Continuous disconnections again

[#1]

Hi, after months of excellent service, since last night we are getting continous disconnections again, have opened a fault this am by phone. Have had this issue before but no definate conclusion has ever been found. Connection is permanately in test socket as recommended by Joanne at Plusnet earlier in year, filter is new and working, router is latest thompson v8 supplied earlier in year. If someone could look in to this, would be appreciated.
Posting this via my phone as cannot get a broadband connection long enough to complete posting.
Thanks
Steve

[#2]

Hi,
I have just managed to post here between disconnections which have been continuos all day, here is the current router stats:
Uptime: 0 days, 0:15:49
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 888 / 21,536
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 888 / 19,715
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/MB]: 500.00 / 2.19
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 20.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 5.0 / 10.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 14.0 / 6.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 26,803,819 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 27,459,169 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 2,057 / 81
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 87 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 584 / 0
I did note earlier that the bandwidth was down to 13000 and the SN Margin was at 15. There were numerous connections/disconnections where the bandwidth was shown as zero.
Thanks
Steve

[#3]

Check the SNR immediately after it reconnects - what is it?
In theory, BT's automated DLM should try raising the target noise margin in 3dB increments to get stability.
How frequently is it disconnecting?

[#4]

Hi,
Router stats from the latest connection:
Uptime: 0 days, 0:53:20
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 668 / 16,404
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 648 / 9,080
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 90.00 / 584.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 9.5 / 20.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 5.0 / 11.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 2.0 / 16.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 28,704,334 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 29,359,684 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 5,679 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 409 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 927 / 0
Most of today it was disconnecting every few minutes lost track of how many times, interspersed with the odd 40 -50 min connection.
Thanks
Steve

[#5]

I suggest raising a dropping connection fault at http://faults.plus.net. That will take you through a number of equipment checks then submit the fault to Plusnet for detailed investigation.
David

[#6]

Hi,
I opened a fault with Plusnet yesterday, ironically the connection has been up now for 15hrs but at 9000 half our normal bandwidth of 18000,  all through the high winds last night!
Here's todays router stats:

Uptime: 0 days, 15:35:22
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 784 / 20,964
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 648 / 9,080
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 26.16 / 297.76
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 9.5 / 20.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 5.0 / 11.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 13.0 / 24.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 28,704,334 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 29,359,684 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 36,518 / 43
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 1,031 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 3,202 / 0
Steve

[#7]

Hi there,
It's likely that the reduced speed has stabilised the connection, don't worry though that doesn't mean we won't investigate the fault. We'll get you some more information on the ticket as soon as we can.

[#8]

Thanks Matt,
Had a call from Plusnet this afternoon, the line was looking more stable with the speed up to normal again but unfortunately started getting disconnections again early evening and now the speed has dropped down again but has stabilised for now. Apparently the line tests showed no obvious faults.
I was amazed we had 162 drops in 72 hours, that has to be the worst we have experienced in nearly 4 years with Plusnet.
We keep monitoring it.
Steve

[#9]

Hi Steve,
Considering the number of drops I'm surprised the profile hasn't dropped further than 13000 (that's on both our side and BTs) though our faults team will be back with an update for you soon. Does seem to have stabilised again for the moment, it does seem like very strange behaviour for the line.

[#10]

Hi Matt,
Yes it has stabilised again at half our normal average speed. Over the years we have been with Plusnet we seem to have this issue every year, we have months of good fast service, then suddenly for no apparent reason we get a period like this of disconnections (admittedly not usually as bad as 162 in 72 hrs) and the speed drops, we report all the usual: nothing has changed our end, we are plugged in to the test socket all the time, we put in a new filter, we still only have one phone plugged in to the filter nothing on any extensions, Plusnet sends out a new router, but none of this makes any difference, then suddenly for no reason it all goes back to normal and we have months of speeds of around 18000-19000 and up times of days & weeks. The only pattern I can see is it usually occurs in the winter months but not always with bad weather. Geographically we are very close to the exchange a few minutes walk away at the end of the road, although I appreciate the cabling could be taking a much longer route!
We do wonder if a different router to the Thompson would improve things, I know some on here don't rate it, but for free I shouldn't complain and when things are OK it seems to perform perfectly fine.
Thanks for your help
Steve

[#11]

annapp,
The best thing I can advise at the moment is to keep an eye on things over the weekend as the connection has been up for just over 24 hours now after about 5 days of disconnections (as per the graph below).
We'll happily jump on this again if it continues to drop. But in the meantime if you are able to, it might be worth testing out an alternate router.
<img src="http://ccgi.psmith12.plus.com/visradius/generated/image1323942014506.png" />

[#12]

Hi Adam,
Thanks for replying. OK we'll keep an eye on it over the weekend. Currently at Bandwidth 664 / 8,596 with SN Margin 15.5 / 26.5 which is significantly lower bandwidth/higher noise than usual, should we reboot the the router or just leave it alone for now?
Currently we do not have another router to try, we would have to buy one, not something we were thinking of doing this side of xmas but if there is a good chance it could improve stability we could look in to it.
Steve