Terrible support for slow broadband problem

[#1]

Many thanks for the prompt reply.

I will check out the links which you suggested.

Here are the current DSL stats:

DSL Connection

Link Information       Uptime: 0 days, 8:30:36 DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.5 Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 440 / 17,017 Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/GB]: 76.62 / 1.10 Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11.5 / 0.0 Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 10.6 / 23.0 SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 32.1 / 6.3 System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ---- Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / IFTN Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 26 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 9 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0 Loss of Link (Remote): - Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 623 / 5 FEC Errors (Up/Down): 13,792 / 209,790 CRC Errors (Up/Down): 170 / 12,767 HEC Errors (Up/Down): 372 / 526,700

The uptime value suggests that connection was last lost around 1am.

[#2]

Looks like I suffered another 5 losses of sync while I was out earlier today:

16/04/2017 10:28:40 0:05:20
16/04/2017 10:40:54 0:01:22
16/04/2017 10:46:10 0:01:31
16/04/2017 11:00:33 0:01:33
16/04/2017 11:02:40 0:02:14

The speed of my connection has been improving over the last few days, but random and intermittent loss of sync is just not acceptable.

[#3]

Have you tried leaving the router connected to the test socket for several days, to see if that reduces the frequency of the disconnections?

A few of the disconnections could have been due to the DLM automatically making adjustments, but without comparing the DSL stats before and after each time, I can't tell which if any were for that reason.

An occasional disconnection is to be expected and would not be considered a fault.

[#4]

Sight of the router stats graphs would be useful please.

[#5]

Everything has settled down again. Connection is fast and stable and PN has refunded me 1 month's broadband charge.

The problem appears to have been entirely at PN's end but they have not provided any explanation for the cause. So, I'm just left wondering how long it will be before I go through exactly same experience again as this was the third such occurrence in the space of 15 months.

Recent postings on this forum suggest that I'm far from being the only person who has had this sort of experience.

Many thanks to all who have provided help or guidance.

[#6]

Is your upstream still capped?

[#7]

No. PN has removed upstream capping.

[#8]

Would advice to just move to another supplier. My plusnet broadband had slowed down to 10mb and sometimes less. This happened in DECEMBER 2016. To this day, it has only gotten worse. Now I get around around 10 - 11mb download. But the biggest problem, is the UPLOAD speed. Which is: 0.00 or 0.01. That is wired or wireless. 4 new routers (which I bought) as plusnet would not supply me one. Unless I sign a new contract with them... Makes a lot of sense. Been waiting since December for them to fix. And they think I'll do such a stupid thing. And make a new contract. 4 bt engineers have been. First one actually, tried to tell plusnet he had fixed my problem. They even charged me £65. Which I later got refunded. Second engineer said that the master socket needed to be changed. He changed the master socket. And said to wait 3 hours, and would all be working again.... Third Engineer came. Wasn't sure what could be the problem. So decided to change the wires outside the house. That go to the master socket. Showed him that it still doesn't work. At least he admitted. That he was unsure why this would happen. Fourth engineer came. Looked and said it cant be anything inside the house. So he went to the exchange. Said he would call back...which he didnt. Then plusnet leave a message saying. openreach have said the line is working fine. So please dont update. And call will close after 14 days.
Calling them like you say is a nightmare. As you have to repeat the whole situation. Tell them that ive already bought 4 different routers. then be told every time to run speedtests. And then they can escalate. As it is a new person everytime. It just becomes a cycle. 
Submitted a claim form to the ADR scheme CISAS. Which deal with complaints against broadband providers. Usually if you are still waiting for, over 2 months. They will be able to get involved. 
Asked them why im still being billed. If they are not providing me the service, they promise. And about being compenstated. But they said they dont offer compenstation. Til the issue is fixed. That is why Im going through the ADR scheme. 
So my advice is to leave. Or report to CISAS. Caused too much stress in my house. When you cant use simple things like whatsapp and viber. Its a pretty pathetic service. Will be writing up my own thread tomorrow.

[#9]

I eventually realised that reporting faults by telephone was always doomed to fail. Instead, you should report faults using the fault-reporting web portal. That way, you have a complete record of who said to whom and on what day. The complete dialogue can be retrieved at any time and It has allowed me in this instance to refer PN back to similar issues that I have experienced over the last eighteen months.

Do not allow PN to fob you off. Insist on an escalation to a more senior person who will then take ongoing responsibility for the problem. That worked for me.

Do your speed tests using Ookla. You can set up an account and it will store your test results which can be downloaded and attached to your replies on the support portal.

Insist that PN compensate you for the poor service. I have had two separate refunds of the broadband charge during my current period of poor broadband speed.

My service is now back to normal (but without any explanation from PN about the original cause) and I will stick with them for now. That said, I fully expect to go through the same issue again at sometime in the future.

[#10]

I spoke too soon. Four DSL drops amounting to around 10 minutes loss of connection in a 30-minute period yesterday morning. I only noticed it because I had left Net Uptime Monitor running. That could have been incredibly disruptive had I been at home and, say, trying to watch catch-up TV.

Reported to PN and waiting for a response.

[#11]

---

@Townman wrote:

Sight of the router stats graphs would be useful please.

---

This problem has some symptoms of electrical interference ... which is why I asked for the graphs please.  As advised before, PN do not drop the connection in the manner described by the BT engineer / as you appear to believe.  Link stability has everything to do with the line quality and absence of local electrical interference. The RS plots with the 582n will shine a lot of light on to what is / is not happening.

[#12]

I have started running RouterStats Lite again and will report back next time I detect a DSL drop - whatever its cause.

Is there any other way to collect these data so that I do not have to leave my PC running 24/7? Have you any experience with the SamKnows Whitebox monitoring system?

Many thanks.

[#13]

You could get a Raspberry Pi and leave that running DSLstats instead of a larger computer.

The SamKnows box does not measure any of the DSL stats that we want, it only runs speedtests and other measurements of the performance of the Internet connection.

[#14]

Thanks for the Raspberry Pi suggestion: got a spare one lying around somewhere. Now, how do I go about installing Windows 10 onto the Pi? Just joking...

Seriously though, is a Pi 1 Model B powerful enough to run Linux with a GUI and Wine and RouterStats Lite on top of that? I'm willing to give it a try, but do not want to waste time attempting the impossible.

Is this feasible?

Many thanks.

[#15]

It can be done- there is a version of DSLStats for the Raspberry Pi  but I am not sure of the technical details. Have a look on the Kitz forum where there is a lot of info about it. Try the Router Monitoring Software Forum.