ADSL success story!

Nick had a problem with his ADSL. Every time he picked up the phone to make
or answer a call, the router would drop the line. If the call lasted long
enough the router would renegotiate only to drop the line again when the
call completed.

Did all the testing from the master socket, with different router, changed
microfilter, etc.

So on 1 August he complained to his ISP (Tiscali).

By 7 August Tiscali say they are dealing with the problem ...!!

On 8 August Tiscali report that BT have cleared a fault, but no technician
attended the site, and the fault is still present.

Yesterday Tiscali say they will attend the site today together with BT to
check Nick's equipment.

Today a BT technician arrives. Within 5 minutes he confirms that the fault
does exist. He disappears to se what he can find to fix.

About 90 minutes later he returns, having fixed one high resistance joint
and un-split some split pairs.

The before and after figures:

Before:
Up speed 448k
Down Speed 1,344k
SNR Margin 8.5
Loop Att. 41.0

After
Up speed 448k
Down Speed 7,360k
SNR Margin 10
Loop Att. 36.5

Line length is 2.89 km

Throughput is only about 1Mbit/sec, but one can't expect anything better
from Tiscali.

--
Graham J

Graham J <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 at
16:10:19:
>The before and after figures:
>
>Before:
>Up speed 448k
>Down Speed 1,344k
>SNR Margin 8.5
>Loop Att. 41.0
>
>After
>Up speed 448k
>Down Speed 7,360k
>SNR Margin 10
>Loop Att. 36.5
>
>Line length is 2.89 km
>
>Throughput is only about 1Mbit/sec, but one can't expect anything
>better from Tiscali.

Your low expectations may be incorrect in this case. You'll need to wait
3 days before your IP Profile increases to reflect the new higher down
speed. The BT performance tester at <http://speedtester.bt.com/> will
tell you your IP profile (when it's not overloaded).
--
Tony

Graham J wrote:
> Nick had a problem with his ADSL. Every time he picked up the phone to make
> or answer a call, the router would drop the line. If the call lasted long
> enough the router would renegotiate only to drop the line again when the
> call completed.
>
> Did all the testing from the master socket, with different router, changed
> microfilter, etc.
>
> So on 1 August he complained to his ISP (Tiscali).
>
> By 7 August Tiscali say they are dealing with the problem ...!!
>
> On 8 August Tiscali report that BT have cleared a fault, but no technician
> attended the site, and the fault is still present.
>
> Yesterday Tiscali say they will attend the site today together with BT to
> check Nick's equipment.
>
> Today a BT technician arrives. Within 5 minutes he confirms that the fault
> does exist. He disappears to se what he can find to fix.
>
> About 90 minutes later he returns, having fixed one high resistance joint
> and un-split some split pairs.
>
> The before and after figures:
>
> Before:
> Up speed 448k
> Down Speed 1,344k
> SNR Margin 8.5
> Loop Att. 41.0
>
> After
> Up speed 448k
> Down Speed 7,360k
> SNR Margin 10
> Loop Att. 36.5
>
> Line length is 2.89 km
>
> Throughput is only about 1Mbit/sec, but one can't expect anything better
> from Tiscali.
>

I am so grateful that you have posted this story.

I have exactly the same problem (ISP=Orange), but have concentrated on
the bandwidth issue (I was getting 7Mb/s, now 2Mb/s max), because I
didn't notice the line dropping initially and was not sure if it could
be caused by a fault on the BT line or not. I noticed the bandwidth
dropping suspiciously soon after a fleet of BT OpenReach vans had the
road up outside my house, but the experts at Orange didn't seem to think
that was relevant.

After 6 months Orange Technical Support (Offshore) now say my line is
only rated by BT at 2Mb/s so nothing can be done. Worse, Orange Customer
Support (Offshore) deny having any means of contacting BT and suggested
I should contact BT Wholesale myself (which BT Wholesale advise that
they will ignore, as they deal with the ISP). I'm at the point of
writing a formal complaint about the ineffective technical support and
the lies told by customer support, but I'd rather just get the line
fixed and then move to a competent ISP, if there is such a thing.

I think I will log a new fault about the line dropping when making a
call...........

Biggles
Remove Packaging from my e-mail address before replying

"Alan Shilling" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Graham J wrote:
>> Nick had a problem with his ADSL. Every time he picked up the phone to
>> make
>> or answer a call, the router would drop the line. If the call lasted
>> long
>> enough the router would renegotiate only to drop the line again when the
>> call completed.
>>
>> Did all the testing from the master socket, with different router,
>> changed
>> microfilter, etc.
>>
>> So on 1 August he complained to his ISP (Tiscali).
>>
>> By 7 August Tiscali say they are dealing with the problem ...!!
>>
>> On 8 August Tiscali report that BT have cleared a fault, but no
>> technician
>> attended the site, and the fault is still present.
>>
>> Yesterday Tiscali say they will attend the site today together with BT to
>> check Nick's equipment.
>>
>> Today a BT technician arrives. Within 5 minutes he confirms that the
>> fault
>> does exist. He disappears to se what he can find to fix.
>>
>> About 90 minutes later he returns, having fixed one high resistance joint
>> and un-split some split pairs.
>>
>> The before and after figures:
>>
>> Before:
>> Up speed 448k
>> Down Speed 1,344k
>> SNR Margin 8.5
>> Loop Att. 41.0
>>
>> After
>> Up speed 448k
>> Down Speed 7,360k
>> SNR Margin 10
>> Loop Att. 36.5
>>
>> Line length is 2.89 km
>>
>> Throughput is only about 1Mbit/sec, but one can't expect anything better
>> from Tiscali.
>>
>
> I am so grateful that you have posted this story.
>
> I have exactly the same problem (ISP=Orange), but have concentrated on the
> bandwidth issue (I was getting 7Mb/s, now 2Mb/s max), because I didn't
> notice the line dropping initially and was not sure if it could be caused
> by a fault on the BT line or not. I noticed the bandwidth dropping
> suspiciously soon after a fleet of BT OpenReach vans had the road up
> outside my house, but the experts at Orange didn't seem to think that was
> relevant.
>
> After 6 months Orange Technical Support (Offshore) now say my line is only
> rated by BT at 2Mb/s so nothing can be done. Worse, Orange Customer
> Support (Offshore) deny having any means of contacting BT and suggested I
> should contact BT Wholesale myself (which BT Wholesale advise that they
> will ignore, as they deal with the ISP). I'm at the point of writing a
> formal complaint about the ineffective technical support and the lies told
> by customer support, but I'd rather just get the line fixed and then move
> to a competent ISP, if there is such a thing.

There's your problem, you have that the wrong way about. Only a competent
ISP will be able to get BT to fix your line. So get a migration code from
Orange and move to somebody like Zen.

But if the line is noisy during voice calls, even only occasionally
(crosstalk from another line, for example) complain to your voice service
provider who will get BT to fix that first. If your voice provider is
Orange, then I'm sure you will be given the same excuse. So go to BT
directly for your voice calls. But whatver you do, don't go to BT for
ADSL - they are worse even than Orange!

--
Graham J

"Graham J" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:48a30cd2$0$2522$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Alan Shilling" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Graham J wrote:
>>> Nick had a problem with his ADSL. Every time he picked up the phone to
>>> make
>>> or answer a call, the router would drop the line. If the call lasted
>>> long
>>> enough the router would renegotiate only to drop the line again when the
>>> call completed.
>>>
>>> Did all the testing from the master socket, with different router,
>>> changed
>>> microfilter, etc.
>>>
>>> So on 1 August he complained to his ISP (Tiscali).
>>>
>>> By 7 August Tiscali say they are dealing with the problem ...!!
>>>
>>> On 8 August Tiscali report that BT have cleared a fault, but no
>>> technician
>>> attended the site, and the fault is still present.
>>>
>>> Yesterday Tiscali say they will attend the site today together with BT
>>> to
>>> check Nick's equipment.
>>>
>>> Today a BT technician arrives. Within 5 minutes he confirms that the
>>> fault
>>> does exist. He disappears to se what he can find to fix.
>>>
>>> About 90 minutes later he returns, having fixed one high resistance
>>> joint
>>> and un-split some split pairs.
>>>
>>> The before and after figures:
>>>
>>> Before:
>>> Up speed 448k
>>> Down Speed 1,344k
>>> SNR Margin 8.5
>>> Loop Att. 41.0
>>>
>>> After
>>> Up speed 448k
>>> Down Speed 7,360k
>>> SNR Margin 10
>>> Loop Att. 36.5
>>>
>>> Line length is 2.89 km
>>>
>>> Throughput is only about 1Mbit/sec, but one can't expect anything better
>>> from Tiscali.
>>>
>>
>> I am so grateful that you have posted this story.
>>
>> I have exactly the same problem (ISP=Orange), but have concentrated on
>> the bandwidth issue (I was getting 7Mb/s, now 2Mb/s max), because I
>> didn't notice the line dropping initially and was not sure if it could be
>> caused by a fault on the BT line or not. I noticed the bandwidth dropping
>> suspiciously soon after a fleet of BT OpenReach vans had the road up
>> outside my house, but the experts at Orange didn't seem to think that was
>> relevant.
>>
>> After 6 months Orange Technical Support (Offshore) now say my line is
>> only rated by BT at 2Mb/s so nothing can be done. Worse, Orange Customer
>> Support (Offshore) deny having any means of contacting BT and suggested I
>> should contact BT Wholesale myself (which BT Wholesale advise that they
>> will ignore, as they deal with the ISP). I'm at the point of writing a
>> formal complaint about the ineffective technical support and the lies
>> told by customer support, but I'd rather just get the line fixed and then
>> move to a competent ISP, if there is such a thing.
>
> There's your problem, you have that the wrong way about. Only a competent
> ISP will be able to get BT to fix your line. So get a migration code from
> Orange and move to somebody like Zen.
>
> But if the line is noisy during voice calls, even only occasionally
> (crosstalk from another line, for example) complain to your voice service
> provider who will get BT to fix that first. If your voice provider is
> Orange, then I'm sure you will be given the same excuse. So go to BT
> directly for your voice calls. But whatver you do, don't go to BT for
> ADSL - they are worse even than Orange!

Never a truer word!
Ask your chosen ISP(s) if they have a UK-based call centre before you sign
anything.

George

Tony wrote:

> Graham J <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 at
> 16:10:19:
> >The before and after figures:
> >
> >Before:
> >Up speed 448k
> >Down Speed 1,344k
> >SNR Margin 8.5
> >Loop Att. 41.0
> >
> >After
> >Up speed 448k
> >Down Speed 7,360k
> >SNR Margin 10
> >Loop Att. 36.5
> >
> >Line length is 2.89 km
> >
> >Throughput is only about 1Mbit/sec, but one can't expect anything
> >better from Tiscali.
>
> Your low expectations may be incorrect in this case. You'll need to wait
> 3 days before your IP Profile increases to reflect the new higher down
> speed. The BT performance tester at <http://speedtester.bt.com/> will
> tell you your IP profile (when it's not overloaded).

It won't work on a Tiscali LLU'd line (if it is LLU'd) AFAIK.

Graham

Alan Shilling wrote:

> I'd rather just get the line
> fixed and then move to a competent ISP,

Why not move first to the competent ISP who knows how to get BT to do things ? And
FAST !

> if there is such a thing.

One word. IDnet. Complete stars.

Mail me on the address in my headers and I can get you (and me) a £10 introductory
discount.

Graham

Eeyore <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Wed, 13 Aug
2008 at 20:12:46:
>
>
>Tony wrote:
>
>> Your low expectations may be incorrect in this case. You'll need to wait
>> 3 days before your IP Profile increases to reflect the new higher down
>> speed. The BT performance tester at <http://speedtester.bt.com/> will
>> tell you your IP profile (when it's not overloaded).
>
>It won't work on a Tiscali LLU'd line (if it is LLU'd) AFAIK.

OK, but does a BT technician still fix an LLU'd line?
--
Tony

Tony wrote:

> Eeyore wrote
> >Tony wrote:
> >
> >> Your low expectations may be incorrect in this case. You'll need to wait
> >> 3 days before your IP Profile increases to reflect the new higher down
> >> speed. The BT performance tester at <http://speedtester.bt.com/> will
> >> tell you your IP profile (when it's not overloaded).
> >
> >It won't work on a Tiscali LLU'd line (if it is LLU'd) AFAIK.
>
> OK, but does a BT technician still fix an LLU'd line?

Yes, because they literally own it. Tiscali only owns the exchange equipment
that substitutes for BT's. In short, they (usually an incompetent
sub-contractor) plugs a cable in the exchange into a Tiscali 'box' instead of a
BT one.

However Tiscali HATE having to pay BT to fix line faults (part of the deal), so
mostly they fob you off. Return to BT and a good non-LLU ISP and the problem
gets fixed. It's as simple as that. Experienced it myself first hand (having
been Tiscali LLU'd without my knowledge as a Plusnet customer at the time). BT
guy twigged the fault in under 10 mins after 2 months of Tiscali/Plusnet hell.

Graham

Eeyore <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Thu, 14 Aug
2008 at 00:11:47:
>
>Tony wrote:
>
>> Eeyore wrote
>> >Tony wrote:
>> >
>> >> Your low expectations may be incorrect in this case. You'll need to wait
>> >> 3 days before your IP Profile increases to reflect the new higher down
>> >> speed. The BT performance tester at <http://speedtester.bt.com/> will
>> >> tell you your IP profile (when it's not overloaded).
>> >
>> >It won't work on a Tiscali LLU'd line (if it is LLU'd) AFAIK.
>>
>> OK, but does a BT technician still fix an LLU'd line?
>
>Yes, because they literally own it. Tiscali only owns the exchange equipment
>that substitutes for BT's. In short, they (usually an incompetent
>sub-contractor) plugs a cable in the exchange into a Tiscali 'box' instead of a
>BT one.
>
>However Tiscali HATE having to pay BT to fix line faults (part of the deal), so
>mostly they fob you off. Return to BT and a good non-LLU ISP and the problem
>gets fixed. It's as simple as that. Experienced it myself first hand (having
>been Tiscali LLU'd without my knowledge as a Plusnet customer at the time). BT
>guy twigged the fault in under 10 mins after 2 months of Tiscali/Plusnet hell.

Thanks for the clear explanation.

--
Tony