Intermittent physical line errors - help someone at the end of their tether

Right.

Situation is that after a year of almost uninterrupted service (only about 3
outages that I can remember), since Saturday my ADSL connection has become
very flaky. Approx 50% of the time my Dlink-504 won't connect, showing a
Physical Line Error. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to when it
connects, and when it doesn't - the connection can be up for several hours,
then flick on and off every couple of minutes, then be down for half a day,
etc etc (I have a pinger sitting here recording when it is up and when it's
down).

Nothing has changed in my setup - no reconfig of the PC/router/wiring (this
latter is pretty ropey, but hasn't given a problem over the last few year as
I say).

Reported the fault to Zen, who did some tests and identified an error and
passed the call to BT. (entry from fault log - "EU doesn't have sync. Woosh
says no sync but IP test says sync. Raising fault with BT.").

BT had a look, and maybe fixed something or maybe just test edagain and
reckon it's all working (entry in the call log they have put in "Additional
Information : frames engineer has cleared fault, please retest with eu.
thanks.")

But of course it's not fixed, the intermittency goes on. After a bit of
calling Zen back, and Zen calling BT, BT are now requesting a house visit.
The thing is, they'll slap a 50 quid charge on me if they visit and can't
find a problem in the house - and the intermittent nature means it'll
probably all be working when they visit, and also that the fault probably
isn't in the house anyway.

I've tried using different microfilters/adsl routers (NETGEAR 814), removing
all phones etc, but it still just connects and disconnects at random. I got
all excited when I saw the report on the Zen support site about probs with
Dlink kit and LPC errors, saying to use LLC not VCMUX encap, but it isn't
that problem and using LLC doesn't help.

At the moment I can't see any future but getting BT in, when it'll probably
all work, so have to get them back, when it'll probably all work, each time
racking up a 50 quid charge.

When other people have had this situation, did they have any cunning way of
helping BT work out where the fault was/has anyone got any idea of how to
proceed without presigning a load of cheques for engineer visits?

If you've got this far reading my tale of
in-the-grand-scheme-of-things-not-very-important woe then thanks!

Doyler.

Hi,
Might not help, but before callinmg in BT, could you disconnect your
internal wiring from the master socket, and try with just your router
connected ? At the some time, check for any wires that may have worked
loose in the master socket. This will be a pain I know, but if it makes a
difference, at least you know the problem is internal. If not, then call in
BT and keep your fingers crossed.


--

Martin

I have had YEARS of line faults with BT. (Have HH at moment, just applied
for Pipex ADSL).

Suffered loads of noise and unexplained cut offs for nearly 4 years.

BT blamed our phones, the PC, the tropical fish, an engineer wanted a
bucket of water, and poured it round the base of the pole!, (amazingly the
line came back on), another engineer said it was too wet, (in December),
they dug up the road and repaired a fault, the engineer was so chuffed that
he had fixed the fault, he didnt believe that the phones had started working
the night before.

We had equipment at the exchange replaced, new wiring in the house, FIVE
ISDN boxes, at one time there was 7 BT vans in the street looking for the
fault.
They eventually traced to a break in the cable on the pole.
It took EIGHT days for that to be fixed, as the break was 6ft from ground
level, and Health and safety rules do not allow BT engineers to work above
shoulder level withou ladders, and as teh pole is condemend we had to wait
until they could arrange a hoist to lift the engineer a foot of the ground!

We have not been charged. But I havent recieved any compensation for
disrupted service, stress or additional use of mobile calls.

At the timer of writing this we have been getting good connections, so I am
hoping that the line is good enough for Broadband.

Peter

Doyler wrote:
> Right.
>
> Situation is that after a year of almost uninterrupted service
> (only about 3 outages that I can remember), since Saturday my ADSL
> connection has become very flaky. Approx 50% of the time my
> Dlink-504 won't connect, showing a Physical Line Error. There
> doesn't seem to be any pattern to when it connects, and when it
> doesn't - the connection can be up for several hours, then flick on
> and off every couple of minutes, then be down for half a day, etc
> etc (I have a pinger sitting here recording when it is up and when
> it's down).
>
> Nothing has changed in my setup - no reconfig of the
> PC/router/wiring (this latter is pretty ropey, but hasn't given a
> problem over the last few year as I say).
>
> Reported the fault to Zen, who did some tests and identified an
> error and passed the call to BT. (entry from fault log - "EU
> doesn't have sync. Woosh says no sync but IP test says sync.
> Raising fault with BT.").
>
> BT had a look, and maybe fixed something or maybe just test edagain
> and reckon it's all working (entry in the call log they have put in
> "Additional Information : frames engineer has cleared fault, please
> retest with eu. thanks.")
>
> But of course it's not fixed, the intermittency goes on. After a
> bit of calling Zen back, and Zen calling BT, BT are now requesting
> a house visit. The thing is, they'll slap a 50 quid charge on me if
> they visit and can't find a problem in the house - and the
> intermittent nature means it'll probably all be working when they
> visit, and also that the fault probably isn't in the house anyway.
>
> I've tried using different microfilters/adsl routers (NETGEAR 814),
> removing all phones etc, but it still just connects and disconnects
> at random. I got all excited when I saw the report on the Zen
> support site about probs with Dlink kit and LPC errors, saying to
> use LLC not VCMUX encap, but it isn't that problem and using LLC
> doesn't help.
>
> At the moment I can't see any future but getting BT in, when it'll
> probably all work, so have to get them back, when it'll probably
> all work, each time racking up a 50 quid charge.
>
> When other people have had this situation, did they have any
> cunning way of helping BT work out where the fault was/has anyone
> got any idea of how to proceed without presigning a load of cheques
> for engineer visits?
>
> If you've got this far reading my tale of
> in-the-grand-scheme-of-things-not-very-important woe then thanks!
>
> Doyler.

If you get an ADSL engineer (which you should), you will most probably
find that they are understanding & will only charge as a last resort
(sometimes you just have to, end users complaining about noisy calls
when they haven't used micro filters & the like).

Make sure all you internal wiring is ok or disconnected & that the
problem persists & then bite the bullet...

--
B-)
Life is pain.....
Deal with it!!

Doyler wrote:
> I've tried using different microfilters/adsl routers (NETGEAR 814),
> removing all phones etc, but it still just connects and disconnects at
> random. I got all excited when I saw the report on the Zen support site
> about probs with Dlink kit and LPC errors, saying to use LLC not VCMUX
> encap, but it isn't that problem and using LLC doesn't help.
>


Is your phone line quiet when making telephone calls? i.e. no crackling,
static. With fast ASDL lines sending and receiving data at 512kbps, just
one bit of data is less than 2 microseconds in length. You would not even
hear this, but noise means more error correction and eventually your
connection would just drop out.
Try and connect your computer to the master socket in your house with the
rest of the wiring disconnected, and without a microfilter. If the trouble
disappears, then add a microfilter and repeat the test, then connect the
extension phones wires and repeat again. This will prove whether the fault
is in your house or not.
You do need to try a different router, which you have tried already, chances
are the fault will be external as there is more cable between your house and
the exchange, than your house and the socket your computer uses.