topic Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes in Broadband & Landline

Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:46:43 GMT

Hello . We switched to EE in October from Sky and have had disconnection issues from the WiFi hub since it was installed. ( Essential Fibre 36 )

The lights on the hub never change but basically we will lose connection every day several times a day. Sometimes it is literally just a case of only one tablet being used at any one time as soon as the other picks one up, it disconnects as it cannot cope with 2 devices. Leave it a few minutes and you can get back on albeit at a very slow speed initially ( speed checks show anywhere from 0.5mb to 5mb) but then eventually back to around 19mb.
Devices are mobiles , desktop, Printer etc. Only 2 people in household. No TV streaming . So not exactly pushing the limits I wouldn’t say.
6 Engineer visits so far. 2 In house from EE and 4 openreach. Line tests fine every time but the last 2 openreach showed us the screen which showed the router keeps disconnecting every 5 minutes or so which they said isn’t right at all so a new router was sent.
Exactly the same with the replacement so nobody seems to know the answer! Sockets checked by openreach ( master socket no others in house)
Every time we contact , it apparently shows as a definite fault at EE CS end but yet openreach say absolutely no faults and EE cs don’t understand what they are seeing basically.

Although we have had many line problems in the past (being end of exchange and part fibre it is slow anyway) but these were all identified and fixed as trees rubbed through but the faults were complete loss or intermittent with router lights going off.
This is completely different and I am not sure if it is coincidental that it started after switching to EE hub or is there a reason it could be just this hub as honestly if the engineers cannot understand why, I definitely don’t! We are able to leave as the guarantee was 30mb and we don’t ever hit 21mb but if it is a line issue, this doesn’t help either.
Any help really appreciated!!

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

Mustrum — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:45:32 GMT

@New5 Is there any chance you can get a service from anyone else that does not use Openreach?

If not you could raise a complaint to EE to see if you issues can be resolved?

Or switch to a supplier with a good reputation for resolving tricky fault conditions, alas they tend to be a little more expensive. You could look at A&A or Zen as a couple of examples.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:56:22 GMT

Thankyou for your reply. I cannot imagine so as we had a job to get the main providers! Basically SKY didn’t want to renew our contract as the line maintenance was so costly ! They would renew but at £50 + for basic broadband package.
Frustratingly fibre is now only less than a hundred metres away but as we are one property , they won’t bring it down to us as the current line takes the longest route imaginable through trees and across a major road to get to just us.But to be fair we have never had any issues previously with openreach via sky and it was always fixed. This time we had a couple “ fresh out of school and ideas” but the last couple were very comprehensive but could not work out why the line shows perfect ( although that surprised us as it has never been that!) but their screen shows it is losing connection constantly and resetting every 5 mins or so.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

Mustrum — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:03:43 GMT

@New5 you could check the Ofcom availability site, or your preferred comparrison site to see if other suppliers are available. https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/broadband-coverage

But if engineers are showing disconects every 5 minutes, they should be able to work out where.

And if your speeds are lower than they should be it suggests a line problem somewhere. Maybe they just don't want to replace it, or can't get trees trimmed.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:21:22 GMT

Thank you. Speeds are just lower than the guarantee of 30mb but it has never been anywhere near that speed in 15 + years the maximum has been 20mb so I think that is just where the line speed sits being end of the exchange line with the last mile or so of copper wire connection. Ofcom checker only shows 21mb available.
The engineers reports are showing that the devices and router disconnect and reconnect constantly but no line drop outs. The replacement router is exactly the same though which what they expected it to be. Not an old house so no thick walls or nearby interference. It is a very different problem to the many previous faults which were all line issues and repaired.
This just seems specific to the router and our devices which makes no sense to me!

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

XRaySpeX — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:01:28 GMT

Welcome to EE's Home Broadband Forum.

Is it the BB as a whole dropping or just the WiFi connections? Do Ethernet connected devices stay working? What colours are the light sequence when it happens?

If you would like help with your BB speed or connection issues, please would you carry out the following steps for starters, which will enable us to diagnose the problem and advise you further. Do not restart your router to do these tests:

1. Post your full router stats:

For a SmartHub: login and go to Advanced Settings > Technical Log > Information. Obscure your names & any numbers in the BB Username & also the SSIDs. Also post the Home > Status page.
For a BrightBox: login and go to Advanced Settings > System > DSL Status. Also post 'System Uptime' from top of System Log page.
For other routers: login to it according to the label on it as the admin user & navigate looking for its router/connection statistics.

Full router stats are key to any speed & connection issues.

2. Try a speedtest, preferably wired using an Ethernet cable supplied with the router, here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html . Click on the "Results Page" button at the bottom of the graph you first see and then copy to here just the "Link to this result:" link that you see below the next main graph.

3. What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker estimate for your phone number? Post just the whole table and the line above it, blanking out your phone number. If it doesn't recognise your phone number or you don't have one, use the Address Checker, not the Postcode Checker.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 19:16:20 GMT

Thankyou kindly. I will endeavour to try those and get back to you.
I don’t have any Ethernet connections as it is mobile devices . The cctv is Ethernet but it is viewed via a WiFi device, so I couldn’t really say if it is affected.

I have attached the Speedtest suggested and also past ones as I had .

It is intermittent as to when we cannot connect at all but will always occur everyday and sometimes several times a day. Basically one person can be just using your mobile and when the second person picks up a device, they cannot connect and my device WiFi would go so slow that eventually neither can use as it spins in circles and you have to wait 5 minutes before you any device can reconnect to the WiFi.
Once I can get a connection again after this and run a speed test, it can come back as anything from 0.5mb to 12mb but will eventually just go back to normal. Lights never change on the router . Always as normal.
Speedtests by openreach engineers when plugged in show normal ranges and no line dropouts ( there were blocks of dropout but this is when we have to restart the router as it doesn’t always just come back ) but when they looked at the router stats, it was pages and pages of red dots showing devices disconnecting literally every 5 minutes or so.

Cannot check the last point as no telephone number as it was moved to IP voice and as the phone line was so unreliable in the past we dropped it to only broadband. Ofcom estimate is 22mb.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 20:00:43 GMT

Sorry this may sound stupid ! I have tried the first part suggested with the hub manager. I have never used it before so I am not sure if this is correct or not so I have added a quick screenshot of what I am looking to see it is the right part as I could not find reference to BB usernames and ssid. And another Speedtest! Thankyou

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

XRaySpeX — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 23:11:12 GMT

Thanks! That last was just what I was after. The BB speeds you are getting are fine & up to all expectations. In fact there's no way EE can guarantee 30 Meg there. The fastest estimated is 22.2 Meg & you are actually getting 24.4 Meg.

As the lights never change on the router the BB is not going down. Your issue is with the WiFi within the home. What EE router & WiFi extenders do you have (read label or post a pix)?

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 08:05:00 GMT

Thankyou kindly. The router is the standard black smart hub plus. No extenders.
The speed we never expected 30mb as it has always hovered around 20mb when the line is working ( the last job was practically a mile stretch replaced and had been fine since then) but the continual disconnection with this router as opposed to the sky one , just isn’t making any sense at all when nothing else has changed.
I know nothing about these things but see no reason why changing router from sky standard to EE standard would make any difference! Thankyou for your help so far.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

XRaySpeX — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 10:53:21 GMT

When you do a speedtest, as you just did but took it away, can you also show that the router stats, 2nd image of your 8 PM yesterday post, are not still ticking over at about 24 Meg. Also whether speedtest is done wired or wireless.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 11:28:47 GMT

Sorry I have to keep switching between WiFi and mobile as it drops off completely so I didn’t think it loaded the screenshot.
the Speedtest started on WiFi ( not wired) but as it dropped off it went to mobile data so not sure it helps or not.
Couldn’t get on to the router log in page at all as you guided previously as no WiFi so it doesn’t load. The lights still on again.
It is back on again as is the case always as it eventually settles and works again.
tested now

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

JimM11 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 12:35:40 GMT

@New5 When i first moved over from sky using the SR203 router never had an issue with broadband speed or stability, as soon as i put the EE Smarthub+ on the OR Master socket then stability issues but speed dropped and never had or lost the connection, would sync way back speed wise, turned out to be error's on the line, that the 4/5th OR engineer finally traced.

Connection from the pole came to an old junction box GPO on it so was really old, he lifted the tails off the junction box and the cable going to the master socket, crimped them together and never looked back from that point onwards.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:32:35 GMT

Thanks for that. This is what slightly concerns me is that it still could be a line problem again. 1 OR Engineer did say it showed something at around 40 metres but then it was fine? Didn’t seem too concerned about it but couldn’t understand the devices / router showing as reconnecting all the time and thought we just have older devices! ( Not the case at all but he wanted to get home!)

The first 2 found nothing at all and were next to useless as they didn’t even know it was not full fibre. The last one was more comprehensive but believed it was definitely the router as the line was perfect and again noted devices show as reconnecting to to the router every couple of minutes or so but the router change made no difference!
The line to the property is copper wire overhead but then the line is underground on the property for around 600metres or so before it reaches the house, so it would be our problem to sort anyway if it’s within this but with no way of knowing if it is line or just a weird issue with the router and us, it’s all clutching at straws.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

JimM11 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 21:08:54 GMT

@New5 The last engineer i had put the tester on the line, saw error's within the indication, went to the ground box disconnected and tested, was clear on the OR side, then just worked his way back towards the home until the error's reappeared when he connected back, the last point was the old GPO junction box, so he grabbed the two wires, crimped them and tested finally back at the master socket with no more error's showing, that solved the problem, had bad connection at the ground box but that must have been 20 years ago at least....

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 10:07:56 GMT

Thanks. It seems a lottery with openreach as we have had some really helpful ones and ones that just don't want the work!
I was hoping someone with knowledge may have some advice on it being a simple issue in house on our set up as it only started with the switch from sky router to EE and we could hopefully sort it out as us missing the obvious !

I think we will just have to replace the 600m on our property ourselves and see if that works before we keep getting them out again as each one has a different opinion other than reconnecting every few minutes. It’s then another 1800m after our property before the next box so it may be a long process doing it this way around which is really frustrating to say the least!

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 15:50:22 GMT

Hello again. So I am hoping this may offer a bit of insight as I have bought an Ethernet connection as suggested to hopefully give a bit of a better insight.

The attached is the router when I lost connection on WiFi again and used the Ethernet connection to check. I would be grateful for the expertise on understanding if this showed anything.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:05:12 GMT

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

XRaySpeX — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:14:31 GMT

That's all about LANs & devices disconnecting; no sign of BB going down. So it's a WiFi issue as said in my 1st post.

Re: Devices disconnecting every 5 minutes

New5 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:58:59 GMT

Thankyou . Sorry. I really do not understand so excuse the absolute stupidity, so this was a wired connection as opposed to using WiFi this time just so we could see if it was still happening. So when it says up and down, what does this refer to when it’s a wired connection ?