broadband dropout/ poor/ reduced connection. Possible cable problem?

[Bevas64]

Hi

I was with BT broadband for many years with no problems and recently joined EE fibre min 700. In doing so EE had to upgrade the cable from the box up the street to my house. The cable installation took many more hours than expected as there was a blockages in the ducting. Prior to EE Youfibre tried to install a cable but abandoned the installation and identified where the blockage in the ducting which was located at a junction leading from the footpath to my property that needed digging up.

EE gave it a go to get the cable installation and eventually succeeded. Ever since I’ve been connected up to EE broadband my connection has varied from excellent to poor. I’ve been in touch with EE on many occasions and they have sent an engineering out who just reset the system which seems to fix it for a short time then the faults start to returns. The faults vary as some are as follows

1) the iPhones/ iPads will have a poor WiFi connection to broadband but a good connect to router. So when you open say Sky news, Facebook, instagram the page opens but will not scroll any further past the first or second page. 

2)  when at home my iphones is connected to the WiFi broadband and on occasion its not able to auto reconnect to the  broadband via the WiFi once I’ve been out. This is a frequent occurrence and found I have to connected to my guest broad band WiFi then back to my main broadband WiFi to get it to work.

3) PS5 has a terrible connection, always shuddering and slow. When checking the connection is confirms the router connection is good but the internet connection can be terribly slow. But if you do a speed test on the iPad it next to the PS5 states it’s 500 or more? 

4) some apps will not connect at all.

5) occasionally the speed test app is not able to check the speed when the broadband is being problematic, keeps crashing out while other times is over 700/120.

It seems the iPhones etc connect to the router no problem but beyond that it’s variable.

ive done all the usual checks, switching the router of( sometimes many times during the day) the phones  off, wiping and reconnecting to the WiFi which in most cases does work for a short while before the connection deteriorates.

im thinking of changing the router but I’m beginning to suspect that the cable may be the problem. Is there any way that EE can test the cable between the box and router to see it there is some damage.

EE have been helpful but do the same thing every time by resetting the broadband at their end and all is good.

Any views or thoughts would be appreciate 

[JimM11]

@Bevas64 The cable is out off the question for you to check or diagnose but the tendency is it works or it does not, there is just not much in between for the Fibre Optic cable but sharp bends are not good, and OR would have snaked the duct clear to get a fibre cable in... Also some details regarding what and how it works below! The ONT would be showing you connection with Pon light or Los light issues!

1. FTTP is a contended service, up to 32 users can be sharing the 2.5Gb backhaul, so you can never expect the full speed all the time, you may get 900mb when there are fewer people using it. I expect that you are sharing the backhaul with many users. If everyone was using it fully, you may only get 78mbs. Its called statistical multiplexing, which relies on the fact that all users are not utilising their connection fully, all of the time.

BT quote up to 900mb, so you are likely to get much less than that during peak times.

Speed tests pass very little data, so normally give a much higher speed.

2. The max OR connect to a splitter is 30 ( 32 is the splitter maximum but policy is 30 ) not every CBT port provided is likely to have a customer using it , so unless on a ‘new site’ that has no alternatives to OR FTTP the actual number on a splitter is likely to be way less , OR currently have about a 30% take up, so maybe 10 users per splitter , plus the majority don’t take 900Mb but slower profiles , and the chances of those ‘on line ‘ at any one time all and doing something intensive, rather than browsing / Netflix that may be consuming less than 30-100Mb , is slim , that’s why there is a 700Mb minimum speed guarantee on 900Mb …..the 2.4Gb will be plenty ,you would have to be incredibly unlucky to have any consistent congestion.

If you suspect PON congestion, try at a time when there won’t be much activity, late evening or early morning .

[JimM11]

@Bevas64 If you can also say what EE Router you are using, if you have also any form off wireless wifi boosting or mesh connected does not matter if it is by EE or a third party supplier! All the Routers are below if you need to look see!

https://ee.co.uk/help/broadband/getting-started/compare-our-range-of-broadband-hubs

[Bevas64]

Thanks for getting back to me and your comments 

when I had BT broadband I had no drop outs, connection or performance issues. In the many years I had BT I would say I had to reset the router about twice a year. Since the upgrade to EE fibre I had nothing but problems for 6 months. BT was guaranteed for a min 100 while EE have guaranteed min 700, overall I would have expected a far superior improvement and not the opposite, same cables/box other than the length of cable changed to fibre from the box to my house which is about 30m away. 
Will contact EE again after the break. Thanks 

[JimM11]

@Bevas64 You cannot have the same cable if you upgraded to FF Full Fibre FTTP connection, so the question is were you on Fibre with BT before the change to EE all be it potentially a slower Fibre connection that OR had to change out for you or were you on a copper supplied broadband connected to the OR Master socket.

You also do not say what you have, without knowing there is NO WAY for anyone to try to help! If you do not know or feel this is way out off your comfort zone then by all means seek help from a company who may specialise in home BB and Network setup, it's not every ones cup of tea so to say!

[XRaySpeX]

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@Bevas64 wrote:

BT was guaranteed for a min 100 while EE have guaranteed min 700, overall I would have expected a far superior improvement and not the opposite,

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I wouldn't expect anything of the kind! I would say with BT you had up to 165 Meg FTTC G.Fast, whereas with EE you have up to 1 Gig FTTP Full Fibre. They are completely diff technologies with completely diff cabling & routing to the home (as you discovered with the blocked duct). Therefore you cannot not expect an improvement in proportion to their nominal speeds.

EE no longer supplies G.Fast!

[Bevas64]

The BT was a copper supplied broadband connection to the OR Master socket. 
EE replaced the cable from the openreach underground box in the public footpath appx 30 m away via an existing duct which has a junction opposite my property leading to, via my private driveway, the frontage of my  house where the fibre cable was fed into the house into a new EE fibre master socket. 
This is a newish culdesac estate with only 40 houses with cabling along either side of the footpath so appx 20 units per openreach box. 

A problem was feeding the cable through the duct via a junction next to my driveway. The duct seemed to have been squashed due to the likely construction of the public footpath thus causing great difficulty pulling the cable through. A simple enough job in but took many attempts and several hours to achieve the installation. I suspected the cable may have been damaged in the process of installation. 

[JimM11]

@Bevas64 You have to just take it all up with EE CS then if you think that, nothing else for it! 🙄👌

[Bevas64]

Wishful thinking, round in circles when I suggest it, usual  standard response, I will reset the broadband at their end, all good now, bye until next time. 

[JimM11]

@Bevas64 Really cannot fault the Engineers response to it knowing the construction of the Fibre Optic cable make-up and how it all works with the method used to install it.