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What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

racquel
Grafter
Posts: 181
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎21-11-2008

What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

For the last 3 nights on the Llanidloes 01686 exchange (market 1 - ie, not LLU), it's been impossibly slow - first 2 nights were after 7pm, tonight it pretty much died at 5pm.
Just occasionally it'll work for 5 mins at a time. The router ADSL connection is stable at 4.1Mbs.
The line is loud and clear, no crackles, the connection does not drop. It works fine all day, then just dies in the evening.
3 different speed tests including BTs and Plusnet's either fail or put me at around 71k, yes, 71k download speed.
Neighbours (different ISP) have reported the same, in fact several people in the area are tweeting about slow broadband.
It's been working fine for 3 years, now suddenly this.
I've posted tracerts (see below) of packet drops, I've explained that site are SLOW, not necessarily unreachable.
First reply was "make sure your DNS is set properly" - ?!?
Second day it happened, they said I had to turn my router off for 65 minutes. I did. It didn't help.
Last night I was told to leave it off between midnight and 7am so they could "test my account". This wasn't done.
Apparently, tonight they're going to do it again, but they say there are no problems at the exchange.
I need internet for work in the evening, and I wouldn't mind iPlayer working too.
I have this funny feeling that all this nonsense about "checking my account" suggests someone hasn't really grasped the problem.
I've even posted into the ticket the tweets from other people in the area, and the text from our neighbour asking if our broadband had gone.
Is there anything else I can do to hurry this along a bit? Support used to be pretty darn good, but with 22 minute wait times being the norm now, and first line support seemingly significantly less technically able than when I last needed them a year ago, I hope things aren't going down the tubes...
Example tracerts:
Tracing route to newswww.bbc.net.uk [212.58.244.61]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    60 ms    99 ms    99 ms  BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254]
  2    *      76 ms    *    lo0-central1.ptn-ag03.plus.net [195.166.130.10]
  3    *        *    BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254]  reports: Destination host unreachable.
Tracing route to newswww.bbc.net.uk [212.58.244.61]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    18 ms    99 ms    99 ms  BThomehub.home [192.168.1.254]
  2    22 ms    27 ms    *    lo0-central1.ptn-ag03.plus.net [195.166.130.10]
  3    21 ms    *      21 ms  gi2-8-311.ptn-gw01.plus.net [84.92.2.49]
  4    *      33 ms    23 ms  po4.ptn-gw02.plus.net [212.159.1.139]
  5    34 ms    *      22 ms  po6.thn-gw1.plus.net [212.159.1.136]
  6    *      21 ms    21 ms  po4.thn-gw2.plus.net [212.159.1.135]
  7    *      22 ms    21 ms  rt0.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.25]
  8    22 ms    *        *    212.58.238.133
  9    *        *      21 ms  212.58.239.58
10    23 ms    21 ms    *    212.58.251.44
11    21 ms    21 ms    *    bbc-vip106.telhc.bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.61]
12    *      22 ms    21 ms  bbc-vip106.telhc.bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.61]
36 REPLIES 36
matt_2k34
Grafter
Posts: 1,300
Registered: ‎09-07-2007

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

If there are several people on the same exchange with different ISPs all suffering the same problem, I'd put money on it being a BT Congestion issue.
What this means is that basically people at the exchange are using more capacity than what BT can provide...
Your exchange Status
Whilst thats green, it hasnt been updated since 3rd Oct (and you say its only happening last few days...) It's quite possible BT already know about the problem, unfortunately It does not always allow for a speedy resolution (particularly if there is physical work required to increase the amount of capacity available...)
Quite often its a 'sit and wait' job Sad
Quote
Second day it happened, they said I had to turn my router off for 65 minutes. I did. It didn't help.

65 minutes... Always amazes me where support get these numbers from. 5 minutes should be ample.

Worth noting your "no response" on tracert doesnt necessarily mean that there was a problem, it could be the router is busy (and Cisco routers, in particular 'stop replying' to pings when they're busy doing other tasks (like moving data) Wink keeps the performance of the network up..) Smiley
Theres no current 'service outages' listed for your exchange/area code so it *shouldnt* be an MSO causing the issue...(or misconfiguration after a service outage)...
Unfortunately with all the will in the world all people can do is keep poking BT in your area and hopefully the ISPs will poke BT sufficiently to look into the problem and resolve it.
Regards
racquel
Grafter
Posts: 181
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎21-11-2008

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Quote from: Matt_2k34
Worth noting your "no response" on tracert doesnt necessarily mean that there was a problem, it could be the router is busy

It could be, but I also posted a tracert from one of the 5 minute bursts when it was OK, and there we numbers all the way, no stars.
I also set an infinite ping going to a file and over the course of that 5 minutes, there was 100% response over hundreds of entries.
As soon as my internet died, it looked like the following:
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=62ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=60ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=58ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=58ms TTL=250
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=51ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=71ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=51ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=52ms TTL=250
Request timed out.
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=51ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=71ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=50ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=51ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=50ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=51ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=52ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=53ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=54ms TTL=250
Request timed out.
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=50ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=73ms TTL=250
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=52ms TTL=250
Request timed out.or
Reply from 212.159.9.2: bytes=1024 time=53ms TTL=250
I think my point would be that it shouldn't be up to me to round up neighbours and random people nearby on twitter and get them to all co-ordinate reports, it should be up to me to report a fault and have my ISP pro-actively contact their providers to investigate. I hoped that the fact that I've gone way beyond just saying "my web is slow" (the ticket is pretty huge!) would have speeded things along a bit. But seeing no entry in the ticket after a second night of having my router off so they can "check my account" doesn't fill me with hope.
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Quote from: racquel
it should be up to me to report a fault and have my ISP pro-actively contact their providers to investigate.

That's like expecting your bank to move your savings to the account that pays the most interest!  ISPs are not pro-active.  They might respond if your connection had stopped working completely but you'll need to push to get any action on a tenuous problem like yours.
x47c
Grafter
Posts: 881
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎14-08-2009

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Folowing a major system hicup on the line or at plusnet...........
I have on several occassions turned off my router for 5 minutes and then switched it on again...and found that broadband was STILL non functional.
Turn the router off for more than 20 minutues and switch back on..............and it works again every time.
So I'd guess these sort of experiences are where these figures start to come from - 1 hour seems excessive I'd agree though
Leeheyes
Grafter
Posts: 33
Registered: ‎01-11-2011

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Quote from: ReedRichards

That's like expecting your bank to move your savings to the account that pays the most interest! 

Actually, my bank did on Saturday. I only popped in to change address and they said, "You can earn way more on that"
racquel
Grafter
Posts: 181
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎21-11-2008

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Quote from: ReedRichards
Quote from: racquel
it should be up to me to report a fault and have my ISP pro-actively contact their providers to investigate.

That's like expecting your bank to move your savings to the account that pays the most interest!  ISPs are not pro-active.  

ISP. Internet Service Provider. That's what they should be doing. That's ALL they need to do. Provide internet service. Just because this is a market 1 area doesn't mean there's no competition for business.
The bank analogy is nonsense - if I paid my bank and had a contract for them to manage my money and move it to the account that pays the most interest, I'd expect them to do that.
I pay Plusnet, as an Internet Service Provider, to provide internet service.
Quote from: ReedRichards
They might respond if your connection had stopped working completely but you'll need to push to get any action on a tenuous problem like yours.

"Tenuous"?!? What do you mean by that in this case? My dictionary defines as 1: Very weak or slight 2: Very slight or fine.
I wouldn't describe "My internet almost stops dead at around 7pm every night, I can't even reach plusnet before the page times out, I'm experiencing huge packet loss, the neighbours have the same thing as do several other people in town" as "tenuous".
Seems pretty clear to me.
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Hi racquel,
It sounds very much like it may be a VP issue. Although, to raise this to our suppliers we would need you to raise a fault and conduct a BT speed test at the affected time. Once you've done this let me know and I'll get someone to pick it up.
Jojo Smiley
racquel
Grafter
Posts: 181
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎21-11-2008

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Ah, that's where I was going wrong - I've had thought that over the course of 5 phone calls and 3 tickets with 10 entries of information, that someone might have thought "fault" and raised it as such.
I've just gone and raised a fault referring back to the three tickets. (Let's hope someone actually reads it and doesn't check it during the day and think that everything is fine!)
dick:quote
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Quote from: Joanne
and conduct a BT speed test at the affected time.

Quote from: racquel
3 different speed tests including BTs and Plusnet's either fail or put me at around 71k, yes, 71k download speed.

Can you not see these and send a hot VP query to BT on the basis of them JoJo?
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Hi racquel,
According to a note on your account, when you called on Monday evening you were advised to run BT speedtests and open a fault. When I checked our suppliers systems this morning it's showing that no BT speed tests have been conducted.
Quote from: jelv
Can you not see these and send a hot VP query to BT on the basis of them JoJo?

Our suppliers have changed the way we check VP and it's now done as part of the fault process.
Jojo Smiley
racquel
Grafter
Posts: 181
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎21-11-2008

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Quote from: Joanne
Hi racquel,
According to a note on your account, when you called on Monday evening you were advised to run BT speedtests and open a fault. When I checked our suppliers systems this morning it's showing that no BT speed tests have been conducted.

Well that's just nonsense - I've done AT LEAST 10 over the last 3 days.
I'm using http://speedtester.bt.com/beta/ of course, as the standard one sucks and is heavily limited as I'm sure you know! ("You have attempted a repeat test within 1 hours of the test providing results on your circuit. Please allow a minimum of 1 hours between tests" - pretty pointless!)
And more to the point, when it goes slow, it won't even load the speed test page - which is why I phone rather than update the ticket (unless I'm having a rare 5 minute burst of normal speed).
Would you like me to make screengrabs or a screen video of me running the tests this evening?
UPDATE: Seeing as BT's systems seem to be failing,  I'll attach a couple of screenshots to the ticket from daytime speed tests, then I'll update the ticket with another speed test and log a new slowness fault and paste the speed tester screenshot once an hour during the evening slowness until the fault gets resolved, or the connection error if it times out. Let's see if that gets things moving...
Meantime, I'd report the error with speedtester if I could, but I can't find any contact details on the site. If I've been testing and you're not able to see that, clearly there's a problem. Anyone got any ideas?
And does anyone know of any automated scripts that will run the BT speed test for me every hour for 24 hours and screenshot the results?
I've found a macro script which might work, but I was wondering if there was something more specific.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Quote
I'm using http://speedtester.bt.com/beta/ of course

Sorry but we need the normal BT speedtester as those results can be picked up by our support team and our suppliers. If it continues to misbehave then we'll do what we can to push it through.
[quote=BT Speedtester Beta]BT Wholesale will not accept any line speed faults from Communications Providers based on the output of this Beta Speed Tester.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
racquel
Grafter
Posts: 181
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎21-11-2008

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

Right, sorted. "JitBit macro recorder" seems to do what I need. I'll leave it running doing hourly speed tests and screenshots of the normal BT speedtest from 6PM, and I've posted to twitter and the neighbours telling them to do as many speed tests in the evening as they can when it's slow, providing, of course, they can even reach the site (they'd be lucky!)
lucky7
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎30-10-2011

Re: What do I need to do to prove to support it's not just me with the slowness?

try this out for bt wholesale adsl and fttc speedtest : http://217.35.209.142/ for a more accurate test