Well, hooray, hooray my BT Broadband is back after repeating its aberrant behaviour just like yesterday performing a three hour runner on both occasions with BT replying to my enquirers with those famous words, “Nothing to do with us mate.”

The day started well with all three lights on my BT Hub shining bright and sharp just as it did yesterday and then also just like yesterday the middle light on the BT Hub started flashing thereby depriving me of Broadband and Live Mail.

First I tried a Re-start with no luck. I then disconnected and then reconnected the telephone line from the computer also with no luck. I then disconnected then reconnected the power from the BT Hub with no change.
I then clicked on the Network 3 Internet Access icon on the bottom bar where all my icons run and activated the trouble shooting system with no information other than to be told that there was no Broadband.
I telephoned BT 100 who put me through to someone the other side of the world who I could not understand because I wear a hearing aid so I had to terminate the conversation. There is no doubt that the people on the BT Help line are much clever than I am because they speak my language while I only speak my own but I am unable to understand their accent.

I then went for my evening meal and as soon as I sat down the telephone rang with a nice man from the far reaches of the world to talk to me about my problem and I was obliged to return to my computer where I found it working again just like yesterday. This time my wife was holding the telephone and she was asked to check the BT Hub and the BT telephone socked where it enters the house but all appeared well. The conversation ended with the BT person saying he could find nothing wrong with the local BT Broad band and if I asked for a visit from a BT technician it would cost me £129.00.
I then attempted to access the BT users forum but it did not recognise my user name or password so I attempted to reset them but the words then came up saying that my Email address had been banned. BT must really hate its customers.
Would anyone care to say if my experience is anything like they have had.

The engineer visit only costs you if it is your equipment that is responsible for the fault causing your broadband to fail. If the fault is on the Openreach network then you should not be charged. This has always been the case, just that in recent times the phone providers seem to be more inclined to tell you this upfront rather than you finding out when the bill lands on your doormat.

There are things you can do yourself. If your master socket looks like this

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/..._3/GPNTE5A.JPG

unscrew and remove the lower section (this is perfectly permissible, even BT ask you to do this) to reveal the test socket hidden behind the panel. Plug your HomeHub into this socket and see if you continue to get problems. The test socket is connected directly across the phone line and removing the panel isolates any extensions you may have.

Therefore any fault on the test socket is more likely to indicate a line fault. If the fault clears on the test socket but re-occurs when you put the socket back together then chances are it is your extensions that are causing the problem. In this scenario it could be dodgy cable to the extensions or dodgy or missing filters on extension phones.

You are responsible for fixing extension problems and BT for fixing line problems.

Many thanks for your help. I have looked at your picture and I do indeed have such a box with one wire coming out from behind the box which I assume goes to the telephones and the other to the computer. As I have lost no contact by telephone and as I have seen the BT people working round the village I assumed that it must be a BT created problem although I know that the bits of BT kit such as the little boxes which I think may be called "Chokes" or even the BT Hub may be at fault.

I'm tired now after a day attempting to regain access so I will leave it until tomorrow to unscrew and remove the lower section. I have looked at my Home-Hub but am not sure how to plug into this socket to see if I continue to get problems. Of course the problem is that this fault is intermittent so I will have to wait and see if or when it occurs again.

Many thanks for such an understandable answer which is most unusual in so many forums.

Hang on, do you have BT ADSL or BT Infinity broadband? Infinity can use a slight variation on the master socket that looks like this

https://community.bt.com/t5/image/se...7B30A?v=mpbl-1

This has two sockets the top one goes to the HomeHub and the bottom to the phones. With this type of socket there is no point removing the lower section of the faceplate as you cannot plug the HomeHub into it. With ADSL you just unplug the filter from the front and plug that into the test socket. But if you have Infinity with the two socket type master there is no filter to swap about.

Also if you have a properly wired master socket of this type the extensions should be filtered automatically and less likely to cause issues with the broadband.

I have the BT ADSL broadband? Infinity can use a slight variation on the master socket that looks like this but the box is nothing like the double plug one you showed having only one plug and the Broadband extension wire is rigged to come out of the back of the box.

I'm an eighty year old superannuated HR Manager with little technical knowledge so I will ask my technocrat son-in-law to check it over although as I said before I suspect it is a BT fault. If it is a fault on my system it is intermittent and I will have to wait for it to occur. Many thanks.

If you have ADSL then you will have (or should have) a plug in filter something like this

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg

that plugs into the phone socket and you plug the HomeHub into the smaller square socket on the filter and the phone into the other socket.

If you remove the faceplate on the master socket you simply plug the filter into the test socket instead of the socket on the faceplate.

But I'm getting the impression that maybe your set up is different somehow and maybe a bit non-standard. Based on this mention of a "broadband extension cable coming out of the back of the box".

Does this mean that your HomeHub is plugged into an extension phone socket not the master socket? If that is the case do you have a phone plugged into the master socket? And is it plugged directly into the master socket or via a filter? Also if you have any other phones around the house are they plugged directly into the phone socket or using filters?

If you do have phones plugged directly into sockets without filters then that could explain the problem. All phones plugged into a line with broadband on it must be filtered. Either by plug in filters or by using a master socket that includes the filtering inside.

If you plug a phone into a socket without a filter it has the potential to cause problems with the broadband. And by Phone I also mean any other device that you can plug into a phone line, eg a Sky box, Fax machine, alarm system or whatever. The only device that does not need a filter is your HomeHub.

I do have ADSL but I do not have a plug in filter anything like your ecx images. Mine is as follows https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/..._3/GPNTE5A.JPG

The only difference is that there is a sign somewhat like a running man on the top left hand corner. A line comes out of the back as though it’s been jury rigged for my telephones.

A socket plugs into the front of the above illustration with strangely enough an opening to accept the same sort of socket into it. I unplugged that socket and found that it disconnected my Broadband service so I replaced it.

The cable that this socket is attached to runs along the floor and up into my loft and then drops down just above where my Computer is with a small box which I assume is either a filter or simply an extension box.

A line runs from that to my distribution tower into a socket marked “Telecom in”. Another line leaves a plug on the distribution tower marked “Telecom out” and from that carries a line with an ADSL filter with a line attached that then runs to my BT Hub. I know that when I had a problem with my telephones many years ago a BT engineer found a break in the telephone line running from the BT box above and fixed it.

I do not have the technical ability to fit any of this equipment so it must have been a BT engineer that set what looks a strange set up in place. You are correct, my set up is different somehow, a bit non-standard because checking the line from the HomeHub I see that it connects into the ADSL filter connected to my distribution tower I mentioned above. All my telephones are connected through filters.

The situation is that the Internet service via BT Broadband is now working which means;
1. Either BT had a fault had a fault.
2. Or my equipment had a fault.
3. If it does fail again I will willingly pay for BT to check my system over but until then I will say my prayers and continue using the BT Broadband for the research I am doing and thank you for your help.

What I would be inclined to do is plug the lead that goes from your "distribution tower" (which I assume is a mains distribution unit) directly to the socket on the end of the lead from downstairs. In other words bypassing the distribution unit altogether. That is assuming the small box on the end of the lead from downstairs is a socket and not a junction box.

A junction box will just have a wire going in one end and another wire going in the opposite end with no plugs or sockets. If you take the lid off you will find a set of either screw or Insulation Displacement terminals to which the inner conductors in the cable are attached.

If it is a junction box that might make it a bit harder to bypass the distribution unit. But I would definitely try to bypass it. The distribution unit contains components that are designed to protect against lightning strike or similar high voltage spikes on the line. There is a possibility that these components are interfering with the broadband.

It would also be worth checking out the wiring from the master socket. That image you provided (once I'd sorted the broken link ) is a replacement for the standard master socket face plate that includes filtering. If wired up correctly all the extension sockets should be filtered as is the phone socket on the faceplate so no plug in filters required anywhere.

Though if you are not able to do this yourself it will cost you. BT may or may not be interested, unless they definitely installed this wiring they probably wont be. Might be worth looking for an ex-BT engineer in Yellow Pages or equivalent, seems a lot of ex-BT guys become electricians after leaving BT. They should have the skill and knowledge to sort out the wiring. Dodgy internal wiring can cause all sorts of problems with broadband.