Frequent disconnection problems

Hi there,

I've been a BT Internet customer for some years now, happily trundling
away on a fairly reliable 512 k connection.

Last Friday I was automatically upgraded to their 2.2mb service. Since
then the connection has become extremely unstable, sometimes lasting
for only a few minutes. There are no error messages, but I am unable to
re-connect for about a minute afterwards - a "no dial tone" error
message pops up. Additionally this seems to happen most at certain
times of day, particularly around 7.00 - 10.00 pm, which is when I'm
guessing the contention ratio is at its highest.

I'm using a Speedtouch USB modem with up-to-date drivers, am running
McAffee personal firewall and virus scan with up-to-date definitions. I
have a face-plate microfilter / splitter that was installed by BT.

Interestingly enough the voice portion of the line seems to have
completely stopped working as well - there is no dial tone at all when
I lift the receiver. Could this be related? I've yet to try another
handset.

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated. I've spoken to
BT's "technical support" line but they were not particularly technical,
or supportive.

Thanks

Matt Pryor

On 30 Nov, in article
<(E-Mail Removed) .com>
(E-Mail Removed) "mattpryor" wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I've been a BT Internet customer for some years now, happily trundling
> away on a fairly reliable 512 k connection.
>
> Last Friday I was automatically upgraded to their 2.2mb service. Since
> then the connection has become extremely unstable, sometimes lasting
> for only a few minutes. There are no error messages, but I am unable to
> re-connect for about a minute afterwards - a "no dial tone" error
> message pops up. Additionally this seems to happen most at certain
> times of day, particularly around 7.00 - 10.00 pm, which is when I'm
> guessing the contention ratio is at its highest.
>
> I'm using a Speedtouch USB modem with up-to-date drivers, am running
> McAffee personal firewall and virus scan with up-to-date definitions. I
> have a face-plate microfilter / splitter that was installed by BT.
>
> Interestingly enough the voice portion of the line seems to have
> completely stopped working as well - there is no dial tone at all when
> I lift the receiver. Could this be related? I've yet to try another
> handset.
>
> Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated. I've spoken to
> BT's "technical support" line but they were not particularly technical,
> or supportive.

So you have both voice and ADSL service on the line, and you've lost
both?

Minimum check: disconnect your internal wiring at the Master Socket --
the lower half of the faceplate plugs into an internal standard phone
socket, allowing the customer to safely connect extensions. With the
faceplace removed/unplugged you can plug in direct.

If the phone is still dead (and check more than one phone) report a
voice phone fault. The reporting number is in the phone book, and
they're good at accepting fault reports from lines other than the one
with the apparent fault.

If you only have one phone to plug, a spare is a good idea anyway.
Damage to the lead from wall to phone is not always obvious.

--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

"I am Number Two," said Penfold. "You are Number Six."

Thanks for the reply David.

The weird thing is that it seems to be just the voice service that I've
lost. The ADSL still works after a fashion, but drops off frequently.

I've done as you suggested and called the BT fault service, who have
confirmed a fault somewhere between my house and the exchange, so
hopefully that will resolve the problem!

Cheers

Matt

"mattpryor" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Thanks for the reply David.
>
> The weird thing is that it seems to be just the voice service that I've
> lost. The ADSL still works after a fashion, but drops off frequently.
>
> I've done as you suggested and called the BT fault service, who have
> confirmed a fault somewhere between my house and the exchange, so
> hopefully that will resolve the problem!
>
> Cheers
>
> Matt
>

ADSL will sometimes work with one wire broken (RF bridges the gap?), that
could explain your symptons.

Peter

"Peter Andrews" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:T1ljf.109743$(E-Mail Removed) o.uk...
>
> "mattpryor" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>> Thanks for the reply David.
>>
>> The weird thing is that it seems to be just the voice service that I've
>> lost. The ADSL still works after a fashion, but drops off frequently.
>>
>> I've done as you suggested and called the BT fault service, who have
>> confirmed a fault somewhere between my house and the exchange, so
>> hopefully that will resolve the problem!
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Matt
>>
>
> ADSL will sometimes work with one wire broken (RF bridges the gap?), that
> could explain your symptons.
>
> Peter
>

We are moving house on Friday, and I've had the BT phone disconnected.
However, my ADSL signal is still working a treat - posting this via Wanadoo
BB, despite cancelling account with them yesterday...the chap said "You know
it will cease immediately don't you?" to which I replied "Well, BT have cut
off the line anyway".

Seems the digital signal comes through a treat, although when Wanadoo/BT
will get round to knocking it on the head I don't know......click <g>.

Si.

Si.

"Si" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dmldmp$kpa$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Peter Andrews" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:T1ljf.109743$(E-Mail Removed) o.uk...
>>
>> "mattpryor" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>>> Thanks for the reply David.
>>>
>>> The weird thing is that it seems to be just the voice service that
>>> I've
>>> lost. The ADSL still works after a fashion, but drops off
>>> frequently.
>>>
>>> I've done as you suggested and called the BT fault service, who have
>>> confirmed a fault somewhere between my house and the exchange, so
>>> hopefully that will resolve the problem!
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Matt
>>>
>>
>> ADSL will sometimes work with one wire broken (RF bridges the gap?),
>> that could explain your symptons.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>
> We are moving house on Friday, and I've had the BT phone disconnected.
> However, my ADSL signal is still working a treat - posting this via
> Wanadoo BB, despite cancelling account with them yesterday...the chap
> said "You know it will cease immediately don't you?" to which I
> replied "Well, BT have cut off the line anyway".
>
> Seems the digital signal comes through a treat, although when
> Wanadoo/BT will get round to knocking it on the head I don't
> know......click <g>.
>

Have experience of a similar situation where the ADSL carried on for
around 3 years after the line was ceased. In fact it was only lost
after the user decided to get his line turned back on...