Router disconnects when phone rings.

[Tommy82]

Hi TomsHardware Forumers!

Ughhh, I'll be honest, I don't know where to start. Just make it be known I am literally at my wits end.
I am fairly inefficient in networking issues, so please be patient.

The Problem(s)
- EVERY time my phone rings my router disconnects (as I write this the phone has just rung ) as a result of this I am getting VERY slow/inconsistent speeds (Around 1mbps) presumably due to my ISP automatically profiling my line.
The main issue is I use my connection a lot, be it for work, or gaming. And as well as the connectivity issue, I also have a problem with latency. pingtest.net results can range from a grade A to F, on the same server in period of 5 minutes. And this shows when playing games such as Battlefield 4.
- Phoneline noise. Audible crackling on line till router disconnects. (Noise margin goes between 2.7 & 13.5 db)

A Little Background
I have had a stable connection for 6+ years, getting around 5-7mbps (sadly the best available in rural UK) One day I awoke to find my router disconnected, wind on 6 months of hair pulling and this is now a daily occurrence at best.

Attempted Solutions
Via many hours of googling, common sense, and support chats with Eclipse (My ISP) I have tried the following to resolve issue myself.
- Changing microfilters, I've used 5 different ones (3 brand new) no change.
- New router, I've tried 3 (2 Netgears, 1 Belikin) I even spent £70 on a decent Netgear in the hope it would help. (All 3 displayed same issue)
- Changing phone handset. *Note* both handsets are cordless, and I have read forum discussion that cordless phones use same 2.4GHz frequency that can cause disruption? But this doesn't explain why has been fine for 3+ years of using this phone.
- Tried using old AM radio to diagnose noise issues. (No help)
- Tried BT "quiet line" test - Came back clear.
- Had my ISP re-set my line various times, and also an engineer fixed a fault at the exchange.
- Had a BT engineer come to my property to check external wiring, they seemed to think the line was fine going up to the socket, which they replaced with a new one (New socket/wiring) They then performed a "clear" sounding line test. My internet then went back to normal for about a week, in-fact I was receiving 8106kbps at the exchange. After that, it just went back to normal and has just got worse ever since.

Summary
In closing, I have tried everything I can think of/has been recommended to me. And I just can't stand it any more. I use the internet a lot, and having to reset my router every time I want to use it is becoming ridiculous, not to mention the side-effects of painfully slow/high latency internet.
When I upload to youtube it seems inevitable I'll have a disconnect whilst asleep/out.

Sorry this is a long request, I just wanted to add as much information for you as my limited network logic allows. I'm sure I've missed some basic bits, just let me know and I'll do my best to update.
Please help, I can't take much more of this.
BT seem to suggest high likelihood of next visit being chargeable (£200 frickin' pounds) Really don't want to do this unless a last resort.

Could my PC affect the network in any way?

Thank you in advance for any help/light you can share with this topic.
-Tommy.

 

[MartinWilson]

- Changing phone handset. *Note* both handsets are cordless, and I have read forum discussion that cordless phones use same 2.4GHz frequency that can cause disruption? But this doesn't explain why has been fine for 3+ years of using this phone.

If you have manually changed the wireless channel between 1, 6 & 11 that may have meant moving the router wireless frequency into colliding with the phone frequency. If it's set to 'auto', the router may have used a non-colliding channel previously, and then moved to another channel, if say a neighbor moved in and used the same wireless channel on their router, forcing your router to change channels.

Having said that, you mention that you need to reset your router each time. If it was the above issue, I would expect the close of phone call to lift the data rates back up instantly

Have you tried only using cabled Ethernet with your router? If you get the same results, then you know you can eliminate wireless from the troubleshooting process.

You could also try using a wired, non powered phone.

 

[Tommy82]

- Changing phone handset. *Note* both handsets are cordless, and I have read forum discussion that cordless phones use same 2.4GHz frequency that can cause disruption? But this doesn't explain why has been fine for 3+ years of using this phone.

If you have manually changed the wireless channel between 1, 6 & 11 that may have meant moving the router wireless frequency into colliding with the phone frequency. If it's set to 'auto', the router may have used a non-colliding channel previously, and then moved to another channel, if say a neighbor moved in and used the same wireless channel on their router, forcing your router to change channels.

Having said that, you mention that you need to reset your router each time. If it was the above issue, I would expect the close of phone call to lift the data rates back up instantly

Have you tried only using cabled Ethernet with your router? If you get the same results, then you know you can eliminate wireless from the troubleshooting process.

You could also try using a wired, non powered phone.

Hi Martin,
Thanks for the reply!
As a general rule I only use a wired Ethernet connection, as wireless just loses more bandwidth I can't afford to lose! (Rural UK speeds are depressing!) The wireless was still on though, and so I just turned it off on the router (I disabled SSID broadcast, and wireless router radio) and yet still the issue remains.
P.S. I also usually have my wireless channel on 1, 6, or 11 but all 3 have failed to establish a fix for this.

I haven't tried a wired handset yet, and will give that a go, but still doesn't explain why it would be fine with cordless for four years.

 

[sg4rb0]

I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

Trouble shoot like this
Disconnect all phones in the house.
Get a new microfilter
On ONE phone socket disconnect the faceplate and plug your microfilter into the BT test socket that is located directly behind the faceplate on the wall. If you don't know what this looks like, see this link - http://www.exbtengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/BT-Master-Socket-Test.jpg
Change your RJ11 that feeds into your modem or router.
Plug the phone into the microfilter
Make a call to the phone from your mobile
See if it drops.

Should be job done! I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

I haven't tried a wired handset yet, and will give that a go, but still doesn't explain why it would be fine with cordless for four years.

Quite literally, blind luck. Switch to a 5GHz cordless phone and your problem will be solved.

 

[Tommy82]

I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

Trouble shoot like this
Disconnect all phones in the house.
Get a new microfilter
On ONE phone socket disconnect the faceplate and plug your microfilter into the BT test socket that is located directly behind the faceplate on the wall. If you don't know what this looks like, see this link - http://www.exbtengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/BT-Master-Socket-Test.jpg
Change your RJ11 that feeds into your modem or router.
Plug the phone into the microfilter
Make a call to the phone from your mobile
See if it drops.

Should be job done! I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

Thanks for the suggestions.
The RJ11 was replaced with the brand new router I bought 1-2 months ago.
The microfilter was also new (came with the Netgear)
And the faceplate (+ wiring behind it) was replaced by the BT engineer in October.

That said, I'll try all these suggestions (again) over the weekend Including trying to plug into the test-socket. I'll update on Monday.

Thanks again.
Tom

 

[Tommy82]

I haven't tried a wired handset yet, and will give that a go, but still doesn't explain why it would be fine with cordless for four years.

Quite literally, blind luck. Switch to a 5GHz cordless phone and your problem will be solved.

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try getting hold of a regular wired telephone to see if this helps. Frustratingly I needlessly spent £40 on a new Panasonic cordless phone to check it wasn't my old iDECT handset that was causing issues! Really don't want to buy a 5GHZ cordless as well unless I know it'll fix the issue!

 

[Tommy82]

To update, I tried using a wired phone yesterday so I could diagnose whether a confliction of 2.4GHz frequencies between my router, and cordless. I used an old non-powered handset, and alas the moment I made a call, the router lights all went out again. (And subsequent incoming calls have cut it out also)
Guessing I can discount that from the list of possible causes.....

Any other ideas?

 

[allennnn]

I think its BT's side, will it drop if you phone the line with no phone plugged in at all, this is a great tool RouterStats -Lite http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm

 

[MartinWilson]

I think its BT's side, will it drop if you phone the line with no phone plugged in at all, this is a great tool RouterStats -Lite http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm

I agree with this. I think it's BT as well. My next suggestion was going to be to call your phone without it plugged in and see what happens.

 

[sg4rb0]

To update, I tried using a wired phone yesterday so I could diagnose whether a confliction of 2.4GHz frequencies between my router, and cordless. I used an old non-powered handset, and alas the moment I made a call, the router lights all went out again. (And subsequent incoming calls have cut it out also)
Guessing I can discount that from the list of possible causes.....

Any other ideas?

You haven't taken my suggestion yet and plugged into the bt test socket. It has NOTHING to do with the wiring. This is 90% of the time a faulty faceplate.

I have found a manual to help you understand what to do

https://ttb.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/972/~/my-connection-drops-when-i-make%2Freceive-a-phone-call

 

[Tommy82]

To update, I tried using a wired phone yesterday so I could diagnose whether a confliction of 2.4GHz frequencies between my router, and cordless. I used an old non-powered handset, and alas the moment I made a call, the router lights all went out again. (And subsequent incoming calls have cut it out also)
Guessing I can discount that from the list of possible causes.....

Any other ideas?

You haven't taken my suggestion yet and plugged into the bt test socket. It has NOTHING to do with the wiring. This is 90% of the time a faulty faceplate.

I have found a manual to help you understand what to do

https://ttb.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/972/~/my-connection-drops-when-i-make%2Freceive-a-phone-call

Thanks for your time.

To update, The faceplate was brand new, and installed last month when started reporting all these issues to ISP.
I have tried removing the faceplate and using the test socket, the router acted in the same way, disconnecting as I called. HOWEVER - I have had a slight breakthrough by changing the micro-filter to another one I've found (6th one overall) and plugged that into the test socket, so far it's not disconnecting.... this has only just happened so trying to explore this further.
Cheers again
Tommy

 

[Tommy82]

I think its BT's side, will it drop if you phone the line with no phone plugged in at all, this is a great tool RouterStats -Lite http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm

I agree with this. I think it's BT as well. My next suggestion was going to be to call your phone without it plugged in and see what happens.

Thank you both for your input. I unplugged the phone and tried ringing (with main faceplate, and in test socket.)
and then called the number, it acted exactly the same and disconnected.
However as you may have seen in above post I've just changed to yet another microfilter and it so far hasn't dropped. I find this extraordinary as have used 3 new filters, and 2 old ones to no avail. One of them came with the router I bought in Sept. Surely it's not possible for all of these to be faulty?!

The filters I bought were of varying quality. Some free with router (presume average) some cost £10+, which I assume to be quite pricey for microfilter. YEt all caused the same effect. It is possible that doing yet another factory reset on router has helped? But have done dozens of them over last few months, with 3 different routers so find unlikely.

I guess I wait and see over next 24 hours how this behaves.....

Thanks.
Tommy

 

[sg4rb0]

See told you it was faceplate/filter. That's all its ever going to be. You should buy your filters from different places so you dont get a batch of crap ones. It's very unlucky to get 3 duff ones though lol. It only ever makes sense for it to be filter/faceplate (EVEN IF IT IS NEW!).

 

[Hawkeye22]

I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

Trouble shoot like this
Disconnect all phones in the house.
Get a new microfilter
On ONE phone socket disconnect the faceplate and plug your microfilter into the BT test socket that is located directly behind the faceplate on the wall. If you don't know what this looks like, see this link - http://www.exbtengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/BT-Master-Socket-Test.jpg
Change your RJ11 that feeds into your modem or router.
Plug the phone into the microfilter
Make a call to the phone from your mobile
See if it drops.

Should be job done! I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

Thanks for the suggestions.
The RJ11 was replaced with the brand new router I bought 1-2 months ago.
The microfilter was also new (came with the Netgear)
And the faceplate (+ wiring behind it) was replaced by the BT engineer in October.

That said, I'll try all these suggestions (again) over the weekend Including trying to plug into the test-socket. I'll update on Monday.

Thanks again.
Tom

When the tech was out, did he check to make sure your phone line has a proper ground? A poor or improper ground can cause a bad signal.

 

[Tommy82]

See told you it was faceplate/filter. That's all its ever going to be. You should buy your filters from different places so you dont get a batch of crap ones. It's very unlucky to get 3 duff ones though lol. It only ever makes sense for it to be filter/faceplate (EVEN IF IT IS NEW!).

Gah, alas, it was a false positive! Phone rang today and guess what?! Yup, router disconnect. :/

Is there anything to do with way network is set up on PC that could cause this?

Just need to rule everything out before I spend another 4 days trying to convince BT/MyISP to send another engineer out. Lets hope non-chargeable.

 

[Tommy82]

I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

Trouble shoot like this
Disconnect all phones in the house.
Get a new microfilter
On ONE phone socket disconnect the faceplate and plug your microfilter into the BT test socket that is located directly behind the faceplate on the wall. If you don't know what this looks like, see this link - http://www.exbtengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/BT-Master-Socket-Test.jpg
Change your RJ11 that feeds into your modem or router.
Plug the phone into the microfilter
Make a call to the phone from your mobile
See if it drops.

Should be job done! I've a feeling you have a faulty faceplate.

Thanks for the suggestions.
The RJ11 was replaced with the brand new router I bought 1-2 months ago.
The microfilter was also new (came with the Netgear)
And the faceplate (+ wiring behind it) was replaced by the BT engineer in October.

That said, I'll try all these suggestions (again) over the weekend Including trying to plug into the test-socket. I'll update on Monday.

Thanks again.
Tom

When the tech was out, did he check to make sure your phone line has a proper ground? A poor or improper ground can cause a bad signal.

If I'm honest I'm not sure what he did! He used a device to listen to the line at various points and after replacing the faceplate/wiring was able to produce a quiet line. And the line still appears to be quiet when the router cuts out. But when routers on = Noise. Sounds like classic case of needing new filter, but this doesn't appear to work.

I will say that after taking the faceplate off it certainly doesn't look like the one I was linked to yesterday! Both of my sockets (main/test) appear to be wired the same. Whereas pic shows different wiring going to both...