Internet unreliable, connections dropping, Hub Manager incredibly slow

[gallaghp]

Over the last week, I have noticed a real degradation in my internet performance. I have tried the usual - restarting the hub etc.. with limited success. 

Today is worse than ever. The EE app for connecting to my hub doesn't work very well yet thinks the Broadband Status  looks good - despite not being able to launch the "Test your broadband" page.

What can I do to further diagnose the issue? My postcode is G63. 

Here are some of the exports taken from the Hub's status and Technical Information pages (can't upload the files):

Serial number	Status	Connection type	App version	Firmware version	Downstream sync speed	Upstream sync speed	Network uptime	System uptime
+******+**********	Up	Broadband (DSL)	3.1.3	r3.8.24-R-1531355-PROD-80004	47.92 Mbps	9.82 Mbps	2 Mins	3 Mins

Product code

Serial number

Firmware version

GUI version

Data sent / received

DSL uptime

Data rate

Broadband username

Firewall

Main 2.4 GHz network name

Main 2.4 GHz channel

Main 2.4 GHz wireless security

Main 5 GHz network name

Main 5 GHz channel

Main 5 GHz wireless security

Compatible 2.4 GHz network name

2.4  GHz

Compatible 5 GHz network name

5  GHz

Smart Hub 3A

+******+**********

r3.8.24-R-1531355-PROD-80004

3.1.3

289.24 MB Uploaded / 121.42 MB Downloaded

6 Mins

9.82 Mbps / 47.92 Mbps

bthomehub@btbroadband.com

On

PGRouter

Smart (Channel 11)

WPA2-Personal

PGRouter

Smart (Channel 100)

WPA2-Personal

EE-HGSHJ3-Comp

Off

EE-HGSHJ3-Comp

Off

When I do a ping of say the BBC I get this, suggesting packets are being dropped and highlighting the problem:

ping bbc.co.uk

PING bbc.co.uk (151.101.192.81): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=0 ttl=58 time=668.086 ms

Request timeout for icmp_seq 1

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=2 ttl=58 time=674.271 ms

Request timeout for icmp_seq 3

Request timeout for icmp_seq 4

Request timeout for icmp_seq 5

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=6 ttl=58 time=671.152 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=7 ttl=58 time=673.302 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=8 ttl=58 time=670.834 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=9 ttl=58 time=661.069 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=10 ttl=58 time=672.099 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=11 ttl=58 time=672.135 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=12 ttl=58 time=671.411 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=13 ttl=58 time=672.765 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=14 ttl=58 time=670.758 ms

64 bytes from 151.101.192.81: icmp_seq=15 ttl=58 time=668.022 ms

^C

--- bbc.co.uk ping statistics ---

17 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 29.4% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 661.069/670.492/674.271/3.351 ms

[Mod Edit: Removed serial numbers]

[JimM11 · Accepted solution]

@gallaghp Have you called EE for them to take a look, you have all the symptoms of a bad DSL Line fault!

[Lesley_W]

Hi @gallaghp 

Welcome to our community.

I would recommend taking @JimM11's advice and speaking to our technical team so they can get this sorted for you. You can see the ways to get in touch here Contact Us To Request Technical Support for Broadband and Landline.

Lesley

[gallaghp]

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I've indeed contacted them - over the phone and through a visit from an EE engineer and later an Open Reach engineer.  They've tried a variety of solutions but none seem to correct the issue. 

Over the phone they could see there was a problem but not what it was. They arranged the in-home visit. He called me up, asked what the problem was over the phone and confidently diagnosed it as "Netflix". I told him that it wasn't, we didn't have Netflix etc....  He  showed up and told me that my hub was turned off - I had to explain that I'd turned off the light (it was distracting my dog at night); and all he did was (1) a speed test via fastnet (2) swapped out the microfilter and .... did a speed test via fastnet (3) plugged in his own BT hub that he brought.... and did a speed test via fastnet.  

I showed him the output of some  traceroute, networkQuality (I use a Mac) & ping commands. I should point out that I had to explain what these commands did. He was bamboozled and admitted it wasn't something he could fix and warned me that if he marked it fixed, they would send an engineer out again (him) so he left notes. 

Long story short - the problem persisted, gradually getting worse, and after going around the houses an Open Reach engineer came out. He immediately believed me, understood what the issue was and confirmed he could see the problematic behaviour with his tools. He replaced the "split" coming into the house and checked the problem from the local exchange, and said it was fixed. It seemed ok but my wife later reported some anecdotal behaviour that sounded like the old problems. 

That was 3 days ago. We had an outage this evening and have had to go through the process again from start.  I'm incredibly disappointed.  The only positive being that at least it's relatively quick to get through to someone, even if it's not helpful - turn it on and off again; but they at least confirmed it wasn't a local outage in my area. 

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance 

ps. I've attached some images - of my attempts to use the EE app to sort it out (using 5G not wifi ) and then of some ping output (cropped to avoid personal info); as much to prove I'm not lying as evidence of the problem . 

[JimM11]

@gallaghp After the OR Engineer visit and the split repair did everything go to working good with, Speed and stability on your copper line?

[gallaghp]

It seemed like it did at the time but it didn't seem to last. 

I spoke with the Customer help again and they've referred it to OR who can investigate it without needing to visit my premises (as it's clear the problem doesn't reside there). Hopefully they'll get to the bottom of it. 

I'd love to use the Hub Manager (via 192.168.1.254) but it is just incredibly slow and never seems to progresses to "Broadband Status" even when I enter the admin password. It's incredibly frustrating. 

[JimM11]

@gallaghp What browser are you using with the mac, the web manager has never been the fastest but if you are finding it that slow something going on, have you tried Ethernet connection to the EE Router?

Never had an issue connecting when i had it, wireless or wired, only gets slower after 60+ day's up and the log file get's kind off full!

Took me 3 months and at least 7 visit's from EE/OR Engineers before they eventually fixed the copper cable connection, the EE Smarthub+ Router had nothing but trouble and for 10years before that on a sky Hub was zero problems, spotted the EE one first day on the connection sugar to say the least, but Smart OR Engineer back traced it all until all the errors were gone, after that 6 months of heaven zero problems! Bad cable joint!!!

[gallaghp]

@JimM11  I was using Safari on a macbook. Switched to Opera and despite HTTPs certification warnings, it works!  That's a relief.  Great suggestion. Of course because of the power-cycling there's nothing in the log. 


Going forward, being able to read the technical logs / see the status will hopefully help diagnose the issue if/when it crops up again. 

[JimM11]

@gallaghp Good news, because you are still on the copper line at present, try if possible to keep the EE Router up and connected as much as possible, will stop it fighting with the DLM system as long as your line is in a good condition!