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Abysmal Speed Drops

NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Abysmal Speed Drops

It is clear to me that I've been with plusnet for too long because I have become accustomed to regular drops in speed. I've never had fast speeds, I'm used to getting a little over 1Mbps. My speed holds at a little over 1Mbps for a few weeks and then drops. It stays dropped for days and then suddenly comes back. A couple of weeks ago my speed dropped to about 0.7Mbps, then it dropped to about 0.5Mbps and last week it dropped to under 0.3Mbps and stayed there. This doesn't feel like broadband anymore. What is going on?
I've conducted the required tests and the results are below.
Link Information

Uptime: 1 day, 17:03:59
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 719 / 384
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 124.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.5 / 0.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 43.0 / 68.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 7.0 / 12.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 32 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 70 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 20 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 20 / 1,973
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 9 / 954
BT Speed Test:
Download Speed: 0.3 Mbps
Upload Speed: 0.57 Mbps (2x faster than my download speed?)
Ping Latency: 40.88
Performance test attached ...
23 REPLIES 23
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Are you actually a very long distance from your telephone exchange, as your line attenuation suggests?
Also, what model of router do you have?
NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

About 4km as the crow flies.
NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Sorry, type of router is Thomson TG585v7
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Can you hear any noise on your telephone line? It's possible your line has developed some kind of fault.
The ADSL stats you posted show the speed is low and the SNR margin is high, but don't really indicate why that's happened. It sounds like the Dynamic Line Management has repeatedly increased the target SNR margin, which would have caused each successive speed drop. The DLM would do this if it thought the line was unstable, but the DLM can't fix a line fault, all it can do is trade speed for stability.
NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Sometimes the phone is noisy, sometimes it's not. Most of the time there's just the dialing tone and a faint hiss, but that's pretty much normal, isn't it?
BT's remote tests say there's no fault on the line, but that's what they always say. I was forced to quit BT once before at a previous address because they continually denied a fault, in that particular instance there quite obviously was one.
The speed is still in the same place today. Time to change ISP?
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Hi there,
It's definitely dropping connection, not too often but still often enough for me to think it might be the cause of the slowing down:
<img src="http://ccgi.psmith12.plus.com/visradius/generated/image13672391926284.png"/>
Apologies for standard questions you've probably heard before, but is the router in the master socket and do you see the same sync speeds in the test socket behind the master socket front plate?
NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

I'm in the master socket. There's only one phone socket in the house. The only things plugged in are the router and 1 telephone. The dropping connections that you can see are most probably my responses to the slow speed. I have tried unplugging everything and restarting everything a number of times in efforts to speed things up. I realise that the router is meant to be on 24/7 and it is, I usually don't turn it off at all.
NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Just run the tests in the test socket and the results are the same.
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Do you mean the sync speed is the same, or a speedtest is the same? You really need to post the stats whilst in the test socket.
If you have a fault on your line, changing ISPs won't fix that, you'll just take the problem with you.
If you hear/have heard any crackling or other noises on the line when using the phone or have had any problems with incoming or outgoing calls, then you need to report a phone fault. Who are you paying line rental to at present?
There is definitely something wrong, with the low DS sync speed and the fact that the modem/router is reporting an ADSL2+ connection which I wouldn't expect with that slow a speed. Have you tried another filter?
NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

I don't know what a sync speed is, I'm just a guy that's buying internet from people who do. Here's a re-run of the tests in my OP done while plugged into the test socket.

Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 0:13:24
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 715 / 576
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.5 / 0.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 43.0 / 70.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 6.5 / 7.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 12 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 9 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 9 / 2
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 29 / 0
BT Speed Test
Download Speed: 0.29 Mbps
Upload Speed: 0.37
Ping Latency: 48.75

NotSoFast
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎26-04-2013

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

I have also tried with another filter. Line rental from BT.
chrispurvey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 5,369
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎13-07-2012

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Hi there,
Just posting a log of your recent connection....
<img src="http://ccgi.psmith12.plus.com/visradius/generated/image13672510624971.png"/>
I can see after automated testing we established a phone line fault, have you reported this to your phone provider?
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Do you know what type of fault it was Chris? Vis Radius doesn't look quite so bad, anything you can do about the banded speed?
Hi again NotSoFast. OK a few notes of explanation for you then.
The sync speed is the speed you connect to the exchange. This determines a BT IP profile for the line and this is reflected in your Current Line speed (Login required) which doesn't always update quickly.
This determines the maximum speed that data can go on your line.
On 21CN connections (which you are on), because the Current Line speed has to update to match an increase, when you make a resync at a higher speed you won't necessarily see an immediate change in results on a speedtester. This is why your need to look at your sync speeds.
On the Thomson Modem/Router this is called the Bandwidth (Up/Down), in your last posted stats this was 576kbps down, 715kbps up. Your current Downstream (DS) speed is a "Banded" speed which the Exchange DLM (Dynamic Line Management) will have imposed because of the noise/disconnection issues. The DS attenuation has also increased since the previous stats which suggest a bad joint somewhere supported by the fact that the SNRM (Noise Margin) is varying wildly.
If the fault Chris has mentioned has been logged, that will help when you can report a phone fault to BT - but when you do, don't mention the broadband or you will get the run around - just harp on about the noisy crackly line which is intermittent, tell them to log that comment and make sure Openreach are advised it's intermittent!
chrispurvey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 5,369
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎13-07-2012

Re: Abysmal Speed Drops

Quote from: Anotherone
Do you know what type of fault it was Chris? Vis Radius doesn't look quite so bad, anything you can do about the banded speed?

It doesn't state what type of fault, we could only perform a SNR reset which I'm a little reluctant to do until the fault is fixed.