topic Re: Dropouts and line speed in Plusnet Feedback

Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:17:13 GMT

Okay, so I'm new to the forum, so please forgive any thread duplication.
Last May, I lost my broadband connection altogether for a month. Still got charged though! A month later, a BT engineer visited and discovered that there was faulty equipment at the exchange. Service was restored within 24 hours. However, dropouts were becoming more frequent so I raised a ticket about 2 months ago and several weeks later they stopped. Halleluja! At the same time however, the download speed dropped to a measly 128kbps (my normal download speed is only about 500kbps because of the distance to the exchange), so I made Plusnet aware of this. Another month later there is still no improvement - Plusnet have put it in the hands of the BT diagnostics team and I am left in limbo wondering what is happening and wishing someone would get their finger out and sort it. I added a comment to the ticket a week ago asking support if they would ask a senior manager to contact me, but - surprise, surprise, I have heard nothing. I'm still being charged full price for a service I am not receiving.
It seems to me that Plusnet have no muscle in dealing with their supplier, they just wait as long as it takes.
Can any of you guys come up with a solution for this as otherwise I can see it going on forever.
I hope too, that someone with some clout at Plusnet will pick up this rant and get it sorted.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

pierre_pierre — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:17:15 GMT

Welcome to the Forum
Its an unfortunate fact, but the speed you actually get has no influence on the the cost. All people good or bad have to pay the same price.
Its Sunday Lunch time, but somebody helpful (Not PN Staff yet) should be along to ask a few questions in order to try and help you.
a) what router have you got?
b) can you supply the router sts for your connection?

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:27:58 GMT

Thanks for that pierre_pierre. It's not so much the cost as the fact that there is very little we can do on the internet at such a slow download speed and the fact that the problem does not appear to be being resolved One wonders whether anyone is actually doing something about it. Video, iPlayer, etc. are all unusable at the speed I am getting, and normal web pages take forever to download. I am losing my credibility with my family because I can't seem to get the problem resolved. The feeling is that if the 'phone line went down, BT would get it restored very quickly. It is frustrating that one cannot go direct to BT to get it sorted. Perhaps the obvious course of action would be to change to another supplier, but they would inherit the fault and I would be no better off. I wonder if I migrated to BT would they sort it out more quickly?
I have carried-out endless tests for PN, even bought a new, faster router, dongle, cable, microfilter, etc. The router remains connected to the BT test socket in anticipation. Not sure what you mean about router sts? though.
Thanks for your thoughts, lets hope PN staff will pick this up and run with it - or am I expecting too much?

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:37:39 GMT

Sorry pierre_pierre, I forgot to include details of my router that you requested. It's a Belkin Wireless N+ modem-router model F5D8635-4 v.1

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:14:04 GMT

Hi Birdman,
I've just had a quick look at your connection and as far as I can tell, you have been connected for over 3 days straight.
Are you still seeing connection problems?

Re: Dropouts and line speed

pierre_pierre — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:43:57 GMT

sts was my dodgey keyboard it should have been stats
see here on how to get themhttp://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php#53

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:23:29 GMT

Hi Jameseh
I was rather hoping you would pick this one up, so it's good to hear from you. No, I am no longer experiencing connection problems, since about a month ago it has been pretty stable. However, at about the time stability was restored I experienced a drastic drop in my download speed - I am getting no better than 128kbps. My understanding was that line speed should return to normal within about 3-10 days of the line stabilising, but this has just not happened. Rightly or wrongly, I concluded that BT must have capped the speed at 128kbps to make it more stable. If this is the case, then I think you will agree that it is a far from satisfactory engineering solution. Where I live, we can only get a paltry 500kbps broadband speed due to distance from the exchange so I accept this as the norm and up until this problem arose I was getting up to this speed. Now the speed is so slow that much of the internet is either unusable or one needs the patience of a saint. Given that nothing has happened for a month I think it reasonable to conclude that nothing much has been done to get the speed back up, and I am left wondering whether the problem will ever be satisfactorily resolved.
I hope that now you are on the case, normal service will soon be resumed.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:36:26 GMT

Hiya
BT want to send an engineer.
Looking at your line tests, it doesn't appear to be the usual IP Profile capping problem - more that your line is consistently connecting at 160Kbps. I'd be hopeful that we could get some traction on your fault via the engineering visit.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:50:38 GMT

Thanks again pierre_pierre. I have followed the link you gave but my router is not listed. However, I hope to be able to to follow the tutorial for the alternative method of getting the stats in due course.
Now that Jameseh is on the case I am feeling a little more hopeful that the matter will soon be resolved. Thanks for your help.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:25:33 GMT

Hiya,
As per our brief chat on the phone, there should be an engineer turning up tomorrow morning.
Hopefully he should be able to sort things out for you!

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:18:07 GMT

Well, a BT engineer visited today (thank you, Jameseh :)), did his tests and could not find any reason why my download speed is so slow. In fact his test data transmission rate was 1.4Mb which, he said, was the speed the line could support. So why am I only getting 128Kb, one tenth of the line's capability? He could only suggest that someone might have capped the speed to cure the instability, which is what I had guessed. Seems a bit of a primitive solution though, and wholly unsatisfactory. He couldn't say what happens now, but thought that BT might up the speed to get a balance between speed and stability. So, am I any further forward? Who knows. At least it is confirmed that there is no issue with my equipment, but the prognosis seems rather vague at present.
Jameseh, I have added a comment to my question regarding the BT visit as requested.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:29:44 GMT

Right ok. Concerned that the BT engineer was able to get over 1Mbps and you are only seeing 160-288Kbps.
It isn't a restriction - have you tried using a different router as part of the fault diagnosis? If not, I can arrange for one to be sent to you on loan.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:03:14 GMT

Jameseh, thanks for your post. Yes, I had tried an alternative router during the checking process, but there was no improvement. In fact, I have just reconnected it since receiving your post and the 'My Broadband Speed' checker has reported a download speed of 129Kbps. It is a dLink DSL-2640B. I'll leave it connected for a while.
In case the microfilter makes a difference, I have also tried 2 alternatives - no change.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:06:07 GMT

Thanks - I'll give BT a tinkle.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:19:25 GMT

Hi Jameseh
Following on from our conversation I have run the speed checker again this morning and it returns a download speed of 131Kbps, so no real improvement. I tried rebooting the router but it makes no difference. Disappointing.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:39:19 GMT

Yup, thought as much, thanks.
I'll get it sent back to BT.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:19:24 GMT

This all gets more and more confusing. Jameseh reckons that my slow speeds are not due to any restriction, but today CS tell me that the exchange have intentionally lowered the speed to keep me online whilst the connection continues to drop out. They go on to say:- 'Please make sure that you focus your attention to the stability of the line and in turn the speed fault will fix itself when we fix the intermittent connection.' Hmmm! The 'intermittent connection' was the subject of the original ticket I raised nearly 2 months ago, and still appears to be unresolved, and I am 'fixing my attention' on trying to get a resumption of normal service which was stable and at the speed I could reasonably expect at my location, before I die of old age.
I have now lost faith and must look at alternatives. Any suggestions anyone?

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:21:33 GMT

CSC are probably right (and did speak to me about it earlier).
Whilst your problem *is* a speed one, it *is also* a dropping connection one, which is causing your speeds to drop. If your connection is still dropping (which is was earlier), with a changed router and filter, wired into the master socket, we'll arrange for another engineer.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

birdman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:44:20 GMT

Jameseh - the router that has been connected all day today is the dLink one that you suggested I tried a few days ago. Do you want me to change back to my usual Belkin router and one of 3 microfilters that I have been swapping about? The routers have been connected to the BT master socket via microfilter ever since I was asked to do so several weeks ago, and the BT engineer left it plugged into that.

Re: Dropouts and line speed

James — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:19:07 GMT

Actually - The router you're currently using looks better. You've been connected for about 36 hours straight.
Could you just try rebooting your router for me please?