topic Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general? in Broadband

Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Sat, 21 May 2022 09:54:10 GMT

Getting fed up with this now, ever since we've had Plusnet it's just constant connection issues day in day out.
We've had one problem after another.
The connection just suddenly drops several times a day.
We used to sync at 24mbps but that's now stuck at 19mbps, at one point it was 17mbps.

We've had issues with the phone line also in the past. Engineers have been out and managed to bodge something on several occasions, but it's never been good.

I appreciate we live in a rural location, but there's got to be a reason for constant disconnects.
It's definitely not the router, I have 3. All same issue. It's not internal wiring or wall plate, all been tested.
I'm sure the issue is at the cabinet, dodgy wiring maybe.

We've put up with it now for a good while, but it seems to be getting worse.
I think if we weren't locked into another 18 months I'd be looking at moving provider.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Sat, 21 May 2022 10:03:29 GMT

@ashyt16 Which modem/router are you currently using? Some data would help to quantify your issues, so maybe if you followed the text below we could possibly make some suggestions.

For Community members to be able to help, information from these two sites, as screenshots:-

BT Broadband(obscuring your phone number) and BTW Performance Tester - Over a wired (ethernet) connection if at all possible, please report the 'ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSTICS', and sight of the broadband connection status from your Hub would be a good starting point.

For the Hub One -

Navigate from the Home Screen to Troubleshooting > Helpdesk

For the Hub Two -

Navigate from the Home Screen to Advanced Settings > Technical Log > Information

It may also be a good idea to report the results of a Quiet Line Test - dial 17070 option 2 from a (preferably corded) phone. After the confirmation of your phone number, there should be total silence apart from the regular 'Quiet Line Test' announcement. Any other noise - report a PHONE fault first.

If phone test is OK then take the front off your telephone master socket, you may need to remove two screws. In behind you will find the test socket. Plug a filter in here and connect that to your hub. If it’s still dropping out then report a fault at https://faults.plus.net.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Sat, 21 May 2022 10:12:45 GMT

Like I said, I've already done all these tests, not once, but several times and the tests always come back fine.
The Plusnet router isn't the best so don't use it. I have a Netgear nighthawk that handles the disconnects and low line speed better.

Right now my boy and I have attempted to watch a Disney movie which has froze about 8 times already and has now totally bombed out.
Waiting now for the router to reboot and hope the connection comes back.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Sat, 21 May 2022 10:14:38 GMT

You may have done the tests, but if you want help from the Community, we need to see the results.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Sat, 21 May 2022 10:21:11 GMT

I will re run the tests, but let's be fair it's a pretty common theme here isn't it?

Not only that the next door neighbor to my mother who lives 50 miles away in Preston also complains of constant disconnects.
Is this a case of oversubscription maybe?

I know the connection is different, but years ago used to have O2 broadband, that never went down in 5 years. Plusnet fibre has been such a disappointment.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Sat, 21 May 2022 10:30:21 GMT

Thankyou - solid data does help to narrow things down. Problems do occur, irrespective of provider, and they can usually be rectified, or at least mitigated if we have a starting point.

I doubt it is over subsciption, more likely down to the age/condition of the infrastructure.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Sun, 22 May 2022 12:07:26 GMT

Ok re-ran the tests. Unfortunately Additional diagnostics isn't available at the moment. Even the upload has dropped from 1.7mbps.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Sun, 22 May 2022 12:22:15 GMT

@ashyt16 looking at BT Wholesale link (2nd pic) you are way away from your Fibre cab, and unfortunately the speeds do drop off markedly over relatively small distances. You are above the Handback threshold, so there is little or nothing that BT/OR will (or realistically can) do about the situation.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Sun, 22 May 2022 13:33:03 GMT

Yes, but the speed isn't my initial concern, it's the constant random drop in connection.

Why can't a more consistent connection be maintained?

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Sun, 22 May 2022 13:47:15 GMT

OK, get your point, sorry. Which modem/router are you using, and does it provide a readable event log, so we can examine the drops and possible causes?

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Sun, 22 May 2022 14:34:04 GMT

https://www.netgear.com/support/product/D7000v2.aspx

Incidentally I bought the router to help with the disconnection issues and because the Plusnet router is rather basic.
It deals with the disconnects better, I.E. reduced the occurrence of disconnects which were terrible on the Plusnet router.

As for the log, that is all but useless on the Netgear as it doesn't even log connection issues and is more concerned with security.

All in all I'm pretty tech savvy and pretty much can conclude this problem is external.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Sun, 22 May 2022 14:52:27 GMT

OK, I agree it is most likely external, but without some hard evidence to back it up, there is nothing I can easily suggest. Hopefully, one of the Help Team will pick this up and provide RRT logs and/or the connection log from their side.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

adamwalker — Mon, 23 May 2022 12:21:28 GMT

Hi all, I've just had a look into this for you ashyt16 and we're not seeing frequent disconnections recorded on our side of things: <img src="http://visualradius.plus.net/visualradius/generated/image16533083353764.png"/>

Just to cover the potentially most obvious things, have you been connected over WiFi when noticing these drops? I wonder if it might be that rather than the broadband connection dropping altogether.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Mon, 23 May 2022 12:39:37 GMT

@adamwalker - they drops might not be frequent, but I spotted a couple of 'long' ones in there. Unless the OP can provide a reason for them, I'd be suspicious.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

adamwalker — Mon, 23 May 2022 16:08:58 GMT

Hi Jab1, diagnostics don't show any obvious causes but it's worth keeping an eye on things even though it seems to be more stable again.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Mon, 23 May 2022 16:10:57 GMT

OK, @adamwalker , not my issue, but until the OP comes back with more information, I'm keeping quiet.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Tue, 24 May 2022 17:15:45 GMT

Something doesn't tie up, I get more disconnects, or what I construe as disconnects, than what I can see here.
I'm not sure this is showing the full picture. How do these markers work? To show a marker does it need a complete disconnect between router and exchange equipment?
What about if it's just a complete slow down.

I doubt it's the router as I get the same issue with Plusnet router, Open reach modem and Asus router and my current Netget router.

When it happens everything suffers, so it's not just a particular device.
We quite often notice it on YouTube. When it starts it's constant buffering.
Sometimes the connection doesn't come back and I have to reboot the router, sometimes more than once to get it to reconnect and sync as you can see from the diagnostics.
As pointed out you can see the big gaps, that isn't me. I don't turn the router off except to reboot it.

If anyone has any suggestions how to properly monitor this I can, problem is the Netgear router is all but useless at providing a proper log.

My previous Asus router did log disconnections when on ADSL, but not sure if it will log the same connected to the Open reach router.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Tue, 24 May 2022 17:43:28 GMT

@ashyt16 Those drops are true DSL drops - that is what the Visual Radius is designed to show. I suspect these other perceived and actual disconnections are somehow connected to your own internal equipment, but as every users environment is different, it is difficult to pin them down. It could be your own internal wiring, or the way you use the connections - very difficult to say.

Without going back to the start of this thread, have you tried connecting a laptop/desktop to the router via ethernet, and seeing if the same occurs?

Sadly, I can't offer a suggestion to monitor the issue - the only program I am aware of does not work with VDSL equipment.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

ashyt16 — Tue, 24 May 2022 18:29:01 GMT

This has been going on since 2018 since it was installed. I've had various issues, even engineers have been out and found actual faults.
Last one we lost everything including phone.
The last engineer did say the wiring at the box wasn't the best and may need more serious work, but after some messing came back and said he'd tried something and managed to get it working. No idea how though.

Also I doubt it's internal as that has been checked on 2 previous occasions by the engineers and the last one even replaced the faceplate for a newer one.

I'm also sceptical on it being internal. I've tried everything I could including connecting via ethernet.
I've tried everything I could with the routers. Plusnet router was terrible, so swapped it for the Openreach modem and Asus router(proven to be rock solid previously). The situation improved, but not completely. Then I decided to splash out on an the all singing and dancing Nighthawk router. Again things seemed to improve slightly, but the issue was still there.
I've tried alsorts of settings in the router, no change.
After the second engineer i sort of gave up with it and accepted it.
However lately things have been getting annoyingly worse.

I just think it's a wiring issue at the box and it's not showing itself on the diagnosistics.

Re: Is this my line or just Plusnet in general?

jab1 — Tue, 24 May 2022 18:25:36 GMT

If the same occurred on Ethernet-connected equipment, then I think you may be correct in saying it is an external problem. If an engineer has called your local cab 'shabby', have you by any chance asked neighbours if they have had problems, as they too would have been affected?