topic Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum in Broadband

Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 10:54:14 GMT

We’ve been with Plusnet for five months now with a guaranteed download speed of 29.2 Mbps and upload of 6 Mbps.

the router shows download around 30.5 Mbps, so just above minimum outside peak times and upload around 3.5 Mbps. We can’t complain about download speeds as it is within the quoted range but upload has never been higher than 3.5 Mbps.

I was with TalkTalk at my previous address who had technical staff on their forum. Is there similar support on here?

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 11:21:58 GMT

@PhilH34

I don't think ISP's usually guarantee an Upload speed do they? I'm sure that only my download speed is guaranteed in my Plusnet contract.

I know that in the past when I was with BT, and had a fault that the upload was not working at all, their response was always, "we don't guarantee upload", and I had to explain to them each time how the internet actually works and that it is useless without any upload at all!

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Townman — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 11:25:40 GMT

Hi Phil,

A warm welcome to the forum.

MGS relates to sync speed, not data transfer speed and that relates only to the download speed. Upload is always what it is.

With any speed related issue, data speed tests reach the end of their usefulness at the point you find that there is something to be concerned about. After that the focus needs to be the sync speed reported by the router and thereafter, carrying out as much self help as possible.

Broadband is not going to work well if the "phone" line is not working properly.

Please perform a quiet line test - dial 17070 select option 2 using a corded phone plugged into the test socket behind the face plate of the master socket. It should be silent. A noisy phone line (or no dial tone) will have a marked adverse impact on the performance of broadband.

If the line is noisy or there is no dial tone, then a PHONE LINE fault needs to be raised with your phone provider. If this is PlusNet, you can report a fault on line using the button below. From the Q&A list, choose the one which matches the problem, 'open' the 'section' and click the trouble-shooter link. NB: If you receive a failure message (rather than a log-in prompt) then log-in to the user portal in a different browser tab and attempt to use the trouble-shooter again.

Phone Faults

How is your line performing?

Please post your router stats; for PN routers use the buttons below, for other routers look at the Kitz link.

Also run a BT Wholesale speed test (ideally using an Ethernet wired PC with the WiFi turned off) then run the further diagnostics, download the .PDF report and post the results here. DO NOT REBOOT the router!

Check the Plusnet user portal for the "Current Line Speed" which is relevant to users with static IP addresses.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 13:00:14 GMT

I haven’t got a wired phone to test for line noise. I can’t find the reference IDs to perform the BT advanced tests. Putting my phone number in just gets a please wait message at Tap 1 but gets no further.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Townman — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 13:49:25 GMT

Data speed is a little low (but not much) for the synch speed.

I should have been clearer - the router stats needs to include SNRM and (if available) error counts.

Any phone to do a QLT is better than no phone. A phone is an essential diagnostic tool.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 21:57:37 GMT

I’ll have a look at this when I’m on my PC, it doesn’t seem to work on my iPad

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 12:05:30 GMT

Ive tested the phone lne with a wired phone. In the front plate there is a hum on the line which is reduced in the test socket. Our house is fully wired when built with phone sockets in most rooms.

Plusnet have identified an issue on the line and passed it to the engineers.

In my User Account the current download speed is 37.7 Mbps. The router sync speed is 39.99Mbps.

The router stats programme doesnt seem to be showing anything at all.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Townman — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 12:50:55 GMT

@PhilH34 wrote:

Ive tested the phone lne with a wired phone. In the front plate there is a hum on the line which is reduced in the test socket. Our house is fully wired when built with phone sockets in most rooms.

The router stats programme doesnt seem to be showing anything at all.

Well that is most probably the source of your issue - there is a fair chance that such wiring will not help.

Is the wiring to other rooms attached to the master socket faceplate or to the back plate of the socket?

If not attached to the faceplate, then the faceplate / test socket will not do what it is supposed to do - isolate the internal wiring from the incoming circuit.
Does the extension wiring go from one socket to the next, or is it star-wired?

Proper daisy-chain extension wiring (a wire goes from one socket, to the nest, to the next ... to the last so that all sockets (except the last) have two wires - on in and one out. Star wiring can be identified by some sockets having more than two wires, whilst most having only one. Daisy-Chain is good, Star is bad, especially for VDSL.
How many terminals on the extensions are wired?

The ring circuit (pin 3) does not need to be connected and can cause significant degradation of broadband performance.
Is the extension wiring to current specification - that is twisted pairs - I would suspect not - a picture would be helpful

Do you actually need the wired extensions? A DECT phone system can put handsets where you need them, with the base station being connected to the the master socket. All of the extension wiring can then be disconnected at the master socket.

39.99mbps somewhat suggests that you are on the 40/10 product and with a following wind, might sync at a higher speed with the 80/20 product. However if the wiring as discussed above is giving rise to transmission errors, then the effective (usable) data speed will be markedly lower than the sync speed.

Personally I would ensure that all of the extension wiring is fully disconnected, the router is plugged into the master socket and then see what performance looks like.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 22:31:32 GMT

1. The wiring to other sockets runs from the face plate.

2. the sockets in the rooms have two wires, feed in and out

3. The wired terminals seems to vary, I’ve only opened two sockets, see photos

4. are all twisted pair six core.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Townman — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 11:37:12 GMT

Only 2&5 should be connected, the other wires should be twisted together out of the way, well away from the terminals. The socket at the end looks as though the green wire could be in contact with 2/5.

If you remove the face plate on the master socket and connect the router to the test socket … what does that do to your speeds?

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 15:15:01 GMT

I thought the same on the end socket. It’s odd that there are assorted sockets, some screw terminal fixings others push terminal. I’ve made sure the loose wires in the end socket are isolated.

The router is in the lounge with wired devices but the master socket is at the opposite side of the house so not easy to move unless I install power line adapters or run a network cable.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Townman — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 20:13:56 GMT

For the purpose of eliminating the possibility of the internal wiring being a factor in your experience, it is possible for you to move the router, isolate the extension wires .. an run some performance tests?

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 13:44:55 GMT

Openreach worked on the phone line without visiting the house. The end result is that the downstream sync rate is the same but the upstream sync rate has dropped to 2.7 Mbps.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

adamwalker — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:06:08 GMT

Hi PhilH34, can you send over a PM with your username please so I can look into that for you?

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 22:17:20 GMT

Time for an update on our broadband service.

we have had two visits from Openreach actually in the house! First one moved the master socket and made what used to be the master and extension.

Then we had a visit from a Plusnet engineer who put a call in for another Openreach visit. When they are here the line is perfect. It was suggested the router RJ11 cable was faulty so replaced it.

DLM has changed the sync speed almost daily and several times on some days. For the last few days DLM has cut the sync speed in steps. We did a soft restart of the router at Plusnet’s request.

Tonight we had two network drops within half an hour at our peak streaming time.

Not a happy customer!

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Townman — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:23:51 GMT

Hi Phil,

I think that you need to take this back to basics and consider some other possibilities as well, such as electrical interference.

If you have not done so, you really do need to get hold of a telephone handset and do the QLTs as advised previously. Doing a QLT once, is not a "that is it done" job; it needs to be done regularly, especially when the line is disconnecting.

Which hub are you using? If you are using a Plusnet Hib One, please use the RouterStats link below and download and install the version for a BTHH5a (that is what the Hub One is). Set it up to sample at 10 second intervals, with 720 plots per graph. Then please post the SNRM graphs. That will provide insight to what is happening on the line.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 09:40:43 GMT

@Townman

JooI, is there a version of RouterStats for the Plusnet Hub 2?

I couldn't find anything applicable on that website?

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 10:04:12 GMT

The silent line test doesn’t show anything. Three Openreach engineers have tested the line and found no faults after making alterations.

Plusnet have had another look at the line today “I've just had a look into that and tests are showing signs of a line fault called a "high resistance cable fault" so we'll need to book an engineer to come out to see you to get that fixed.”

Engineer visit number four coming up.

We have a Plusnet hub two.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

Townman — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 11:22:06 GMT

Sadly that router stats programme does not work with a Hub Two.

Re: Speed below guaranteed minimum

PhilH34 — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 10:24:40 GMT

The latest visit seems to have sorted our issue, switched to a different wire pair and replaced the connectors along the line plus removed our sole remaining extension. We’ve had a stable connection for almost three days.