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News from the BBC of a SHINE (single high-level impulse noise)[*] that interfered with a Welsh village's internet connection on a daily basis.
The mystery of why an entire village lost its broadband every morning at 7am was solved when engineers discovered an old television was to blame.
[...] After 18 months engineers began an investigation after a cable replacement programme failed to fix the issue.
[...] Openreach engineers were baffled by the continuous problem and it wasn't until they used a monitoring device that they found the fault.
The householder would switch their TV set on at 7am every morning[sic] - and electrical interference emitted by their second-hand television was affecting the broadband signal.
The owner, who does not want to be identified, was "mortified" to find out their old TV was causing the problem, according to Openreach.
"They immediately agreed to switch it off and not use it again," said engineer Michael Jones.
While some properties in the surrounding area have Fibre to the Premises, several homes in the Aberhosan area are still limited to using copper-based ADSL connections.
[*] Broadband: Understanding REIN and SHINE.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2020, @04:57AM
To help the next people that run into this, do two things: 1. Learn the access credentials to the modem so you can monitor it yourself and record the time and signal levels when it drops. 2. Request end-of-llne monitoring or reduction of the reporting interval from your site (this will be called different things depending on the ISP in question), which they can do if you escalate it enough despite their initial claims they cannot.
And if you ever get a line that won't be buried, first try contacting them repeatedly publicly on Twitter or other social media. If that doesn't work, call the report number for exposed utilities from someone else's number not on your account because those numbers often go directly to the subcontractor but if they don't having someone else complain will help in case it is a dreaded HOA. If that doesn't work, complain to the city about the easement violation, as the city's threats to collect fines might be motivating. If that doesn't work, your state's utility board has even more power over them on paper. If that doesn't work, contact a local news station's consumer advocate reporter. They love filling otherwise dead air by naming and shaming the local utilities, especially if it could turn into a big story because people repeatedly contact them with the same problem.