Many disconnections, line still up?

[#1]

Hi Jojo,
The filter i'm using now is a plusnet supplied filter, fresh out it's packet on friday (as i was using the filtered faceplate previously).
My results this morning (after a weekend of test socket and no other equipment connected) are:
Download speedachieved during the test was - 304 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 50-500 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :544 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 350 Kbps
It's the fact that it drops out without the modem knowing about it that confuses me, If an engineer came, he'd have to be testing at the exact moment one of these blips occurs otherwise he'd assume there's no problem. Like last time.
Currently my router is showing uptime of 23 hours, yet it disconnected me at least twice again last night.
Anyway, thanks for your help

[#2]

HI Stewthecue,
That's strange then, we can only wait and see what the engineer makes of it.
Jojo

[#3]

well, the engineer tested my line, after swapping the socket and faceplate with new ones, and it's syncing at 2.3 and has stayed synced at that speed since he left.
That's a good sign, but my ip profile according to the bt speedcheck is still 350.
Are you guys able to get that reset? or is it not a simple as that?

[#4]

Hi Stew,
The profile's uplifted back to 2000 as of yesterday morning, have you noticed the speed improve at all?

[#5]

Interesting, the bt speedchecker was still reporting that my profile was 350 as of 11pm last night.
I haven't checked today though, I'll have to look again when i get home. But the line was synced at 2304 ever since the engineer left and previously it would have dropped over the course of the day, so that's a good sign.
But no, my speeds were the same due to the profile it would seem. Do i need to reset my router? or will it improve automatically?

[#6]

I don't get how the engineer can't find anything wrong with the line, and how while he's there it syncs at 2.3Mb, but then a few hours after he leaves it's back down to syncing at 500k.
Has anybody from PN had any joy looking into this for me? I was told someone would get back to me last friday, but have not yet heard anything. I'm not sure I can cope another week with dial up speeds...

[#7]

Bueller?
I don't want to have to beg, but i'll do it....

[#8]

Hi there,
I can see you've had a message from one of our faults team today and another engineer visit is due to be booked shortly. I hope that sorts things out for you, and sorry the issue is still continuing.

[#9]

Thanks. 
I hope so, it doesn't seem like there's any real reason for it. It was coping fine up until a couple of months ago, and has gotten progressively worse since then.
With no faults on the line and no errors coming through (according to the engineer) what's left?
Thanks for the response though, feeling a little less frustrated now.

[#10]

Alright, seriously now... What's changed?
3 Engineer visits and no results. Everyone says my line is fine, so what gives?
I've not changed anything, and i had working 1.3Mbish broadband until beginning of June, and have seen speeds of up to 2Mb now suddenly it can only hold sync at 512k.
What would cause such a change with an error free line and working equipment? I know it's a long way from the exchange, but it was fine at the beginning of the year. 
I've also been on these forums alot since beginning of June, and have noticed more and more people having similar problems. Any chance the problem is on Plusnet's side of the exchange?

[#11]

Plusnet's side can affect the throughput speeds you encounter, but can't affect your sync speed at all. That speed is down to the negotiation process between your modem and the DSLAM, which can be limited by the DLM Monitoring.
The biggest thing that can cause a drop in speeds is the introduction of interference, or noise, making it hard (or impossible) for the modem and exchange to "hear" each other. This can come from changes in the wire itself - perhaps water, corrosion, or wind has affected a connection - or from something outside the cable transmitting noise into your signal. This could be a motor with worn rings, fluorescent lights, heaters, christmas lights, almost anything.
The vast majority of your phone line is subject to all manner of external influence on it's path to the exchange, and these can change at any time. The wear imposed by the environment - especially wind, frost and rain - has plenty of impact over time. Yet quite often, the impact is from some change we make, inadvertently, to our own home. A new phone, or a new PSU perhaps, or something from the central heating.

[#12]

Well a modem reset will see it syncing at 2.3ish, but then over the course of a few hours it gets forced back down to 512.
Nothing new in my house in the last couple of months.
Thinking back, It all started at the beginning of may. I noticed i was only getting 250k so i restarted my router, and on restart was informed that my connection had been restricted due to a failed payment. ( which didn't actually fail. )
Hasn't been right since then, thinking about it.

[#13]

Oh yeah, and surely if it was having a hard time receiving a signal, it wouldn't hold 2.3 sync at all? Specially not long enough for an engineer to check the line, find zero errors and tell me it looks like its all fixed.
Thanks for your response, by the way.

[#14]

It depends on how intermittent the problem is, and (usually) what time of day the sync occurs...
Whenever the modem negotiates a speed, it takes into account the current noise levels (plus a margin), and uses an appropriate speed. From this simple statement, you can see there are 2 things that can affect the chosen speed: the noise level at the time of the synchronisation, and the "margin". Both of these things are variable...
a) If your line appears to be unstable (frequent disconnections, or high error levels), the exchange can increase the margin - and can keep it high for weeks after the noise problem occurred.
b) If an intermittent problem causes noise on the line, it can both cause a disconnection *and* cause the subsequent re-synchronisation to result in a lower speed. The speed will be restored immediately if a manual resync is done when the interference is not present.
c) Noise levels change from daytime to nightime anyway (just like AM radio signals), and is one reason for the "margin" value. A sync done in daytime is likely to be a higher speed, but more susceptible to noise overnight. A sync done in the nighttime is likely to be slower speed, and less susceptible to noise throughout the full 24 hour period.
The kind of difference you are seeing - 2Mb down to 250k - is more likely to be caused by a real problem, rather than just the difference between day & night. That problem only has to stay around for a few minutes - long enough to cause the disconnection and to drastically affect the resync negotiation. After that, it can stay away for days - which makes it very hard for an engineer to trace - or re-occur every few hours. If it happens enough, it will also cause your modem to use higher "margin" values, and trigger even slower speeds!
It looks like the right thing is happening - getting BT engineers to look at the issue. But it also seems to be one of those tricky ones to pin down.

[#15]

@ Stew have you tried routerstats http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm this is a very handy app for checking things like noise on the line and disconnections. You might be able to tie in the drop outs to something going on in your house randomly or find that there is constant noise interference.
Maybe worth a try although it isn't the end of the story so the BT visit is still best for a problem as frequent as you are suffering. My issue with BT is that in instances like this they won't spend too much time dealing with it and they have a very low threshold of what's acceptable. If you have adsl and no noise on the phone receiver as far as they're concerned your good.