BT broadband keeps dropping

A question about : BT broadband keeps dropping

My broadband keeps dropping ,it drops randomly during the day but drops almost every time I get an incoming phone call. I rang BT and spent ages on the phone to them, the call was escalated and I was told that a BT broadband engineer would call but if they found a problem in the house they would charge me Ј130. I have replaced the ASDL filter , in fact the only thing not replaced is the telephone socket. I am now in a position where I am paying them my hard earned money for a shoddy service but don,t want to risk a bill for Ј130 if they come out to me. Any advice would be appreciated.

Best answers:

• sounds like you have got a high resistance fault on the line also known as HR Dis, this type of fault causes the broadband to drop out when ringing current goes down the line
  this is normally an external fault but there is a possibility that it is something in the house that is causing it
  Have you taken the front plate off the master socket and disconnect all extensions and tested the router in the master socket, if the broadband still drops out with the router plugged into the test socket then chances are it is a line fault
  they have to advise you of possible charges because if the problem is being caused by the customer's own equipment or if they are doing something wrong then you will have to pay for the engineers visit
  google high resistance fault causing broadband to drop out
• meant to say in the other post
  take the front plate off the master socket plug your new microfilter into the test socket plug your router/hub into the filter but do not connect a phone, wait for the b/b to synch up and then ring the line from a mobile if it is a HR/Dis fault on the line the b/b should drop out
  that is pretty much all you can do without the help of an engineers visit
• thanks I will try that
• What if the broadband does n't drop when I do that? What is it likely to be ?Do I really need to unscrew the socket?
• I'd be happy to pop round and undo them for only Ј50 a screw... Your master socket will be replaced FOC when it ceases to work, not before.
  All the other sockets are yours, not BT's, so you can change them any time you like, but at your own expense. Get OR in to do that and it will cost you Ј130 minimum.
• www.exbtengineers.com/line-fault-broadband-speed-test
  have a look at that site for some useful info
  if your master socket is ancient then it may not be an NTE5 where you can access the main socket
  all the extension wiring should should be wired off the face plate of the NTE 5 and by removing it you should eliminate all your wiring and sockets that are not the responsibility of openreach
  if you plug your router into the master socket and it is fine then you work out where your problem is by a process of elimination
• Op,
  You have some very good advice so far,and also advice from others who unfortunately arent reading everything.
  You cannot remove a plate from an ancient socket so you are unable to do the test as advised.
  I have had exactly the same problem for many months. Sky escalated it and eventually a broadband engineer attended.
  He found 2 faults on the line in the street which were undetectable using a usual line test. He also gave me a new master socket as mine was ancient just to cover any possible problem there.
  Total charge?..nowt
  Brilliant service from Sky,it has to be said(although it took many complaints of drop outs and advice from sky to change microfilters/change router channels etc)