Full Exchange Outage - Second time in a month

[Speedbird676]

After three years of very reliable service from NOW Broadband, this is the second time this month my service has gone down due to a "Full Exchange Outage".

[RoyB]

@Speedbird676 

Like most, though not all, broadband suppliers, Now use the services of Openreach, who maintain the actual physical networks used.

A full exchange outage will mean that customers of all the ISPs who use Openreach in your area will have lost their service.

So they are all probably saying the same thing as you right now.

Your only remedy is to switch from the FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) which is what Now mostly use, to FTTP (fibre to the property), which is about five times more reliable. But you may not be able to get FTTP yet, where you live; in which case you will just have to grin and bear it.

But do let Now Broadband know your service is down, as this will start the clock for the automatic compensation you will receive if this issue is not resolved within three working days.

[Speedbird676]

Unfortunately, I don't even have the luxury of FTTC.

I am one of the forgotten few with an Exchange Only Line so condemned to ADSL for eternity!

[RoyB]

@Speedbird676 

Oh dear, I feel for you 😢

Have you investigated mobile broadband, or is that coverage as bad, or worse, than landlines?

[Speedbird676]

@RoyB

I do use 5G as a backup in situations like this but it is very variable. Evening speeds are great but daytime not so much.

It always makes me smile when they're talking about prioritising rural areas for faster broadband on the news, living in the very centre of London and can still only get ADSL 🙃.

[chilli2]

However there are two things at play here:

 the Openreach exchange, and the DNS server settings that Sky/Now use

As far as i know the last few outages were down to Nows DNS server system crashing , the workaround is to uise alternative DNS servers in the router settings - although the now Hub  doesnt let you do that 

[RoyB]

@chilli2 

A ‘Full Exchange Outage’ couldn’t be caused by Sky/Now DNS issues surely? If accurate, it would be bigger and more widespread than even a Sky LLU equipment failure.

[Speedbird676]

@chilli2

Like you say, I can't test the theory as I'm using Now's router so cannot change the DNS settings.

However, I am getting the orange LED on internet connection so assume this wouldn't be caused by a DNS outage?

[chilli2]

Orange internet light just means it cant get an internet connection - could be anything from DNs down again to issues elsewhere .

 I know there was a fire at an exchange somewhere in the midlands a while back that caused all sorts of issues and didnt just affect Now, are other people in your area offline or just you? if others are off are they Sky or Now customers?

[Speedbird676]

@chilli2

No idea.

This is London. We don't speak to our neighbours.