Service Status Stuck

[thenightsurfer]

My internet has been getting slower for the past week.  Tonight I ran a Service Status check and now have this message:

"We suspect an issue with your broadband

We need to run a line test between our network and your home.

During the test, your broadband and phone line will temporarily disconnect.

In order for us to keep you updated, we need your mobile number."

It has been showing for 15 minutes now.  There are no buttons to click other than a "log out" one at the top of the screen.  I've also checked and there is a mobile number registered for my account.

Any idea how I can proceed?

Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

Ok thank you. Can I just confirm, is the router still connected to the test socket at the moment?

Thanks

[thenightsurfer]

The day after Fibre 65 went live I saw 71mbps,  then a steady decline to 45mbps over the following days.

 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

The connection looks stable for 48hrs so it's possible that DLM may start to increase the speed over the next few days. What speeds were you previously seeing before the speeds dropped?

Thanks

[thenightsurfer]

Still flat lining at 46mbps.  No disconnects for two days now.

 

 

[thenightsurfer]

OK. Thanks.  A job for next week.  Remove the extension wires and see what effect that has on the speed. 

[nophead]

It isn't good for broadband to have an extension wired to your master socket and your router plugged into the master socket because then you have a T junction, which is bad for signal integrity.

Before I had a filtered faceplate I removed my extension wires from the master socket and reconnected them to the microfilter plugged into the master socket with the router on the broadband side. That way the high speed signals don't see the extension because of the filter.

Obviously I had to fit a plug on the end of the extension, which normally requires a special crimping tool. I just cut the end of an old phone cable and connected it to the extension with a junction box. In my case the extension actually goes to three rooms, so it made a huge difference.

[Skynet_TX]

Based on that video I linked to above, if yours is connected up in that same way then the wires that connect to the back of the faceplate should be the wires that go off to your extension socket, so if you don't care about your extension socket then you would not need those wires, but I'd always be very cautious about removing wires yourself, and ensure you are confident they are only the wires that go off to the extension socket. The main phone wires that come into your house likely go into the back of the NTE5 master socket that is still attached to the wall, and will connect directly to the back of the test socket, you should not remove the main body of the master socket from the wall, and should not touch that main wire that goes to the back of your test socket, as that is the main connection to the master socket.

[thenightsurfer]

Thanks,  I'm not desperate to refit the faceplate as it's behind a piece of furiture so out of sight.

And Yes,  mine is old and has the wires attached to the back.  If I do disconnect the wires,  I'll take photos so I'm sure to reconnect the same way.  My question was more on the lines of if I'm using the test socket, do I require the wires at all.

Anyway,  no change to the connection today still 46mbps (somewhat below the guaranteed 58mbps still),  although I did get another disconnect at 02:20 same as Monday.

I'll keep an eye over the weekend and see if there is any improvement.

 

 

[Skynet_TX]

This may help explain how an NTE5 socket is wired up : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTWZs5ntiO8

[Skynet_TX]

Oh, is your faceplate one of the ones that actually has wires attached to it (many of the more modern ones don't have wired attached, they just make connections using pads on the socket and the faceplate).

I wouldn't be confident enough to suggest what wires you could disconnect, but if you wanted to post a picture of what it looks like others on this community may be able to advise. If you wanted an engineer to look at the fault then TalkTalk might be able to arrange for one of their engineers to take a look, but that would likely cost you £50 if there is a fault within your property. There would be no point getting an Openreach engineer as they are only responsible for the service up to your test socket, so if they came out they would probably not fix it, and would charge you £65 for the callout !. But personally I'd leave it for now just to see if DLM does get you back up to your expected speeds before you do anything, just to try to prove if using the test socket really has resolved the problem.

[thenightsurfer]

So the half a dozen wires going to the "correct" socket could be disconnected and the faceplate left to one side?

[Skynet_TX]

If using the test socket resolves the issue then this would likely indicate there there is some sort of fault with either :

• The faceplate (the bit you have removed to access the test socket)
• The phone wiring between your master socket and your extension socket
• The extension socket

If this issue only became apparent when you upgraded from Fibre 35 to Fibre 65 then it may be that the issue has always been present, but the attempt to run the faster signal through that fault has now made it cause issues.

Seeing as you don't use your extension socket it would be perfectly fine for you to leave things connected as they are, and just have the router plugged into the test socket, however having the faceplate removed to access the test socket should mean your extension socket is now dead (if it has been wired up in the way that it should have been).

Replacing the faceplate may cause your problems to return, as the fault may be with the faceplate itself, and if you replace it in such a way that it makes the extension socket live again then this could also reintroduce the fault.

But we probably need to wait a few more days to see if using the test socket really has resolved the issue, but the lack of disconnections so far is looking promising.

DLM doesn't only monitor disconnections, it monitors 'errored seconds' on the line, this is much harder for you to know about, as if the router is experiencing errors in sending or receiving data it will just retry and you will not know anything about it, however DLM will take note of those errored seconds and this can also cause DLM to keep your speeds low (in an attempt to give you a more stable connection).

If speeds don't get back to what they should then the support team here may be able to check those DLM stats for you, so might be able to see if you are experiencing errored seconds.

[thenightsurfer]

Lets hope so.  Then, if all goes well a bit of fettling with the Dremel and I'll be able to put the bottom half of the cover back on.

[Skynet_TX]

Yep, those are your sync speeds, so your router is actually connected to the street cabinet at 49 down and 17 up. When DLM moves you to a faster profile you will usually then see that 49 increase.

Getting a speed test result of 45.5 on a sync speed of 49 is acceptable, but obviously as your sync speed increases, your download speed should also increase too.

One of your earlier images showed you have a guaranteed sync speed of somewhere around 60mbps, so if using the test socket is bypassing wherever the problem is, then you would hope that your download sync speed would get up to something higher than that guaranteed minimum speed over the coming days.

[thenightsurfer]

I'm not sure if this is it (I can't see anything labeled sync speed).  A bit higher than the reported download speed of my SamKnows box which sits next to it and is connected by Cat 5 cable.:

 

[Skynet_TX]

Are you able to log into your router to see what your download sync speed is ?, I know that the support team here advised that you were synced at just over 40mbps when you first reported this issue, this must have now improved as your speed test results are now returning higher speeds than that.

Each time DLM steps your speed up it is actually your sync speed that will jump up to the next 'step', in an ideal world, on a wired connection, you would expect the download speed test result to be just a little less than the download sync speed reported in your router (for example my router sync speed is 40mbps, and a speed test result on a wired device is about 37.6mbps)

[thenightsurfer]

No disconnect today,  so the speed has stayed pretty much the same.  I'll see what tomorrow brings.

 

 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I'm glad to hear that the speeds are improving 🙂

Thanks

[Skynet_TX]

cool, hopefully that pattern will continue and DLM will step your speed up in the early hours over the coming days, it may take it a while, but best to just leave things connected as they are and let DLM do its thing !.

[thenightsurfer]

Things are looking up.  Seems Skynet_TX might be onto something.

A 43 sec disconnect at 4:44am and a speed improvement to 46mbps.

Will update again tomorrow.