Regular Disconnections & Fluctuating Speeds... 6+ phone calls, still not resolved

[RyanD]

Hey All,

I moved into this property about two months ago and have had issues with the internet from day 1, from 10+ (sometimes 20+) disconnections a day to massively fluctuating internet speeds going from a 37Mbps connection down to 1Mbps connection randomly

When we moved in we subscribed to the "NowTV Super Fibre" which is supposed to provide average download speeds of 63Mbps. 

Events:

• Moved in, subscribed to a 63Mbps connection
  
  
• Noticed disconnections & fluctuating speeds.
  
  
• Called NowTV and mentioned the issues, they suggested waiting a few more days as the line profiles were being automatically figured out.
  
  
• Called NowTV and mentioned both the issues + the fact that I was paying for a 63Mbps connection yet only getting 37Mbps which is only fractionally faster than "NowTV Fab Fibre" so I asked to be downgraded. They put in the ticket to downgrade my account/line and then put me through to a different department regarding the connection issues. This new representative claimed that it was because we were mid-downgrade of which is very clearly wrong as I only just asked for it to be downgraded and the issues had been affecting us for many days before asking for that.
  
  
• I suggested that maybe it is the internal wiring because to me the wiring looked very old and outdated, I provided NowTV with pictures of the setup and she agreed that it looked like the likely cause.The lady raised a ticket with BT Openreach to get an engineer sent out.
  
  
• Engineer arrived and asked what the problem was, to which he had a look at the wiring and setup and very quickly suggested replacing all of the wiring because the current wiring looked like it was in very bad condition. After a short while he had finished replacing the wiring and it looks a lot better than it previously did. He ran a line test in the house and was getting 38Mbps however I've actually never got 
  
  
• An hour or so after he left, we had another disconnection... I didn't bother calling up immediately because I hoped it would settle down but after a few days it was still acting the same as it was before which shows it wasn't the internal wiring that was the fault...
  
  
• I called up NowTV again and they again said there were no issues on the line but he could try changing someone on my line (line profile I assume) and that after 24 hours it should be much improved...  He said that he would call back in 24-48 hours time and see how the line is. I never received a call. 
• I called up 2 after 48 hours to which I was told the line profile changes can take up to 72 hours to process.
  
  
• A few days pass, I call up again and the individual I spoke to claimed again nothing was wrong with my line, so they couldn't really do anything. I obviously argued against this because there very clearly is something wrong. He eventually suggested sending out a new router to which I asked something along the lines of "What's next if the new router doesn't solve the issue" to which he immediately gave me attitude stating that the new router is the next step, I asked again in a different way which he gave me the same reply, I asked again in yet another way and he finally said that it would be raised with the networking team to investigate. I accepted his suggestion of trying a new router even though I was confident it wouldn't fix the issue.
  
  
• The new router arrived, I installed it (I'm not a novice when it comes to things like this), it's the same as how I set it up originally, same as how BT Openreach set it up and same as my previous properties. Didn't take long for disconnections to continue happening which made it clear to me that the router wasn't the issue either.
  
  
• I called up NowTV again, and guess what... they suggested yet again everything was working and nothing could be done, yet when I got them to look into the logs of the line he could see disconnections (Though it wasn't as many as I was actually getting). He wasn't very helpful and I basically had to tell him that an engineer needs to be booked or NowTV/Sky need to investigate further. He agreed to organise an engineer to which I told him that the outside wiring + cabinet/exchange should be next because everything inside the house has been replaced so it surely can't be anything inside the premesis. I was informed that I would receive a text telling me when the engineer had finished but it could take 72+ hours.
  
  
• I waited 7 days, no text, no email, no phone call... I called up to check and found out that the ticket didn't get "picked up" so no engineer was actually sent.
  
  I checked with this representative what had been done to the lines before they sent a new router as a previous rep said he had changed some settings on the line... he told me that nothing looks like it got changed.
  
  He ran a line test and there were no issues on the line again. He told me to reset the router to which I replied (while walking towards the router) "We've already tried resetting the rou..." and he interrupted me telling me that "I need you to reset it to continue" or something like that, to which I told me "Yes, I am resetting it. I am just telling you all the things that have been tried".
  
  I reset it and he said that the line shows we are getting 38Mbps, I replied telling him that sometimes it drops massively down to as low as 1Mbps to which he replied with "That's expected with WiFi" which I had to tell him "No no, on wired too. I've tried it on a wired computer and the same happens".
  
  He said that he couldn't see anything wrong and then tried to suggest that its because we have 9 devices connected. I told him that 7 of those are lights not computers/phones and he replied with "Yes, but as they're connected they could still be using too much of your lines bandwidth" which is laughable because we all know that 7 lights use basically no bandwidth and this particular router in theory can handle well over 100 devices and they shouldn't be able to cause disconnections only wifi slowdown. Regardless of that I told him "Yes but the issues with the internet have been around before these wifi lights were installed. I added these last week yet the issue has been around for over a month.
  
  He finally agreed to raising it with a different team, the networking team to have a look into the issue and action the engineer ticket and that he would call me back within 72 hours.

[Anonymous User]

I know Openreach have checked your internal wiring, but have you tried with the router in the test socket. If it still fails there, the problem is eternal to you.

As for the speed you can see what Openreach believe your line to be capable of here:

BT Broadband (btwholesale.com)

The speeds ISP's quote are sync speeds and not actual download speeds

It does sound like Openreach need to take another look.

[allanc]

@RyanD 

@Anonymous User  good advice .  The database holds details of bt phonenumbers but not for other isps who own their own unbundled lines. You may have to click the 3 horizontal lines top left and use the address checker. The results are very accurate so if you want to copy and paste the table for someone to look at

[Anonymous User]

@allanc 

My phone number was originally an unbundled Sky line, but it is still on the database, but you are right, some lines need to use the address query instead.

[RyanD]

Hi, I checked it up on BTWholesale as suggested and it shows a high of 44 on a clean line or 42.8 on a impacted line with a low of 31.2 on a low line clean line and a 27.4 on an impacted line

It's 5:20am and my current download speed is 35.9Mbps with an upload speed of 7.2Mbps. However, about 10 minutes ago we had another disconnection.

The actual speeds we're getting most of the time seem to be about right? It's the disconnections that we want BT/Sky/NowTV to fix.

[allanc]

@RyanD 

What is noticeable is your cabinet is on a waiting list which means all the slots are full this creates crosstalk and contention and reduces speed. What started as a 63Mbps service will be reduced until such a time as openreach decide to put in extra capacity to ease the congested cabinet

However a constant line drop of more than 10 a day should constitute a line fault if it is the internet light turning red as opposed to wifi disconnects.

[allanc]

@RyanD 

To back up your case you may want to create a thinkbroadband.com bqm account using your public ipv4 address and copy and paste the live graph "direct link" http

As soon as you post the link the line drops will show as 40-60% to 100% packet loss and can be monitored live

[RyanD]

Hey,

Thanks for your reply AllanC, I appreciate your replies!

I assume the high load on the cabinet is why the regular speed fluctuates so much throughout the day going from 36Mbps~ down to 20Mbps~

The thing is some days it doesn't disconnect loads, like yesterday we only had 2 disconnections. It's the same as how like 4-5 days ago we had no disconnections one day and then the very next day we had 15+

Here's the graph from yesterday


The first disconnection is at 8am which isn't shown in the graph above? The second disconnection is however shown and that was at 5:10~.

We also had major slowdowns in speed during a few of those big spiky areas that I could notice when browsing sites. I even ran speed tests throughout the day and had two speedtests that came back with 5Mbps, two that came back with 1Mbps, one that came back with 15Mbps and one that came back with 10Mbps~. Right now it's at 30Mbps

[Anonymous User]

Does your router reboot each time you have a "disconnection"? If it does they must be able to see that at their end.

Have you tried it in the test socket? If it still fails there then you will need to keep badgering Now until they fix it. Have it in the test socket when you call as they may ask you to do that.

[RyanD]

I'm not sure, the lights on the two today did show that it had disconnected and then eventually reconnected and thus the lights returned to green.

I've not, though remember the houses wiring & boxes were all replaced and the engineer tested the line and suggested it was all good.