topic Re: Ping variability in Full Fibre

Ping variability

Lasanthan — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:37:25 GMT

Hi Plusnet Community,

I've recently switched over from Sky Full Fibre. No matter who we have been with, with we have always had mesh system to share the WiFi around the house. Most of the nodes have an ethernet backhaul, and have worked well over the years.

However since joining Plusnet, we have a huge variability in Pings which often means Teams calls, games and streaming can all feel hit and miss now.

I've switched back to the Plusnet two router, and I have excatly the same problem. Even when I have my laptop plugged straight into the router with an ethernet cable.

Any advice over what to do would be really helpful. We use the Deco BE5000 or BE26 nodes around the house.

Thanks in advance to any that can help.

Re: Ping variability

markhawkin — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:36:21 GMT

You shouldn't have to do this, but you could try setting the Deco system to use DHCP and plugging it into a Plusnet Hub LAN port.

I wouldn't expect the performance of Plusnet to be worse than Sky over the same Openreach connection.

The only obvious (to the consumer) difference I can think of is Sky support IPv6 and Plusnet (generally) doesn't.

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:43:25 GMT

Thanks for the option. I have used my mesh network as an access point. But I’m still getting erratic pings.

When I speak to Plusnet help they are unable to see anything wrong.

I’m not sure I’m explaining it correctly. But is there anything I should say to the Plusnet support? Also should Openreach come and check?

Re: Ping variability

jab1 — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:51:08 GMT

@Lasanthan Could you post a screenshot of these erratic pings? Note that the routing will have changed when you switched providers.

Re: Ping variability

markhawkin — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:54:05 GMT

I must confess I'm a bit puzzled.

I use a Plusnet conection (with a third party router - not a Deco however) and there are no ping spike problems. Teams etc. works fine with it.

The Openreach full fibre system should "just work" and clearly it has during the period you used it with Sky.

The next thing I would try (assuming you have taken the Plusnet Hub out of the system) is setting the Deco to respond to a ping and set up a Think Broadband monitor, run that for a day or two and see if you see ping issues.

Re: Ping variability

jab1 — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:58:52 GMT

@markhawkin The Openreach network isn't the problem here - it is the actual routing of the network (PN's or SKY's) which is different.

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:23:25 GMT

https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/7288972729

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:25:05 GMT

I have tried with the Plusnet 2 router. My own mesh network directly plugged into the openreach network. The my mesh network as an access point

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:25:37 GMT

Worse with Plusnet.

Re: Ping variability

jab1 — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:29:22 GMT

What we really need to see is a proper ping test. Assuming you are using Windows try running a ping test from a command prompt to one of the affected sites, and let us see the result.

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 19:15:16 GMT

Re: Ping variability

jab1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:33:04 GMT

Once again, @Lasanthan you have produced a speed test, not a ping test - until we know what hops are producing the high pings, we cannot advise.

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:50:52 GMT

Do have a guide to do this as there so many websites that claim to do this?

Re: Ping variability

jab1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:58:07 GMT

What operating system are you using?

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 08:14:21 GMT

Windows

Re: Ping variability

PhilipHeyes — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 08:17:44 GMT

Open a Command Prompt and type :

ping -n 25 dns.google

Re: Ping variability

jab1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 08:29:12 GMT

@Lasanthan I suggest you follow this guide: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-open-command-prompt-2618089 , as it is comprehensive, but if you still have problems, post back.

Re: Ping variability

Lasanthan — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 09:02:47 GMT

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
Packets: Sent = 150, Received = 150, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 6ms, Maximum = 127ms, Average = 22ms

Re: Ping variability

jab1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 09:30:31 GMT

So, for Google, the figures are good. What would be interesting to see is the results for a site where you are seeing problems.

Re: Ping variability

corringham — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 09:40:45 GMT

@jab1 wrote:

So, for Google, the figures are good.

I'm not sure they are - min of 6ms may be OK, but max 127ms, avg 22ms shows a lot of variability.
For my own FTTP (not Plusnet) the maximum is under 5ms.