Broadband ISP TalkTalk UK Suffers Router Disconnections Bug
Some of TalkTalk’s broadband customers have, over the past week or two, been experiencing an unusual router bug with the provider’s ‘Wi-Fi Hub’ device that has been causing them to be repeatedly disconnected from the internet. But the ISP is currently known to be “in the process of applying a solution to all impacted” routers.
The issue appears to have started on Monday (9th Dec) last week for some customers, although others only began to notice it at the start of this week (examples here and here). In all cases, the router’s lights remain normal / white, but the internet connection itself will drop. Customers are often able to re-connect after resetting the router, but then the connection drops again after a period of time (seemingly anything from 30 minutes to a few hours). This occurs on both wired and WiFi links.
The exact cause of the sudden router bug is unclear, although it wouldn’t surprise us if TalkTalk had sent an incorrect configuration or buggy firmware update to devices, which would help to explain why the issue has emerged in a somewhat staggered fashion (i.e. device updates at major ISPs are usually distributed slowly, in phases, over a period of time – often several days or weeks).
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The good news is that TalkTalk itself finally acknowledged the issue via their Service Status page two days ago and yesterday began distributing a fix.
Internet connection issues (2 days ago)
We’re aware that some of our customers are having problems with their service. Your Wi-Fi Hub may experience a loss of connection while the white light remains on. We’re sorry for the inconvenience this is causing, the team continue to work on a resolution and testing is currently taking place on a potential fix. Please check back here for updates.
Update 14:50PM December 18th 2024 – Our team are in the process of applying a solution to all impacted Wi-Fi Hubs. We will continue to update this post as this solution is applied to all affected customers.
The solution does not yet appear to have reached everybody, as some customers were still reporting problems late last night. The provider has also been advising customers to reboot their routers again to help with the fix.
One risk above is that too many reboots on ADSL and FTTC broadband lines can sometimes cause the Dynamic Line Management (DLM) system to think there’s a copper line fault, which could result in slower speeds as the line attempts to adapt by reducing the profile rate in pursuit of greater stability. Credits to Thinkbroadband for spotting the router bug.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Had a similar problem with the Nokia (and possibly Linksys) routers on Airband just after we signed up last year. It seems it was resolved about 2 months ago. Very strange!
I’ve had this problem on and off for a couple of years with talk talk.
Routers replaced didn’t solve the issue. Neither did talk talk acknowledged the problem.
Most times the ‘off’is for a second or two.
Live TV stream freeze, Mobile phone wifi disconnects ps5 stutters etc . Within 5-10 seconds everything in the house is reconnected. The hub however shows working perfectly and never shows a fault or disconnected.
Similar issue for months, often at exactly the same time each day (to the second) for several days then alters to a different time and repeats.
SamKnows white box records it as 6seconds each time. Nothing in the Router log though.
TTs answer, new router. Result no change.
Yep. I can confirm it’s been happening for at least a year or 2 (and still is). Wrote myself a script that checks the connection (pings an outside server every minute) and does a Wifi reconnect when ping was unsuccessful. As soon as reconnected all seems to be back to normal (until it happens again that is). Happens randomly – sometimes works fine all day and the other day it can break 3 times/day.
I have had no Internet connection since yesterday
Yes I had problem with the router since 9th ,Finally managed to get through, 17th! .I had flashing light (red) and no connection now awaiting for a replacement hub !after doing all test via my phone one and half hour long now awaiting new router.
Not related to topic (yours is possibly a hardware fault, but usually a line fault hopefully it is a faulty router as you have to wait another day to get the line fixed)
It’s been very annoying mines been doing this for over a week.
Still cannot get a picture through the hub.
Yes our has been like this since the 9 th December trying to get though to talk talk is a nightmare but they will want the bill paying on time when it arrives in new year it I will be looking for new provider I was with shell energy but talk talk took over been nightmare since
Don’t bother with TalkTalk over the phone. Instead post on the TalkTalk community page as one of their staff (Arne-TalkTalk, Debbie-TalkTalk, Chris-TalkTalk & Michelle-TalkTalk) will eventually reply back to you. And these staff members can send you firmware updates and sometimes they’ll even send you different hardware to test with.
We had trouble with internet stopped had to restart router our router has got white light not working for along time so we thought it was windy but it been going on and off for a couple seconds
My hub has been unstable for weeks rubbish sort it talktalk please!!!
We have had several dropouts including today. Possibly unrelated the downloading of images on Instagram has been sporadic and Threads will only show a couple of threads before freezing. Poor set ice.
The fix was to change DNS to google’s (manually, or wait for talktalk to do it…. That was their fix). Other routers didn’t have a problem (I switched mine for an old one while the issues persisted… A new router from Talktalk didn’t help). Talktalk told me they hadn’t pushed out new firmware.
What on earth talktalk’s DNS servers were doing to crash their routers remains a mystery to me, though….
TalkTalk’s DNS servers are absolute rubbish so this doesn’t surprise me.
When I worked as a technical engineer at a web host & registrar I would sometimes get phone calls from customers asking why they updated their DNS records a day ago and it’s still not live.
Well, it was live. It’s just that their ISP (Talk talk) DNS servers for whatever reason were not clearing the old records despite having long reached the TTL.
Annoying conversion to have, explaining it’s not us.. it’s your crap ISP.
I have flashing amber light no Internet for nearly 2 weeks
I have flashing amber light no Internet for nearly 2 weeks
No Internet at home since Tuesday morning. Very frustrating as I work from home (or from my local Costa or Starbucks now it seems). Very poor response from the company to what should be considered a major P1 incident
Same here …what’s app voice calls drop out a lot sometimes seconds after re connection . Also noticing short freezes while streaming and my speeds are way down in fact download is down to 6mbps whilst upload is 15 mbps, this has never happened in the last 20 years.ihave records via thinkbroadband. I too will be looking for a new isp after Xmas if problem persists. Contacting talktalk is a joke.
Thanks ISPreview…
Its been an unbelievable two weeks amount of time wasted, not to mention the stress involved this past three weeks dealing with TalkTalk broadband. Hints of firmware issues, disingeniuous level 1 & 2 engineering support,Customer Services ready to blamed Openreach and me,rather than deal with the issues at hand. Even when proven wrong, they relentlessly TalkTalk have pursuised unenforceable & unfair contracts’enforced by various layers of Customer Services In different countries but all with the same message ” Show us your Money”
…. Utter ‘Criminal Gaslighters’. God help the uninformed public, especially the old aged….About OFCOM got a grip…. A CISAS agreement will not cover it…
Are we to be compensated
Mine drops out for a few seconds up to perhaps a minute and then reconnects. This has been going on for over 3 years and TT are in total denial. Perhaps they’re run by the post office.
I am fed up with talktalk, we have had message on TV saying no signal so can’t watch TV this week. Ages trying to get through on phone and told nothing wrong with router but manufacturer so talktalk were contacting them. This sounds bizarre so we are still without TV. We want to change providers.
Had the same problem with TalkTalk for over a year. Let the contract run out and changed to BT. No more problems.
I’m having a problem where my phone says the there’s no Internet in the WiFi connection by showing the exclamtion mark but every other device seems to connect fine anyone else having this problem?
I’ve also had this problem a while now..getting really fed up.What am I paying for.
I’ve never been able to get internet no TV nothing working
I have had this problem for over a year with Talk talk. They just tell me to reboot. Speeds are regularly down to 3. As soon as contract ends I am moving to another supplier.
Hi guys I fixed mine by going into router settings and changing the dns to 8.8.8.8 (primary) and 8.8.4.4 (secondary) its not too hard to do if you can follow a tutorial on YouTube.
They really need to stop with all these different routes and set a standard one all the isp with say 2 models for older connections and fttp ones.
its such a big waste and would reduce eco waste on large scale also be more secure.
only thing different from each company could be they slap logo on it.