issue where my connection will drop at least once every 24hrs, i ran router stats through the night and the SNR was steady according to the graph was roughly going between 6.5db - 7.0db through out the night then at 8am boom straight to 0db no gradual fall at all. I have since changed my router to a TP Link WD8960N which has held connection for 2 days now which is a start. I have a street light right outside my door and i have always wondered if thats the course but who knows.

Have you contacted your ISP about it? What do they reckon?

Do you know if there is a way to save the graph or log the SNR fluctuation from router stats that you have had running over however many days?

In configuration, click the graphs tab at the top and capture properties tab on the left. In the lower-left box check "always". The upper-right box has a path to save logs. The upper-left box asks which graphs to save; I have all but the two user-defined graphs checked. That should do you. If you exit the program I think it auto-saves, but you can force a save with one of the buttons on the top of the main screen above the graph. In the common settings tab, you can set the program to sample every x seconds, and tell it how many points per page you want. Mine is set to the defaults of 20 second captures with 250 points per page, so it saves a fresh set of graphs every 83 minutes.

Twice a day I archive the latest graphs (they're saved by default as jpegs) into a zip and email them to Zen.

Good luck!

Huw · 15 Sep 2011 at 14:40

SUCCESS! (I think)

Not to tempt fate since the fault is still officially open, but all seems well again. The third engineer visit this morning was done entirely at the exchange. Basically this guy did what yesterday's guy should have done (although I suspect that one was just given the wrong info by BT).

He phoned me from the exchange and we had a quick chat about the history of the fault. Then he conducted some kind of test which he said simulated my line being 4,000 metres long (my line is actually about 950 metres) then tried to call my landline. He wasn't able to get through - which, he said, plainly indicated a fault at the exchange.

I went to work, during which time RouterStats reported a lot of drops until around lunchtime. Now, the line noise has dropped from 12 dB to 6 dB and is syncing at a much higher speed than before. My downstream is now within 1 Mbps of what it was before the fault. Hooray!

I've emailed Zen and I will also continue to collect line data until they tell me otherwise, but it does appear that after all this fuss, it was a simple equipment fault at the exchange which today's engineer has been able to fix.

\o/

wonko · 15 Sep 2011 at 14:43

Result

Huw · 15 Sep 2011 at 16:14

Zen just called. Remember the second engineer pointlessly just did the same tests as the first one? Well, today's engineer was going to do the same thing if Zen hadn't intervened! Crazy.

Anyway, Zen agreed that the line looks fine now. They're going to monitor it until Monday then close it down if it's been fine. They said they won't tolerate any more than one line drop in four days; any more than that and they'll get BT out again.

Tealc · 15 Sep 2011 at 16:40

An excellent result and just goes to show that a good ISP and persistence pays off.

Huw · 16 Sep 2011 at 14:33

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's gone again. Dammit! Zen want BT to come do more tests, but it might involve coming to the house and I'm out of holiday I can take off. So now we're down to Saturday appointments only, which are scarce apparently.

Pretty much back to square one again.

John24 · 16 Sep 2011 at 16:55

There was someone on TB forums that had an issue with REIN, he sent out a letter to the neighbours and soon after it stopped. Don't know what he said and it could have been coincidence but maybe worth a try.

Huw · 16 Sep 2011 at 17:24

Well, even BT's own REIN team don't think it's REIN any more. I certainly hope it isn't anyway!

We got really lucky. An engineer appointment was available tomorrow so one should be coming along. I really hope he finds and fixes the actual fault!

Huw · 19 Sep 2011 at 17:29

Huw said:
We got really lucky. An engineer appointment was available tomorrow so one should be coming along. I really hope he finds and fixes the actual fault!

Anyone care for an update? Here's a clue - the above post was followed by a couple of days of me not being here on the forum...

Yes, that's right. The genius that BT sent out to repair the ongoing intermittency managed to knock out my connection altogether. Can you imagine my rage? Oh, and he did it just as Zen's CS lines were closing for the day too.

So I sent an email, and duly rang them the minute they opened on Sunday. They spent all day talking to BT, who finally said at 17:00 that they'd fix it within 24 hours. I got a call at 17:00 today saying he'd fixed it.

So, are we back to where we were before, i.e. a working but intermittent connection? Or has the entire thing been fixed? Time will tell. Stay tuned for updates!

madman123 · 19 Sep 2011 at 23:44

John24 said:
There was someone on TB forums that had an issue with REIN, he sent out a letter to the neighbours and soon after it stopped. Don't know what he said and it could have been coincidence but maybe worth a try.

That could have possibly been my thread...been suffering from REIN since Jan this year.

OP you may want to have a look at my thread here. It's a long one so you may want to grab a cuppa.

To cut a long story short after 9 months of problems my FTTC contract is due to end and it's likely i will be moving over to Virgin. Please feel free to ask me any questions..I have had over 15 engineer appointments including the REIN team but unfortunately the REIN has still yet to be found.

Huw · 20 Sep 2011 at 22:53

Thanks madman, but it looks like it may all finally be sorted.

Got an update from Zen today that said the engineer who visited yesterday just did a lift 'n' shift. As of t+24 hours Zen hadn't seen a single drop. It does mean another 10-day training period so I'm down to 6 Mbit/s at the moment, but obviously I'm more than happy with that. A stable line was what's important. The speed will come with time.

Oh god I hope this is the end of it!