topic Re: Please sort my broadband issues in Plusnet Feedback

Please sort my broadband issues

HILARYHANDLEY — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 09:20:31 GMT

We've had broadband issues since the beginning of February - briefly, at around 4pm each day we're still connected to the Internet but websites etc. won't load properly, we can't connect to a company VPN, can't use Sky On Demand etc. We've opened "questions" on the help and support section of the Plusnet website and it's taken all this time to get absolutely nowhere.
We're paying for a service we're not receiving so we'll be expecting some sort of refund when this is finally sorted out.
We're heartily sick of it and if someone doesn't sort this within the next couple of days, we'll be changing our ISP.
Someone with some knowhow and authority - SORT THIS OUT.
jim:red All caps in title corrected as per Forum Rule mod:end

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

LinnPlusnet — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 09:58:16 GMT

Hi HILARYHANDLEY,
Really sorry to hear of the issues you've experienced.
We will wait until 4pm today as you mentioned this is when the problems seem to happen and we'll try to replicate this from our end.
I can see you've started to raise a fault today, however, you've not finished going through the troubleshooter. Please complete this at your earliest convenience so that this is raised to our Faults team.
We'll post an update after 4pm once we've investigated this further.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

HILARYHANDLEY — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:03:07 GMT

I didn't realise what the troubleshooter was when I started it ( at the suggestion of someone on your tech support who couldn't help me). We're way beyond that sort of messing about and I don't know how many more times I have to say it.
The issue will start between 4 and 5pm so don't just look at 4pm and think it's ok like some of your colleagues have.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

LinnPlusnet — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:07:59 GMT

Not a problem, we will monitor this between 4pm and 5pm today.
We do require that you finish the troubleshooter as this will need to be completed should our Faults team need to send an engineer out to you or investigate this further. I can appreciate that this has been ongoing for some time but the troubleshooter will still need to be completed in order for us to have a chance to resolve this issue for you.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

HILARYHANDLEY — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:15:45 GMT

This becomes more of a joke by the minute! Why has it taken this long to get this far - ie nowhere???????????????

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

Pettitto — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:23:40 GMT

You've mentioned that the problem appears between 4pm-5pm.
We;'re going to use one of our testing machines in the office to try and replicate the problem. Without replicating the problem it's going to be very, very difficult for us to put our finger what the cause of the problem is.
I appreciate the issue is frustrating, we just need to try and replicate the issue to get to the bottom of it.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

picbits — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:37:13 GMT

Just to put some input in, I had an issue with my server dropping connections at certain times of the day (normally around lunchtime and early evening) and it took me ages to work it out.
Turned out to be that every time we used the Microwave oven, it interfered with the wireless and the server would drop it's connection.
A friend of mine had a similar issue but it wasn't wireless related - his connection would drop at a certain time every evening but the time moved by a few minutes every evening. Turned out to be a faulty street light and this messed about with the connection until it heated up.
The procedures Plusnet are asking you to do for the fault checker appear to be there to rule out the normal customer generated issues which could result in a charge by BT Openreach if an engineer is called out and the fault is found to have been caused by the customer (i.e. wrongly configured wireless or dodgy telephone extension wiring).
Out of curiosity, does the fault happen on both the wired and wireless connections ?

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

HILARYHANDLEY — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:58:32 GMT

This issue starts between 4 and 5 every day and lasts the whole of the rest of the evening/night so it's not a microwave or anything like that.
As an aside, I have no idea why the row of angry question marks I put turned into a row of smiley faces.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

Oldjim — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 12:23:29 GMT

The bb code for that smiley is

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

abstruse21 — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 12:46:03 GMT

Last time I had an internet issue that started around 4-5pm and lasted the rest of the night.. turned out it was the local school kids coming home followed by their parents returning from work and clogging all the exchange capacity (high ratio of users on the exchange modems 50:1 at that time I believe) browsing, chatting & gaming all evening.. may have been a problem with the actual hardware in the exchange that tripped up when traffic got high.. cant remember the full issue now but def traffic related)
This was 2 ISP's ago and a different address to where I am now however.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

LinnPlusnet — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 16:17:58 GMT

Hi HILARYHANDLEY,
We've tested your connection to replicate any of the issues you've detailed and we couldn't find any of the issues. I would advise finishing the troubleshooter so that this is raised to our Faults team so that they can investigate further.
Sorry we couldn't find the issue.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

HILARYHANDLEY — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 18:24:06 GMT

I have finished the troubleshooter.
I can't tell you how sick of all this I am - I will be telling your CEO though.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

Pettitto — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 12:59:38 GMT

Hi HILARYHANDLEY,
I'm picking up the fault ticket that you raised yesterday.
Any ideas when you might be available for an engineers visit? Our suppliers operate Monday - Friday and offer two different timeslots which are 8am-1pm or 1pm-6pm.
If you could let me know, I'll get an engineer booked in for you.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

DoughPea — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:16:49 GMT

Mine was my neighbour from the upstairs flat.
They had a kitchen light from the ark, and each night when they got in from work it was turned on and not turned off.
We only got to the bottom of it once they went on holiday, and our wireless connection became unbelievably stable for 2 weeks xD
The question about it being a wired or wireless connection would rule alot out if the computer in question was wired.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

jelv — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:29:00 GMT

Just to check the bleeding obvious - this isn't a user on an account where peak time starts at 4pm and they've gone over their allowance?

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

Pettitto — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:35:13 GMT

@Jelv - It's not, but thanks for double checking just in case
@HILARYHANDLEY - I've responded to your Fault Ticket again. Unfortunately we do require an engineer to visit to resolve this issue. I have tested and identified a large amount of errors on your line (up and downstream) which can indicate a line fault.
I fully appreciate that you do not believe the fault to be on the line, however, the testing I have done does show a potential issue.

Re: Please sort my broadband issues

Townman — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 18:32:29 GMT

Hi Hilary,
Welcome to the forums, though sad to hear that you are experiencing issues at particular times of the day. There is a lot of expertise around here who can and do offer assistance to users - they are users, customers just like yourself, especially when PN staff are not around on the forums, like for example out of office hours.
There are systematic approaches to sorting out (diagnosing) issues such as yours, one of which is the fault trouble-shooter - "We're way beyond that sort of messing about" does not help progress the resolution of your issue - there is a procedural process which rules out issues which from experience cause the vast majority of issues relating to variable performance. Not ruling them out before bringing in a BT Openreach engineer could result in you receiving hefty charges if the fault were to be found to be down to wiring on your premises.
You have not indicated if you are on an ADSL or fibre service, if ADSL, it is helpful to post your router stats, from both when you perceive things to be normal and at a time when they are not. I guess that you do not want to get involved in the technicalities of the matter and just want things fixed, however faults cannot be fixed if there is no fault being exhibited at the time someone looks. As likely as not, BTOR engineers are not going to be visiting you at the time the problem occurs. A bit of understanding of what could be happening on your side will therefore go a long way to helping sort this out.
How fast your broadband works is predicated on two factors: first how good is your line in general, this will determine your normal synch rate, that is how fast your line can transfer data; the second is how free your line is from interference (noise), this will determine the line's stability and ability to transfer data without error - the fewer errors, the less retransmissions required to move the data, therefore the overall speed is higher. Too fast a synch speed can lead to more errors and thus slower data transfer. The first task is to make your synch rate as good as it can be - the fault checker will identify any fundamental line fault before more complex issues are considered.
ADSL is quite susceptible to external noise - this is one reason (over and above heavy usage) why the effective speed of broadband can decrease at night time, directly due to the noise induced from MW radio transmissions. There are dozens of sources of noise which can have a similar or more marked effects, some which have been reported on the forums by users include microwaves, central heating boilers / timers, plasma TVs, fluorescent lights, laptop (or any other device) power packs, IR CCTV cameras, take-a-way shop extractor fans, street lighting - the source of the issue could be in your premises, it could be up the street. In the case of my personal experience, I had a combination of street lighting, IR CCTV cameras/ power supply, internal wiring and passing West Coast Main Line electric trains. All contributed to variable service and aside from the trains all were eventually identified and removed.
If your issue is related to REIN, there is no magic wand which someone can wave to make the problem go away, nor will changing ISP sort that problem out for you. there is though a lot of experience here to help you through the process. First of all, you need the basic checks performed on your line. This might identify a faulty joint, which when other nearby circuits are heavily used causes your line to pick up cross talk and this errors.
Posting your router stats as described here http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,96155.0.html (if ADSL) would be a helpful action.
Are you predominantly using WiFi? Downloading and using inSSIDer will show you your WiFi network strength in comparison to others around you. Look at what is happening at the time you perceive the issues. Changing your channel might deliver some benefits.
I suggest that "something happens" in your locality at 4-5pm which then degrades some part of your network, either WiFi or broadband. This needs to be identified and then a resolution needs to be determined. If for example it turns out to be yours or a neighbour's plasma TV, there is nothing that PlusNet or BT can do to address that. At best you can get an electrical engineer to try to fix the issue, at worse you might have to get Ofcom or someone in to deal with interference to telegraphy services... lets hope this does not go that far!