Fibre Connection issues since a few days ago

[hayward54]

Hi, since we had high winds a few days ago my connection has been having issues.

Before this I would get the full 160mbps with ~3dB noise margin on both the downstream and upstream.

Now I am getting ~90mbps with ~15dB downstream.

If I reboot the router it will go back to 160mbps but will keep dropping the connection (including the land line) until the speed drops again.

The connection test shows the connection as being good, I am unable to run this when the line drops though.

[Skull+Treaty]

@hayward54 

Could be DLM has kicked in after the winds and it's settling the line - perhaps leave it a week or so without rebooting the hub and see if the DLM stabilises the line (if it is DLM)

[hayward54]

The connection did improve after a couple of days without needing to contact sky. I am back to full speed with a couple of days of connection uptime.

[Skull+Treaty]

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@hayward54 wrote:

The connection did improve after a couple of days without needing to contact sky. I am back to full speed with a couple of days of connection uptime.

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@hayward54 

Great news 😉

[hayward54]

I am replying to this because I am still encountering issues on and off, currently my connection is back to 90MB instead of 160MB and I get the impression its bad weather that is causing it (rain/wind).

I have done the health check through the sky website and it has detected there is an issue, but clicking the "book an engineer" button sends me to a "Sorry our tests are currently unavailable" page.

[Chrisee]

@hayward54 the diagnostics are designed for VDSL connections rather than what looks like G.Fast your service is using so that message maybe permanent. Give Sky a call dialling 150 on a Sky Talk line or Sky mobile is free. 

G.Fast is great if the line is suitable but pushing that amount of data down a copper line on poles isn't easy as the signals are easily disupted. Openreach should intervene if speeds drop below the guaranteed minimium which it looks like they are.

[Addie15]

Hi there, I have escalated your post to our Community Messaging team who will invite you to a private chat shortly and help you with this.  

Just look out for the blue bubble to start the conversation.

Here's more information on how Community Messaging works - https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Did-you-know/Escalating-a-post-to-a-Sky-expert/ba-p/3711147  

[hayward54]

An update to this, I had a hard time getting an engineer booked as I could not remember a secret verbal password which is apparently needed to even to just get repair work done. Neither the chat or the phone service would help, fortunately the app lets you arrange this stuff without the excessive security.

Engineer turned up and said several of the phone line poles were missing their caps and were getting soaked through by the rain, he "fixed" it by wrapping plastic bags around the poles and said he would be back at a later date to attach the caps. Connection was working at ~155mb at this point, but the voip had stopped working, the engineer left saying the voip should start working on its own shortly.

A fews days later and the voip had failed to start working so another engineer was booked (through the app), I explained what the other engineer had said, but the new engineer said the previous engineer had plugged some stuff in wrong. The voip worked after he finished, but the connection had now dropped to ~140mb.

Since then the line has dropped further to 125mb, it drops to 105mb when it rains or is windy (so the first engineer probably never came back to attach the caps to the poles) and also randomly drops every 1-2 days for 30 minutes or so. I would say this is worse than it originally was, but because the speed no longer drops below 100mb it seems to meet the min guaranteed speed now?

[jamesn123]

@hayward54 

Sounds like you'll need to go back to Sky. Sometimes these issues can take a fair few engineer visits to solve

[hayward54]

connection is now down to 90mbps, the app states "Unfortunately, an engineer visit can't make your speed any faster". The downstream noise margin has gone from 3db to 10db.

This happened with sky previously 😕 I had 80mbps which eventually dropped to 45mbps and they refused to help "thats all your line supports sorry", as soon as I upgraded to 160mbps, it ran fine at 160mbps for the most part.

[TimmyBGood]

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@hayward54 wrote:

connection is now down to 90mbps, the app states "Unfortunately, an engineer visit can't make your speed any faster". The downstream noise margin has gone from 3db to 10db.

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So you're below the minimum 'guaranteed' for Ultrafast 1 over G.fast, and Sky would likely be prepared to release you from any minimum contract term.  Unfortunately what they don't have to do is insist that Openreach actually resolves the issue, and any other provider will just inherit it.

[hayward54]

I managed to get an engineer booked, I was told initially there was nothing they could do since my average at the time was technically above the min speed (I had an average of 101 and the min is 100). After saying I might as well drop to a slower speed or change ISP suddenly they were able to book the engineer...

It was booked a month ahead (this was right after the large outage) and now I am being asked to confirm if I still need the appointment.

My speeds have gone up a little in the last month, I am getting 105-130 (6-7db noise margin) with the speed jumping around a fair bit, I am getting dropouts every 2-3 days too.

Should I be keeping the appointment now I have speeds above 100? I am a little worried about the engineer turning up and saying the speeds meet the min requirement and then getting charged £25 for the callout. The connection is still much worse than before the first engineer visited.

[jamesn123]

@hayward54 

Just say the speeds are up and down a lot, they wont charge you. 

[hayward54]

After explaining to sky about the issue being caused by an openreach engineer, it turns out they booked a sky engineer to check my internal wiring 😕

They were unable to find a fault inside the house as expected, they did find the connection was syncing at random speeds each time it was disconnected with the max possible line speed also changing each time.

They called BT to try and get another openreach engineer booked, but the bt support wasn't interested, random speeds are fine if they are above 100mb, random dcs are fine if the line is above 100mb. He was asked to read out the connection speed from September and he said it was 160mb, but then stated that the distance the line is traveling means a connection speed closer to 100mb is normal so its fine. They refused to send an engineer in the end.

Ive been with sky for 9 years (I was with bethere before that) and it looks like ill need to find a new ISP that does not use bt if I actually want support. I understand it's not really skys fault. It's a shame I am stuck in a contract for another year though 😞

[hayward54]

I called again to see if anything else could be done and was told that if an engineer was booked again, they would likely just say the line is fine and not look any further into it, so it was likely to be a waste of time.

I was told however that despite being under contract until November, I could cancel anytime without paying the cancel fees. Is there anyway to get this in writing or something? I don't want to change ISP only to find the next person I talk to at sky telling me that the person I spoke to previously was wrong and actually I do have to pay the full amount of the contract.

Im going to have the option of 500mb/500mb at the start of next year for cheaper than my current 105mb/20mb I get with sky.