WIFI OPTIMISATION

[Chris1012]

I recently switched to Talktalk broadband and I'm having issues with WIFI optimisation and channel hopping causing certain devices to disconnect from the WIFI network. From reading these pages I understand that a Talktalk employee can disable this feature on my router? Please can this be actioned?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Morning @Chris1012 

I'm so glad to hear this 🙂

I've checked and below are the engineers notes. It looks like work was completed at the cabinet to resolve this fault.

Fault identified in D-side between PCP and DP. Resolved by changing pair node to node.

If you do experience any further issues then please let us know.

Thanks

Debbie

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

It's now been ~2 weeks since the third Openreach engineer visit and apart from 3 times when the DLM resynced the line overnight and a power cut last week the line/router has been stable. The router has been synced at 66mb/s for the past week, which is the fastest it has ever been at this property with any ISP! Speed was never the issue, it was stability of the line for the past ~ 2 months, but it's nice to see the line can handle this speed. I hesitate to say it, but hopefully the third engineer actually fixed the fault that the first 2 didn't. He never told me what he did at the street cabinet/exchange, do you have access to the engineer reports? It may be useful to know what he did in case similar issues arise in the future.

Thanks for your help and, hopefully, I won't need to contact you anymore!

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks Chris 🙂

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

Since Friday the DLM has further increased the download speed twice, once on Sunday morning to 61mb/s and this morning to 64mb/s. I have never seen 64mb/s in the ~3 months I have been with Talktalk, so it seems the third engineer did something last Tuesday. However, this is now ~10mb/s faster than the absolute maximum that the engineer said I would get! Apart from the DLM resyncing the line I have had no other dropouts in the week since the engineer visit, but the same thing happened after each of the first two engineer visits and it was only after a week or so that the dropouts returned. I'll let you know if this happens over the coming days.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK, thanks for the update

Chris

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

Overnight the DLM resynced the line at 57mb/s download. This is already more than the maximum download speed I should get according to two Openreach engineers (50-55mb/s). I'll keep monitoring to see if the download speed increases even more (it did after the previous engineer visits) and whether the dropouts return.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the update. If you could see how it goes over the next few days we take another look at it early next week to see if it's been stable and if there's been any speed increase

Chris

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

The engineer arrived ~1.30pm, spent ~20 minutes in the house doing a line test and then left the house to do more checks outside the house (presumably at the street cabinet), he didn't return until ~4pm! He made some changes outside the house, but didn't go in to any details. He did say that the maximum download speed (from his testing) would be 50-55mb/s. This conflicts with what the router has been syncing at (60-61mb/s), which doesn't decrease even during the dropouts. The engineer could not explain the router syncing at ~60mb/s given his test results. This also agrees with what the second engineer said (my download speeds were 8-10mb/s faster than any of my neighbours). I've looked at the router stats to see what the noise margin is and it shows 0 dB, which can't be correct (appears this is yet another bug in the router firmware!). The actual download rate (53430) is also higher than the maximum download rate (51867), which again is odd. The router is currently synced at 54mb/s and I have had no dropouts since ~4pm on Tuesday, but it's really too early to tell if the problem is fixed. If the router sync speed increases and the dropouts return I think something needs to be done to cap the download speed so that the line remains stable.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

I've booked the engineer for tomorrow afternoon - June 25 2024, PM - please let us know how you get on

Chris

[Chris1012]

Thanks Chris, just had another dropout ~1.15pm

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK, I'll book the engineer now and get back to you with the details

Chris

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

There is obviously still a fault somewhere if the number of disconnections is not typical. I don't see that there is any other option but to have yet another engineer visit if you don't know what the cause of the disconnections is (I certainly don't know!). 

I can fit around any am/pm visit this week.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

No the number of disconnections isn't typical. It's hard to say if the issue will resolve itself as I don't know what is causing the disconnections but we can arrange another engineer visit now if you prefer

Chris

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

Is the problem likely to fix itself without an engineer visit? There have been ~20 dropouts since the last engineer visit on 1st June, which I assume is not typical for a 'normal' line? 

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks, we can arrange another engineer visit to investigate further, would you like us to do this or hold off for a few days to see if the disconnections continue?

Chris

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

What you describe (stable until the connection randomly drops, often multiple times a day) is what has been happening since the start of May, so for nearly 2 months now!

The router is plugged directly in to a wall socket (the same socket that my previous ISP's router used with no connection problems). The DSL cable is plugged directly in to the master socket.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Chris,

I've checked the connection history for the last few days and most of the time the connection looks really stable with a very low error count but then it just drops the connection now and again for about a minute. Is the router connected to a multi-socket electrical extension lead shared with other devices or connected directly to a wall socket?

Chris

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris,

Unfortunately I spoke too soon since the VDSL dropouts have returned. Since my last post I have had another 7 dropouts at random times over the past few days. Hence, whatever the engineer did on the 1st June seems only to have been a temporary fix and the problem has now returned!

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Chris,

That's great news, thanks for the update 🙂

Chris

[Chris1012]

Hi Chris

It’s been over two weeks since the second Openreach engineer visit on the 1st June. There were several VDSL dropouts in the first few days following the visit, but over the past ~10 days the line has been stable. This is a significant improvement compared to the whole of May where the line would typically drop several times (or more) each day. I can only assume that the additional corroded line connections found by the second engineer were the cause of the dropouts. I will continue to monitor the router log and will post back here should the line dropouts return.