Slow broadband - network problem?

[#1]

Hi @ec5778, 

Thanks for replying to the ticket. I've booked an engineer for between 1pm and 6pm on Thursday, the 11th of April 2019.

Let us know if this needs changing and if it goes well. Thanks

[#2]

No sign of any engineers yet... I've been here all afternoon.

[#3]

Hi @ec5778 

I've updated your open fault ticket regarding this - could you please give it a read and they reply accordingly? 

Kind Regards, 

MoR

[#4]

Thanks for your responses.

The engineer did come this time, but unfortunately he wasn't able to work out what the problem was, he said its something to do with Plusnet as his equipment was only showing him the same readings as the routers' sync speed and it wasn't taking into account the actual throughput when trying to use the internet.

I notice that the BT Wholesale speed tester site is consistently giving higher readings than any other speed test or download I try, but browsing still feels quite slow and even the readings from BT Wholesale are slower than they we used to get and show high ping times.

Where do we go from here please - I think we've tried everything this end now:

• different router (Thomspon Tg 585v2)
• test socket
• ethernet
• swapping ADSL faceplate for microfilter

We're occasionally seeing marginally higher speeds (2-5Mbps instead 1-4Mbps) since the engineer came but it still fluctuates a lot and feels sluggish

[#5]

I'm sorry to see that the problems are still ongoing after an engineer visit, I've rejected the clear on the fault and requested further investigation so we'll update you further as soon as we get the next update.

[#6]

After having one OpenReach engineer come round not able to figure out what the problem is, we're now expecting another engineer this afternoon.

Is there anything in particular I can explain to the engineer that might point him in the right direction or encourage him to look at bit harder to work out whats wrong if - as was the case last time - all the self tests that he ran showed everything was fine?

Even the modem reports that it's syncing up at about 9Mbps (the engineer who came last time had some device which showed the sync speed but didn't seem to be able to prove how fast data could be transferred out to the wider internet). He tried to blame the WiFi, but as I've mentioned in earlier posts I have already tried plugging into the router by ethernet and disabling WiFi to rule out any interference and it didn't help.

The problem does seem to be somewhat intermittent in nature as sometimes the browsing the internet feels okish (but speed test are still in 3-5Mbps range except the BT Wholesale one which always reports higher speeds), other times the internet feels really really slow and laggy and speed tests can drop below 2Mbps, worst I got was 0.5Mbps.

Any thoughts that might point the engineer in the right direction this afternoon are welcome!

[#7]

Thanks for getting in touch @ec5778

We've retested your line and we can't see any issues remotely that would be causing this.

Let us know how you get on after the engineers visit

[#8]

The same engineer turned up as last time. He was not impressed to be sent back!

He ran all the same tests on the line and said there's nothing he could do. He said he's only responsible for the actual wires between the property and the exchange and as they appear to be in order the problem must be to do with Plusnet equipment.

Where do we go from here please?

[#9]

Sorry to hear they weren't able to find an issue.

Is it possible for you to carry out a wired speedtest at speedtest.btwholesale.com again?

[#10]

fwiw

---

@MatthewWheeler wrote:
<snipped>

speedtest.btwholesale.com

---

That link - https://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ - no longer works

But this - http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ - does work

(I did flag this a while back but nothing came of it)

[#11]

I have run the test:

 Download speedachieved during the test was - 4.64 Mbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 2 Mbps-7.15 Mbps.
 IP Profile for your line is - 8.02 Mbps

2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.

    Upload Speed
    0.59 Mbps
     
0 Mbps    0.83 Mbps
Max Achievable Speed

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.59Mbps
 Additional Information:
 Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

Still much slower than it should be. This was using an ethernet cable to the router.

[#12]

Hi @ec5778

Thanks for the update.

Based on the capability of your line (which I've checked via dslchecker.bt.com) I'd suggest that the speeds you're experiencing are well within the estimates for your line (as the speed test results confirm).

Just for your reference, the capacity of your line is as follows:

Download: Up to 6.5mb/s - Minimum 2mb/s

Upload: Up to 1mb/s.

When you say that it's much slower than it should be, what are you using as a benchmark?

Best wishes

Dave

[#13]

I'm using the speeds that I've been getting until about 3 weeks ago - which was consistently in the region of 8-9Mbps for the 2+ years we've lived here.

Also, the modem reports a sync speed of >9Mbps so something must be wrong if in practice when we run a speed test it tends to stay less than 3Mbps. Also browsing feels quite sluggish at times, suggesting the latency is too high. It used to be much snappier, and we're experiencing more problems streaming than we ever used to.

In short, we noticed the service appeared to be degraded and it was confirmed by many speed tests we've done since the problem started as compared with several speed tests that were done since we have lived here. Since the first engineer visit things have improved marginally but it's still well below previous performance.

UPDATE

Even that site dslchecker.bt.com shows that the maximum observed rate was 8.9Mbps just two weeks ago 15th April 2019. Interestingly this was already after we started having problems but its much higher than the 6.5Mbps "estimated" - that figure just doesn't make sense unless something has happened that has significantly degraded Plusnet's network or equipment in the exchange.

And at the moment we're not even getting close to 6.5Mbps, more like 3Mbps for actual browsing (BT Wholesale's speedchecker is consistently reporting speeds which are approximately double any other speed checker or download test reports, but strangely it is also reporting far higher ping times than other checkers). I'm sure you'll agree a ping time over 1000ms is way too high

[#14]

Hi @ec5778

I absolutely agree that a ping time of 1000ms is way too high, but that may be an issue with the speed test site, rather than your connection (I've seen this happen from time to time with the BTSpeedtest website) - could you run a wired speed test from another site and let us know the outcome?

In terms of the current/achievable line speed, it is possible that the line may have degraded or changed in some way over the last few weeks which is why the performance range of the line has also changed during that period. Your router reporting sync of 9mb/s is either old data, or incorrect data - your line is not physically capable of those speeds at this point in time.

Although we can re-engage our suppliers to investigate this for you, I would point out that the previous engineers we've sent have been unable to identify any fault on your line and have not undertaken any work that would impact the speed of your service.

Do you have access to another router to ascertain whether the issue relates to your current equipment? Just to confirm, are you still connected to the test socket of your premises?

Best wishes

Dave

[#15]

Hi @RandallFlagg 

Thanks for getting back to me.

Ping to google.com from the command line is taking about 45ms. Interestingly speedtest.net reports very low ping times normally just below 20ms - even over WiFi.

Yesterday I ran a wired speed test using speedtest.net and it came out approximately 4Mbps, but it varies. There doesn't seem to be much difference between wired and wireless. Sometimes the speed test reports 3Mbps or less.

The router clearly shows sync speed of 9Mbps and the engineer who came yesterday confirmed that his equipment also showed syncing up with the exchange at 9.1Mbps so something has clearly gone wrong which has resulted in a degradation of service (both speed and latency)

7 - Data rate:	1167/8988
8 - Maximum data rate:	1184/9064

However - these numbers have been steadily dropping over the past few weeks, it used to be over 10000 i.e. approximately 10Mbps, nevertheless its not reflecting the speeds I'm seeing in actual usage.

As I mentioned in a previous post on this thread I have an old Thompson Tg585 router from my previous ISP. I already tried it and it didn't make any difference but I guess I could try it again? Yes still connected to test socket which is accessed by removing the faceplate.

Thanks