UPD Openreach Telecoms Engineers Can Now Test Your Broadband Router

In the future when one of BTOpenreach’s engineers pops around to investigate a fault (SFI2) or boost your broadband connection then they may now also access your ISP supplied router in order to interrogate the data it holds and hopefully highlight or reduce the occurrence of repeated faults (especially early life failures on new lines).

The change, which was first tested in June last year and is now officially being rolled out across the United Kingdom, only impacts broadband related engineering visits for Local Loop Unbundled (LLU) lines, NGA (e.g. FTTC) and those supplied by BT itself (WLR). In effect this covers pretty much all of the main consumer broadband types.

Routers often hold a wealth of information about the stability of a broadband line and sometimes the device itself might be at fault, which is why it’s not always enough to merely plug a test device into the line.

Instead Openreach informs us that ISPs can now stick a diagnostic app on their routers, which engineers can analyse to help identify and resolve problems (e.g. it could test the routers wifi settings, firewall and IP connectivity etc.). But take note that this only applies to routers that have been verified by Openreach, such as those supplied by most of the biggest providers (except Virgin Media of course) and some of the smaller ones.

Apparently last year’s trial produced “encouraging results” and helped to reduce common problems and hub replacement volumes on repair, at least it did so to a level that made Openreach keen enough to convert it into a standard part of their broadband related engineering visits.

UPDATE 18th May 2015

We’ve been informed by an ISP that the details from Openreach’s app can be collected via the TR-069 remote management protocol.