At mid-day Thursday, my Zen Broadband went off. Checking the Fritz!Box,
Davey wrote:
At mid-day Thursday, my Zen Broadband went off. Checking the Fritz!Box,
[Snip]
A friend in Diss, Norfolk has FTTP from Zen using FRITZ!Box 7530 AX and
lost connection from 12:11 to 23:28 Thursday. I use F8Lure to monitor several connections, and since around 14 May the upgrade to FRITZ!OS
version 8.25 has allowed the FRITZ!Box to respond to pings from the internet.
My friend received an email from Zen on her phone - via 4G or whatever
she gets locally - advising her of the fault and listing "Exchange
Outage - EADIC - Dickleburgh".
She did try ringing Zen Technical Support only to find a long queue. I suspect there were other faults all over the country - perhaps caused by warm weather? Today <https://servicealerts.zen.co.uk/> shows widespread intermittent connectivity in East Anglia.
On Friday morning she suffered an outage from 08:29 to 09:26 - curiously
at exactly the same time (within a few seconds) of another friend's connection in Saltash, Devon. So this wasn't a geographically local
fault, it was more likely an authentication server fault at Zen.
So broadband reliability continues to be a problem. For most people a mobile is an adequate backup - especially if the VoIP service is
configured on failure to redirect to the mobile. A smartphone also
gives a minimum level of internet access. Naturally, there are
locations where there is no mobile signal!
The problem with FTTP is that outages are likely to be multi-hour while equipment is replaced, whereas ADSL or FTTC tended to fail for only a
few minutes when interrupted by electrical interference. Whatever, if
you run a business and need cloud connectivity for your files, and a
phone service for customers to call you: then you need to think
seriously about a backup connection facility.
Davey wrote:
At mid-day Thursday, my Zen Broadband went off. Checking the
Fritz!Box,
[Snip]
A friend in Diss, Norfolk has FTTP from Zen using FRITZ!Box 7530 AX
and lost connection from 12:11 to 23:28 Thursday. I use F8Lure to
monitor several connections, and since around 14 May the upgrade to
FRITZ!OS version 8.25 has allowed the FRITZ!Box to respond to pings
from the internet.
My friend received an email from Zen on her phone - via 4G or
whatever she gets locally - advising her of the fault and listing
"Exchange Outage - EADIC - Dickleburgh".
She did try ringing Zen Technical Support only to find a long queue.
I suspect there were other faults all over the country - perhaps
caused by warm weather? Today <https://servicealerts.zen.co.uk/>
shows widespread intermittent connectivity in East Anglia.
On Friday morning she suffered an outage from 08:29 to 09:26 -
curiously at exactly the same time (within a few seconds) of another
friend's connection in Saltash, Devon. So this wasn't a
geographically local fault, it was more likely an authentication
server fault at Zen.
So broadband reliability continues to be a problem. For most people
a mobile is an adequate backup - especially if the VoIP service is configured on failure to redirect to the mobile. A smartphone also
gives a minimum level of internet access. Naturally, there are
locations where there is no mobile signal!
The problem with FTTP is that outages are likely to be multi-hour
while equipment is replaced, whereas ADSL or FTTC tended to fail for
only a few minutes when interrupted by electrical interference.
Whatever, if you run a business and need cloud connectivity for your
files, and a phone service for customers to call you: then you need
to think seriously about a backup connection facility.
Davey wrote:
At mid-day Thursday, my Zen Broadband went off. Checking the Fritz!Box,
[Snip]
A friend in Diss, Norfolk has FTTP from Zen using FRITZ!Box 7530 AX and
lost connection from 12:11 to 23:28 Thursday.-a I use F8Lure to monitor several connections, and since around 14 May the upgrade to FRITZ!OS
version 8.25 has allowed the FRITZ!Box to respond to pings from the internet.
My friend received an email from Zen on her phone - via 4G or whatever
she gets locally - advising her of the fault and listing "Exchange
Outage - EADIC - Dickleburgh".
She did try ringing Zen Technical Support only to find a long queue.-a I suspect there were other faults all over the country - perhaps caused by warm weather?-a Today <https://servicealerts.zen.co.uk/> shows widespread intermittent connectivity in East Anglia.
On Friday morning she suffered an outage from 08:29 to 09:26 - curiously
at exactly the same time (within a few seconds) of another friend's connection in Saltash, Devon.-a So this wasn't a geographically local
fault, it was more likely an authentication server fault at Zen.
So broadband reliability continues to be a problem.-a For most people a mobile is an adequate backup - especially if the VoIP service is
configured on failure to redirect to the mobile.-a A smartphone also
gives a minimum level of internet access.-a Naturally, there are
locations where there is no mobile signal!
The problem with FTTP is that outages are likely to be multi-hour while equipment is replaced, whereas ADSL or FTTC tended to fail for only a
few minutes when interrupted by electrical interference.
you run a business and need cloud connectivity for your files, and a
phone service for customers to call you: then you need to think
seriously about a backup connection facility.
Graham J wrote:I think what Graham is saying is, FTTP may not fail very often, but if
The problem with FTTP is that outages are likely to be multi-hour
while equipment is replaced, whereas ADSL or FTTC tended to fail for
only a few minutes when interrupted by electrical interference.
I can't see the logic here. If anything the reverse applies. FTTP is
GPON or xPON where PON stands for "passive optical network" so the fibre goes straight to from house to the switching centre. There is no
equipment in between to fail and need replacing.
David Wade wrote:
Graham J wrote:I think what Graham is saying is, FTTP may not fail very often, but if
The problem with FTTP is that outages are likely to be multi-hour
while equipment is replaced, whereas ADSL or FTTC tended to fail for
only a few minutes when interrupted by electrical interference.
I can't see the logic here. If anything the reverse applies. FTTP is
GPON or xPON where PON stands for "passive optical network" so the
fibre goes straight to from house to the switching centre. There is no
equipment in between to fail and need replacing.
it does you should expect it to take a longer time to repair, as they'll probably have to send out an engineer with an expensive bit of headend
kit ...
I can't see the logic here. If anything the reverse applies. FTTP is
GPON or xPON where PON stands for "passive optical network" so the fibre >goes straight to from house to the switching centre. There is no
equipment in between to fail and need replacing.
David Wade wrote:
I can't see the logic here. If anything the reverse applies. FTTP is
GPON or xPON where PON stands for "passive optical network" so the fibre
goes straight to from house to the switching centre.
There is no
equipment in between to fail and need replacing.
City Fibre's cabinet 25ft from my front dood must be there for a
purpose, even if it doesn't have mains power. (And I didn't lose my connection when someone drove into it a few months ago.)
FTTC is almost the same setup except that the fibre terminates at your street cabinet where a box of ageing gismos convert the light to
electrons which then pass the information along copper to your VDSL modem/router. So you have additional electronics in a BT street cabinet which can fail, be vandalised, suffer power cuts, yes they should stay
up for a while unless the batteries have been stolen or are time expired.
Openreach say parts for these are getting hard to source, but I think
they simply don't want to buy any as they want everyone off copper.
Whatever, ifAgreed.
you run a business and need cloud connectivity for your files, and a
phone service for customers to call you: then you need to think
seriously about a backup connection facility.
I think what Graham is saying is, FTTP may not fail very often, but if
it does you should expect it to take a longer time to repair, as they'll probably have to send out an engineer with an expensive bit of headend
kit ...
Today's 198 kHz one is surely another example.
On 27/06/2026 21:41, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
Today's 198 kHz one is surely another example.
From what I read, the output valves were hand made, to order. At one
time the only supply was from Russia.
On 29/06/2026 10:22, JMB99 wrote:
On 27/06/2026 21:41, J. P. Gilliver wrote:I believe more spares were found, but it of course it all boils down to money in the end.
Today's 198 kHz one is surely another example.
From what I read, the output valves were hand made, to order. At one
time the only supply was from Russia.
I hope my sums are correct....
So the petition to save it has fewer than 8,000 signatures.
The transmitter was 500kW power. I know its not exact but its a
reasonable assumption that its using 500 units or kWh of electricity per hour.
year or -u1,000/year per petitioner.
.. those are just the power costs. goodness knows what Arqiva charge the BEEB for running the service, its going to be over -u1million a year.
so as a business, its going to go, its unjustifiable at that cost...
Dave
On 2026/6/29 12:50:42, David Wade wrote:
On 29/06/2026 10:22, JMB99 wrote:
On 27/06/2026 21:41, J. P. Gilliver wrote:I believe more spares were found, but it of course it all boils down to
Today's 198 kHz one is surely another example.
From what I read, the output valves were hand made, to order. At one
time the only supply was from Russia.
money in the end.
I think they have about four left.
I hope my sums are correct....
So the petition to save it has fewer than 8,000 signatures.
The transmitter was 500kW power. I know its not exact but its a
reasonable assumption that its using 500 units or kWh of electricity per
hour.
If it's 500 kW output, it will be more than that input, though hopefully
not that much more.
[]
year or -u1,000/year per petitioner.
.. those are just the power costs. goodness knows what Arqiva charge the
BEEB for running the service, its going to be over -u1million a year.
Plus a few BBC staff here and there.
so as a business, its going to go, its unjustifiable at that cost...
Dave
Of course, the BBC shouldn't _just_ make decisions on purely business
basis, but it does sound in this case as if it did indeed need to go, sadly.
Nice that the changeover to the recording happened in the middle of a
pip ...
Anyone know _when_ _that_ wil be turned off? I've heard mention of
"Tuesday", but when? (Not that I have an LW receiver at this address, I think.)
On 29/06/2026 17:23, J. P. Gilliver wrote:[]
On 2026/6/29 12:50:42, David Wade wrote:
The transmitter was 500kW power. I know its not exact but its a
reasonable assumption that its using 500 units or kWh of electricity per >>> hour.
If it's 500 kW output, it will be more than that input, though hopefully
not that much more.
It depends which 500kW as its AM.If its RF out is that with no
modulation then yes, but if its peak power fully modulated perhaps less,
or it could be the old DC Input measure in which case won't it be 500kW?
[]
year or -u1,000/year per petitioner.
.. those are just the power costs. goodness knows what Arqiva charge the >>> BEEB for running the service, its going to be over -u1million a year.
Plus a few BBC staff here and there.
so as a business, its going to go, its unjustifiable at that cost...
Dave
Of course, the BBC shouldn't _just_ make decisions on purely business
basis, but it does sound in this case as if it did indeed need to go, sadly.
I suspect some of the costs were recovered from whoever had the
TeleSwitch contract, but again even after the last upgrade that was also using very old hardware....
Nice that the changeover to the recording happened in the middle of a
pip ...
Anyone know _when_ _that_ wil be turned off? I've heard mention of
"Tuesday", but when? (Not that I have an LW receiver at this address, I
think.)
I heard midnight on the 30th.
Dave
G4UGM
On 2026/6/29 17:42:5, David Wade wrote:
On 29/06/2026 17:23, J. P. Gilliver wrote:[]
On 2026/6/29 12:50:42, David Wade wrote:
Old does not mean bad! At least while spares remain.basis, but it does sound in this case as if it did indeed need to go, sadly.
I suspect some of the costs were recovered from whoever had the
TeleSwitch contract, but again even after the last upgrade that was also
using very old hardware....
Nice that the changeover to the recording happened in the middle of a
pip ...
Anyone know _when_ _that_ wil be turned off? I've heard mention of
"Tuesday", but when? (Not that I have an LW receiver at this address, I
think.)
I heard midnight on the 30th.
Thanks.
G6JPG (yes, I waited for my initials)
Dave
G4UGM
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