A possible solution to my problem...

[tiggerai]

Got a phonecall last night from a very nice chap in chester on the BT Special Investigations team, investigating why no-one in my area can get a broadband connection.

Turns out that somewhere in my block (of 3), someone has a dodgy power transformer that is (silently, and not being able to be detected, except i can hear the hiss on my phone) emitting electronic noise and thus not allowing the line to sync. Of course! (he says the main culprits are a certain type of Sky digibox, freeview boxes and Monitor transformers) We had a power cut the day before my connection went, so I guess whatever blew the trip switch, also blew whatever has been causing this issue.

So tonight we are all going to try unplugging things one by one, while BT monitor the electronic readings... how fun!

The bit that annoys me is that he said that if he'd known about this 4 weeks ago (I've had no internet for 8 weeks and some) that he would have checked this out first. Instead, Pipex has been giving me the run around. (and sent me a payment overdue message, even though i phoned up last month to tell them that their direct debit wasn't coming out.... they are a shambles)

Shame really, as a normal BT engineer wouldn't know the first thing about this, so why they send them to households repeatedly i don't know.... hey ho... it's nice to talk to someone who does have an idea about what they're telling me, my faith in BT is restored (but not pipex)

[Funkstar]

interesting problem.

I've heard of this, but never from someone that it actually happened to.

Hope you get back online soon tigs

[madman045]

I can relate to the sky box, as when its plugged in, sometimes there is a high pitched squeal on the line, also the internet is forever dropping.

therefore it remains unplugged!!!

[tiggerai]

Change your skybox... the BT man says it's a fire hazard. - and it could also mean that you're ruining other people's BB connections when you've got it on.

They sourced the problem... a DVD player.

It was plugged into an audio system that was in turn plugged into the NTL cabling for TV (MK has a pants digital reception)

Guess what NTL runs underground to improve the signal?

Amplifiers.

The REIN from this DVD player was being amplified so that it knocked out BB in about 6 other streets on my estate. The owner of said DVD has been told to destroy it as if Mr binman takes a liking, it means more work for V.nice Mr BT man.

I'm back online, with a nice 4.1Meg connection. A very special thanks to BT special investigations. They are great.

Hoo bloody ray!

[bomber999]

to think a dvd player could cause so much pain! how did they manage to find out it was a dvd player?

[merdat]

Glad ye got yer problem fixed. Heard a 'story' about a guy who's broadband connection lost sync every day about 1600. Turned out to be kids in a house about 500 yards away -home from school - switch on their old portable TV --bingo ,no broadband connection any more. Lots of thing can interfere with a bb connection it could be(isss) a real minefield. P.S. these guys have got special gear for detecting spurious frequencies etc.

[Kumagoro]

Out of curiosity, how did the DVD player being connected to the NTL network affect the BT telephone lines?

[merdat]

Probabally emiting a frequency due to a faulty component . You speak to any radio/tV engineer and they will tell you that these modern devices ie. plasma tv's , dvds ect . are very dirty in regards to 'emittions' .

[Funkstar]

espetially the cheap ones. In the end, most of us end up paying heavily for the rediculously low prices of some home electronics.

Everyone wants the cheapest thing possible, hardly anyone seems to want to buy quality.

[tiggerai]

Out of curiosity, how did the DVD player being connected to the NTL network affect the BT telephone lines?

The electronic noise stops a line from sync'ing as it won't be able to get enough packets through to complete the syncronisation. The noise will affect the frequencies that ADSL uses to transmit data, noise will mean lost packets and therefore not be able to sync. Normally only one house (or block of flats) would be affected, in this case it was about 5 streets worth (lucky most of them aren't occupied really!)

I could actually hear the noise on the line, as my phoneline is now crystal clear.

NTL in this area uses amplifiers underground to amplify their signal, amplifiers amplify everything, they're not fussy. So it was amplifying the noise too, so affecting more people than normal.

[merdat]

yaaa ,yer right on , any transients( errors) cause 'reframing ' with in turn causes ' in essence repeat frame transmissions which results in slow tranmissions. i.e. slow or no bb

[menthel]

Very interesting story that and good to know bt do a good job!

[merdat]

ya BT get 'slagged off ' all the time but there are some good minds there if ye can get tae them

[arbitor]

well.

they are only any good if you complain enough, same with most of the large companies support out there tbh
try ringing orange boradband you will what i mean.

wierd problem but good to know for future refrence

[tiggerai]

yaaa ,yer right on , any transients( errors) cause 'reframing ' with in turn causes ' in essence repeat frame transmissions which results in slow tranmissions. i.e. slow or no bb

Not just a pretty face huh?!

[TheAnimus]

The really worrying thing about this is that the NTL people are blindly amplifing anything!

Thing is, why was this frequency coming inm in such a fassion that you could hear it, and it was also in the ADSL data spectrum. Classic interference from switch mode PSUs (the most common hifi buff's foe) is always ment to be in the low frequency range. This isn't used by adsl.

A puzzle, but solved by the crack BT squad, when i had problems with my ISDN a fair few years back, regular BT engineers simply tried replacing the box, it took the elite squad to realise that there was something wrong with both their exchange, and my adsl modem. They reconed a surge had killed them both.