Speed Drop on Copper Line

pakb1ue

Over the last few weeks I've noticed a speed drop on my broadband. It has gone from 40 down and 8 up (which has been the case for 3 years) to 10 down and barely 1 up. I'm about 500m from the exchange if I follow the roads and 300m with line of sight.

I ring Vodafone who do a test from their end and they can see a fault, so they raise a request with Eir to have a look. A technician shows up from Eir and says he spotted an issue so he dropped our speed down to 15 at the exchange (my line goes straight to the exchange and not a cabinet) and he can see the issue has been resolved. I ask him if there is any other check he can do as I'd like to return to my old speed, he does an additional check after this as he lifts the manhole cover to check the line. Opens the junction box (the technician said it was wet which isn't a good sign) and exposes the wires from my house and uses a machine to check the speed (I think anyway). He then leaves saying he'll try to change something at the exchange but when I see him return he closes the manhole cover and then drives off without telling me what he did and now the case is closed on Vodafone's website.

My speed is still as bad as it was so I'm wondering is there anything else I can do to get my old speed back beside waiting whenever my line gets upgraded to fibre (OpenEir says I should have it by 2026)?

Ten Pin

Have you an analogue phone or VOIP? If analogue, is there any interference? If yes then one of the copper pair wires is possibly broken or insulation damaged. Try plugging an analogue phone into the main socket with nothing else plugged in to check for any interference.

If copper gets damaged, AFAIK they usually just use a spare pair from the junction box back to exchange. They may think it's not worth doing if fibre is on the way or maybe there's no spare pairs available. Either way you'll have to push them to resolve it.

pakb1ue

Thanks for that @Ten Pin. I don't have a phone as part of my plan only broadband. I tried as you suggested anyway (even though I don't have a landline set up) plugging in the phone into the phone like at the master socket. Tried both phone and internet sockets and didn't get a tone or any feedback. I did try the tel ports on the back of my router but while there was slight feedback but no dial tone or anything but I think that is to be expected.

ED E

You'll want to keep calling VF every day until its fixed. Thats basically the only lever you have to pull.

If the pothead is flooding or there's rodent issues OE just won't fix it.

pakb1ue

Okay I don't think my case is closed actually as Vodafone are still giving me updates to my phone number. I thought it was closed as the heading was "Fixed Fault Eir".

JSON response on vodafones website.

{

  "type": {

    "problemTypeLevel1": "Fixed Fault Eir",

    "problemTypeLevel2": "Fibre Fault",

    "problemTypeLevel3": "Intermittent Drops"

  },

  },

  "condition": "Open",

  "priority": "P3",

  "severity": "P4",

  "status": "Assigned to Crew",

  "subscriptionId": "TRE1_E01A eth 0/3/12",

  "description": "Intermittent Drops",

  "appointmentRequired": false

}

By coincidence there was a crew there today circet trying to pull through fibre but that didn't go well as you can see here https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058292838/blocked-duct-on-neighbours-boundary

pakb1ue

Small update. I got on to Vodafone about the speed and they reported it to Eir. When going to work I spotted the same technician as last time in a manhole further up the road. Said he was there to fix my issue but doubted I how I got the speeds I mentioned at all :/ but he at least switched me to a different twin pair which resulted on a better line and the speeds did increase but only to 13 down and 3 up.

I've been away for the few weeks so I didn't open the case again.

I did however hear flowing water under one of the manhole covers (two up from my one) and upon opening it I found it's flooded with a running leak. I'm guessing this isn't helping matters

https://www.veed.io/view/60b8418a-e50f-4dc8-b755-f7d79002fdfa?panel=share

There is a cabinet further up the road which I'm not connected to (I'm connected directly to the exchange) but I wonder if they switch me over.

For reference A is the eir manhole closest to my house, B is where I spotted him the second time and he switched me to a different twin pair and C is where the water leak is.

pakb1ue

I called Vodafone today to explain my issue again. They told me my speed was set to 15Mbps and they could increase it to 40Mbps. Once they put my line on the max speed I'm back to my original speed. Not exactly sure what exactly happened tbh but I'd say they lowered the speed after I first reported the issue and when Eir technician put me on a new line in the upper manhole on the second call out that fixed the issue but because I didn't call Vodafone until today my issue never got resolved.

On an unrelated note.

I'm having a tough time trying to get anyone to look at the water leak in the Eir manhole. Logged a ticket to Irish Water, they assigned it to DCC, DCC say it's not their issue as the water main is on the other side of the street and to talk to Irish Water again or to get in contact with the management company who look after the apartments beside the manhole. Irish Water say as it's a Telecoms manhole it's up to them to fix the issue. Contact OpenEir via the number they give to report any issues on their poles. They said the number I rang isn't correct and I'm best to get in contact with DCC road maintenance dept.

OpenEir Customer Care didn't respond to my email with the video of the leak and no reply.

May need to camp outside the exchange building if the management company also ignores me.