Sporadic speed drops and unstable connection

[lockedoutagain]

I'm on Faster Fibre Broadband with a guaranteed minimum of 50mbps. I've almost never reached that speed but it's been steady at about 40 so I can live with that. However, for a while now I've been experiencing dips in speed and things are slowly getting worse - sometimes it's down to 4mbps. Restarting the hub seems to bring it back up to the 30-40 range. Sometimes it goes to sleep, things buffer, then it springs back to life.

Last week I did an online connection test and it said there was a problem, and it booked an engineer. I then got an email to say it was fixed. I didn't notice any change. I couldn't run another connection test because it said my fault was fixed, so I've left it a week. I've just run a connection test and it says that it suspects an issue with my broadband and wants to put me through the whole diagnostic/book an engineer process again.

I'm currently out of contract and considering whether to sign up for another 18 months. I can't really be bothered to switch but is this fixable?

Hub is connected directly to a new type wall socket, my laptop is connected to hub via ethernet.

BTW if I check packages available to me on the talktalk home page it now only offers a guaranteed 6.6mbps to my address (but I still get the offer to renew the existing faster fibre contract when I log in).

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Thanks for the update, hopefully there were will be a speed improvement over the next few days if the connection remains stable

Chris

[lockedoutagain]

Hi Chris,

Yes it's all stabilised here since engineer visit on Tuesday. Still not up to the guaranteed minimum but no line drops that I've noticed, and no buffering/freezing. 👍

Router speed

Measured

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi lockedoutagain,

Line test is clear, is everything OK at your end

Chris

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thanks for the update and we'll re-check the connection stats on Friday just to ensure that the tests are still clear and that speed and stability have remained consistent.

Thanks 🙂

[lockedoutagain]

Thank you Karl,

all good this morning 😊

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

The DLM data will have cleared so it may take 24 - 48hrs for the line to fully stabilise as the system applies different profiles to find the correct balance between speed and stability.

Thanks  

Karl. 

[lockedoutagain]

Engineer just called me, he says he found physical damage to the underground cable and has repaired it. He said not to switch the router off for the next week or so as the cabinet will be negotiating the speed over that time. I just did a speed check, it's not 50mbps but I think its as good as it has ever been. The main thing is stability for me, zoom calls were becoming unusable.

After the engineer

[lockedoutagain]

Thank you Michelle. The openreach engineer knocked on our door at about 12 (that was quick!). He says there are problems at another house in the lane and suspects our problems are linked. We have no connection at the moment (14:30), he is still working on it. I’ll update you when he goes. 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I'm really sorry to hear this. Both line tests are now indicating a potential fault so I've passed this straight over to Openreach now to complete an external line investigation. We'll keep checking for updates on the fault and will post back here as soon as we know more.

Thanks

[lockedoutagain]

Hi, sorry been busy for a while. Getting worse here now. Before the speed might drop to 4-5mbps and come back to maybe 25mbps after restarting the router, now I am seeing line drops, the router showing a flashing orange light. If I leave it comes back but it's very unstable. I tried your suggestion of switching off for 30 mins, it came back up at about 25mbps then the line dropped within 5 mins and the router reported no internet connection.

So basically it is becoming unusable for anything except occasional light browsing and email.

Here's the current situation:

Speed after 30 minutes switch off

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Just checking in to see how you're getting on?

Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

When the sync speed increases but the throughput speeds remain low then we usually advise powering down the router for a full 30 minutes and then retesting again, as this will reset the current session and can often increase the throughput speeds.

Thanks

[lockedoutagain]

Thank you Michelle.

Interesting that Talktalk thinks that my speeds are getting better - I'm not seeing these numbers on my router:

Talktalk measured speeds

Router

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I'm sorry for the delay. There are planned engineering works happening at the moment so I will re-check your connection stats later on this afternoon and will post back with an update then.

Thanks

[lockedoutagain]

Hi, Haven't managed to source a telephone yet, might have to wait till the weekend. Today has been bad, lots of drop outs, speed tested at 0.4mbps so rebooted the router and it now tells me my download speed is 28mbps. The Talktalk speedtest says 24mbps to my device (wired laptop) but it seems to vary a lot and the first time I ran it it couldn't connect to the server.

It's a bit annoying as I am working at home 😞 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Just checking in to see how you're getting on?

Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

Great, thank you 🙂

Thanks

[lockedoutagain]

I'll see if I can get hold of one and get back to you 👍

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Would it be possible to borrow a phone/handset for testing purposes to confirm or rule this out please, as a voice issue can affect the broadband connection and we would need to raise this first?

Thanks

[lockedoutagain]

Thanks for your reply. We don't have a phone to test the voice socket with unfortunately, we only use mobile.

Before the engineer callout last week yes the speed would sometimes drop to and stick at about 4mbps but instantly went to about 40 if I rebooted the router. I haven't had the opportunity to test it this week, I'm just noticing that sometimes films will buffer or the smart speaker go silent for a short while then come back.

(TV is on a Powerline connection, Smart speaker is ethernet connected to a Deco mesh unit).