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Hobbled upload speed, healthy download speed with FTTC

Ted_Wastrel

Member
I have an ongoing problem with my Zen broadband connection (connection drops, hobbled upload speed), which coincides with intermittent noise during phone calls (BT landline account). Both of these faults appeared at the same time.

A replacement Fritzbox router was a bit more stable but the basic issue persists.
BT sent a nice Openreach engineer last week who spent 4 hours troubleshooting the phone line and appeared to make an effort. Over the weekend the noise (and internet connection drops) resumed.

The connection drops coincide with noise on the landline. Download rates reported by the Fritzbox router are barely affected, while uploads are badly hobbled.

Worst example : 65mbps / 0.4mbps. Usual rates recently have been 70/13. In January they were 70/18 but then suddenly worsened.

I've attached a screenshot of the Fritzbox's 'spectrum' info.

noisy.jpg


Does anyone know of a reason why a frayed aluminium cable or other landline fault would so selectively affect upload frequencies but not download ? Can a faulty DSLAM be causing noise (crackles etc.) during phone calls ?

Today is a bank holiday so will have to contact my ISP tomorrow, but would appreciate input from someone who knows more about these things than I do.

Thanks in advance.
 
Crackles usually mean physical damage to the cable (probably NOT alu); although with the torrential rain we have had in recent weeks, it could be water into the OR cabinet

At a guess, a termination joint has been damaged, or the outer insulation damaged and water has entered the cable, causing corrosion.

Water ingress DOES block specific frequencies, not sure if this is the cause of uploads dropping so much though.
I have had this happen with an aerial cable that suffered water ingress; certain VHF frequencies just stopped working.
 
It's going to be a fault on the line somewhere, either with your home wiring or further along the line going into the cabinet. Tree branches bashing against the cable (if overhead), water damage.. there could be lots of different potential causes. The fact it's aluminium doesn't help since they're usually more problematic than copper. I suspect you'll have a few more engineer visits as part of the process for finding and resolving the underlying fault (sometimes it's a bit trial and error).
 
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Very very unusual to have a issue with upload sync speeds, I have only come across a serious problem a couple of times which was a line fault. How ever the phone noise is a concern which could cause it.

The pic you posted doesnt really show much unless you have several showing the differences when your having good speeds and ones where you have bad speeds.
 
I have previously dealt with one or two upload faults with OR, the challenge here is that they are infrequent and they seem to struggle with the concept.

The only way to get this resolved in to get your ISP to raise an escalation, they need to be fighting your corner.
 
when I had an issue with dropouts and slow speed, an openreach engineer replaced the copper wire from the cabinet to the home, and it worked. the engineer said the copper wire was old and had degraded over time. Took the engineer less than an hour to complete. perhaps on the next openreach engineer visit, this solution could be suggested.
 
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