Broadband dropping during peak times

[Ant88ant]

Hi, 

Hope I’ve come through to the right place. I’m sure this is a peak time congestion issue. I have had many issues with the broadband over the years, been back and forth with talk talk chat support and by phone. I get no where, hoping someone here can help.

Over the last few months internet keeps dropping to a complete stop usually on weekday evenings  but almost always on Sunday mornings and bank holidays. This Christmas Eve and Day and boxing day was awful connection. And again,  New years eve and  New Year’s Day internet was dropping again. 

Background Info:

• I have two routers with spare cables. Swapped out everything - still have same issues.
• TV is connected via ethernet cable - it too experiences same issue so confident this is not wifi problem.
• Restarting the modem sometimes solves the issue for about 30 seconds
• Resetting the lease or changing the wifi channel sometimes solves the issue for about 1 minute

Ping and Trace when internet is relatively OK:

01/01/19, 11.28 am

Ping has started…

PING google.co.uk (216.58.210.35): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=0 ttl=54 time=26.179 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=26.636 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=27.878 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=55.933 ms

--- google.co.uk ping statistics ---

4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 26.179/34.157/55.933/12.588 ms

01/01/19, 11.29 am

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to www.google.co.uk (216.58.204.35), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets

 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  1.400 ms  1.115 ms  0.992 ms

 2  * * *

 3  host-78-151-238-201.as13285.net (78.151.238.201)  24.299 ms  24.203 ms  27.304 ms

 4  host-78-151-238-204.as13285.net (78.151.238.204)  24.262 ms  24.810 ms  24.577 ms

 5  host-78-144-9-69.as13285.net (78.144.9.69)  24.549 ms  25.673 ms  25.117 ms

 6  209.85.175.102 (209.85.175.102)  30.058 ms  24.629 ms  25.258 ms

 7  108.170.246.129 (108.170.246.129)  25.158 ms  25.472 ms  24.264 ms

 8  108.170.238.117 (108.170.238.117)  25.364 ms  24.627 ms  31.240 ms

 9  lhr25s12-in-f35.1e100.net (216.58.204.35)  24.344 ms  25.314 ms  24.753 ms

______

Ping and Trace when broadband drops again about 30 mins later:

01/01/19, 11.58 am

Ping has started…

PING google.co.uk (216.58.210.35): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=0 ttl=54 time=284.128 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=197.787 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=148.493 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.210.35: icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=93.720 ms

--- google.co.uk ping statistics ---

4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 93.720/181.032/284.128/69.985 ms

01/01/19, 11.59 am

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to www.google.co.uk (216.58.204.35), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets

 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  1.825 ms  1.023 ms  0.965 ms

 2  * * *

 3  host-78-151-238-201.as13285.net (78.151.238.201)  136.735 ms  114.942 ms  125.872 ms

 4  host-78-151-238-204.as13285.net (78.151.238.204)  101.719 ms  102.153 ms  100.983 ms

 5  host-78-144-9-69.as13285.net (78.144.9.69)  140.106 ms  190.573 ms  139.637 ms

 6  209.85.175.102 (209.85.175.102)  152.368 ms  89.423 ms  169.505 ms

 7  108.170.246.129 (108.170.246.129)  153.396 ms  114.912 ms  114.859 ms

 8  108.170.238.117 (108.170.238.117)  114.447 ms  124.698 ms  114.588 ms

 9  lhr25s12-in-f3.1e100.net (216.58.204.35)  51.744 ms  23.889 ms  25.135 ms

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Ant88ant]

Sorry about the late reply, I've been slowly testing different routers every Sunday with different connections and always seemed to have slow broadband around those times as mentioned before. 

Unfortunately, on Friday around 8pm, the internet connection dropped twice and then was dead. The phone line had a loud buzzing noise. On Saturday, after calling Talktalk support several times the phone eventually starting to drop the connection. And engineer was booked by my sister and he came out today, said there was a fault within 25m, and replaced the phone line from that master socket to the local phone line column/post.

He left and came back because one of the line tests weren't good but then everything seemed to work so he left. In the last 8 hours, the connection has reset about two or three times and around 6.30pm, with an incoming phone call the internet dropped and the light turned red. After 2 minutes or so it came back.

I don't really know what to do from here. Is this normal after installing a new line? To be frank, I'm really tired of having to deal with this. We chose Talktalk because its the cheapest option but as it stands, we just had no broadband whatsoever for four days - whatever Talktalk is charging, it's really expensive for a non working broadband. 

And just as I type this, the internet dropped once again. 

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Ant88ant

The DSL3782 router is on its way, please allow 24-48hrs for this to arrive.

Let us know how the connection compares with this router.

Thanks

Debbie

[Ant88ant]

Hi Debbie,

That'd be perfect thank you. Once it arrives, I'll see how it goes and come up here and update. 

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Ant88ant 

I can send the DSL3782 router to the address linked to the telephone number in your Community Profile, will this be ok?

Thanks

Debbie

[Ant88ant]

Hi Michelle,

Yeah let's give that a go in that case. No harm in trying. What is the process for requesting the router? Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi Ant88ant,

Ok thanks for letting me know. Would you like to try the 3782 router? As this issue is intermittent then you could keep hold of this for a while to see if the connection still drops on a Sunday.

Thanks

[Ant88ant]

Hi Michelle,

No, nothing like that at home. I did have the same suspicion though a few months ago and thought perhaps it might be some other device that the neighbours switch on on Sunday morning and other peak times (which would make sense since that's when they're home) that was interferring with the wifi so I swapped through the different channel settings for both frequencies and it didn't help - that was before I realised my TV would have the same issue and it's connected by ethernet cable! 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi Ant88ant,

Just to confirm, do you have any devices set on a timer on Sunday morning or use any different equipment/devices on this day when the connection drops? 

Thanks

[Ant88ant]

Hi Debbie, last drop was on Sunday morning, between 9ish am and around 10.30am/11am. Not quite sure when it returned but I believe it was working by 11am. 

As for sending the dsl3782 - how long will i have before sending it back? The broadband usually drops at peak times only but usually on Sunday mornings. 

Also, just so that I can learn, why did you suggest this router? Is there anything in particular you think is the issue with the current router/or anything I can do on my end? 

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Ant88ant

Thanks for your reply.

Your connection is now showing in sync and connected for just over 2 days and 20 hours, with no drops in connection.

When did you last experience a drop in connection?

I can send a DSL3782 router for testing if you would like to test with this router?

Thanks

Debbie

[Ant88ant]

Hi Debbie,

The current one is HG633 but the older one which I tried when the problem started many months ago is a dsl 3780. Do combination of blinking lights I described mean anything in particular? 

Thanks

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Ant88ant

Which make and model of routers have you tested with?

Thanks

Debbie

[Ant88ant]

Hi, thanks for your reply,

I think the lights do change but they don't seem to follow a pattern. At first it seemed as if all the times the broadband dropped, the internet and wireless lights would blink in unison (and the power and broadband lights remain solid) but I've noticed now that happens even with good connection - and likewise, there have been occasions when the broadband dropped and these lights were not blinking.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Ant88ant,

Thanks for running the tests. Do the lights change on the router when the connection drops. I can see a reconnection yesterday morning but that's the only one that I can see since the 1st.

Chris

[Ant88ant]

Hi again, apologies about the late reply but whenever the broadband dropped, by the time I had the ethernet cable hooked up it started working again. 

Yesterday I finally managed to do a ping and trace whilst the internet was slow and have run several speed checks as advised though I don’t know how many were successful. 

This morning the broadband was down completely and the speed checker wouldn’t load at all. Like I said, this happens every Sunday morning without fail and during peak times on Saturday and weekdays evenings. 

Here are the results:

Speed test:

Date and Time: 12/01/19 18.07

wifi off - ethernet cable

12.3mbps 

Date and Time: 13/01/19 09.40

wifi off - ethernet cable

 8.2 down, 0.6up, 26ms.

note - broadband was fully down, couldn't connect at all, took 15+ attempts and several modem restarts. 

Date and Time: 13/01/19 10.38

wifi off - ethernet cable

 — no connection at all - as expected on Sunday, every Sunday at the same time.

====================================

___________

Date and Time: 12/01/19 17.47

wifi off - ethernet cable

Ping has started…

PING google.co.uk (216.58.206.67): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 216.58.206.67: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=85.848 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.206.67: icmp_seq=1 ttl=55 time=100.313 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.206.67: icmp_seq=2 ttl=55 time=105.720 ms

64 bytes from 216.58.206.67: icmp_seq=3 ttl=55 time=166.177 ms

--- google.co.uk ping statistics ---

4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 85.848/114.514/166.177/30.699 ms

Date and Time: 12/01/19 17.47

wifi off - ethernet cable

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to www.google.co.uk (216.58.198.99), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets

 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  0.791 ms  0.544 ms  0.433 ms

 2  * * *

 3  host-78-151-238-201.as13285.net (78.151.238.201)  96.884 ms  123.148 ms  123.482 ms

 4  host-78-151-238-204.as13285.net (78.151.238.204)  125.317 ms  111.234 ms  111.348 ms

 5  host-78-144-9-69.as13285.net (78.144.9.69)  125.242 ms  125.125 ms  123.565 ms

 6  209.85.175.102 (209.85.175.102)  124.314 ms  113.137 ms  123.915 ms

 7  108.170.246.129 (108.170.246.129)  89.631 ms  113.093 ms  135.650 ms

 8  64.233.175.155 (64.233.175.155)  113.266 ms  114.062 ms  105.416 ms

 9  lhr25s07-in-f3.1e100.net (216.58.198.99)  111.431 ms  124.978 ms  138.460 ms

___________

 Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks 🙂

[Ant88ant]

Alright that makes sense, I'll post back here once I've dont the tests. Thanks

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks

The last set of pings and traces show higher latency, we just need to confirm that this is repeated on a wired connection and if your throughput speeds are also dropping on our speed tester on a wired connection. we can then ask our network team to take a look

Chris

[Ant88ant]

Hi Chris,

Sure thing, it might take a couple of days - I'll try and catch it when the broadband drops again. Can I just check in the mean time what we are checking for? Did the ping tests that I posted show anything specific - I can see there's a difference in the time intervals but not sure what this means exactly. 

Thanks

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK, thanks

Would you be able to run another set of pings and trace routes on a device connected by Ethernet cable.

Could you also run 3 sets of speed tests at different times of day on the My Account speed checker on a device connected by Ethernet cable to your router (can you try to make sure that no other devices/applications accessing the internet at the time)

Chris