topic Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity in Full Fibre

Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 20:24:56 GMT

The last few day's I've been getting connection issues where although the fibre is connected, it'll lose internet connectivity.

I've called support and they say there is no line issue and my router is not dropping out. I've run continuous ping to google dns and every 5-10 min it'll stop responding and then start pinging again, a continuous ping to the router shows no issues

I've tried my back up router and tried resetting the ONT but still get the same issue

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

csmith94 — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:44:29 GMT

Hi @Bigmax1701, thanks for getting in touch and I'm really sorry to hear you're experiencing drops. Is there anything different happening that might not have been before? The drops mainly seem to be concentrated in the evening that tends to suggest that there's something in the home environment that could be causing this, especially because this has happened 2 different routers now.

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 09:30:26 GMT

Hi
The drop outs happen all the time, it's just been that I'm home in the evening to try and sort it .

There have been no changes to the network at all. The 'line' never drops connection, it just stops communicating for 20-30 sec, just long enough to interrupt streaming

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

csmith94 — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 13:15:14 GMT

I wouldn't advise running a ping to google as they normally restrict the rate for their own security purposes. Instead you can use one from think broadband which will allow you to do this unrestricted - 80.249.99.164.

Checking over your usage, I can also see that you're uploading a lot some days, sometimes 22GB. This could be one reason why this is happening as uploading a lot does impact not only download speeds but also the connection itself. I'd try and stop uploading and then see if you still see the same issue.

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 19:07:57 GMT

The only reason I was running ping was because streaming has started buffering, 150mb fibre shouldn't be buffering!

I'm not aware of anything uploading from my netwtork , but even then, it shouldn't be causing a repeated complete drop out

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 21:52:29 GMT

I've changed the ping to Think as requested and blocked the highest uploading device from the internet and it's still dropping out every 20 min. During testing a film was streamed from a NAS drive to a smart TV accross the network with no issues, so it still looks like an external issue

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Townman — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:39:48 GMT

22GB upload is not trivial - what is on your network? A saturated upload will lead to suboptimal download performance.

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Dan_the_Van — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 09:25:41 GMT

@Bigmax1701

What is the router you are using? Full model number if a third party device.

Are all your devices connected directly either via wireless or wired to the router or something else?

Think broadband 'Broadband Quality Monitor' as detailed here https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality is worth considering.

Are you using a ping app or just via command prompt (Windows or Linux)?

Edit: What message appears when ping fails? Be something like timeout, destination unreachable, an example would be helpful

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 21:14:02 GMT

@Townman nothing is configured to upload, the highest data device on the network is a NAS drive but it's not accessed from outside. Everything else is really low data

I'd expect a prolonged speed issue with a traffic issue but I'm getting a cyclic drop out every 20 min

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 21:43:32 GMT

@Dan_the_Van

It's a PN Hub 2, the network is wifi and wired via a managed switch and a wifi bridge.

Pinging from windows command prompt, it was a time out message but it seems to be stable now

I've started a BQM but it isn't showing anything yet

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Townman — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 23:02:20 GMT

@Bigmax1701

Whatever you think is or is not configured to upload, Plusnet's stats report that something is uploading a lot of data.

How is windows update configured on your PCs? It used to be the case that by default they are / were set to be update distributors.

See Settings -> Windows Update -> Advance Options -> Delivery Optimisation

What are the settings there?

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Dan_the_Van — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 07:29:55 GMT

@Bigmax1701

To view your local usage on the Hub two navigate from the home page to >Advanced settings >Broadband. Usage is also referenced in >Advanced settings >Technical log

Do you have any CCTV equipment that saves to the cloud? This could explain your upload usage, I have a Ring camara system my upload usage over 19 days is around 20Gb.

You mention a wireless bridge, is it the device/s at the remote end with the ping issues?

For me from my wireless laptop ping -t pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com

Reply from 80.249.99.164: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=55
Reply from 80.249.99.164: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55

A raspberry pi wired device connected directly to the Hub

pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com (80.249.99.164): icmp_seq=1 ttl=55 time=8.70 ms

Do you notice is the ping times increase before you get the timeout message?

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 07:33:38 GMT

I get that something is uploading, but nothing should be , I meant I'm not deliberately uploading. I am concerned about what has been though!

Delivery optimisation has always been off, but that wouldn't upload through the router anyway?

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:10:58 GMT

I can't see any data usage in the tech log but did found several disconnects for 'no carrier'

I have CCTV but no cloud storage

The wireless bridge just has home automation on the remote side

Ping is fairly steady before dropping, sometimes a single ping will come back in the middle of drop out

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Dan_the_Van — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:23:48 GMT

The Advanced settings >Technical Log >Information or Broadband page should have this line

Data usage: nn.nn GB Uploaded / nnn.nn GB Downloaded

You may have been looking at the event log to see 'no carrier' messages

Can you recall if the no carrier messages times are around the same time you noticed your internet drop.

The event log should detail drops "Category WAN" would be the place to look for disconnects,

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:39:08 GMT

I found the overall up/down, I thought you meant I could see per device

The no carrier events were over night so missed them

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Townman — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:49:34 GMT

@Bigmax1701 wrote:
Delivery optimisation has always been off, but that wouldn't upload through the router anyway?

It would if you had the download from other PCs over the internet set. AIUI (and the text hints it to be the case) your PC becomes a server. Note the text "Your PC won't upload content to other devices... on a metered network.".

Now there is a thought, try changing the network profile to make it metered.

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Dan_the_Van — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 09:39:57 GMT

I found the overall up/down, I thought you meant I could see per device

You can identify the device with the higher upload and download by looking at >Home >My devices

In the device list to the right you will see an up and down arrow, this should help you identify who is uploading and downloading the most.

HTH

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 10:56:09 GMT

I went back to double check the update setting (it was off), I thought it was from local pc's but it does say about uploading to the internet, I didn't notice that text before.

The culprit seems to be a NAS drive, although I blocked it's IP at the router it was still uploading

If you look at my devices on a phone browser you don't get the up/down statistics, I thought I'd seen them (I was on my laptop)

Re: Problem with intermittent connectivity

Bigmax1701 — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 11:58:17 GMT

Thanks for the help guys, I think I've plugged the upload leak. Gone from 26gb in 2hrs this morning to 9mb in an hour (over all upload)

I'll monitor today to make sure it's fixed

Won't be able to properly test streaming until the wekend