FTTC with THG3000 Router - difficult connection to Internet since 02-01-2023

[Delta10]

Starting around 6pm on 2nd January I have had significant difficulty getting internet connection i.e. solid white Internet indicator on the router.

Has anyone else started having connection problems?

The first time the connection dropped and did not quickly reconnect. I did get a connection again within an hour.

Subsequently it can take up to 3 hours to get a connection.

Tonight it took about 2 hours to get a connection.

Since joining Vodafone in May I have only had around half speed i.e. 18Mb/s rather than 36Mb/s download and 3Mb/s rather than 7-9Mb/s upload. The router has always connected quickly and very few dropouts.

Last Wednesday I telephoned Vodafone and was told there was work in my area that would be complete by midnight. However my problem continued.

Last Friday from work knowing the router was off I logged into my account and ran a test. This flagged a fault and a reference code. When I returned home I found a card from Openreach to say they had found a network fault and rectified it. I started the router. It did not connect right away with the internet indicator getting as far as flashing white then returning to flashing red. Within 15 minutes a connection had been established. Logging into the router showed now 36Mb/s download and 7.2Mb/s upload speeds plus the Signal-to-noise ratio around 6dB, an improvement from around 9dB.

However the connection problem has continued so seems separate to the line from the cabinet to my house. From the start I suspected this as the line signal-to-noise ratio had not become significantly worse.

The router sequence from power on is

• Power - white indicator
• Internet - flashing red indicator > solid red indicator > flashing white indicator > flashing red indicator.
• The latter is on > off > on > off for (at a guess) twice as long.

I do not know if better to just leave the router on or after say 10 minutes turn off for a minute then on again.

Tonight I finally got a connection after restarting the router for the umpteenth time when the sequence was as above but the solid white internet light a couple of minutes after the flashing white indicator changed back to a flashing red indicator.

I have a second THG3000 which I tried directly connected to the incoming test socket with no difference and a Huawei HG633 I have configured for Vodafone VDSL FTTC. ( I will update my thread from May/June with the details )

It is as if either

- Vodafone has lost capacity either at the local street box or the area exchange

- Vodafone have taken on more customers than the street box and/or exchange has capacity for.

I will of course continue chasing Vodafone support but any relevant information will be appreciated.

I have rearranged power so the router can remain on but if the connection drops still the same issue to reconnect and ultimately just masking it.

[Jayach]

Reading between the lines, you have had a poor connection for some time, which Openreach rectified (suspiciously) quickly.

You are now in a situation where your routers(s) seem to not establish a connection, but if you power cycle it a few times it will connect.

Is that correct?

Going forward I would leave the router in the test socket, until you are satisfied it is all working.

The sequence for the internet LED, in my experience is:

Flashing red (awaiting connection to cabinet) - solid red (cabinet connection established) - flashing white (awaiting authentication to Vodafone) - solid white (authenticated) - all working.

The flashing white led does seem to have 2 distinct frequencies/sequences but I've not worked out the difference.

I don't think there is much we can add to assist you, it seems to be a Vodafone/Openreach problem so it will need them to cure it.

 I would just factory reset the modems before trying again, and sometimes continuous reconnection of the modem can be because of firmware update failing, so what firmware do you have?

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@Delta10 wrote:

I have rearranged power so the router can remain on but if the connection drops still the same issue to reconnect and ultimately just masking it.

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Didn't really understand this comment, the router should really be on all the time.

[Ripshod]

Reading deeper between the lines it reads like you're turning the router off when you're not there?

Best to leave an fttc modem connected 24/7 or the Internet hardware (DLM) will think there's a fault on your line and reduce your speed. Once you have a connection leave it be. 

[Delta10]

To respond to specific points

@Jayach 

Reading between the lines, you have had a poor connection for some time, which Openreach rectified (suspiciously) quickly.

Yes - it goes back to this thread

Ultimately my fault for not getting resolved before but balanced by the router connected 1st time 99.9 times of 100 and if a fail connecting in a few minutes while the connection very rarely dropped. The speed of 18Mb/s rather than 36Mb/s to me not an issue. I didn't want to end up with the current situation or total loss of service.

I was very surprised how quickly Openreach responded. On New Years Day, before I had or at least noticed my issue, they were at the street box when I drove past.

You are now in a situation where your routers(s) seem to not establish a connection, but if you power cycle it a few times it will connect.

Is that correct?

Eventually - yesterday numerous power cycles over 2 hours. One day last week 3 hours.

Around 6pm virtually impossible. By nearer to or soon after 9pm then after a while.

Late at night much better,  I found this when reconfiguring the ex-TalkTalk HG633.

so what firmware do you have?

From other posts it is dated 2021 and VF have not recently released new firmware. I will post the exact version later -   presuming when I get home I am connected or eventually get connected of course  ... ( at work now .... sssh ).

@Jayach 

Didn't really understand this comment, the router should really be on all the time.

@Ripshod 

Reading deeper between the lines it reads like you're turning the router off when you're not there?

I have always had the router on the same power feed as the computer. Typically powered 4 hours Monday - Thursday, 6 hours Friday and at most 10 hours Saturday - Sunday so over a week 50 hours out of 168 hours.

DLM reducing connection speed from doing this has been mentioned many times but never happened. Back to the linked post I suspected it happened May / June 2021 when I later found max speed reduced when at the time I presumed Openreach had fixed a fault. Here though the router, then Plusnet, was reconnecting / attempting to reconnect immediately or after around 15 minutes getting power cycled.

The algorithm for DLM is of course unknown but a first try successful connection once every 24 hours for several hours ought to be treated very differently to a loss then immediate reconnection or reconnection attempts.

I will update later what has happened over the last 24 hours with the router on.

[Jayach]

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@Delta10 wrote:

The algorithm for DLM is of course unknown but a first try successful connection once every 24 hours for several hours ought to be treated very differently to a loss then immediate reconnection or reconnection attempts.

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The DLM is for the connection from the router to the cabinet, whether it syncs with Vodafone has nothing to do with it. So every power off/on will be seen as a disconnection by DLM.

[Delta10]

When I returned home around 18:30 the router had a white internet light.

From logging in to the router the connection had not dropped. Now just over 25 hours from getting a connection around 9pm yesterday.

Below is the router firmware details

[Delta10]

On 11th January, 6 days after I obtained the fault reference and Openreach found and rectified the line fault, I received an email from Vodafone stating that they were investigating the fault and if not rectified within 48 hours I would be entitled to compensation .... note again this is after 6 days !!

The next day I received an email headed ' Your service is now activated ' rather than something like ' We have fixed the fault on your internet service ' and that as within 48 hours there would be no compensation.

I left the router permanently connected for 10 days to see if the service dropped plus adjust to having full speed. After 10 days I switched off the router late at night and did not switch on again for around 15 hours. It connected first time. I noticed after the internet light started flashing white it never showed red again, not even very briefly. I have reverted to my setup as before this issue started switching off the router with the computer late evening and not restarting until required. Every time the router has connected first time. Once the router threw a wobbly as it was booting and started again.

I have not noticed the internet drop but if it has reconnecting has been quick so the issue seems resolved.

[Cynric]

.@Delta10 Please stop turning the router off. Just leave it always on or you will confuse things related to the line management between you and the exchange.

[CrimsonLiar]

I'd have to check with an OR engineer, but I'd be really worried that with your router being off so much of the time your service could even get logged as disconnected, or the connection in the cabinet accidentally moved to an obviously working/needed connection!

So whats the reason for turning the router on and off, if it's energy saving, then routers are hardly thirsty - if any one with a monitoring power meter free wants to check how much power the THG3000 uses!

*If you've been using the Talk Talk HG633 instead of the Vodafone router, it could be that an issue related to it's remembering the username and password is being triggered by the regularly powering it off!  **There's a fix to that issue but I don't want to suffer the wrath of the mods here for mentioning it!

[Jayach]

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@CrimsonLiar wrote:

*If you've been using the Talk Talk HG633 instead of the Vodafone router, it could be that an issue related to it's remembering the username and password is being triggered by the regularly powering it off!  **There's a fix to that issue but I don't want to suffer the wrath of the mods here for mentioning it!erent thread

I suspect @Delta10 just wanted to let people know it's possible. (Although that was in a different thread https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Broadband-connection/Huawei-HG633-router-on-Vodafone-VDSL-FTTC/m-p/2...)