topic Re: In the absence of Adam Walker in Plusnet Feedback

In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:41:51 GMT

Hello,
I am sorry that in absence of Adam Walker, I feel query from EUs by the CSC are taken very lightly.
Let me explain, as you may be aware that I have had a long running thread on here about the problems I had experienced with frequent disconnects (What's going on with PN - http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,94385.0.html) and I am glad to say that Adam eventually managed to sort the issue.
However, after the issue being sorted I was getting the download speeds af around 2Mbps ( I have a long line - attenuation of 61.5dB - so I am happy with that sort of speeds) and no frequent disconnects. Lately I noticed that the download speed/s had dropped. So, I had done the BT speed Test, which confirmed that my download speed was 0.8Mbps and supplied this info and the Router stats on a new ticket to CSC. I had also mentioned on the ticket that I was still connected to the master socket and I still did not have any hard-wired extension/s. All I wanted was to make CSC aware that the original problem may be rearing its head.
I got a response from CSC directing me to a link which then led to various other links; all this I had gone through before. With this sort of response, I believe, CSC has taken the issue lightly. I have directed the CSC agent concerned to my Ticket concerning the issue I had with my line and hoping that he would read the ticket before dismissing it lightly. I think there is an issue at my exchange to cause the download speed to suddenly drop from 2Mbps to 0.8Mbps.
Anybody out there, including Plusnet Staff, who can explain why the speed has suddenly dropped? Now that I do not suffer from frequent disconnects.
Sorry, this is a long description of the issue, but I wanted to be as clear as possible.
Regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

lexusuk — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:40:10 GMT

Hi chandu,
I'll test the line for you and update here with the results shortly.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

lexusuk — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:04:53 GMT

For some reason your profile had updated on BT systems to 2500kbps but the DLM did not produce a prompt for our network to update and match this value. I have matched our profile to 2500kbps manually so you should now see a higher throughput when testing your speed.
Let me know if you don't see the improvement.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:34:12 GMT

Quote from: Alex
your profile had updated on BT systems to 2500kbps but the DLM did not produce a prompt for our network to update and match this value. I have matched our profile to 2500kbps manually so you should now see a higher throughput when testing your speed.

Thank you Alex. You're a star - as good as Adam!
I have just done the BT Speed Test and the download speeds have improved drastically. Below is the result of today's speed test:
Results Image not loaded
Test1 comprises of two tests
1. Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
Download Speed
2350 Kbps

0 Kbps 4000 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed
Download speedachieved during the test was - 2350 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1200-4000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :3068 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2500 Kbps
2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.
Upload Speed
358 Kbps

0 Kbps 448 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed
This is fantastic and hope it stays this way for a long time to come.
Thanks very much, Alex. I wish CSC had picked it up just as quickly like you did, then I would not have to start this thread.
Regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:54:17 GMT

Hi Alex,
It's me again.
Please do me a favour and please talk to the guys in CSC with reference to my Ticket ID 45363861; this may help them to help other users with similar issues.
Many regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

lexusuk — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:07:01 GMT

Hi Chandu,
I've fedback to the agents involved directly as requested. Glad to hear everything seems to be fixed your side.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:27:08 GMT

Hi Alex,
Thanks very much for passing the feedback on. I am currently running smoothly at anticipated download speed.
Thanks for sorting it out so quickly for me.
Alex, you're doing a grand job. Keep it up.
Best wishes from:
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:49:13 GMT

Hi Alex,
It is me again. I have just run the BT speed Test to find that my IP profile has suddenly dropped from 2500Kbps to 2000Kbps. Is this the sign of frequent disconnects causing DLM to reduce the IP prifile?
If that is the case, then here we go again with umpteen number of visits from BT FSI engineers and Adam Walker's intervention to sort it.
Regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

w23 — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:22:59 GMT

Do you know what your current sync is? It only takes a single resync at 2816kbps or less to drop the profile to 2000 so this does not necessarily signify a returning problem.
All lines can drop sync occasionally and if this happens at the wrong time then the sync can be less than normal.
A 2000 profile is quite normal for a 61.9dB line, I'd only worry if it drops lower.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

adamwalker — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:06:41 GMT

Hi Chandu,
I'm back but can see that Alex is doing a great job of helping you out here. I'll keep an eye on the thread all the same..

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:03:21 GMT

@Adam Walker
Welcome back, Adam. The router sync speed is 2767 Kbps and line has been stable for 71 hours & 36 Mins. So, another half an hour or so to go before we will see any improvement/s in my IP profile. Thank you, Adam, and please do keep an eye on the line. Yes, Alex is doing a grand job. Please give him a GOLD Medal.
@ walker23 . Yes, currently the router is sync'ing at 2767 Kbps and I was not aware of 'It only takes a single resync at 2816kbps or less to drop the profile to 2000 so this does not necessarily signify a returning problem'. Thanks for this valueable info. I appreciate it. Thanks very much.
Many regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

w23 — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:14:24 GMT

Only too glad to be of some assistance, you can find some excellent information here: http://kitz.co.uk/adsl/IPprofile.htm and here: http://kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php
Kitz is an excellent website for those wishing to learn more about how ADSL works though it can get rather technical.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:18:58 GMT

Thank you walker23.
Yes, I agree Kitz site/s are very helpful and also I understand that they have very knowledgeable and helpful fora contributors. I would say Kitz Fora are just as good as Plusnet ones; if not better. Don't you agree?
Many regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:34:10 GMT

Hi Alex,
I have slight issue with the CSC agents. I now have my router sync'ing at 3071 Kbps (Up) and my BT Speed Test still says that my IP profile is 2.0Mbps, which I had requested the CSC to increase to 2.5Mbps. Their response was that after testing my line I am sync'ing to my local exchange at 2.7Mbps. I have done a BT Speed Test this afternoon and it does say "Your DSL Connection Rate :3068 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)"
Why this difference between what BT Speed Test result states and CSC's line test result states? I am baffled!
Can you or anyone else explain this please anamoly please?
Many Regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

lexusuk — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:32:48 GMT

Checking the sync rate today the line shows 3068kbps. It may be that one of the faults agents did not close off the testing thread from a previous test which meant the results I pulled were not live but cached. I apologise if this is the case but it's part of the nature of the faults diagnostics system that we use.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:31:16 GMT

Hi Alex,
Thanks for your explanattion. That makes some sense.
Regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:21:12 GMT

@Adam Walker or Alex Rolls,
I notice that since 09.05 on 22nd August my line has been very unstable and the frequency of line disconnect is gradually increasing. The line stability since completion of work on 14th July did not last very long. I fear that this may lead to going through long process of fault finding etc.
Do I now raise a ticket for fault or wait for a few days more?
Many regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

lexusuk — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:45:08 GMT

Hi chandu,
Your line is not dropping particularly heavily but is occasionally dropping out.

I have made some adjustments to your line configuration in an attempt to achieve a fully stable connection. This involved raising the line SNR margin to 12dB (previously 6dB) and enabling interleaving. If the line is fully stable we can lower your SNR margin to 9dB to see if we can improve the performance further. The goal currently is to achieve stability.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

chandu — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:24:38 GMT

Thank you Alex.
I may be little thick here, for which please forgive me. I notice from my router's statistics, which is copied below, that though the router has been on 24/7 since 14th July as the system up time suggests, but I keep losing WAN - PPPoA, which resets the timer. WLAN, which I believe is to do with my wireless connection/s and it differs from the system up time because some 146 hours ago I had reset my SSID and the WPA/PSK encryption key. The worrying part is the losss of PPPoA. Is this something to do with Plusnet or is it to do with BT's state of the line? Please explain the above to me in very simple terms, so that I can increase my knowledge base and enable me to understand things better!
My Router Statistics: at 15:10 today
System Up Time 406:38:16
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 3773 5150 0 19 157 09:20:42
LAN 10M/100M 41104 7904 0 8 0 406:38:11
WLAN 11M/54M 1028587 815289 0 2279 263 146:54:56
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3071 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 61.5 db 34.1 db
Noise Margin 7.3 db 18.3 db
I will appreciate your feedback on this. Thanks.
Regards,
Chandu.

Re: In the absence of Adam Walker

lexusuk — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:26:02 GMT

Fundamentally there are two stages to the connection process.
- Synchronisation
- Authentication (via PPPoA)
The PPPoA status relates to the authentication status of your modem. Your router sends out your Plusnet username and password to our systems and establishes a PPP session with us. If your PPP session is lost then this could be because:
- You have lost the link with our systems but not lost synchronisation
- You have lost the link with our systems because you have lost synchronisation
The router logs will contain information on whether just PPP was lost or both PPP and Sync. The graphing we regularly post on threads and tickets like this one:

Are simply graphs of your PPP status. Each vertical line is a loss of PPP session. Hope that helps.