Broadband dropouts

[Dennis66]

Reported regular dropouts twice now. We had a BT engineer out a few weeks ago to 'repair' our loss of landline and internet, but since then it has dropped out intermittently for a few minutes at a time. The fact it's intermittent means that it comes back on when I'm the middle of reporting it!

We're only getting about 1.2 Mbps at the best of times. It was pretty reliable up to the time of repair, but now ithe dropouts are getting REALLY ANNOYING.

Hopefully a support advisor will read this and look into it.

Merry Christmas....

[Dennis66]

HI again,

UPDATE

We've had a BT engineer out twice now, as well as an EE internal engineer. Internal setup was fine and BT found poor insulation on the wire and a corroded crimp (!) which he corrected. He also said we were on the wrong profile and needed one for a long line, which he corrected.

Unsurprisingly, we're still getting dropouts and now, variable but consistently slow speeds (0.2- 1.0 MBPS). I've been switching between the EE Brightbox and my TP-Link routers but both are showing slow speeds. BT are coming out again tomorrow.

Couple of quick questions - Should my router be using PPPoA or PPPoE? We're on standard, copper wire broadband, not fibre. Both settings seem to work (to a point).

Second, will the router default MTU of 1480 make much difference? The EE recommended MTU is 1492.

Thanks again all.

[XRaySpeX]

PPPoA and PPPoE work equally well on EE ADSL but the convention is to use PPPoA.

MTU should be set to 1492.

[Dennis66]

Thank you, much appreciated.

[XRaySpeX]

As you did not show your router stats for the BrightBox, I cannot tell which ADSL Mode you are running on. For such a long line ADSL2+ would be v. slow; ADSL2 or even ADSL (G.DMT) would be more appropriate. You can switch the ADSL Mode on the Advanced > BB Settings page of the BrightBox. Dunno about the TP-Link.

If you do try this please post the resultant router stats from the BrightBox.

[Dennis66]

The TP-Link is operating on ADSL mode and currently getting 0.5mbps. Don't know how to get connection stats off it.

I'll reconnect the Brightbox and report on its settings.

[XRaySpeX]

---

@Dennis66 wrote:

Don't know how to get connection stats off it.

---

You  did in your 2nd post here. Those are router stats.

[Dennis66]

I've reconnected the Brightbox. Getting 1.4 mbps (Ookla), 1.26 (BT Tester), and router suggests 1.6. Brightbox seems to be set on ADSL2+

DSL Status

This page shows information about your DSL connection. If you are using Fibre/Ethernet Broadband then this page is not applicable.

Status

  Configured CurrentLine StatusLink TypeOperation Mode

--	UP
--	Fast Path
Automatic	G.992.5 (ADSL2+)

Data Rate Information

UpstreamDownstream

586 (Kbps)

1662 (Kbps)

Defect/Failure Indication

Operation Data Upstream DownstreamNoise MarginLine Attenuation

1.2 (dB)	9.1 (dB)
42.1 (dB)	69.5 (dB)

Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End IndicatorOutput PowerFast Path FEC CorrectionInterleaved Path FEC CorrectionFast Path CRC ErrorInterleaved Path CRC ErrorLoss of Signal DefectFast Path HEC Error STRInterleaved Path HEC ErrorError Seconds

12.4 (dBm)	17.1 (dBm)
19224	4693
--	--
0	0
--	--
0	0
0	0
--	--
0	0

Statistics

Received DataTransmitted Data

160992 (Kbits)

74379 (Kbits)

[XRaySpeX]

That's better than before but it's still running on ADSL2+. No way did the BT eng correct the profile needed for a long line, as he said! That would have taken you off ADSL2+.

Get off ADSL2+ immediately & run with ADSL2 only or even G.DMT.

Don't bother with speedtests. The truth of the matter & what EE is supplying you are in the router stats.

[Dennis66]

OKay. Brightbox mode was set to Automatic, so I've changed it to ADSL2.

DSL Status

This page shows information about your DSL connection. If you are using Fibre/Ethernet Broadband then this page is not applicable.

Status

  Configured CurrentLine StatusLink TypeOperation Mode

--	UP
--	Fast Path
Automatic	G.992.3 (ADSL2)

Data Rate Information

UpstreamDownstream

557 (Kbps)

1404 (Kbps)

Defect/Failure Indication

Operation Data Upstream DownstreamNoise MarginLine Attenuation

9.0 (dB)	8.0 (dB)
42.6 (dB)	66.5 (dB)

Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End IndicatorOutput PowerFast Path FEC CorrectionInterleaved Path FEC CorrectionFast Path CRC ErrorInterleaved Path CRC ErrorLoss of Signal DefectFast Path HEC Error STRInterleaved Path HEC ErrorError Seconds

12.4 (dBm)	16.3 (dBm)
746	0
--	--
0	0
--	--
0	0
0	0
--	--
219	155

Statistics

Received DataTransmitted Data

16067 (Kbits)

757 (Kbits)

[XRaySpeX]

Umm! That hasn't improved the speed as I would have expected but the Attenuation has decreased by 3dB as to be expected (equivalent to shortening the line). Now try G.DMT.

Are you plugged into test socket when you take these stats?