Upgrade threshold breached

[#1]

A few quick checks you can try to see if something is down 1) open a command window
Ping the IP address (if you know it) or if you want to do something a bit more comprehensive regarding DNS -
ping 192.168.1.254
ping 8.8.8.8
nslookup ntp.plus.net
nslookup ntp.plus.net 192.168.1.254
nslookup ntp.plus.net 4.2.2.3
nslookup ntp.plus.net 212.159.6.9
nslookup ntp.plus.net ntp.plus.net
ping ntp.plus.net
ipconfig /flushdns
tracert ntp.plus.net
The results of that lot will depend on what you have set your DNS set at as well as what's up or down but you get the picture I expect.
2) use www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com (if your DNS is working of course) to check a particular site.

[#2]

down to 4.51 this evening:
. Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
Download  Speed
4.51 Mbps

0 Mbps 7.15 Mbps
Max Achievable Speed
Download speedachieved during the test was - 4.51 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 0.6 Mbps-7.15 Mbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :8.13 Mbps(DOWN-STREAM), 0.45 Mbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 7.15 Mbps

[#3]

so, tried to ping 192.168.1.254 as suggested above and got this:

[#4]

192.168.1.254 is likely to be the correct IP address of the "default gateway" if you are using a Plusnet supplied router. If you are using some other router, you'll probably need to replace 192.168.1.254 with the LAN IP address of your router (it's the gateway IP address which you could find from "ipconfig /all") - 192.168.1.1 is common.

[#5]

thank you ejs.  Now that you mention it, I know that.  Don't I feel dumb

[#6]

To be clear, the checks suggested in 1) at reply #45 do assume use of the TG582n (or any other router with a gateway of 192.168.1.254) and as mentioned by ejs if using another router the 192.168.1.254 should be replaced by the gateway address of that router. I'll make a point of mentioning that in future.
Similarly the reason for ntp.plus.net is on the assumption that you are using Plusnet DNS as default. The list of checks was to see what was working when the TG582n proxy DNS server seemed to stop, but of course the principle can be used to check whatever you wish. HTH.

[#7]

yes, I clearly didn't engage brain when following the instructions as I do know this.  In fact, I remember a doubt in my mind trying to catch my attention while running the test, but I ignored it.  Must pay better attention to what I'm doing in future.  My fault completely, I'm afraid
I haven't changed from the PN default DNS, as Tony said it would make running his checks more difficult.  I just raised the DNS question as I stumbled across it somewhere.  Mostly my connection issues correspond with a drop in speed, but occasionally I've noticed web pages taking forever to load, while a speed test shows nothing untoward.

[#8]

well, it's 22:20 on a Saturday night (yes, I know) and my download has dropped to 4.85Mbps, with my ping shooting to 238.  I'm struggling to believe the nation has decided to avoid the pubs in favour of the internet on a Saturday night, so not convinced it's all down to congestion.
Any thoughts?

[#9]

It is following the congestion pattern seen in many other threads on this forum, many times over. Even if you can't get the forum search to yield these examples, try your favourite search engine and you no doubt find threads on BT Forums and elsewhere as well..

[#10]

As an ex-publican let me assure you that people have abandoned the pubs on a Saturday night in favour of the internet.  The Saturday nights that the X-Factor were on were dire.  Completely killed the run up to Christmas.
As for searching this forum see http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,84049.0.html
A TBB BQM is a good indicator of congestion.

[#11]

I know that others have reported issues and I'm not alone.  My point was simply that the timing of some slowdowns don't seem to be when I would imagine everyone would be logging on.  Last night was one example where I should have thought internet usage would not be as great, but maybe I'm wrong.  Last week I noticed in in particular around lunchtime on Saturday, again not what I would have earmarked as a time when everyone was logging on.  I was just raising the possibility that it's something else besides simple congestion; maybe something in the backbone, e.g. maintenance or some such, which might be having an impact.

[#12]

Your definitely on a less congested VP at the moment.
Just to confirm there was no other activities going on when you were running the speedtests?

[#13]

No.  My son may have been playing Minecraft on Xbox One but I don't think he was at the time.

[#14]

Are there possibly any automatic updates going on with the game console or any other traffic related to the gaming if it's connected but not being played at the time. Can your stream TV on the xbox, could that have been happening?

[#15]

we have Netflix on the Xbox but it definitely wasn't on at the time.  I went around and checked and the only thing I could see that was on was Minecraft.  Does that use a lot?