topic Re: Bad technical support in Plusnet Feedback

Bad technical support

doconline — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:12:46 GMT

I have been a customer for several years now, and recently the service has become terrible. My speed in the evening has dropped to 1/4meg from 3meg.
I reported the problem on tuesday and it has only just reached the correct department today. No doubt it will take another 2 days for someone to get back to me.
As a customer of several years I expected better service than this.

Re: Bad technical support

shutter — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:34:43 GMT

Unfortunately, whether you have been a customer for several years, or several hours, the service is just the same..... however I have been assured that improvements are on the way...

Re: Bad technical support

doconline — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:49:56 GMT

Whether I have been a customer for years, months or days it shouldn't take 2 days for technical support to get back to you, and when they did get back to me it was to tell me :-
'Your support request has been escalated to the correct team for review.'
Not exactly great service, and it needs to get better very quickly or I will be going to a different provider. Services such as IPlayer are unusable on my service with Plusnet now.

Re: Bad technical support

Anotherone — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:14:19 GMT

Can you run the BT speedtest http://www.speedtester.bt.com/ and post the results?

Re: Bad technical support

jelv — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:33:57 GMT

A lot of the early stages of fault investigation require you to do certain tests. If you post the information Anotherone has requested and give us some background information and details of the problem we should be able to help you speed up the process of getting it resolved. You never know, we might help you sort it out without any assistance from Plusnet!

Are the slow speeds all the time or just in the evenings?

Have you made any changes recently to your setup - including plugging new phones or other equipment in to any phone socket?

Re: Bad technical support

Chris — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:57:21 GMT

Hi there,
You say your speed in the evening has dropped? Is this on a speedtester or when downloading from a certain site? If it's downloads (as your ticket suggests) are you aware of the limits we have on download servers for your account type?

Re: Bad technical support

doconline — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:16:51 GMT

I will post the results for for the speedtester this evening when I am at home. have experienced very poor performance in general, and have been told that there is a fault when I spoke to technocal support on Tuesday. I was trying to download a printer driver from the HP cite last night and it took over an hour to download a 45mb file. Additionally, services such as iPlayer and other video on demand services are unusable. I have checked the account type links you gave in your post, am i right in thinking that from this Gaming and VPN get prioritised over all other traffic? Could you also explain why I am only able to a 3mb connection with your company but have been quoted getting a 7mb with both 02 and be there, both without any traffic shaping?

Re: Bad technical support

jelv — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:27:19 GMT

Can you post the sync speed, attenuation and noise margin reported by your router (http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php gives instructions for many routers). From those we'll be able to say if the O2 and Be estimates are realistic.

Re: Bad technical support

Anotherone — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:36:50 GMT

Based on the information you've just posted perhaps in addition to the BT speedtester, you could do the following -
First please check your phone line - can you hear/have you heard any crackling or other intermittent noise on the line? Dial a 1 to get rid of the dial tone. If you need more time before the NUT (number unobtainable tone) dial the quiet line test 17070 option 2. (Don't use any ringback or other test). Who is your Telephone Line Rental provider?
What Modem/Router are you using? Do you know to access your Modem/Router ADSL line stats?
If you can post both Downstream and Upstream - Sync/connection speed, Attenuation, NoiseMargin (SNRM) and Power.
Try here - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php - if you need guidance for many Modem/Routers.
Login to https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed and advise the information information in the top box (delete the last 4 digits of your phone number if present, but ensure the exchange name is posted)
Finally could you give an Outline description of your installation -
1) Do you have an NTE5 Master LineBox (the type with the removeable lower front plate) and which logo it has on it.?
2) Whether you have any fixed extension wiring and sockets & how many, and roughly how the cables go from one to another;
3) What filters do you have and where is the Modem/Router plugged in?
4) Do you have a corded phone, do you have a cordless phone - if so what type - DECT or Analogue?
5) Is any other POTS (plain old telephone service) equipment (Faxes, Answer phones, Sky boxes or Alarms systems etc) plugged in/connected.
One final tip: When you need to swap things around for testing, powerdown your modem/router and wait several minutes before unplugging anything that disconnects it from the line eg. it's cable, the filter, master faceplate etc. Don't do this more than 5 times in an hour, and then leave it alone for the rest of the day. This is to help prevent the exchange DLM from thinking you have an intermittent line problem.

Re: Bad technical support

doconline — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:47:56 GMT

Quote from: Anotherone
Speedtester Results
Download speedachieved during the test was - 2625 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :3776 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 3000 Kbps

Based on the information you've just posted perhaps in addition to the BT speedtester, you could do the following -
First please check your phone line - can you hear/have you heard any crackling or other intermittent noise on the line? Dial a 1 to get rid of the dial tone. If you need more time before the NUT (number unobtainable tone) dial the quiet line test 17070 option 2. (Don't use any ringback or other test). Who is your Telephone Line Rental provider?

No crackling etc. BT is the provider

What Modem/Router are you using? Do you know to access your Modem/Router ADSL line stats?
If you can post both Downstream and Upstream - Sync/connection speed, Attenuation, NoiseMargin (SNRM) and Power.
Try here - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php - if you need guidance for many Modem/Routers.

Rate (Kbps): 3776 448
SNR Margin (dB): 15.6 25.0
Attenuation (dB): 47.0 29.0
Output Power (dBm): 12.1 18.9

Login to https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed and advise the information information in the top box (delete the last 4 digits of your phone number if present, but ensure the exchange name is posted)

Telephone number:
02920******
Phone exchange:
CARDIFF EMPIRE
Estimated line speed:
3.0 - Checked on 2009-02-24 01:41:08
Current line speed:
3000

Finally could you give an Outline description of your installation -
1) Do you have an NTE5 Master LineBox (the type with the removeable lower front plate) and which logo it has on it.?
yes, BT logo on it
2) Whether you have any fixed extension wiring and sockets & how many, and roughly how the cables go from one to another;
2 other sockets, nothin gis plugged into them
3) What filters do you have and where is the Modem/Router plugged in?
dLink filter, Modem plugged into filter in main socket
4) Do you have a corded phone, do you have a cordless phone - if so what type - DECT or Analogue?
corded
5) Is any other POTS (plain old telephone service) equipment (Faxes, Answer phones, Sky boxes or Alarms systems etc) plugged in/connected.
No other euipment.
One final tip: When you need to swap things around for testing, powerdown your modem/router and wait several minutes before unplugging anything that disconnects it from the line eg. it's cable, the filter, master faceplate etc. Don't do this more than 5 times in an hour, and then leave it alone for the rest of the day. This is to help prevent the exchange DLM from thinking you have an intermittent line problem.

[Moderator's note by Jim (Oldjim) tags fixed ]

Re: Bad technical support

jelv — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:36:04 GMT

It doesn't look as if you've ever been getting the speeds you should. If you pop your attenuation in to http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php you will see that you should currently be syncing at around 5500. It also suggests that 7000 on O2/Be might be rather optimistic. Note that if there's something preventing you getting the correct speeds now it's almost certain that speeds on O2/Be would be similarly affected.
As you have other extensions (even though there is nothing plugged in to them), can you plug the filter and router in to the test socket inside the master socket and post the router stats again. This will disconnect the wiring to the extensions which is a not uncommon reason for slower speeds.

Re: Bad technical support

doconline — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:55:50 GMT

I will look at this tomorrow. I am not sure how the extensions are going to have anything to do with it, as I haven't had a problem for the past year, it is only in the since last sunday that the service has become extremely slow, so why would that change with something in my property, when nothing has changed?

Re: Bad technical support

doconline — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:18:13 GMT

Also, just as a side note, I am still waiting on a reply to support ticket 31021472, this was escalated yesterday lunchtime apparently (again) and still no one has answered it. Hence my asking for a MAC key.

Re: Bad technical support

Anotherone — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:30:50 GMT

As jelv has already said your line ought to be capable of syncing at a much higher speed giving you throughputs of around 5M and because it looks as though your target SNRM has gone to 15dB this will result in a slower sync speed and hence lower profile.
Your sync speed with the exchange is not controlled by PN nor is it affected by their network. This is solely down to your equipment and wiring, the line to the exchange and BTw's exchange equipment.
Wiring as well as equipment can deteriorate, but it is also possible if your wiring is not upto the right standard, that interference can affect your connection, you may have suffered some recently which may have suddenly pushed up your Target SNRM.
For example, did you have any lightning recently around the time you noticed this problem start?
It is also possible that your line to the exchange may have developed a fault.
When you gently remove the faceplate from your Master Linebox to reveal the test socket, have a look at the wiring on the back of that faceplate. It is possible you may see 3 or 4 wires connected. In a broadband situation, you only want the Blue-white & White-blue wires connected to terminals 2 & 5. Any Orange wires on 3 & 4 should be removed by pulling them vertically out of the IDC terminal.
You should similarly do the same at the extension sockets, and whilst you are looking at them check that there is no yellow "sausage shaped" Capacitor on the back of either extension.
I agree with jelv, I think the Be/O2 estimates are on the optimistic side. Also your exchange is due to be 21CN broadband enabled at the end of March next year, so you would be able to get similar speeds with the appropriate PN package.
Update us with the stats from the test socket and the situation with the wiring., and further advice should be possible.

Re: Bad technical support

doconline — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:01:34 GMT

Thanks for your help guys, but I've got my MAC code now and have confirmed my order with BE so I will try there service out. Not sure whether I will get there 7mb service or not, but hopefully the service will be quicker than PN is in the evening.
Thanks,
Paul

Re: Bad technical support

gswindale — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:08:59 GMT

If I remember rightly, BE still uses the same physical line from the exchange to your home, so there is a possibility that by abandoning the fault finding exercise here, you'll retain the problems once you move supplier.

Re: Bad technical support

Mand — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:09:19 GMT

We'll be sorry to see you go Paul.
As Geoff says if the problem is with the line or exchange it's likely to remain when you move.

Re: Bad technical support

doconline — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:45:40 GMT

Well I got moved and the service is a lot better, I am now getting a 5meg connection, and can happily use iPlayer et al again, and I am only paying £6.75 per month for a year contract.