ADSL keeps dropping - think I've tried everything

Bear with me... a bit of a saga.

I'm 1200m from exchange (actual line length) with an attenuation of 1
and until recently had near rock solid 8128 sync and 7150 profile.

June 25th line started dropping, especially when the phone was in use
but resyncs were always at or very near 8128. Checked all the obviou
things... disconnect and reconnect everything, reboot router, n
improvement.

I have removed all the wires at the main socket except 2 and 5 an
checked locations of microfilters. Moved router (the infamous B
HomeHub) to the test socket on advice of Indian call centre - n
difference. BT said there was a line fault - out came the engineer
checked all the wiring, found a bodge job to install an extension (mus
have been like that for 20 years), rerouted extension correctly throug
main socket, fitted a new faceplate and went.

BT now report no fault on line. Nothing has got any better. Up unti
two days ago I noticed that the resyncing after a disconnection wa
regularly down to 5000, on occasions even 3000! This of course ha
fouled up my IP profile a treat. Resyncing manually once the phone i
back on the hook gets the sync speed back up near 8000. Also, voic
line is SOMETIMES quite noisy, other times completely silent - seems n
pattern.

Having swapped round the BT-supplied microfilters with no success, i
desperation yesterday I bought three brand new ADSLnation XF-1e filter
(supposed to be the best around) as it sounded like a microfilte
problem (strange coincidence problem started when BT said there was
line fault, but still). Filters came this morning and I have fitted al
three. One between the main socket and main phone, one between th
extension socket and phone downstairs and one between the extensio
socket upstairs and the third phone & router. Still there's n
improvement - ADSL drops when phone is answered - even when it's th
phone on the extension the BT engineer rerouted which is NOT the lin
to the PC or the phone at the main socket.

Router and third phone are at the end of a l-o-n-g extension as PC i
at the opposite end of the house to the main socket. None of this setu
has ever changed and I've been on MAX for over a year. There are n
other devices that should affect anything like Sky boxes, fax machines
burglar alarms or microwaves near the line.

Is it worth buying a huge length of ethernet cable (would need aroun
30m) and moving the router permanently to the main socket downstairs?
If not any other suggestions, please


--
Mike Read

"Mike Read" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Bear with me... a bit of a saga.
>
> I'm 1200m from exchange (actual line length) with an attenuation of 19
> and until recently had near rock solid 8128 sync and 7150 profile.
>
> June 25th line started dropping, especially when the phone was in use,
> but resyncs were always at or very near 8128. Checked all the obvious
> things... disconnect and reconnect everything, reboot router, no
> improvement.
>
> I have removed all the wires at the main socket except 2 and 5 and
> checked locations of microfilters. Moved router (the infamous BT
> HomeHub) to the test socket on advice of Indian call centre - no
> difference. BT said there was a line fault - out came the engineer,
> checked all the wiring, found a bodge job to install an extension (must
> have been like that for 20 years), rerouted extension correctly through
> main socket, fitted a new faceplate and went.

If the router is still failing when it's plugged into the master/test
socket, with the house wiring disconnected, then I think you can eliminate
the effect of house wiring. With a BT-RJ11 dial-up modem cable, you can
eliminate the effect of a dodgy microfilter - at the expense of not being
able to attach a phone! What happens with just a good microfilter in the
test socket and a phone and the router connected directly to it?

Are you able to try with a different router or modem, to see if that makes
any difference to the symptoms.

Was the BT engineer a phone engineer or one who specialised in ADSL faults?
You need the latter if the normal phone engineer thinks he's fixed
everything - although you say that intermittently you are getting a noisy
phone connection, so maybe there is still a fault there. When you get a
noisy phone, does that noise change/reduce if you unplug the router?

On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:19:22 +0100, Mike Read
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>Bear with me... a bit of a saga.
>
>I'm 1200m from exchange (actual line length) with an attenuation of 19
>and until recently had near rock solid 8128 sync and 7150 profile.
>
>June 25th line started dropping, especially when the phone was in use,
>but resyncs were always at or very near 8128. Checked all the obvious
>things... disconnect and reconnect everything, reboot router, no
>improvement.
>
>I have removed all the wires at the main socket except 2 and 5 and
>checked locations of microfilters. Moved router (the infamous BT
>HomeHub) to the test socket on advice of Indian call centre - no
>difference. BT said there was a line fault - out came the engineer,
>checked all the wiring, found a bodge job to install an extension (must
>have been like that for 20 years), rerouted extension correctly through
>main socket, fitted a new faceplate and went.
>
>BT now report no fault on line. Nothing has got any better. Up until
>two days ago I noticed that the resyncing after a disconnection was
>regularly down to 5000, on occasions even 3000! This of course has
>fouled up my IP profile a treat. Resyncing manually once the phone is
>back on the hook gets the sync speed back up near 8000. Also, voice
>line is SOMETIMES quite noisy, other times completely silent - seems no
>pattern.
>
>Having swapped round the BT-supplied microfilters with no success, in
>desperation yesterday I bought three brand new ADSLnation XF-1e filters
>(supposed to be the best around) as it sounded like a microfilter
>problem (strange coincidence problem started when BT said there was a
>line fault, but still). Filters came this morning and I have fitted all
>three. One between the main socket and main phone, one between the
>extension socket and phone downstairs and one between the extension
>socket upstairs and the third phone & router. Still there's no
>improvement - ADSL drops when phone is answered - even when it's the
>phone on the extension the BT engineer rerouted which is NOT the line
>to the PC or the phone at the main socket.
>
>Router and third phone are at the end of a l-o-n-g extension as PC is
>at the opposite end of the house to the main socket. None of this setup
>has ever changed and I've been on MAX for over a year. There are no
>other devices that should affect anything like Sky boxes, fax machines,
>burglar alarms or microwaves near the line.
>
>Is it worth buying a huge length of ethernet cable (would need around
>30m) and moving the router permanently to the main socket downstairs?
>If not any other suggestions, please?


First thing to try is disconnect everything and run router direct from
main socket into house. If it's still faulty your internal cables are
fine, so must be outside or your setup.

"Brian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:19:22 +0100, Mike Read
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>
>>Bear with me... a bit of a saga.
>>
>>I'm 1200m from exchange (actual line length) with an attenuation of 19
>>and until recently had near rock solid 8128 sync and 7150 profile.
>>
>>June 25th line started dropping, especially when the phone was in use,
>>but resyncs were always at or very near 8128. Checked all the obvious
>>things... disconnect and reconnect everything, reboot router, no
>>improvement.
>>
>>I have removed all the wires at the main socket except 2 and 5 and
>>checked locations of microfilters. Moved router (the infamous BT
>>HomeHub) to the test socket on advice of Indian call centre - no
>>difference. BT said there was a line fault - out came the engineer,
>>checked all the wiring, found a bodge job to install an extension (must
>>have been like that for 20 years), rerouted extension correctly through
>>main socket, fitted a new faceplate and went.
>>
>>BT now report no fault on line. Nothing has got any better. Up until
>>two days ago I noticed that the resyncing after a disconnection was
>>regularly down to 5000, on occasions even 3000! This of course has
>>fouled up my IP profile a treat. Resyncing manually once the phone is
>>back on the hook gets the sync speed back up near 8000. Also, voice
>>line is SOMETIMES quite noisy, other times completely silent - seems no
>>pattern.
>>
>>Having swapped round the BT-supplied microfilters with no success, in
>>desperation yesterday I bought three brand new ADSLnation XF-1e filters
>>(supposed to be the best around) as it sounded like a microfilter
>>problem (strange coincidence problem started when BT said there was a
>>line fault, but still). Filters came this morning and I have fitted all
>>three. One between the main socket and main phone, one between the
>>extension socket and phone downstairs and one between the extension
>>socket upstairs and the third phone & router. Still there's no
>>improvement - ADSL drops when phone is answered - even when it's the
>>phone on the extension the BT engineer rerouted which is NOT the line
>>to the PC or the phone at the main socket.
>>
>>Router and third phone are at the end of a l-o-n-g extension as PC is
>>at the opposite end of the house to the main socket. None of this setup
>>has ever changed and I've been on MAX for over a year. There are no
>>other devices that should affect anything like Sky boxes, fax machines,
>>burglar alarms or microwaves near the line.
>>
>>Is it worth buying a huge length of ethernet cable (would need around
>>30m) and moving the router permanently to the main socket downstairs?
>>If not any other suggestions, please?
>
>
> First thing to try is disconnect everything and run router direct from
> main socket into house. If it's still faulty your internal cables are
> fine, so must be outside or your setup.

As others have said, try a different router connected to the test point in
the master socket. If this fails it is a line fault. Report it to your
ISP. They will get BT to send out a technician, who will repeat these tests
with his own equipment. If that test fails, he will attempt to investigate
the line fault. If this takes him more than 2 hours he will leave the job
unfixed and you will have to report it to your ISP again.

Just been through this: took 5 weeks and 3 separate visits by BT
technicians. In the end the last technician reconfigured the lines to the
exchange, allocating the faulty pair to another subscriber and bringing that
subscriber's good pair to the ADSL service. So that fault is sitting there
waiting to re-appear when the other subscriber wants broadband!!

--
Graham J

Graham Wrote:
> "Brian" (E-Mail Removed) wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...-
> On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:19:22 +0100, Mike Read
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> -
>
> Bear with me... a bit of a saga.
>
> I'm 1200m from exchange (actual line length) with an attenuation of 19
> and until recently had near rock solid 8128 sync and 7150 profile.
>
> June 25th line started dropping, especially when the phone was in use,
> but resyncs were always at or very near 8128. Checked all the obvious
> things... disconnect and reconnect everything, reboot router, no
> improvement.
>
> I have removed all the wires at the main socket except 2 and 5 and
> checked locations of microfilters. Moved router (the infamous BT
> HomeHub) to the test socket on advice of Indian call centre - no
> difference. BT said there was a line fault - out came the engineer,
> checked all the wiring, found a bodge job to install an extensio
> (must
> have been like that for 20 years), rerouted extension correctl
> through
> main socket, fitted a new faceplate and went.
>
> BT now report no fault on line. Nothing has got any better. Up until
> two days ago I noticed that the resyncing after a disconnection was
> regularly down to 5000, on occasions even 3000! This of course has
> fouled up my IP profile a treat. Resyncing manually once the phone is
> back on the hook gets the sync speed back up near 8000. Also, voice
> line is SOMETIMES quite noisy, other times completely silent - seem
> no
> pattern.
>
> Having swapped round the BT-supplied microfilters with no success, in
> desperation yesterday I bought three brand new ADSLnation XF-1
> filters
> (supposed to be the best around) as it sounded like a microfilter
> problem (strange coincidence problem started when BT said there was a
> line fault, but still). Filters came this morning and I have fitte
> all
> three. One between the main socket and main phone, one between the
> extension socket and phone downstairs and one between the extension
> socket upstairs and the third phone & router. Still there's no
> improvement - ADSL drops when phone is answered - even when it's the
> phone on the extension the BT engineer rerouted which is NOT the line
> to the PC or the phone at the main socket.
>
> Router and third phone are at the end of a l-o-n-g extension as PC is
> at the opposite end of the house to the main socket. None of thi
> setup
> has ever changed and I've been on MAX for over a year. There are no
> other devices that should affect anything like Sky boxes, fa
> machines,
> burglar alarms or microwaves near the line.
>
> Is it worth buying a huge length of ethernet cable (would need around
> 30m) and moving the router permanently to the main socket downstairs?
> If not any other suggestions, please?-
>
>
> First thing to try is disconnect everything and run router direc
> from
> main socket into house. If it's still faulty your internal cables are
> fine, so must be outside or your setup.-
>
> As others have said, try a different router connected to the test poin
> in
> the master socket. If this fails it is a line fault. Report it t
> your
> ISP. They will get BT to send out a technician, who will repeat thes
> tests
> with his own equipment. If that test fails, he will attempt t
> investigate
> the line fault. If this takes him more than 2 hours he will leave th
> job
> unfixed and you will have to report it to your ISP again.
>
> Just been through this: took 5 weeks and 3 separate visits by BT
> technicians. In the end the last technician reconfigured the lines t
> the
> exchange, allocating the faulty pair to another subscriber and bringin
> that
> subscriber's good pair to the ADSL service. So that fault is sittin
> there
> waiting to re-appear when the other subscriber wants broadband!!
>
> --
> Graham J


Hi all

Thanks for the advice.
Following a desperate day with disconnections last Wednesday and on
resync at 1468 which caused my IP profile to crash to 1000, a secon
stint with the router on the test socket was completely solid so I
assumed it must be my wiring. Nevertheless, having had such a huge drop
in service I contacted tech support again and was finally told (after a
good twenty minutes of being asked a lot of the scripted/flow-charted
questions again) that engineers were systematically going through all
the connections at my exchange and mine was one that had just been
finished. Slightly dubiously, I moved everything back to its normal
location - router and PC at end of the extension and have had a 100%
rock-solid connection every since. Not one single drop in five days
(except when I have manually forced a couple of resyncs to try to get
my 8128 speed back)! Best I have obtained is 7968 but my noise margin
is currently 9.5. I believe after 14 days the exchange's software
should reduce it to around 6 and then if I reset I may be able to sync
at 8128 again. IP Profile jumped to 5000 on Friday and to 6500 this
morning. I'm not sure why it's not 7000, but I'm not rocking the boat
when everything is moving strongly in the right direction.




--
Mike Read