Broadband drops daily for no clear reason

[Mocash21]

I’ve been having an issue for around 11 months with my Vodafone broadband. It is not specific to wireless, wired, mobile desktop etc. It was too infrequent to care that much but in the last 3 or 4 months it’s became a real headache. The festive break has given me the time to address this. 

Basically the broadband will lose the connection to the internet for around 50s and then return. Sometimes it’ll have packet loss and severe drops in speed, sometimes not. It. Typically it occurs between 9am and 10am and between 2pm and 4pm. On a windows device it’ll say no internet, likewise on mobile it’ll say the same. In Ethernet, the connection remains but the service either times out or the application in use will disconnect or buffer. 

This is highly frustrating as I work from home. If I’m in a Teams call I’ll lag, video won’t display or i can’t be heard.  Over the Christmas break I’ve been watching Tv and playing online games more frequently and keep getting disconnected throughout the day. 

I’ve had two routers, the provided one and a bridged connection with a netgear nighthawk. Both are problematic. 

Steps I’ve tried:

1. Wi-Fi Channel optimisation 

2. New router 

3. Split frequencies between bands and try together 

4, factory reset 

5. Spoken to Vodafone who only recommended a reset then a test socket check. Nothing found.

6. Checked the filter, replaced the cabling and socket at the house.

7. Ethernet connection 

8. Text close to the device 

9. Repeat with other devices 

in December 2021 we were without internet for over a month when an open reach engineer cut a line nearby. A number of houses lost connection and Vodafone reimbursed us.

I’m wondering if the two are related, and after all the above what can be done?I sincerely doubt an engineer will detect a fault on the house end (this has happened every year for the past 20 years and not once had a fault been found inside the home.) This leads me to one of two conclusions, either there is an Openreach fault nearby or at the cabinet and has gotten worse, or the broadband is at fault on the ISP end. The engineer usually comes first, finds nothing wrong and the service works again for a week( which is them just changing to fast path.) When this happens, I just change providers. 

Please can Vodafone ensure they are neither. If the fault isn’t fixed I’m just going to leave. 

P.S. I work in IT and hold numerous qualifications in networking. If you’re giving me an extremely common fix or suggestion, I’ve already tried it. Please consider that in any response. 

[Cynric]

Can you just use the Netgear one alone?

Have you changed the DNS settings away from the Voda default?

Have you noticed anything odd in the logs?

Have you tried running the ThinkBroadband BQM for a while to see if there's a pattern?

What does BT give for line rate and condition if you run this test? https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

If you run this one https://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ and go to the advanced screen BT may suggest further action depending on the result.

Is there anything in the home programmed to run in the periods which you mentioned that has a heavy load that could introduce sufficient noise on the mains to upset the power?

Lastly, and only because I cannot think of anything else sensible at this point, go into the garage and turn off the ICL 2966 mainframe that you've been quietly restoring as a hobby 😁

[Mocash21]

1. Considering it is a router, no. My broadband needs the modem to enable fibre.

2. No

3. I'll compile the logs as soon as I can. 

4. No, I'll pull together My own as per above.

5. It says VSDL range A is clean, but B is impacted. How do I know which range I am on?

6. It's as expected, however I can't use advanced as every attempt renders the system saying "busy".

7. Interesting you say this, this is something I assumed it could be but after thorough investigation, the highest load in the house is electric car charging. This is done depending on sunlight and the issue arises outside of these issues. Good shout though.

8. Already turned it off.

Should I contact Vodafone? I seemingly cannot identify anything on my end but the damaged status from BT is interesting.

[Cynric]

.@Mocash21 I'll try to keep to the numbering.

1. I wasn't aware of which Netgear it was, oh well you know what's next; try another router.

2. Changing the DNS is worth a try, e.g 1.0.0.1 or 8.8.8.8, to suggest two

3. Logs, OK.

4. BQM, OK.

5. You'll be on 'B', everyone is because 'A' is the 'ideal' capacity/performance.

6. Yes BT recently made everyone wait a while between runs of the 'advanced' bit when they updated the website.

7. You can never tell what spikes and EMF could be doing, particularly if the car is near the networking kit. I don't what the car 'pulls down' when it's charging but switching-on the load could be just enough to cause problems.

8. That'll reduce the electricity bill.

Contacting Vodafone can be a bit like licking a 9v battery to see if it has any charge left. Just have a search in here and read some of the less-than-glowing reviews of the helpdesk. Saying that, the earlier you ask them to ask BT to do something proactive the less overall time you will spend waiting for action.

[Mocash21]

Thanks for your help, I just used numbering to keep it easy.

1. The Netgear is the 2nd router I’ve tested outside the provided one, I’ve never had issues with any routers before so this rules the router itself out. 
2. Tried this, and sadly the issue still happened. It’s a little difficult to replicate given its throughout the day.

5. I see, if it’s damaged is there anything I can do as a customer?  The line was cut during repairs and the immediate area was without broadband for over the month. Who can I contact to see if it’s marked because of that or there’s a separate issue?

6. Will keep trying.

7. I’ve plugged in the car to charge at numerous intervals and can confidently say it’s cutting when not charging. I have solar panels and there’s 0 sunlight and the problem still occurred multiple times. 
8. No sunlight

[Cynric]

.@Mocash21 

1. OK

2. It's tricky.

5. You have to go via Vodafone. BT OpenReach will not talk to us, see below.

6. Fingers crossed.

7. OK.

8. Can't help with that one. 🌧

Only by you contacting them (VF). Use live chat or call 08080 034 515.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/bbservcd/