Phone line test has found fault - internet often restarting since yesterday morning. Please help!

[spider-man]

Hi, I am unfortunately dealing with MH issues so please bear with me. First time a internet problem like this has happened since joining TalkTalk in 2017. Since yesterday morning my internet connection keeps on dropping then starting again throughout the day and night. I didn't notice it until last night when I went online and kept on getting disconnected, looked at the log and it seemed to have started yesterday morning 19/12/23 at 9:30am. Sometimes it quickly restarts - goes down for 10-20 seconds or so - router flashes white/red then back online again. Sometimes it stays active for a hour or so before going down again.

I visited the my connection talktalk website last night and ran a connection test a few times, all seemed fine, then a speed test and the page showed I wasn't getting the correct speeds though every time the internet would restart this would result in different speed test results, for example last night the last speed test I ran showed all was well and I was getting my normal speeds and everything seemed fine again until net restarted again after a hour or so.

I then remembered once this year and last year we had issues where our home landline phone wasn't receiving calls and the other time no dial tone though the internet was still running great. Each time this occurred I went to the my connection page and selected - "my telephone - check your service is running as you'd expect". Both times this resulted in a fault and the test page/check my fault page updated saying a engineer would be sent to fix this and no one had to enter our home as it was to do with outside and nothing to do within our home so everything was fixed automatically without having to do deal with any stress. So I thought to run that test again (though our home phone seems to be working and it has a dial tone and receiving calls etc) a fault was found though this time it updated with a contact us button though every time I click it nothing occurs. I would prefer chatting to TalkTalk staff on here as I've not had much luck/confusion with chat in the past.

One time a problem just like this occurred many years ago when with BT Broadband, a engineer arrived and all was fine within our home. He went to take a look at the broadband exchange a few minutes near our home and he said someone messed around with the wiring at the exchange/wiring was damaged and he fixed it there and this resulted in the internet working as usual again. I believe this is what has occurred again because the internet was running perfectly up until yesterday morning. TalkTalk router, wiring, cables etc around the house have never been moved or touched and no renovation work etc. Only when I noticed these issues last night I had a look to see if everything is connected well, I turned the router off for 20 mins and turned it back on again though still the same issue. I do not think it is a issue on our end. Router is not connected to the master socket as it would be awkward to do so as there is no where to place it and the master socket is near our front door so every time the door would open the router will get knocked down by the door or wind and it will be difficult entering our home because of this too, I would prefer not to run these master socket tests as last time this occurred with BT it was a waste of time and caused more issues/stress.

It is possible to send a engineer to look at the local exchange to see if anything is going on? Last thing I want is a engineer to enter our home as I have MH issues(can discuss more in PM with TalkTalk staff on why this is a difficult situation for me). Also I don't want a rude engineer to cause me distress or one who has had a bad day to turn up and put the blame within our home and charge us. I am worried about this as we still have I guess somewhat of a old style non NTE master socket/set up which hasn't been changed/updated for decades though always has been working perfectly fine with no issues, thank God. I don't want do deal with the stress on updating to future fibre etc. I don't know if there are specialised engineers that can be sent that understand MH issues? I'm worried a engineer will turn up and look at our old non NTE master socket and just be rude and say you need to upgrade everything as it's old etc even though all wiring/internet has been working perfectly fine for many decades since we got a internet connection back in the dial up days. Again the internet was running normal as usual up until yesterday morning and never any problems, as I said no problems have occurred within our home and it has always been a problem with the local broadband exchange/cabinet near our home.

Fault ref no is -  REP-13782907

Sorry for the long message, hoping someone will understand. Hopefully someone can help ASAP! 

Thank you.

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

Your line looks fine at the moment and the router is in sync at 62mb currently.

The estimated speed for your line is 53-59mb, so this is performing above estimates.

Openreach DLM has made some changes to the line profile over the last week, the last being 2 days ago, to keep the line stable so you may see small fluctuations in speeds, but nothing much.

As you have a hybrid fibre service, there is an element of copper line to your home.  This can be affected by weather, moisture, corrosion etc and based on the age of this section of line this can also impact a service, however your speeds are still above expected.

Many people worry or focus on speeds, but I've learned not to worry too much about this, and focus on the reliability of a service.  So, does the broadband do what I want it to.  Does it stream my TV ok, can I work online etc without issues or drop outs.

If you look at what you do online, or why you use the broadband, be it work, streaming content etc, Gaming, look to see if any of your daily tasks are affected.

Thanks  

Karl. 

[spider-man]

Hi Debbie, thanks for helping. I'm sorry for the late response, I've not being doing well also I've been stressed/worrying over this recent internet issue. I'm still monitoring things and I'll explain further now - 

I've run speed tests now and then these past few days or so via - support.talktalk.co.uk page and speedtest.net as well as gaming devices, showing below 60, right now it's at 57.

Before the net went down last Sunday 1st Sept I was getting download speeds of 60 or above which shows on the "speed history" on the TalkTalk website but since then it tends to be below at 56 to 58 and it's showing on there too though once the test is done it says I'm getting 60 but the speed history shows different and below 60.

As mentioned in my posts from last week - once the engineer left I turned the router off for close to a hour or so as I was cleaning and I recalled last time a issue occurred and the engineer left I was advised to turn the TalkTalk hub off for a while and then turn it on again and it fixed things and speed was great again and everything was running fine up until last Sunday. So I thought I would do that and the speed increased compared to when the engineer was asking me to run speed tests. It increased to 69.8 download but then later on at around 2am while I was asleep it seemed like TalkTalk auto restarted the network and speeds dropped as described in my previous posts.

On Friday evening I turned the TalkTalk hub off for 30 minutes as advised earlier but it didn't do much, just a slight increase. On Saturday evening I left it off for about two hours as I thought last time I left it off after the engineer left for a hour then speeds increased up until TalkTalk auto restarted the internet network as it shows in the log but unfortunately when I turned it on again it didn't do much in terms of download speed. It has not been off since then as I continue to monitor the speeds and logs but the same thing occurred again as last Wednesday where 4 or 5 hours later TalkTalk auto restarted the internet/network and speeds dropped - download and upload. I think this happens if you have the TalkTalk hub off for over a hour or so and then turn it back on because when it was turned off for 30 minutes or so this didn't occur.

I've not done anything else since then. I've been monitoring speeds and there have not been any auto restarts as I've been checking the TalkTalk hub logs everyday and current connection time online shows over 2 days now when I log into the TalkTalk hub dashboard. I will continue to monitor the connection and speeds but I'm not sure why it isn't above 60mbps like it always was before last Sunday? The same text was received again on Saturday which said - "our monitoring after your engineer visit suggests there might still be some issues with your broadband. If you haven't yet, try rebooting your router." But no further texts since then.

I've saved the logs and I've taken screenshots of the logs etc and the screenshots of the various speeds just incase.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi spider-man

How's the connection/speed been since your last post?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi spider-man

We will check in again with you next week to see how the speed is.

Thanks

Debbie

[spider-man]

Hi, thanks for the quick response. 

Oh ok thanks for that I was worried because the text mentioned after the engineer visit - "our monitoring after your engineer visit suggests there might still be some issues with your broadband".

Thanks for your advice and help - I will do that later or definitely tomorrow, hopefully speeds will get back to normal.

Thanks again for your help.

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

The text was sent from our system basically to see if the fault is resolved.

With regards to the speeds, I would turn the router off for 30 minutes.  This will allow a new session to be created. Then, leave the router on at all times, and see how the speeds look in about 4 or 5 days.

Karl.

[spider-man]

Thanks for getting back to me.

So should I not do anything from my end? Do you know what was the text about that was sent at 13:54 - was that to do with the drops you've mentioned? The one yesterday might have been when I turned the hub off after the engineer left for a while and turned it back on again as this was advised earlier this year but the one this early morning at 2am was not me as I was asleep by then.

Regarding you mentioning changes are being made etc, how long does this last for? Should I wait until next week and if the speeds are not that good then get back to this thread? Yesterday after the engineer left and I turned the hub off for a hour or so then turned it back on - speeds were superb at 69Mbps but now it's what I've mentioned in my previous post after it auto restarted, disappointed about this and worried something might be going on with the speeds especially after the text that was received from two hours ago.

I'm sorry for a lot of questions as I am worrying/stressing about this as I already have a lot going on. Hopefully speeds will go back above 65 as that is what the speeds I always get.

Thanks again.

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

I would leave the router on going forward.  I've had a look and there have been a couple of drops, one in the early hours of this morning, and one yesterday.  This was the automated DLM / Line management system making adjustments now that the fault has been cleared. 

Speed may fluctuate a little whilst these changes are made as the system will look at readings across the line and make adjustment to the profile to balance speed with stability.

So far all tests are clear and no issues are showing.

Karl.

[spider-man]

Hi Karl, I see a text was sent at 13:54 from TalkTalk - 

 - Hello, our monitoring after your engineer visit suggests there might still be some issues with your broadband. If you haven't yet, try rebooting your router. If everything's working fine now or if you're still having trouble, please let us know at talktalk.co.uk/faultretest we're here to help! Your TalkTalk Team - 

I logged into the TalkTalk hub dashboard and see the TalkTalk hub rebooted nearly 12 hours ago at 2am - this was not me as I was sleeping and I think this might be TalkTalk auto testing my line/will test my line for a few days to check things over? Or is this something else?

Yesterday when looking at the TalkTalk hub dashboard at around this time my speeds were better at 69.8Mbps download - I saved a picture of this just incase - as mentioned yesterday in my previous post I turned the router off for nearly a hour and turned it on again and speeds were great as just mentioned and no issues throughout the evening/night.

Now after the text message I look at the TalkTalk hub dashboard and the download speed has decreased to 63.0Mbps and it seems it restarted at around 2am. I tried the speed test via talktalk but it isn't connecting to the server so I tried the speedtest website - which TalkTalk seems to be using and download is 57.40Mbps, lower than yesterday.

Do you know if any other faults are happening or if anything is showing on your system? If not, should I turn the TalkTalk hub off again for 30 minutes or so and turn it on again or should I wait a few days as maybe TalkTalk will continue to monitor my line and might auto restart my router as their monitoring things? I'm not sure what to do.

Thank you.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

You too 🙂

Michelle

[spider-man]

Thanks again, take care. 🙂

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi @spider-man 

I'm so glad this has been fixed for you, and the engineer was nice 🙂

If you have any issues in the future, get back in touch with our Community and we will look after you.

Regards,

Karl. 

[spider-man]

Hi Karl, engineer phoned and then arrived - didn't expect this as stated previously it said that I didn't need to be in so this can cause worry/stress but thank God he was kind and helpful as I was worried about this. All seems to be great now and net is working at great speeds like before.

He requested me to turn the router on/off a few times as we he was doing his tests and if I recall correctly this can effect speeds so once he left I turned the TalkTalk hub off for nearly one hour and I just turned it back on and the speeds are great again - back to normal.

So my request is to you is - please do not turn my router off/or restart it as the speeds are great now.

I will update if anything happens.

Thanks for your help and take care. 🙂

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

This has been assigned to the local engineer.

Karl.

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

The case is still open with Openreach.  Reply Not Fixed to the text just in case, but Ill check the case over the next few hours and see what they do.

Thanks  

Karl.  

[spider-man]

Hi Karl, I see a text message from Openreach was sent at 7:30am - 

- Hi, it's Openreach on behalf of your Service Provider. We've received your repair request. We've done some investigation on our end and believe that your issue is now fixed.

Please reply FIXED if your issue has been resolved -

It has not been fixed. I don’t know if this is a delayed message because you mentioned in your original reply post that openreach dispatched a engineer and they sent a request back to TalkTalk - so I am assuming it’s a delayed message from that? Also the fault tracker still is the same from yesterday - a engineer is on the way to the exchange. So I’m assuming it’s a delayed message?

Now at 9:30am two hours later, another message from openreach -

- Hi, it's Openreach. We think we've resolved your issue. Please let us know if everything is now FIXED.

Not fixed? We'll continue to investigate 

Though still the net is down. 

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

At this time, no one is appointed to visit.

I've made a note of the Openreach reference so we can quickly check for an update tomorrow.

Karl.

[spider-man]

Hi Karl. I see a text message has been received from Openreach at 3:41pm was that yourself logging things with Openreach? “Tests suggest the fault is outside of your premises”. Does that mean there’s no need for someone to visit, so I don’t have to worry/stress about someone visiting. Also any idea on when this will be sorted as it has been over two days now. 

Thanks for your help and info.

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi @spider-man 

The line test was failing with a DIS (Disconnection fault), so Openreach dispatched an engineer and the fault has been cleared and passed back to us for a retest.  I've retested , but this is now failing with a loop fault to the line.

I've logged this back to Openreach now for you.

Give me a nudge here tomorrow and I can follow up with Openreach and see what progress they have made.

Regards,

Karl. 

[spider-man]

Hi, I hope it’s ok to post on here again because my internet has been down since Sunday early morning. I was going to post on Sunday but deleted it as I thought it might be fixed by now but it has not.

Fault -  REP-14700174

Landline is working fine. I’ve ran all tests such as turning the TalkTalk hub off for 20 minutes and turning it on again a few times but no luck. I’ve tried/checked everything as also stated in my previous posts on this thread so please see there before requesting me to check other things etc. I looked at the TalkTalk hub log on Sunday and it looks like it went down at 6:48am on Sunday 1st Sept as a constant message on the log saying - dhcp client failed. All was working well before then. 

TalkTalk hub is sometimes showing a constant amber light. Yesterday I noticed it switched to white but then flashing amber/white. So it must be changing throughout the day etc. On the TalkTalk hub page it is showing my normal speeds and everything working fine as it has all ticks and no crosses but this is odd as the internet is completely down/off. This is the first time something like this has occurred where the net has been shut off.

I don’t have a smartphone so I am borrowing one to message on here and on Sunday I used it to run a test and it says - a engineer is on the way to the exchange - they will not need to come to your home. This was on the fault tracker on Sunday at 2pm.

Any update on this or more info on what is going on? It has been over two days now, as mentioned in previous posts I unfortunately deal with MH issues so I’m not keen on phoning and it seems like there is no TalkTalk accessibility line to contact so I thought I’ll try here again as everyone was helpful and kind.

Thank you.