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Intermittent Internet Service

iainmacmillan
Grafter
Posts: 105
Registered: ‎09-08-2007

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

sounds like a possible router issue -- have you checked for any firmware upgrades?
when were the filters last replaced/installed?Huh
any neighbours reporting similar issues?
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Thanks for checking Matt.
I am now wondering if the problem is my Router. Currently I am linked up to a Linksys  WAG54G2. Is there anyway of me running any sort of diagnostic check on it?
I am still confused!
Alex Huh
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Right......

At circa 8pm tonight I installed a brand new spanking out of the box router! A Thomson TG585 ( as supplied by madasafish originally ).
Also brand new Filter
Please please please please do not let there be any more dropouts!

I live in hope!
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

I am still having dropouts in service.
The most recent was this morning at approximately 8.50am.
I have installed a brand new router
I have installed a brand new microfilter
My PC is always wired to the router (do not use wirless)
I am plugged into the master socket
Nothing 'electrical' or telephone wise has changed in our household

I am really, really fed up now. I think I have done as much as I can do my end. Is there any checks that can be done at my exchange or actual telephone line to see if there is a problem with my connection at your broadband wholesalers end? Could it be that there is a fault with the broadband wholesalers equiptment?
I appreciate I am a Madasafish customer, but please what is the way forward for me?
Thanks
Alex
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Quote
Is there any checks that can be done at my exchange or actual telephone line to see if there is a problem with my connection at your broadband wholesalers end

Yes, that's part of the process that's kicked off following a fault being raised with us, I can see you did that this morning, so our faults team should be replying to you ASAP with regards to that.
Sorry for the frustrating experience but I'm sure we'll get you sorted.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Can I ask what ASAP in a Plusnet timeframe means. It has been 24 hours since I logged the fault and have not had any update?
I had another dropout this morning.........
My speed before it dropped out was @0.95MB and now it is showing @0.35MB.  I think this is the slowest speed I have ever had on madasafish broadband in the 7/8 years I have belonged.
Please, please, please  what is going on  1. with my dropouts 2. My now abysmal speed
Alex Cry
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Alex, can you post the stats from the TG585 plugged into the master socket please? I've just looked at the ones from your Linksys and if any of them are to be believed you are close to the exchange, low attenuation and huge noise margin, yet the downstream rate is only 153600 when it should be off the clock, something's not right.
I note you say you are plugged into the Master socket, but is there any fixed extension wiring in your house? What happens if you plug into the test socket? If you can post stats from the master socket and then the test socket, that may help.
Reference you last post and the speeds, did you mean MB or should it have been Mb, whichever it's still cr*p, but if that was the BT speedtester it's giving some borked figures for some at the moment. Try the Thinkbroadband one. You are going to find you may get slowish figures at peak times because your exchange VP status is Red (but not that slow), but as already been mentioned that's got nothing to do with your dropping connection (which does have a pattern by the way) or your downstream rate shown on your Linksys stats.
Edit: typo.
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Anotherone, here are my stats from mt TG458. Hmmmm No, We are a long way from the exchange here. Yes there is alot of fixed wiring in the house (newbuild with 7 extn sockets in the house)....but nothing plugged in to any of them. Yes it should read Mbps...yes this is cr*p....but apparently this is beacuse this newbuild estste is so far from the exchange in the next village. I have been using the BT speedtester (beta) to get my results, along with the TBB one....both give very comparable reulsts I have found
What do you make of these stats?
Alex
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Ah, right, things are becoming clearer  Wink
First my mistake for not looking more carefully, your Linksys  WAG54G2 is reporting some of  the figures in the wrong places so I quickly glance at the attenuation and think its 12db (you are living in the exchange) and your speed is 1536000 which I mistake for 15.36Mbps thinking that was Kbps (you wish) anyway wrong number of zero's  Embarrassed and of course the figure was 1.536Mbps, and me saying your speed should be off the clock, it is virtually, the wrong way, whoops.
Which TG did you say  Wink but now be careful anyway, with your drops and no doubt modem/router swapping the target SNRM has gone to 9dB so the sync speed has dropped to 1.312Mbps
So what do I make of the stats, hmm, not good. So we'll see what may be possible to improve things (other than BT putting FTTC into your estate!).
Where's that Thomson plugged in at the moment - Master socket or Test socket and does the  Master socket look like the one on the left at http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/master-socket-guide.shtml or do you have the ADSL plate like the one on the right? If the one on the left, I assume the filter is the one supplied with the modem/router and looks like that in section 2 at http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/microfilters-how-and-why.shtml ?
How long is the lead to the modem router, is it the original supplied and you're not using any extension leads?
Do you know if you've had any dropouts today and possibly how many, and how many resyncs whilst modem/router swapping etc.?
Edit:: to repair brpken links
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Anotherone, I am going crazy over all this  Crazy ......it is a TG585!
I am no techi by a long way and do try to understand all of this.
Lets go back to the beginning........I live on a new build estate which is hooked up via a very long copper wire to the exchange in the next nearest village. I have always had slow speeds and never really had more than1.2Mbps over the past 6 years. It is the same slow speed for everyone on the estate. OK slow speed I have got used to and this is the penance I pay  for living in the countryside and not in a big town/city.
I always use a cable to the router and never use wireless. NOTHING at all had/has changed my end (computer / router / filter / wiring / ) Then a few weeks ago I started to loose service on and off for no apparent reason. I have changed my router/filter as I have told you and still I am having dropouts. Last one was this morning at 8am (ish). I have 3 pc's and when the service drops out none of them can connect to the net (so it is not my pc). I have changed my router/filter (so it is not them).
I cant reiterate enough that nothing at all has changed by end with wiring or any hardware. I am left with one conclusion.....the fault is not at my address? I hope I am not being 'pointy' or too simplistic. I reported the fault to the faults team on Friday morning  after speaking to various customer service agents.....I await them still, to come back to me. Once the dropouts stop I am sure that I will once again hover around the norm speed for the estate of approx 1Mbps.
I can't open the links in your text for some reason.  My master socket is in a stupid loaction....the hallway. We have 3 kids and it is a total no go to have the router located there (little fingers / damage/ button pressing), not to mention it would look unsightly with it there and cables etc! I have located it there on a temp. basis from time to time (and in this case)......and as before have found very very little no difference in DL speed. Recently I have tried my router there again (in the test socket) and the dropouts still continued.
I have only ever used one phone socket in my house which is the study, which is the first room off the hallway where the master socket is. I can turnround now and actually see the master socket - 5m away or so. This socket in my study is the only socket I have ever used in the house over the past 6 years. Modem and home phone have always gone into this socket via a filter. Yes I may be loosing a little bit of speed using the socket in my study (household internal wiring) and not the master/test......but for practicalities the preferred location for the router for the reasons given. But again I have always used this socket in my study and have never sufferered with random dropouts EVER. So I think I have again proven that the fault is not within my house. Of course I  may have mice or rats chewing up cabled in the stud walls.......but I rather doubt it!
I know the standard protocol to first of all look at the customers setup and equiptment.....but I really really feel that there is something wrong outside of my house.....which I have no control over. I am quite prepared to eat humble pie if I am wrong and it is proven me or my setup or equipment is causing the faults. I am open minded, but not an idiot!
Thoughts (and thanks your interest/help)
KR's
Alex Cry


Xenon
Grafter
Posts: 106
Registered: ‎19-04-2012

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Alex I just thought I pop in and say you have my sympathies if you look at my thread it seems we are having the same sort of problem... Im no tech either and it drives me nuts when plus jabber on... Ive been having the same problem for several years... speed drops I report it to plus we got through the same routine , nothing changes on my system. Plus tell me to leave the router switched on ( we've tried three routers now) and voila after a couple of days up goes my speed.... then a few weeks later exactly the same thing.
I get one or two drops a day..the last time I mentioned these I was told thats nothing extraordinary....
I shall watch your thread with interest - it may not be the nicest thing to say but its nice to know youre not the only one suffering these probs Tongue
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Hi Alex,
I can totally sympathise. It's so frustrating when there are intermittent problems, they are the engineer's worst nightmare. You just have to work through everything bit by bit until you find the cause. Note that's not Mb by Mb. Oh sorry for the pun, couldn't help it  Sad Got to inject a little light heartedness now and again otherwise we will go  Crazy
Sorry for the broken links, I've edited the post and repaired them. You don't really need to look in view of your description in the last post.
OK, so you are plugged into the test socket and you've covered all the points to do with that aspect, the problem seems definitely external. You'll possibly be best to leave the setup like that until a BT engineer has been, which Plusnet will hopefully organise.
My suspicion is similar to what you thought in reply #8, that there's a dodgy connection at the Cab (green box) or the DP (distribution point) where the engineers have been working. It won't be a case of deliberate interruption, but as they are poking around and splicing up joints, they may disturb one of yours. Once you have a dodgy joint, it can give trouble at random, but it can also make you more susceptible to other noise, as can the fact that there are more subscribers with connections in the cable, the general background noise increases, so reducing the margins slightly.
All this means that things that didn't give a problem before could now do so. So when you say, but nothing has changed, outwardly nothing may appear to have done so, you may not have mice chewing up your internal wiring or bought any new electric devices etc. but existing equipment of all sorts (not just yours) can generate spikes and noise, it could also degrade producing more than it did previously.
Now, I did say there seemed as though there may be a bit of a pattern, looking at the graph Jojo provided.  Quite a few drops there first thing in the morning, which could be a BT Engineer working at the Cab/DP but that doesn't explain the ones at around 6/8 p.m or 10 p.m. or at the weekend. Sometimes there is one drop, at others a group of 2 or 3.
What else could be happening. People are getting up in the morning, switching on kettles, toasters, cookers, computers etc., central heating comes on. Any of this could happen during the evening.
So what conclusions can one reach from all this. Well, there could have been an odd drop in the past that you may not have noticed, unless you keep your modem/router on 24/7 and you know the sync speed hasn't changed, that aside there is a sudden "appearance" of  drops. So it's more likely to be a dodgy external joint making you more susceptible to spikes of noise, the cure is to remake the joints. But one shouldn't lose sight of the fact that general background noise may have increased, so making sure your own installation is up to scratch will minimise your future risk to such events especially when operating with a more normal setup.
So, one other check you can do whilst your Master socket front plate is off, is look at the wiring connected to the plate feeding the extensions. What colours are the wires and what terminal numbers are they connected to, and how many cables?
Out of curiosity Is the Cab far away from you, can you see it?
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Hi Anotherone
I think I have already mentioned about the new house built/being built on this estate (98 dwellings). I did not make  a note......but thinking back the dropout problem seemed to start at the time that the first few homes were completed and people moved into them. I stands to reason that they would have had phone lines connected up at the same time.......so the theory of 'disturbed wiring' could be a distinct possibility. The CAB is just round the corner, 5 min walk, no I can't see it.......If I could I would note every time I see BT poking around in it (for very obvious reasons).
As for current electrical equipment (and not just mine) causing spikes..........Jeez, where would you start on that one.....could be one of a thousand devices surely!

Is it not weird that I have these clusters' of connections and disconnections though.....on, off, on, off, on, off???
I removed the faceplate....thanks, yet another disconnection :'(........The wiring on the plate is one blue wire to terminal 2 and one blue/white wire to terminal 5. I seem to remember when we bought the house I asked for only the ground floor phone sockets to be made live. So there is a further blue and blue/white wire kicking around behind the plate unconnected, for the upstairs circuit.
Through me pulling the plate off this morning my speed is now showing at @0.5Mbps.  It really make me laugh when you get those on here complaing about their speed dropping form 8Mbps to 5Mbps etc etc, they really do not appreciate how good they have it.
I wonder when I will hear back from the 'faults team'......... Huh
So things do not get confusing I have noted each time I have caused a drop in service by removing master socket faceplate, changing routers, checking wiring etc.
KR's
Alex
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Jojo / Matt / Adam ('The Plusnet gang')
Sorry to be a pain....have you any further insight into what is going on or thoughts on what others have posted on my thread since Friday?
I still have not had any communication from the 'faults team' and am still having dropouts which is reducing my already abysmal speed.
Please help me...... Cry
KR's
Alex
alex7127
Grafter
Posts: 295
Registered: ‎24-05-2011

Re: Intermittent Internet Service

Just had 'faults' send me a message, attaching a print of some stats.....which mean diddly squat to me.
get a new router.....get a new filter.......use the test socket.....I am I am I am. Why does the left hand not talk to the right at Plusnet? All he has to do is read all of my open tickets which all relate to the same fault.
I am totally and completely fed up with all of this. Really really sick to the back teeth. I am so sorry it is not a simple keystroke on a computer to find out what is wrong and rectify the problem. Why cant 'faults' think 'outside of the box'.....instead of going down the router/filter/test socket line......which I have addressed already.
I can't reiterate enough......nothing, nowt, nada has changed my end. Why, why cant it be someones else's fault and not mine or what is inside my house. Why can't a 'ham fisted' BT engineer have disturbed wiring around this estate somewhere or green box or the exchange in connection to the 98 new house that have/are in the process of being built?
I appologise to those that have made suggestions and tried to help me. I really do not mean to be rude or sarcastic......but this is all really getting to me!
Once again I appologise for my tone!
Regards
Alex Cry
PS I attatch a copy of what the faults guy sent me, mean anything to anyone? if so explain to me please!
[Moderator's note by Dick(Strat): CSA name removed from image as per the forum rules.]