Internet (authentication) connection dropping.

[sjt959]

Since being “upgraded” earlier this month I’ve been having problems with the internet connection staying active.  Yes the upgrade increased the speed (~3meg to ~8meg) but that is no good if the connection is lost every few minutes, as it has been in some cases.  It re-connects but is becoming irritating and frustrating.

I’ve reported this twice so far without resolution.  Both support guys have been helpful in what they’ve done and said but no solution.  I’ve been told that they can see that my authentication is being lost by the “server” - 30 times in two days - however the broadband connection remains intact ie no errors on the line.

Done so far.

- Lots of re-boots

- New micro filter

- Help desk dial in to check router configuration (twice)

- Factory reset of the router (BT 2wire)

- Connected to the test socket

- Reduced the Upstream MTU (now 1458)

- Reset my ppp authentication password, from BT’s end.

- An SRN reset to allow re-profiling of the line.

This last one was done Friday afternoon and was told to “let it settle” over the weekend and a call back was booked for later this morning (Monday), however the connection has again dropped already this morning.

What else can I or they do?

Before the upgrade I’ve had no issues in the 10 years or so I’ve been a BT broadband customer, even defending them on some occasions in discussions on their poor service, however this isn’t looking good.

[sjt959]

So an engineer did turn up this morning and spent a good long time checking the line etc.

Only issues he found were some errors on the line but far below the threshold to cause the connection to be lost and his tester also reported noise on the line but again too low to be audible.

As a precaution he changed the socket and checked the DP box.  He then went out to the exchange and checked each connection on the D side for pair integrity.  Again all seemed OK.  Lastly he requested a profile reset, explaining that this may cause the connection to drop during while it establishes levels.  However, due to this or not the connection is still dropping, it did so twice while typing this (I know I’m a slow typist).

If this continues tomorrow I will have to get them back.

A couple of interesting points during our conversation.

BT will automatically send out a new router rather than get an engineer on site, cheaper apparently.

He suspects it has something to do with the new equipment for the upgrade last month but BT are unwilling to consider this.

Unfortunately I suspect this will continue.

and again as I went to post this.............................................

[sjt959]

Just because I’ve not posted I suspect you thought all was fixed.  Think again.

With the parting words of the first engineer to visit ringing in my ears, “I don’t think anything I’ve done will solve the problem.” He was indeed right.

The next thing to happen was a call from BT saying that the reason the very first engineer dispatched did not arrive was because I was not at the premises and not answering my phone.  When she read the address where the engineer had been dispatched it was in the next county!  Remember that BT had already admitted they had the wrong postcode and therefore the wrong address.  Anyway this person was insisting it was my fault and that I need to inform BT of the “new” address for the account lthough the next engineer arrived without getting lost.  There was no way she would accept they had made a mistake.  Again not a good attitude for service or respect for the customer

So a couple of days later the engineering service lady on the case called and asked if the problem had been rectified?  Of course it had not.  After going to check she came back and said another engineer will be dispatched on Friday (17th).

The engineer did arrive and after I explained the case history - they appear to be told nothing of previous visits - he said immediately it’s the PPP authentication (this we’ve known since the start) and that he would have to swap something at the exchange, once authorisation to do so had been granted.  So off he went.

Upon his return he said that, to his surprise the authorisation had been granted immediately and he had changed the equipment.  What that means exactly I’m not sure (see below).  Because of this action the line would need to synchronise again so expect some variation on connection for a couple of hours.  Fair enough.

Talking with him, he said that he had seen this on a number of occasions after the “upgrade” when they’ve gone from 20 to 21 (?)

So what’s happen this week?  At home Wednesday and yes you’ve guessed it the line still keeps dropping.  So when I had the weekly check up call I informed them of this.  And again an engineer will be dispatched Friday (24th) to change something in the exchange.  I said I thought the last one did that, but no.  Apparently not.

Well we’ll see what today brings.

[sjt959]

So I’m guessing that you think it’s been fixed and he hasn’t mentioned it.  Well you’ll be wrong, IT’S STILL NOT WORKING CORRECTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ll try and keep this brief and I may have forgotten some of it.

We left it with me waiting for an engineer to come on site.  He turned up did all the usual tests, scratched his head, looked puzzled when I explained what the previous engineers had done (this seems to be a common trait) mumbled something about the exchange and went away.  On his return he had decided it was it was an RF problem.  He then fitted filters to both the DP inside and a new filter cover on the wall socket and left.

As usual this made no difference.  Follow up calls and “leave it for a while to settle down” came and went.  Frustration with the connection dropping grew, especially when trying to arrange a business trip and the Tesco shop!

More calls and another engineer dispatched for March 7th.  Usual stuff; test, scratch of head, puzzled look and off to the exchange again.  This time on his return the plan was to swap the connections (separate cables) between my home line and the business line in the vain hope that may fix it.  And if that didn’t fix it he suspected a REIN (Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise) interference issue and an engineer trained in REIN would be needed.

Continued line drops, more follow-up calls no joy.

Someone called last Friday late afternoon and we discussed the problem and they agreed that it could be REIN - everything else had been changed apparently.  So another appointment was made.

Yesterday and engineer arrived early, happed to be one who’s been before.  He stayed about 5 minutes and left saying “leave it with me, I’ll get the trained engineer” after we had discussed REIN.  I thought I was getting one!

Line continued to drop during the day so by quarter to five I called the help line as I’d not heard anything.  The operator spent a good long time reading the notes, must be like Ware and Peace by now.  Anyway they went off to talk to whoever they talk to, coming back saying that the engineer had requested the REIN test but that was denied and passed back to Openreach.  It seems no one is interested in taking the responsibility and or caring to solve this issue.  The fault operator went back and, this time managed to make an appointment for the REIN engineer (thank you) to attend the following morning.

So this morning, March 22nd I’m waiting yet again for an engineer to attend after first reporting this back in mid January.

.........I’m sure I’ve left something out.

Very poor form BT.

[sjt959]

Just called to double check the appointment.

Yes an engineer is booked however it’s not a REIN engineer!  Apparently an Openreach engineer needs to raise the issue and obtain a 4 digit reference number before the REIN team will take the case.

I thought that was what happened yesterday, but apparently not.

Yet again I’m waiting for someone who can’t help me.

[sjt959]

So a repeat engineer arrived, who has the number for a different help desk!  Anyway he’s tested for REIN and found large bursts, it’s not in the house as we powered the main off.  So he’s outside making the report and hopefully transferring across to the REIN team to start their investigations.

Why, when I was told this was the next step three weeks ago was it not started then?????

[sjt959]

We have a REIN reference number.

I guess this is still going to drag on as I understand that finding the source could take a while.

Two months and counting...................

[sjt959]

It was left that the REIN team would start their investigations.  I was told by the engineer that due to the nature of the issue it may take a while to track it down.  They would apparently come out on a number occasions at differing times to make sure they are fully testing for the interference.
I can understand this and left it at that hoping that I would be informed when it was fixed.

In the mean time the connection keeps dropping, Tuesday my wife described it as Truly Awful!

Well Wednesday 28th I get a call from Mike at the BB fault team.  He stated that the REIN team had been out once, found nothing and closed that case; I could not believe this.  He was reviewing the case and could see the line was still dropping, especially the previous afternoon.  However to raise the REIN fault again an engineer needs to come on site.  An appointment was made for this Friday.  I said that I’m getting fed up with this, especially when the engineer that arrives has no idea what the fault is and no sight of the history.  Mike agreed that this is unacceptable and he would write up copious notes for the engineer.

So Thursday 29th I get a call from Ryan at the BB fault team.  He stated that the REIN team had been out once, found nothing and............hang on I’ve heard this before somewhere.
Ryan had no idea that Mike had called the day before; there were no notes on their system. Anyway a further appointment was made for Friday; the engineer will be given all the notes.

An engineer just called to see if I’m in, he has NO NOTES.......

What the hell are these people doing, certainly not communication.

[sjt959]

So the engineer turns up, as it happens, an apprentice, he is accompanied by the local engineering manager, to oversee him rather than to help resolve my issue.

After a lengthy explanation of the history of the problem I get a sympathetic response that this should not happen - especially the lack of communication and repeated visits without the engineer having the case history to hand.

A lengthy period (about two hours) of phone calls talking to various help desks and experts the conclusion was that it’s still a REIN issue and the closed case was reopened.  So we’re back to exactly the same point as of last Thursday and of that mentioned a few weeks prior.

The manager left me his contact details saying that he will work with the issue until resolution.

We’ll see, I’m not convinced.

[kuerten]

My thoughts here are there are many CRC errors on this circuit.

Encapsulation needs to be look deeper here too. Try to check the WAN interface and see what the logs say.