Loss Of Home Broadband

[mikey4444]

I have BT Infinity but its been down since Sunday afternoon. I have reset my Router lots of times and it always comes up again, with a steady blue light.

Before I start the long, involved process of contacting BT in India, is there anything else I can do ?

I am using my little Notebook, on a dongle at present, and its not a very fast connection !

[DTCwordfan]

could be the phone line, mikey - how's your phone....there is a way of changing channels in the box but not sure how - perhaps there's someone on here....

By the way, it's worth taking your router off line at some point and phoning in to say you have an issue - they'll dispatch a new box and you then have one in reserve for such problems as you have now. It's an essential out here as, with nearly 3 miles of copper line between the house and exchange, we and neighbouring farms are really exposed to lightning strikes - usually one strike a year!

[mikey4444]

Phone line is OK DTC....and all the diagnostics that I can find on my PC seem to say that there is a strong signal available. I have asked my neighbours but they are all firmly SKY fans around here, and are all OK.

I will have to phone BT I suppose but last time this happened, I had to spend hours on the phone, talking to India, and it was network problem after all.

It seems that SKY customers are all OK, despite them getting their 'net access from their telephone line, just like me. So I am guessing that its got to be a BT Network problem again.

Its very inconvenient, as I need to download some urgent work this morning.............trip to the ghastly sister-in-law looks as if on the cards I suppose !

( and this ruddy Dongle is doing my head in !...it working perfectly well in the caravan but not so good here at home ! )

[Old_Geezer]

A reason it's a good idea to have a reserve router (and an old PC) to confirm connection problems with. Best of luck sorting it. Have you tried a cable connection to the router ? Do the other LEDs indicate a internet side network issue ? Can you reach the router's management interface page ?

[aelmpvw]

if the sister-in-law is ghastly i think i would go to the caravan with my dongle

[mikey4444]

aelmpvw...alas, 'van 273 miles away ! So, I will have to grit my teeth and smile sweetly I suppose ( I hope she's not on AB ! )

[whiskeryron]

It seems significant to me that you have also lost dab radio in the valley mikey, are the two somehow connected ?

[murraymints]

I had this problem twice, once it was the land line which had been damaged by next donor's trees, the other was the server was at fault some 8miles away..contact your provider and get them to check it

[murraymints]

Door's ....Predictive thingy does not like them either it seems

[mikey4444]

I wouldn't have thought so Ron...DAB went off on Saturday afternoon, and the 'net went down on Sunday. Both Transmitter and Exchange are nowhere near each other. Off out now...will report back later !

( Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad ! )

[mikey4444]

Update !

Well, after a fruitless 1.5 hours on the 'phone to Bangalore, we are no nearer getting this fault fixed. The chap tried everything ::

Resetting the Router, with the aid of a paper-clip...no joy.
Restarting the Router.....no joy.
Connected my Samsung Tablet to the Router directly by cable, still no joy.

The Indian chap "reset" my line from his end ( India ! ) but still no joy.

He then confessed that he tried everything but this was stumping him, which was honest I suppose ! Its really strange...everything says that the signal is strong and the internet is "there" but it isn't ! It is happening on all my devices, so it cam't be down to me

He has now escalated this up a level and someone will call me back tomorrow between 11:30 and 13:30, so another wasted day !

Is Hans on here today ?

[HansUrbancka]

Hi mikey..........Hearing from you has prompted me to post again in the columns of AB. I have been 'resting' for the past two weeks and only looking into AB; which has a number of newcomers who 'appear' to have far more knowledge than original regulars. Consequently I have been happy enough to take a back-seat.

Now to your problem.

It is my view that there is a fault in your local Telephone Exchange and/or your Broadband is being capped/throttled to allow BT to keep services flowing for other Internet Service Providers such as Sky; Talk Talk etc.: who pay very well for services. It is the case that I have had on and off problems since March of this year and, on April 14th, I e/mailed Gavin Patterson the Chief Executive Officer of BT ( [email protected]) He then appointed a senior member of his personal staff ( Mr Rob Smith) to contact me with a view to resolving matters. Arrangements were then made for an Openreach technician to visit me and, whilst my Computer is on the 3rd internal socket from the main input BT Socket, he was Not able to positively establish any internal house wiring faults. Prior to my original complaint I was getting (standard Broadband not infinity) a download of 12.4 and upload of 0.94....which is what is now being tracked.

Obviously your complaint has now been passed to level two within BT and I feel sure that you will have a battle to convince the telephone caller you get tomorrow, that the fault is with BT. I suggest you take the call from India with a determination Not to be beaten on matters.

Keep in touch......Hans.

[mikey4444]

Thanks Hans !

I am an ex-BT Engineer, although I left long before all this internet business really got started. I can't see that there is anything wrong with my house installation at all. Nothing I could see, or the Indian chap could see, indicated any reason why I can't connect to the 'net.

Simple logic tells me that there has to be problem down the line somewhere. Its either in the new green Cabinet down the road, or its in BT's own system somewhere. An Openreach engineer should have no difficulty in connecting to my line, somewhere outside the house, perhaps in the Exchange itself, and see if a connection can be made. I am not sure where the fibre optic cable goes from the new cabinet...it might not be the local exchange at all....it might go all the way to the main exchange in Swansea itself.

I had a similar problem before and they eventually found a line fault somewhere, although they were vague about its whereabouts !

Thanks for your help though...most appreciated.

[whiskeryron]

mikey, nostalgia being what it is reminds me that before all these new fangled gadgets, I had NO problems with 2 tin cans connected with string.

[mikey4444]

Me too Ron, but the download speed was crap !

[mikey4444]

I have just come off the phone to an old BT colleague of mine, who only left a about 6 months ago. He reckons that the fault must lie either in the new green Cabinet ( the D_Slam ) or in the large Router in the local exchange.

Anyway, I intend to stick to my guns tomorrow, and hold out for a WHOOSH Test !

[HansUrbancka]

Best of luck for tomorrow. If you are as Welsh as I admit to being, you should be able to follow what is said to you in an Indian accent. However, whether it makes any sense could be a different matter.

I stand by my view that it is a fault between the Exchange and your abode in the Swansea Valley.

Incidentally I am aware that your DAB Radio is also problematic. Sorry I can't help except to ask you....."Is it possible for you to get transmissions from Kilvey Hill, Swansea".

Hans.

[mikey4444]

Thanks Hans !

No...Kilvey only gives a "burbling" sort of sound, as its not really in sight and too far around the curve of the Valley.

What irritates me most about the DAB problem is that the R+TIS website is still showing the situation was OK after 18:15 on Saturday, when it was admitted by the chap in their Befast office today that there was still a problem. It failed on Saturday afternoon and its still off now. If you think that there are plans to turn off the FM signal in Britain, this DAB business doesn't give much confidence !

Back to my Broadband difficulties. My Ex-BT mate has called back and said there is still an outside chance that the problem is with my home router, although, like you, he still reckons its has to be either the new green cabinet, (the D-Flam) or in the large router, in the Telephone Exchange. I gave my old Exchange keys back 20 years ago, when I retired from BT...wish I had hung on to them now !

( not that I would have a clue what to do, even if I was able to get in ! )

[HansUrbancka]

I am willing to bet a tenner that the problem is within the Telephone Exchange and it could well be deliberate on the part of BT to keep their Commercial Customers happy and to hell with small private individuals, such as ourselves, who are under short term contracts; even although they get a lot of money from the small customers who are too small as individuals to take action. Perhaps we should form ourselves into an organisation like a 'trade union' and expose the foul-play to which we are being subjected.

I feel sure that recently I heard on BBC News that there are concerns in Governmental circles that BT is failing in the field of providing adequate Broadband to its private Home Customers.

Hans.

[murraymints]

Hans that is where my problem was , the server at the exchange...see my above post

[mikey4444]

Well, another man from India called, about an hour ago. He went through most of the same procedures as yesterday. I told him that the fault was either in the green cabinet or in the Router at the Exchange. He said that there were some "losses in the line", but these could be in or out of my home. He has booked an Engineer visit for Thursday morning...08:00 to 13:00, so lets hope its someone I know (!) and they can finally find where the fault is. If it is my fault, then its going to cost me £129 !

Fingers crosseverybody...this loss of my Broadband is giving me serious difficulties, working from home as I do.