Terrible broadband but neighbours have no problems with theirs?

ripplyuk

Connection Status
Help
ADSL synchronization status Up
ADSL up time 03:52:40

Upstream line rate (kbit/s) 288
Downstream line rate (kbit/s) 288
Line standard G.DMT
Channel type
Interleaved
Upstream SNR (dB) 16
Downstream SNR (dB) 16.1
Upstream line attenuation (dB) 31.5
Downstream line attenuation (dB) 63.5
Upstream output power (dBmV) 12.1
Downstream output power (dBmV) 13
Upstream CRC 36
Downstream CRC 0
Upstream FEC 42
Downstream FEC 0

espresso

High downstream line att but Kitz here shows a much higher speed than 0.3 MB for your att figure and you have previously had 1.3 MB which was reasonable for your line.

Raise this on the Talk Talk forum here where they should be able to help.

ripplyuk

Thanks espresso. I've already posted twice on the TalkTalk forum. The first didn't get an answer. The second ended up with them changing my profile (I have no idea what that means) to one that was faster but they later had to change it again as they said that, because it was faster, it was 'knocking out the signal' which is why it keeps going off completely for long periods.

I ended up making a complaint last April and it has been dealt with by the CEO's managers ever since who did seem keen to sort this out but now I feel are at a loss as to what is wrong.

I've yet another engineer coming tomorrow so I'll talk to them about it and maybe show them this thread (if my broadband is still working tomorrow!).

Forgot to add that the engineers lately keep saying it's because more people in my area now have broadband and this apparently means the lines can't cope. I don't see why it's only me having problems if that is the case.

C_Mababejive

Those stats are lamentable. Is your line on the poles or down the holes?

Could the openreach chap possibly pinch another pair from the bundle or perhaps there are no more spare pairs? Is your router plugged directly into the mastersocket? Perhaps a better quality router would be able to manage the line better?

ripplyuk

The line is on the poles, though they had to replace a lot of it last year, along with a few of the poles themselves. The router is plugged in directly to the master socket. One engineer said I should get a Netgear router as they are better but I'm unsure because each time they try a different router, it makes no difference. I'm not sure what brand those routers where though. Maybe it's worth a try buying a Netgear one?

I'm not sure what spare pairs means but the engineers have mentioned a lot previously about moving me over to a different line (or something to do with the line), which may improve it. Now, they say there is no room left. I'll ask them again about it today.

Another strange thing is that wind affects it. Since last November, if it's windy, my broadband is off. In the last few weeks though, it goes off no matter what the weather so it's getting worse.

espresso

ripplyuk wrote: »

The line is on the poles, though they had to replace a lot of it last year, along with a few of the poles themselves. The router is plugged in directly to the master socket. One engineer said I should get a Netgear router as they are better but I'm unsure because each time they try a different router, it makes no difference. I'm not sure what brand those routers where though. Maybe it's worth a try buying a Netgear one?

I'm not sure what spare pairs means but the engineers have mentioned a lot previously about moving me over to a different line (or something to do with the line), which may improve it. Now, they say there is no room left. I'll ask them again about it today.

Another strange thing is that wind affects it. Since last November, if it's windy, my broadband is off. In the last few weeks though, it goes off no matter what the weather so it's getting worse.

A spare pair is an unused pair of wires back to the next connection point or back to the exchange i.e. an alternative line to the one being used now.

You should definitely tell the engineer that your line is affected by wind. This is very likely a bad joint somewhere along the line and when it is windy it causes the line to become noisy. This interference will clobber your broadband signal which is very susceptible to noise on the line, especially a long line.

A good engineer should be able to locate this problem but it may need to be a broadband engineer rather than a basic telephone engineer.

Tell Talk Talk that you will not pay until they sort this problem out, as it has gone on long enough!

ripplyuk

It certainly has gone on long enough! TalkTalk did reduce my payments but I feel they'll just cancel it now if I refuse to pay.

I have repeatedly told the engineers about the wind causing problems. Most then say it's probably a tree rubbing the line but they either come back and tell me they can't fix it because it's full of faults and would cost a fortune, or that they can't find where the fault is. Apparently, the thing they plug in to check for faults is useless and inaccurate, according to them, so it's like finding a needle in a haystack.

Swipe

That's why you should ask them to replace the overhead line. My parents got theirs done free of charge when they had problems with their phone

ripplyuk

The engineer came. He said he did find faults on the line, went off to find them for about 3 hours, came back and said that there was a tree rubbing part of it and another fault with a 'join' further up. He said he couldn't fix it today so he would try to call back tomorrow. He also told me that even once it is fixed, I'll never get more than 0.3mb, but fixing the line issues should stop the current problems of it quitting altogether for long periods, and the noisy phone line.

I told him I used to get 1.3mb for the first year I had broadband but he told me the online speed checkers are very inaccurate and TalkTalk's records show I've never had more than 0.5mb.

I just really hope he does come back tomorrow because I've had this so many times. They find the fault, arrange another day to fix it, but someone else turns up and starts at the beginning again.

espresso

Some progress then hopefully.

Assuming that he does come back and fix the faults, you should then, with the noise eliminated, be able to request that Talk Talk adjust your profile again i.e. lower your SNR, to get the best possible speed attainable from your line. Without the noise/interference on the line, they should be able to get your speed back to what it was before.

Now that faults have at last been located, you just need to hope that they will do as promised and fix them.

Good luck and continue to be persistent!