I have broadband via 3/4 mile of overhead copper cable from the FTC cabinet in the village.
I went fully digital last and maintain a "landline" via the DSL router.

On Thursday it went dead overnight (storm Lillian blew through).No router connection and my landline number is "unavailable".
Vodafone say it's a line fault. But where?
Visually all external wires appear to be intact.
My neighbour has full internet - directly opposite my house. And we share the same telegraph pole.

I've checked the incoming cables two wires and can detect no significant voltage.
BUT now it's fully digital (old fashioned analogue won't work directly connected) what sort of voltage should there be?
It used to be 48v IIRC

Vodafone customer service is based in Asia and it's very time consuming dealing with them. I think the fault has been passed onto Openreach but you have to keep checking as you feel you're often left in limbo. Jules

Can't give an answer to your question Jules - but it took Vodafone and Openreach 8 weeks to fix our line - and the issue was obvious, a telegraph pole down in the field between the main rd and our lane - 10 properties with no internet or phone over Christmas was no fun.. especially as very very poor mobile signal - no chance of tethering for an internet connection! 2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration

That's not great to hear.
I'm using my neighbours WiFi which I can reach by standing in the front porch.
I can use data on my phone. But its getting gobbled up quickly- I have 1GB limit, which I can boost if I must.
My PC doesn't have WiFi and cannot see how I connect it to my phone hotspot. Jules

Jules who maintains your copper cable, it Openreach (BT) ?

They will use a DTR (Time Domain Reflectometer) which sends a pulse up the cable and the open/closed circuit will cause a reflection. This will give them an exact distance to find the error.

These days they use this and combine a map on a laptop to give an exact location. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

We had 6 weeks of Openreach sending a single bloke in a van to knock on our door & tell us he has come to fix our internet and could he come in to have a look.. a walk up the lane with them to point at the line and telegraph pole down in the field and the predictable response was well I can't fix that... which I thought was obvious!
Communication was shocking - we and neighbours must have had dozens of blokes in vans visit over the 6 weeks! Eventually they sent a crew to install 2 new poles and line, as I say 8 weeks later.

I do hope you have a better experience! 2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration

The overhead line and its connection from the junction box is by Openreach, there are private copper companies ( or were) but mostly in towns, Vodafone piggybacks on Openreach lines as do many other broadband suppliers. Though your neighbour has an internet connection it doesn't mean your pair in a multi pair cable have not broken. When I lived in Scotland I had problems with our overhead line I spoke to the "engineer" who told me that the line was going to need changing as there were only 2 or 3 spare pairs.
For some reason I never went to Vodafone probably due to their very poor reputation in the early days of mobiles, I used PlusNet for 20 years on both mobile and broadband and though I had problems a couple of times over speed ( mainly due to the overhead line) where though the time taken to rectify was due to Openreach, the loss of the line was always within 24 hours and I was always kept well informed by Plusnet, even after it was bought out by BT.
Personally I would look at one of the BT companies for service EE, Plusnet or BT themselves, though I'm not sure where BT have their call centres but Plusnet and EE use UK call centres.
You could hire or ask a friend in the electrical industry if they have a TDR though Openreach may not like it, they are fairly easy to use. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

Thanks for the info.

So does all that mean one would not expect to detect a voltage across the wire pair like you could in the old days?
Or should there be a voltage there.
Or does nobody know.

My house has had several extensions over the years and the incoming wire has a couple of junction boxes before it gets to the master socket. I was trying to see if the fault is between the junction boxes or further out on the Openreach side.

Anyone got a 4G broadband router ?
I did look at it a couple of years ago but 4G phone coverage is not the same as 4G broadband coverage and it wasn't a strong signal in my house and speed were not impressive. Jules

If you believe that your overhead cable was physically damaged by storm, cannot you take a walk along its length and look for trees/damage.
I believe that the ADSL system uses signals in frequency bands split across a larger bandwidth. So appreciable standing voltage is on copper line. I would not put anything across that line as you may damage something if it is not isolated.
I would try talking to BT/Openreach directly, you will not be the only one needing help following the storm.

This is the ADSL Protocol, but its not much help as you need a man with a ladder and a bit of cable.
https://www.eetimes.com/adsl-technology-ex...ion-layer/ FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

There will be a voltage on the line because a digital signal of plus 5 volts won't travel far so the digital signal is superimposed on probably an AC signal, an oscilloscope will show both the carrier and the digital signal, there are a few for sale fairly cheap, under £40. They are pretty useful on CanBus, if you have the code you can actually read the signal.
If you are using a multimeter check each line to earth as well as across the signal lines my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

The wires that I can see are still up, but there is a lot I can't see.

I've twice had line faults in the past.
Once it was in the FTC cabinet and before that it was corrosion at the telegraph pole outside my house.

As an ISP customer with a line fault Openreach will not communicate with me. I cannot talk to openreach. All comms haves to go via the ISP; Vodafone in this case.
It's all on Openreach's website

Sorry for the typos. I'm having to type this on my phone with my sausage fingers, perched on the lounge windowsill.  Jules

Dartman the one wrote:

There will be a voltage on the line because a digital signal of plus 5 volts won't travel far so the digital signal is superimposed on probably an AC signal, an oscilloscope will show both the carrier and the digital signal, there are a few for sale fairly cheap, under £40. They are pretty useful on CanBus, if you have the code you can actually read the signal.
If you are using a multimeter check each line to earth as well as across the signal lines

I've never worked out why BT have always used single core pairs, multistrand cables are far more resistant to breaking when being whipped about in the wind. when you look for a problem on the overhead cables check that the loop to the junction box to the pole is still there on all cables. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

Executive saves a cent today to increase their bonus. Tomorrow extra cost is not my problem as I repeat the cycle with the next entity. Simples! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Sorry wrong quote. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

Lightwater wrote:

Executive saves a cent today to increase their bonus. Tomorrow extra cost is not my problem as I repeat the cycle with the next entity. Simples!

But it hasn't changed since the days of Alexander Graham Bell and they didn't bean count then  my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.