broadband speed has collapsed

[#1]

over the last few days my broadband speed - wired and wireless - seems to have nosedived, this morning the BT speed checker is showing zero readings for both download and upload. Have tried all the usual things to no avail. I strongly suspect it is due to lots of people working and studying from home, as later last night the speed returned to its usual 2.5-2.8Mbps (yes I know, 6 miles from the exchange). . I'd be grateful if Plusnet would check the line (sorry don't have time to sit in a telephone queue). 

[#2]

@outinthesticks   Plusnet staff support, like the phone service, is still severely restricted. If you would like help from the community, a good starting point is to have a look at This post and supply as much detail from it as possible.

It would also be a good idea to carry out a 'Quiet Line Test' - dial 17070 from a (preferably corded) phone and select option 2 - there should be no discernable noise. If there is, report a phone fault first, as without a clear phone connection, your broadband will not perform correctly.

If you reply to this topic with as much detail as possible, there are plenty of experienced members who can advise on possible remedies.

If you decide to also post on the Twitter/Facebook accounts and get a response from there, please come back here and say so.

[#3]

@outinthesticks 

I assume that you are on ADSL and not fibre?

Are you speed testing with nothing else connected to the internet?

If one of the users is trying to upload, like taking part in a Zoom session, then this will hog all of your bandwidth (and then some) and kill the service to everyone else.

It's not only your terrible download speed that you have to worry about but also the upload speed, which I imagine is in the 100s of KMbps. If you are uploading something intensive whilst trying to download the download 'handshakes' can't get through without massive delays. This is especially true if you have a Plusnet Hub Zero, which suffers from 'buffer bloat'.

It might be worth you moving to another ISP such as BT who have signed up to meeting the Universal Service Obligation, see https://www.bt.com/broadband/USO

[#4]

Thanks - yes ADSL, & speed testing with nothing else connected. I don't see how changing ISP will help as no alternatives to ADSL available in my area currently. I also tried the quiet line test, as recommended by jab1 and that is fine.

[#5]

@outinthesticks Have you checked the post linked to in my reply above? Sight of your router stats might give us a clue.

[#6]

0

[#7]

@outinthesticks I'd edit out identifiable information in that shot. Which router is it please, because it isn't giving all the relevant information.

[#8]

thanks - its a fairly new BT Smart Hub (& thanks will try to edit the screenshot)

[#9]

@outinthesticks 

Interesting.

The system has only been up for 1 hour 25 minutes. Is there a reason for this, did the line drip earlier or had you switched it off?

Even more interesting is that the network had only been up for 6 minutes. I am assuming that this indicates that the line had been synchronised to the exchange but there was no data connection with the Plusnet  servers.

It’s probably time to report a fault at faults.plus.net.

[#10]

OK - should have read the post properly and then I would have known.

Somewhere deeper in there is a screen which will give similar information to the picture below - which is more important.

[#11]

thanks - when I try to access the router now I get this

[#12]

Any improvement, @outinthesticks ?

[#13]

Hi John in the end I rang the help line and a really helpful person established that it was a router authentication problem, now resolved, though the speed is still painfully slow. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

[#14]

OK. It may take a while to reach your dizzy heights of about 3.0Mbps, but report back if you still have problems.