ADSL connection goes down at roughly the same time in the evening

I've had an ongoing issue with BT over my broadband connection. I have a
Belkin Wireless G Modem and Router which I've had since last October. This
was on a 1MB business BB connection. During that time I never had a problem
with a loss of connection.

In April as a result of changing job I had to have the business connection
turned off. So I opted for a BT residential package (still using all the
same equipment on BT Max), for the first 2-3 weeks everything worked fine.

Then I noticed that I would often lose BB access and the ADSL light on the
modem would go off or flash for several hours. This seemed to be mostly late
on in the evenings (after 10PM) I tried to eliminate anything connected into
the phone system in the house by unplugging everything physically from the
system except for the Modem & Router which were plugged directly into the
phone socket. I even tried it with the Ethernet cable removed from the PC.

The problem still persists. BT have been in and tested the line but found no
faults.

I've though that perhaps something electrical in the house might somehow be
causing interference on the line, but I've eliminated anything that might be
running at that time of night.

MY BB speed has also tailed off quite badly over the last week or so. I
thought BT might have done this in light of my calls to them over the
issues, but I'm not sure now as the connection still goes down.

I'm suspecting some sort of interference on the line or perhaps BT start
running some sort of system test on the network late on in the evening?

Any tips on what else to look for so I can get back to BT would be
appreciated.

Do they have the facility to monitor the connection performance say over a
24-48 hour period? That call centre in India is hopeless at getting any real
technical advice.

Thanks in advance

Martin

Hi
I find my connection starts dropping every 10-15 mins until it reaches a
lower stable speed under ADSL Max, every time the street lights come on,
which is around 9:30 to 10 at moment. I can see our wire passes within 1
foot of the street lights on its way down the road.

Paul
"Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've had an ongoing issue with BT over my broadband connection. I have a
> Belkin Wireless G Modem and Router which I've had since last October. This
> was on a 1MB business BB connection. During that time I never had a
> problem with a loss of connection.
>
> In April as a result of changing job I had to have the business connection
> turned off. So I opted for a BT residential package (still using all the
> same equipment on BT Max), for the first 2-3 weeks everything worked fine.
>
> Then I noticed that I would often lose BB access and the ADSL light on the
> modem would go off or flash for several hours. This seemed to be mostly
> late on in the evenings (after 10PM) I tried to eliminate anything
> connected into the phone system in the house by unplugging everything
> physically from the system except for the Modem & Router which were
> plugged directly into the phone socket. I even tried it with the Ethernet
> cable removed from the PC.
>
> The problem still persists. BT have been in and tested the line but found
> no faults.
>
> I've though that perhaps something electrical in the house might somehow
> be causing interference on the line, but I've eliminated anything that
> might be running at that time of night.
>
> MY BB speed has also tailed off quite badly over the last week or so. I
> thought BT might have done this in light of my calls to them over the
> issues, but I'm not sure now as the connection still goes down.
>
> I'm suspecting some sort of interference on the line or perhaps BT start
> running some sort of system test on the network late on in the evening?
>
> Any tips on what else to look for so I can get back to BT would be
> appreciated.
>
> Do they have the facility to monitor the connection performance say over a
> 24-48 hour period? That call centre in India is hopeless at getting any
> real technical advice.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Martin
>
>

"Paul C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
> I find my connection starts dropping every 10-15 mins until it reaches a
> lower stable speed under ADSL Max, every time the street lights come on,
> which is around 9:30 to 10 at moment. I can see our wire passes within 1
> foot of the street lights on its way down the road.
>
> Paul


> "Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I've had an ongoing issue with BT over my broadband connection. I have a
>> Belkin Wireless G Modem and Router which I've had since last October.
>> This was on a 1MB business BB connection. During that time I never had a
>> problem with a loss of connection.
>>
>> In April as a result of changing job I had to have the business
>> connection turned off. So I opted for a BT residential package (still
>> using all the same equipment on BT Max), for the first 2-3 weeks
>> everything worked fine.
>>
>> Then I noticed that I would often lose BB access and the ADSL light on
>> the modem would go off or flash for several hours. This seemed to be
>> mostly late on in the evenings (after 10PM) I tried to eliminate anything
>> connected into the phone system in the house by unplugging everything
>> physically from the system except for the Modem & Router which were
>> plugged directly into the phone socket. I even tried it with the Ethernet
>> cable removed from the PC.
>>
>> The problem still persists. BT have been in and tested the line but found
>> no faults.
>>
>> I've though that perhaps something electrical in the house might somehow
>> be causing interference on the line, but I've eliminated anything that
>> might be running at that time of night.
>>
>> MY BB speed has also tailed off quite badly over the last week or so. I
>> thought BT might have done this in light of my calls to them over the
>> issues, but I'm not sure now as the connection still goes down.
>>
>> I'm suspecting some sort of interference on the line or perhaps BT start
>> running some sort of system test on the network late on in the evening?
>>
>> Any tips on what else to look for so I can get back to BT would be
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Do they have the facility to monitor the connection performance say over
>> a 24-48 hour period? That call centre in India is hopeless at getting any
>> real technical advice.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>>
>> Martin

Thanks for that. I think there is interference on the line, but pinpointing
it will be the problem. I don't think it's street lighting though as I never
had this problem when I was on a BT business connection.

Martin

"Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
|
| "Paul C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
| news:(E-Mail Removed)...
| > Hi
| > I find my connection starts dropping every 10-15 mins until it reaches a
| > lower stable speed under ADSL Max, every time the street lights come on,
| > which is around 9:30 to 10 at moment. I can see our wire passes within 1
| > foot of the street lights on its way down the road.
| >
| > Paul
|
|
| > "Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
| > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
| >> I've had an ongoing issue with BT over my broadband connection. I have a
| >> Belkin Wireless G Modem and Router which I've had since last October.
| >> This was on a 1MB business BB connection. During that time I never had a
| >> problem with a loss of connection.
| >>
| >> In April as a result of changing job I had to have the business
| >> connection turned off. So I opted for a BT residential package (still
| >> using all the same equipment on BT Max), for the first 2-3 weeks
| >> everything worked fine.
| >>
| >> Then I noticed that I would often lose BB access and the ADSL light on
| >> the modem would go off or flash for several hours. This seemed to be
| >> mostly late on in the evenings (after 10PM) I tried to eliminate anything
| >> connected into the phone system in the house by unplugging everything
| >> physically from the system except for the Modem & Router which were
| >> plugged directly into the phone socket. I even tried it with the Ethernet
| >> cable removed from the PC.
| >>
| >> The problem still persists. BT have been in and tested the line but found
| >> no faults.
| >>
| >> I've though that perhaps something electrical in the house might somehow
| >> be causing interference on the line, but I've eliminated anything that
| >> might be running at that time of night.
| >>
| >> MY BB speed has also tailed off quite badly over the last week or so. I
| >> thought BT might have done this in light of my calls to them over the
| >> issues, but I'm not sure now as the connection still goes down.
| >>
| >> I'm suspecting some sort of interference on the line or perhaps BT start
| >> running some sort of system test on the network late on in the evening?
| >>
| >> Any tips on what else to look for so I can get back to BT would be
| >> appreciated.
| >>
| >> Do they have the facility to monitor the connection performance say over
| >> a 24-48 hour period? That call centre in India is hopeless at getting any
| >> real technical advice.
| >>
| >> Thanks in advance
| >>
| >> Martin
|
| Thanks for that. I think there is interference on the line, but pinpointing
| it will be the problem. I don't think it's street lighting though as I never
| had this problem when I was on a BT business connection.
|
| Martin
|
|

Unlucky Martin! Don't want to rub salt into the wounds but BT Broadband are
almost useless when it comes to getting a fault fixed.
I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's just the way it is. Clearly
there is a fault that affects the DSL. Getting BT (The ISP) to deal with it is a
nightmare. You have to just keep reporting it all the time and requesting
engineers. Don't take any crap from them insist the send a broadband engineer
and tell him what is happening. As long as you raise a fault the system keeps a
log of failures on the line that a proper BT OpenReach DSL engineer can look at.
However, you have to physically report it for this to happen - and keep
reporting it. They may well threaten to charge you but as you are happy the
fault is outside you can argue this when it's not fixed.

Assuming you have proved that modem router is good here is a crude 'trick' when
looking for noise. Disconnect everything (phones adsl deep fat fryer etc etc)
get hold of a cheap AM radio and tune it near to radio 5 live. During the day
run it over the sockets and along the wiring listening for anything unusual. You
may need to fiddle the tuning around a bit. Do the same in the evening when you
get the problem and note the difference. If it's interference it will be as
noisy as arseholes the second time. It's not very scientific, but an AM radio
makes a reasonable interference sniffer as DSL works in the 300-550khz range
which sits right at the lower end of the MW band. It;s also worth listening here
and putting the radio close to the phone wires and see if you can hear loads of
DSL interference. Ultimately it may help you and you may pinpoint it, but it
needs a job so the right balls in Openreach can start rolling. You may well need
the SFI's out (Special Faults Investigators) Just be cock sure it's not in your
house first!

Good luck.

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:59:03 +0100, "Paul C" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Hi
>I find my connection starts dropping every 10-15 mins until it reaches a
>lower stable speed under ADSL Max, every time the street lights come on,
>which is around 9:30 to 10 at moment. I can see our wire passes within 1
>foot of the street lights on its way down the road.
>

<snip>

Interesting theory - my router drops out and re-synchs every night
about 9.30 - 10pm and my dropwire is approx 6 ft away from the nearest
streetlight - could radiation from the street light be causing
interference in the drop wire ?

jim

"Pier Danone" <Pier (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:mVWjg.39742$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> |
> | "Paul C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> | news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> | > Hi
> | > I find my connection starts dropping every 10-15 mins until it reaches
> a
> | > lower stable speed under ADSL Max, every time the street lights come
> on,
> | > which is around 9:30 to 10 at moment. I can see our wire passes within
> 1
> | > foot of the street lights on its way down the road.
> | >
> | > Paul
> |
> |
> | > "Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> | > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> | >> I've had an ongoing issue with BT over my broadband connection. I
> have a
> | >> Belkin Wireless G Modem and Router which I've had since last October.
> | >> This was on a 1MB business BB connection. During that time I never
> had a
> | >> problem with a loss of connection.
> | >>
> | >> In April as a result of changing job I had to have the business
> | >> connection turned off. So I opted for a BT residential package (still
> | >> using all the same equipment on BT Max), for the first 2-3 weeks
> | >> everything worked fine.
> | >>
> | >> Then I noticed that I would often lose BB access and the ADSL light
> on
> | >> the modem would go off or flash for several hours. This seemed to be
> | >> mostly late on in the evenings (after 10PM) I tried to eliminate
> anything
> | >> connected into the phone system in the house by unplugging everything
> | >> physically from the system except for the Modem & Router which were
> | >> plugged directly into the phone socket. I even tried it with the
> Ethernet
> | >> cable removed from the PC.
> | >>
> | >> The problem still persists. BT have been in and tested the line but
> found
> | >> no faults.
> | >>
> | >> I've though that perhaps something electrical in the house might
> somehow
> | >> be causing interference on the line, but I've eliminated anything
> that
> | >> might be running at that time of night.
> | >>
> | >> MY BB speed has also tailed off quite badly over the last week or so.
> I
> | >> thought BT might have done this in light of my calls to them over the
> | >> issues, but I'm not sure now as the connection still goes down.
> | >>
> | >> I'm suspecting some sort of interference on the line or perhaps BT
> start
> | >> running some sort of system test on the network late on in the
> evening?
> | >>
> | >> Any tips on what else to look for so I can get back to BT would be
> | >> appreciated.
> | >>
> | >> Do they have the facility to monitor the connection performance say
> over
> | >> a 24-48 hour period? That call centre in India is hopeless at getting
> any
> | >> real technical advice.
> | >>
> | >> Thanks in advance
> | >>
> | >> Martin
> |
> | Thanks for that. I think there is interference on the line, but
> pinpointing
> | it will be the problem. I don't think it's street lighting though as I
> never
> | had this problem when I was on a BT business connection.
> |
> | Martin
> |
> |
>
> Unlucky Martin! Don't want to rub salt into the wounds but BT Broadband
> are
> almost useless when it comes to getting a fault fixed.
> I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's just the way it is.
> Clearly
> there is a fault that affects the DSL. Getting BT (The ISP) to deal with
> it is a
> nightmare. You have to just keep reporting it all the time and requesting
> engineers. Don't take any crap from them insist the send a broadband
> engineer
> and tell him what is happening. As long as you raise a fault the system
> keeps a
> log of failures on the line that a proper BT OpenReach DSL engineer can
> look at.
> However, you have to physically report it for this to happen - and keep
> reporting it. They may well threaten to charge you but as you are happy
> the
> fault is outside you can argue this when it's not fixed.
>
> Assuming you have proved that modem router is good here is a crude 'trick'
> when
> looking for noise. Disconnect everything (phones adsl deep fat fryer etc
> etc)
> get hold of a cheap AM radio and tune it near to radio 5 live. During the
> day
> run it over the sockets and along the wiring listening for anything
> unusual. You
> may need to fiddle the tuning around a bit. Do the same in the evening
> when you
> get the problem and note the difference. If it's interference it will be
> as
> noisy as arseholes the second time. It's not very scientific, but an AM
> radio
> makes a reasonable interference sniffer as DSL works in the 300-550khz
> range
> which sits right at the lower end of the MW band. It;s also worth
> listening here
> and putting the radio close to the phone wires and see if you can hear
> loads of
> DSL interference. Ultimately it may help you and you may pinpoint it, but
> it
> needs a job so the right balls in Openreach can start rolling. You may
> well need
> the SFI's out (Special Faults Investigators) Just be cock sure it's not in
> your
> house first!
>
> Good luck.
>

Well I don't see why it would be something in my house as it worked very
well from October last year until April when I changed from BTbroadband
(Business) to BT Broadband (Home)

Nothing is running in the house that wasn't before and I've not changed any
other settings.

Thanks for the info though, I'll give that a try, although I thought that
the annoying whine from Radio 5 was Nicky Campbell!!!!!



Martin

Martin wrote:

> Nothing is running in the house that wasn't before and I've not
> changed any other settings.
>

But things have been known to go faulty/wear out over time

jim wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:59:03 +0100, "Paul C" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>> I find my connection starts dropping every 10-15 mins until it
>> reaches a lower stable speed under ADSL Max, every time the street
>> lights come on, which is around 9:30 to 10 at moment. I can see
>> our wire passes within 1 foot of the street lights on its way down
>> the road.
>>
>
> <snip>
>
> Interesting theory - my router drops out and re-synchs every night
> about 9.30 - 10pm and my dropwire is approx 6 ft away from the
> nearest streetlight - could radiation from the street light be
> causing interference in the drop wire ?

It's not radiation, that's many magnitudes up the spectrum, there is a
possibility that a street light may radiate a R(adio)F(requency)
signal which could affect ADSL. It's not common, but there is a
possibilty...

On 14-Jun-2006, jim <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> could radiation from the street light be causing
> interference in the drop wire ?

Yes, it's a gaseous discharge, current limited by a
choke; as the supply goes through zero the discharge
extinguishes and re-ignites. It's inherently a potential
source of electrical interference and transients.

FROM THE BBC Website
Most local interference is caused by central heating thermostats. To check, turn off
the heating for a few minutes and see if the problem stops. A neighbour’s system may
be causing the problem rather than your own, in which case check next-door to see if
they have intermittent noise on FM, TV or even cordless telephones. Other sources of
interference include fridge thermostats, faulty fluorescent lights and very
occasionally even electricity street transformers and street lamps.
If you can’t track it down, contact the telecommunications regulator OFCOM by visiting
www.ofcom.org.uk
</go/reception/digital_radio/digirad_troubleshooting3.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/>
or by ringing 0845 456 3000 and asking for their leaflet and form about radio and TV
interference.
It specifically refers to street lamps, which are generally fitted with RFI
suppressors, but it is well known that street lamps are not weell maintained, and
faulty ones generate more interference.

"Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
|
| "Pier Danone" <Pier (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
| news:mVWjg.39742$(E-Mail Removed)...
| >
| > "Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
| > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
| > |
| > | "Paul C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
| > | news:(E-Mail Removed)...
| > | > Hi
| > | > I find my connection starts dropping every 10-15 mins until it reaches
| > a
| > | > lower stable speed under ADSL Max, every time the street lights come
| > on,
| > | > which is around 9:30 to 10 at moment. I can see our wire passes within
| > 1
| > | > foot of the street lights on its way down the road.
| > | >
| > | > Paul
| > |
| > |
| > | > "Martin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
| > | > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
| > | >> I've had an ongoing issue with BT over my broadband connection. I
| > have a
| > | >> Belkin Wireless G Modem and Router which I've had since last October.
| > | >> This was on a 1MB business BB connection. During that time I never
| > had a
| > | >> problem with a loss of connection.
| > | >>
| > | >> In April as a result of changing job I had to have the business
| > | >> connection turned off. So I opted for a BT residential package (still
| > | >> using all the same equipment on BT Max), for the first 2-3 weeks
| > | >> everything worked fine.
| > | >>
| > | >> Then I noticed that I would often lose BB access and the ADSL light
| > on
| > | >> the modem would go off or flash for several hours. This seemed to be
| > | >> mostly late on in the evenings (after 10PM) I tried to eliminate
| > anything
| > | >> connected into the phone system in the house by unplugging everything
| > | >> physically from the system except for the Modem & Router which were
| > | >> plugged directly into the phone socket. I even tried it with the
| > Ethernet
| > | >> cable removed from the PC.
| > | >>
| > | >> The problem still persists. BT have been in and tested the line but
| > found
| > | >> no faults.
| > | >>
| > | >> I've though that perhaps something electrical in the house might
| > somehow
| > | >> be causing interference on the line, but I've eliminated anything
| > that
| > | >> might be running at that time of night.
| > | >>
| > | >> MY BB speed has also tailed off quite badly over the last week or so.
| > I
| > | >> thought BT might have done this in light of my calls to them over the
| > | >> issues, but I'm not sure now as the connection still goes down.
| > | >>
| > | >> I'm suspecting some sort of interference on the line or perhaps BT
| > start
| > | >> running some sort of system test on the network late on in the
| > evening?
| > | >>
| > | >> Any tips on what else to look for so I can get back to BT would be
| > | >> appreciated.
| > | >>
| > | >> Do they have the facility to monitor the connection performance say
| > over
| > | >> a 24-48 hour period? That call centre in India is hopeless at getting
| > any
| > | >> real technical advice.
| > | >>
| > | >> Thanks in advance
| > | >>
| > | >> Martin
| > |
| > | Thanks for that. I think there is interference on the line, but
| > pinpointing
| > | it will be the problem. I don't think it's street lighting though as I
| > never
| > | had this problem when I was on a BT business connection.
| > |
| > | Martin
| > |
| > |
| >
| > Unlucky Martin! Don't want to rub salt into the wounds but BT Broadband
| > are
| > almost useless when it comes to getting a fault fixed.
| > I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's just the way it is.
| > Clearly
| > there is a fault that affects the DSL. Getting BT (The ISP) to deal with
| > it is a
| > nightmare. You have to just keep reporting it all the time and requesting
| > engineers. Don't take any crap from them insist the send a broadband
| > engineer
| > and tell him what is happening. As long as you raise a fault the system
| > keeps a
| > log of failures on the line that a proper BT OpenReach DSL engineer can
| > look at.
| > However, you have to physically report it for this to happen - and keep
| > reporting it. They may well threaten to charge you but as you are happy
| > the
| > fault is outside you can argue this when it's not fixed.
| >
| > Assuming you have proved that modem router is good here is a crude 'trick'
| > when
| > looking for noise. Disconnect everything (phones adsl deep fat fryer etc
| > etc)
| > get hold of a cheap AM radio and tune it near to radio 5 live. During the
| > day
| > run it over the sockets and along the wiring listening for anything
| > unusual. You
| > may need to fiddle the tuning around a bit. Do the same in the evening
| > when you
| > get the problem and note the difference. If it's interference it will be
| > as
| > noisy as arseholes the second time. It's not very scientific, but an AM
| > radio
| > makes a reasonable interference sniffer as DSL works in the 300-550khz
| > range
| > which sits right at the lower end of the MW band. It;s also worth
| > listening here
| > and putting the radio close to the phone wires and see if you can hear
| > loads of
| > DSL interference. Ultimately it may help you and you may pinpoint it, but
| > it
| > needs a job so the right balls in Openreach can start rolling. You may
| > well need
| > the SFI's out (Special Faults Investigators) Just be cock sure it's not in
| > your
| > house first!
| >
| > Good luck.
| >
|
| Well I don't see why it would be something in my house as it worked very
| well from October last year until April when I changed from BTbroadband
| (Business) to BT Broadband (Home)
|
| Nothing is running in the house that wasn't before and I've not changed any
| other settings.
|
| Thanks for the info though, I'll give that a try, although I thought that
| the annoying whine from Radio 5 was Nicky Campbell!!!!!
|
|
|
| Martin
|
|

If it's external interference Martin, holding an AM radio near the phone wiring
will pick it up, no matter how far away it is.
I sat in a cab in thames valley town a few months ago and you could hear the
whining on one 100pr strip in the cab. Turned out to be a satalite receiver in a
block of flats 2 miles away. The AM radio test will only let you know there is
interference. Pin pointing it is a harder thing to do.

Also try making a test call to 17070 option 2 (quite line) and seeing if the
sync comes back.

You will probably find that if it's not in your home, it's local to it. Good
luck and report back.