Am I being taken for a ride??

[#1]

I took out a contract last week and after being connected it only took 2 hours for the phone line to go dead.
When they eventually connected my broadband it worked very slowly for a couple of hours, then stopped altogether.
"don't worry, I was told, you cant get  broadband because of your landine, we will get you an engineer out, after which you should get they full 17mbps as you live right around the corner from the exchange"... a week later and hours on the phone the engineer turns up, tells me everything is sorted and that my broadband will be very fast as I live near the exchange.... the phone line got fixed but the broadband was almost inexistent. i contacted plusnet and heard the usual song "try this, try that, it will speed up in the next 2 days, blah blah", the reality is yesterday afternoon I had 1.7mbps, in the evening it went down to 1mbps and now its 0.2mbps..
As I paid for 17 and was promised 17mbps does this amount to breach of contract?

[#2]

Was the 17mb promised in the contract or up to 17mb?
Sometimes living close to the exchange don't always give you the best speed. It all depends on the line quality
Maybe you can post some stats from your router to see if we can spot anything obvious

[#3]

Hi
Although they advertise "up to 17mbps" I was promised (in an email which I keep safe) that I would get the full 17mbps.
I contacted them again since my previous post and they admitted to me that my signal was being restricted at the exchange. Shocking.
You would have thought the engineer that came out a few days ago would have checked that. So they told me they will reset the line and I should be OK. Guess what? Nope I have been documenting independent speed tests from a variety of sources and my speed is varying from 0.5 to 2mbps....way off the 17mbps promised and nowhere "up to" the 17mbps.... I am furious.
I am sorry but I do not know how to take readings from the router...

[#4]

Which router do you have? Are you testing via wireless or a wired connection? More details about how to log into the router and get the stats can be found here.

[#5]

Hello there mleo5880. I would recommend testing your speed via a wired connection, check your speed estimate at http://dslchecker.bt.com, follow the steps in our broadband troubleshooter at http://faults.plus.net and if you need to, complete it to raise a fault to our faults team for further investigation.
If you are experiencing wireless speed issues, here's a handy guide that could help:
http://www.plus.net/help/broadband/getting-the-best-wifi-signal/
Hope this helps

[#6]

@mleo5880
From your OP, it's obvious you've had a problem with the line for some reason. This may well have resulted in you getting a slow sync speed which will prevent you getting the speeds you were promised until resolved.
If you do what was suggested in reply #1 and post your DSL stats. If it's the 2704n, login and copy paste the Helpdesk page in a post but redact lines 2, 20, 21 & 26.
The other important thing to check is that your line is now ok. Can you hear any noise when using the phone, having any problems with incoming or outgoing calls? Do the Quiet Line Test 17070 option 2 if need be.

[#7]

@ anoush  -- thanks for your help already done all this with no joy raised a fault 3 days ago got no answer at all from the fault team
@ anothertone thank you for your response, telephone line is ok they sent an engineer out just  a few days ago who told me all was fine @ my end, sorry i havent yet figured out how to get router readings....
@ mustrum thanks for trying to help --- i tested both wired connection and wireless with the same results. I am currently getting 0.5-1.5mbps with frequent drop outs. I only have a main telephone socket, 1 telephone, 1 plusnet router and 1 laptop connected to it, i live literally around the corner fom the exchange as well...
I contacted them every day for the last 3 days and all they tell me is "check back tomorrow"... what a joke
at one point they told me i was receiving 19mbps!??!? confused. so i emailed them photos of my independent speed tests at different times with different pieces of equipment all showing speeds of 0.5-1.5/2 max

[#8]

1 - Product name: Plusnet Router
3 - Firmware version: 7.275.2_F2704N_Plusnet
4 - Board version: F@ST2704N
5 - Mode ADSL
6 - Uptime: 1 days 23:28:07
7 - Data rate: 1197/19258
8 - Maximum data rate: 1151/20280
9 - Noise margin: 8.8/6.1
10 - Line attenuation: 7.1/12.5
12 - Data sent/received: 97.8M/591.6M
22 - Wi-Fi connections: Enable(802.11 b/g/n(up to 144 Mb/s))20 MHz WPS enabled
23 - Wi-Fi security: WPA2
24 - Wi-Fi channel: Automatic (Smart Wireless)
25 - Firewall: Default
27 - Software variant Version 1.0
28 - Boot loader: 7.275.2

[#9]

Hi mleo5888, well done for posting those stats. They are showing your most recent session has been up for 2 days and the sync speeds being achieved should give a Downstream BT IP Profile of 16.98Mbps which will probably be shown as 17.0Mbps - strange - right on the money.
If you run the BTw Performance test (DON'T REBOOT, ignore the red preamble except make sure no other programs are using the Internet) and at the end of the first run, click the Further Diagnostics button, enter just your Phone number and Run the Further Diagnostics Test. That should confirm the profile.
Do a Copy and Paste of the results and post here (no need to grab an image).
Now there is a thing called Current Line speed (Login required) which should match the BT IP Profile, although it's usually rounded down to an exact 100kbps so it might say 16.9Mbps. Don't post your phone number btw.
Let's see what that lot gives. BUT, if you have a decent quality copper phone line, you ought to be able to do a bit better, so there may be things to look at, possibly extension wiring?
Do you have a Master Socket similar to the one on the left?
Do you have any extension phone sockets - hard wired or plug in, and what is normally plugged in where? Do you use any extension leads between the phone socket and filter or filter and modem/router?
Do all your Microfilters look similar to this?

[#10]

Quote from: Anotherone

If you run the BTw Performance test (DON'T REBOOT, ignore the red preamble except make sure no other programs are using the Internet) and at the end of the first run, click the Further Diagnostics button, enter just your Phone number and Run the Further Diagnostics Test. That should confirm the profile.

The profile and sync match when we've tested the line. No errors to speak of either.

Quote from: Anotherone

Now there is a thing called Current Line speed (Login required) which should match the BT IP Profile, although it's usually rounded down to an exact 100kbps so it might say 16.9Mbps.

That's exactly what it's at.
The line had been previously banded due to an issue on the phone line but that has since been resolved and banding removed.

Quote from: mleo5880

I am currently getting 0.5-1.5mbps with frequent drop outs.

Your line hasn't disconnected for  2 Days, 1:7:54 (on going) at the time of writing, so I'm a bit confused to the dropouts you're seeing.

[#11]

As you've implied Chris, it could now all be historical. Let's hope mleo5880 is now finding things OK. The line having been banded will no doubt have been a cause of the previous issues. I hope they will post back and tell us if all is OK or otherwise.

[#12]

@Anothertone  --  thank you for your help I really do appreaciate it and hope you can sort this out ---- I have confidence in you!
here are the results you requested
1. Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
Download  Speed
3.05 Mbps

0 Mbps 21 Mbps
Max Achievable Speed
Download speed achieved during the test was - 3.05 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4 Mbps-21 Mbps.
IP Profile for your line is - 16.99 Mbps
2. Upstream Test:  -provides background information.
Upload Speed
1 Mbps

0 Mbps 0.83 Mbps
Max Achievable Speed
Upload speed achieved during the test was - 1 Mbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps
I have a double master socket/faceplate and no micro filter at all.
@ Chris "Your line hasn't disconnected for  2 Days, 1:7:54 (on going) at the time of writing, so I'm a bit confused to the drop outs you're seeing"
I switch my laptop off (only me using equipment) every night before going to bed so how can the internet be running through the night?
Also this week for example my laptop was switched off all day until 430pm when I return from work, with no one else at home during the day, so how can the internet be on?

[#13]

Estimated line speed:
17Mb (This may vary between 10Mb and 19.5Mb) - Checked on 2016-03-08 10:18:37
Current line speed:
16.9 Mb
this is the details for my postcode as well 

[#14]

Quote

I switch my laptop off (only me using equipment) every night before going to bed so how can the internet be running through the night? Also this week for example my laptop was switched off all day until 430pm when I return from work, with no one else at home during the day, so how can the internet be on?

Although you're turning your turning your laptop off, it's the router that makes and holds the connection.
Could you try testing using an ethernet cable again, making sure that your wifi on the laptop is turned off?

[#15]

that test was done using an ehternet cable straight into my laptop..
on my laptop the symobol showing the connection often drops and the message comes up "plusnet h89fcp no internet access" this lasts for approx 4-5 seconds then reconnects....during this time, if i click on the reception symbol it shows plusnet connection full strenght excellent signal.....
it has dropped already twice since 5pm this evening