Line drops and confusion from Service Centre

[Gliwmaeden2]

Yesterday my internet dropped c 1pm, but came back up after a few minutes. 

Today it went down earlier, during the morning, and was long enough for me to bother to run a test to check it. Though the connection was back, it was below the minimum guaranteed speed:

 

Also, since last weekend you have indicated a phone fault, but I hadn't noticed problems with the phone:

 

You'll notice that the report above says that you are unable to load necessary network status information.

I ran a test and it appeared to be coming up with no problem, but the next moment they say they are "working on it", and to check back in a few days' time. 

Currently speeds are normal. 

 

Could you check what's going on?

Are they working at the exchange or something?

I need a reliable functioning line to give an online lesson later today as I am not yet fully back on my feet from Covid.

It's been reliable since last summer when the engineer came, so this is quite a sudden change to faults over the past week. 

[Chris-TalkTalk]

No problem, thanks 🙂

Chris

[Gliwmaeden2]

Thanks, @Chris-TalkTalk, will be in touch after the 5th June.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Gliwmaeden2,

Yes it's probably as well to leave it until you get back, if there's then still noise on the line we can arrange an engineer to look at this.

Chris

[Gliwmaeden2]

@Michelle-TalkTalk, I won't be able to let an engineer in due to blocks of rehearsals and teaching these next two days. 

Theoretically possible Thursday or Friday morning only, BUT, I am away for half term after that and so any work done later this week couldn't be assessed before I get back.

I'll leave the router OFF throughout the half term week to 5th June.

Does it make sense to wait till I get back before booking another appointment?

In addition to the disconnections, this past week I have noticed a slight background hiss on the phone while waiting for someone to reply, between ring tone gaps, and slightly at the start of the conversation  - then it doesn't really cut across the conversation and the line seems clear.

Was this weather related, or further evidence of deterioration of my line?

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear that. I've just had a quick look at the connection stats now and I can see that the sync speed and SNR are both varying and there are errored seconds on the line. I can also see re-connections. As everything has now been tested would you like to go ahead with the engineer visit?

Thanks

[Gliwmaeden2]

Just now there were two very brief disconnections, @Michelle-TalkTalk, and (reported in Stars Lounge in my thread about the returns bag and which router) 3 more conspicuous ones starting Friday. 

I suspect there have probably been many more.

So not 100% out of the woods yet.

Grateful if we can continue to monitor this and eventually get me back to the 100% connection that I used to have as this is certainly not the standard that I had since early July 2021, when an engineer sorted out corrosion and crimps in a hole in the ground somewhere nearby. 

However, after Covid, I have an overwhelming stack of stuff to deal with as well as this, so, while getting this sorted is also a priority, I simply can't let it take over the entire morning like it did a few times recently - my apologies if it takes me time to get back to follow up at times.

Difficult to know what to do, as being swamped with other things and needing to put my health first makes it extremely hard.

I simply won't be online for large chunks of time to check what is happening.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

How has the connection been over the weekend?

Thanks

[Gliwmaeden2]

Thanks to you too, @Debbie-TalkTalk.

It's been rather a marathon!

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Gliwmaeden2

Thank you 🙂

Debbie

[Gliwmaeden2]

So far it's about the same here:

 

Ookla speedtest shows a small improvement and a better upload speed, which is helpful!

 

I'll see how I go!

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Gliwmaeden2

Ok, line optimisation completed and the sync speed has increased from 14.3mb to 15.2mb.

Please let us know how the connection compares.

Thanks

Debbie

[Gliwmaeden2]

Might as well give it a go, @Debbie-TalkTalk.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Gliwmaeden2

Thanks for your reply.

Yes please can you return the Sagemcom hub and keep using the HG635 router.

I can try another line optimisation to see if the speed increases any further, would you like me to try this?

[Gliwmaeden2]

08.33 was still part of the noises I heard from the telephone pings when engineers do stuff, so probably just one disconnection then.

Should I send back the dud Sagemcom if it was actually broken, @Debbie-TalkTalk?  Might as well use that spare plastic bag that TT sent out....

Ideally, of course, there shouldn't be any drops, and do you think my HG635 is now the best way forward?

It's not doing badly on speed - when it got replaced by the Sagemcom two years ago, that wasn't the eventual solution. It was the engineer's visit last year that solved those crackling phone line problems and low speeds, and the engineer then got the speeds up to 14 -17.

Can't have been this HG router's problem! It probably just can't quite achieve those speeds.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Gliwmaeden2

I've checked the connection stats and I can see 2 drops yesterday, 2 re connections in the AM (08:33 and 11:23)

No further drops are showing after this.

Thanks

[Gliwmaeden2]

I only got busy online after c 9.30pm, @Debbie-TalkTalk, as I did a large teaching block face to face and wasn't online much between lessons. 

I have not noticed further disconnections since the few around 8am to 8.30 when I suspect that engineer was checking things.

Maybe check over a 24 hour period from say 10am Thursday to 10am Friday to see if disconnections are showing?

The Service Centre currently gave me a better reading:

 

The graph is not so up to date, but is useful to display here for the better speeds on Tuesday, which prompted me to cancel the appointment, but wobbly on the Wednesday.

Please note that Service Centre still cannot load previous speed tests - it hasn't managed this for months. I mentioned it a while back, and was supposed to check with a different router, but forgot. Now that I am on the HG635, that issue is still showing. 

My own speed checks on Ookla were better on Wednesday than that suggests. I suspect the graph averages out the day. 

 

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Gliwmaeden2

How has the connection been this afternoon?

Thanks

[Gliwmaeden2]

Yes, @Debbie-TalkTalk, I wasn't notified about the reply and everything we post today seems to be slightly out of sync.

However, if Talktalk keeps a record of all these tracker numbers, what precisely were they expecting me to send back in the second bag?

Yes, I can use it to return the dud router, but they must have sent it out before knowing that I might try my very old one.

Somebody else might get something like this and not have anything to send back.... 

Simply not clear to customers. 

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Gliwmaeden2

I can see that Arne has replied to this post in the Stars lounge?

[Gliwmaeden2]

@Debbie-TalkTalk, could you possibly take a peek at my post in the Stars Lounge about the mysterious second returns bag?

Sorry to bother you, but again, nothing is straightforward.....