SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Mar 7, 2017 9:31:15 GMT
Fibre broadband finally reached the Dorset coast last year (I now get a heady 11Mbps  ) but the Openreach "last mile" copper connection from cabinet to home is typically a run of rotten, wonky poles across open fields, strung with bits of 1950's cable containing more splices than wire. Every couple of months I get recurring connection drop-out problems and go through the rigmarole of getting PlusNet to check their last 7 days connection log, at which point they task Openreach to come out yet again with another roll of sticky tape. Can anyone recommend a good software package (ideally low cost / free) that will monitor a fibre broadband connection continuously from a PC, without interfering with other tasks? Google suggests there are plenty of options but no obvious stand-out choice. Thanks in advance. |
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jonah
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Post by jonah on Mar 7, 2017 9:43:02 GMT
Ping?
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Mar 7, 2017 9:54:30 GMT
Just decoupling the computer from the equation for a second - does your router/modem have any logging capabilities to track drops in service? Nothing obvious. It's a PlusNet "Hub Zero", which seems to have most of the usual router menus locked away, presumably to prevent non-techies like me from fiddling with them.
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Post by wiseclerk on Mar 7, 2017 10:13:59 GMT
I agree, router would be the obvious choice. My connection is stable, so I never had the need but my FritzBox router offers a graphic on the error rate of the connection (in this case zero errors in last 24h hours).  |
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Post by wiseclerk on Mar 7, 2017 11:21:18 GMT
And to add an anecdote. For years there was no broadband coverage in our village. To escape dial up modem speed I installed an antenna on our roof that established a directional radio link to another antenna on a barn about 2 km away in a neighboring village and from there it went into broadband. Worked well for the first years except during heavy rain which capped transmisson - but I could live with that. Then slowly transmission quality detoriated over time. What happened? Trees oof a neighbor grew and some of the branches got into the necessary free line of sight between the antennas. Not permanently but thereafter my internet access was dependent on wind speed, wind direction and growing season  Finally I was rescued when town acquired some grants to connect our village to broadband. The antenna is still on the roof reminding me of old times. |
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Mar 7, 2017 12:32:42 GMT
I may give Net Uptime Monitor a try ( www.netuptimemonitor.com ) if/when I start observing problems again. Looks pretty simple in a "does exactly what it says on the tin" way. Of course, invoking Sod's Law, I've had Openreach here again this morning to investigate and the line's being good as gold today. On the plus side, apparently the village is being switched across to a newly-installed, much nearer cabinet "shortly" that's likely to boost our speed to 20+Mbps. Hopefully it might also help with the signal/noise ratio issues that apparently are the usual cause of drop-outs. The Openreach engineer is also planning to point the finger at a "potentially faulty router" so PlusNet send me one of their newer integrated modem-routers. He doubts it'll actually help with the drop-outs but I'll have 1 fewer boxes on my desk! |
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bigfoot12
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Post by bigfoot12 on Mar 7, 2017 13:02:35 GMT
Have you checked all the wiring at your end. I had an intermittent problem and the cause was an old extension line which had been cut on the outside, but not sealed properly. Whenever it rained we had problems.
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Mar 7, 2017 13:08:25 GMT
Have you checked all the wiring at your end. I had an intermittent problem and the cause was an old extension line which had been cut on the outside, but not sealed properly. Whenever it rained we had problems. The fibre modem plugs directly into the master BT socket and I've no extensions at all. Openreach long ago accepted that there's nothing on my side of the master socket they can blame!
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jonah
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Post by jonah on Mar 7, 2017 16:11:00 GMT
Have you checked all the wiring at your end. I had an intermittent problem and the cause was an old extension line which had been cut on the outside, but not sealed properly. Whenever it rained we had problems. The fibre modem plugs directly into the master BT socket and I've no extensions at all. Openreach long ago accepted that there's nothing on my side of the master socket they can blame! For me, I had openreach out to check my line, after swapping isp and therefore router. the engineer unscrewed the cover on the exterior box and the external 'to cabinet' cable fell to pieces in his hand. 1x new cable later and I've been fine since. That said, I'm in plusnet and they talked me through all sorts of checks before they would get openreach involved. Worth a call to them. Also, iirc, the plusnet website includes their view of your line, so might be worth logging onto that.
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) but the Openreach "last mile" copper connection from cabinet to home is typically a run of rotten, wonky poles across open fields, strung with bits of 1950's cable containing more splices than wire. Every couple of months I get recurring connection drop-out problems and go through the rigmarole of getting PlusNet to check their last 7 days connection log, at which point they task Openreach to come out yet again with another roll of sticky tape.
