Some of TalkTalk’s broadband customers have, over the past week or two, been experiencing an unusual router bug with the provider’s ‘Wi-Fi Hub’ device that has been causing them to be repeatedly disconnected from the internet. But the ISP is currently known to be “in the process of applying a solution to all impacted” routers.
The issue appears to have started on Monday (9th Dec) last week for some customers, although others only began to notice it at the start of this week (examples here and here). In all cases, the router’s lights remain normal / white, but the internet connection itself will drop. Customers are often able to re-connect after resetting the router, but then the connection drops again after a period of time (seemingly anything from 30 minutes to a few hours). This occurs on both wired and WiFi links.
The exact cause of the sudden router bug is unclear, although it wouldn’t surprise us if TalkTalk had sent an incorrect configuration or buggy firmware update to devices, which would help to explain why the issue has emerged in a somewhat staggered fashion (i.e. device updates at major ISPs are usually distributed slowly, in phases, over a period of time – often several days or weeks).
The good news is that TalkTalk itself finally acknowledged the issue via their Service Status page two days ago and yesterday began distributing a fix.
Internet connection issues (2 days ago)
We’re aware that some of our customers are having problems with their service. Your Wi-Fi Hub may experience a loss of connection while the white light remains on. We’re sorry for the inconvenience this is causing, the team continue to work on a resolution and testing is currently taking place on a potential fix. Please check back here for updates.
Update 14:50PM December 18th 2024 – Our team are in the process of applying a solution to all impacted Wi-Fi Hubs. We will continue to update this post as this solution is applied to all affected customers.
The solution does not yet appear to have reached everybody, as some customers were still reporting problems late last night. The provider has also been advising customers to reboot their routers again to help with the fix.
One risk above is that too many reboots on ADSL and FTTC broadband lines can sometimes cause the Dynamic Line Management (DLM) system to think there’s a copper line fault, which could result in slower speeds as the line attempts to adapt by reducing the profile rate in pursuit of greater stability. Credits to Thinkbroadband for spotting the router bug.