Average speed last 2 years is 63% of the min Gov says we have a "right" to expect. Today 4%.

[#1]

Download speed (Mbps) measured by BT Wholesale Test
4/11/15 2.65
9/11/15 0.50
11/11/15 1.36
13/11/15 0.44
13/11/15 0.61

16/11/15 to  22/11/15:  8 readings, 5.11 to 5.75

25/11/15 to 2/3/16: 13 readings, 7.49 to 8.12

24/3/16 to 9/6/16: 6 readings, 6.14 to 7.7

15/6/16 to 28/8/16: 7 readings, 5.26 to 5.91

02/9/16 to 25/2/17: 18 readings, 6.32 to 8.49

11/4/17 5.67
2/5/17 7.35
13/5/17 7.56
18/5/17 8.16
1/6/17 7.81
30/6/17 6.21
24/8/17 6.60
6/9/17 6.33
27/9/17 6.82
15/12/17 3.22
30/5/18 0.35
31/5/18 0.38
Average = 6.3

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has proposed a regulatory Universal Service Obligation (USO) giving everyone in the UK access to speeds of AT LEAST 10 Mbps.

The Plusnet broadband speed tester page says "If you’re a Plusnet Unlimited customer, your connection speed will be ‘up to’ 17Mbps, which for most light to average users is enough. An average of 8.4Mbps or above is enough for ordinary Internet use and will allow you to stream and download as normal."

uswitch tells me there are 8 broadband providers in my area other than Plusnet with average speeds of 10 to 11 Mb.

Correction - 2 duplicate test result lines removed

[#2]

This could possibly be a case of the line being unable to meet expectations. Government proposals and expectations are just that, not obligations for the simple fact that plenty of ADSL lines simply can't hit that speed.

The up to speeds and averages are down to recently changed advertising rules. It used to be that broadband was advertised as up to speeds, with that figure being determined by what at least 10% of customers could get. It recently changed to be an average speed, based on what at least 50% of customers can get at peak time-I believe Plusnet average is 10mb. Of course both are designed to give you an idea but ultimately your speed will depend on your line, not the averages.

First question is what were the estimates provided when you signed up and what is the expectation of the line by putting your phone number in dslchecker.bt.com as that's where your actual speed should be.

From the results you posted I will say the line looked around a steady 6 until your last 2 results. Could just be a niggle but if your speeds have dropped that low there may be an issue underneath.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Post released from Spam Filter.

[#3]

I think there are two separate issues here:

1) your broadband speeds are bad - you should go through the fault checklist, and post full stats here for community opinion on whether it can be improved

2) comparison to other ISPs - since you are using BT ADSL/ADSL2+, all other ISPs that use the same technology (i.e. not TalkTalk or Virgin) will provide just the same speed as you have now, as the only things that would change is who bills you, and possibly the backhaul from the exchange (but with your speeds, that won't make a difference).

[#4]

Sorry to hear that your speeds are poor.

Unfortunately it looks like your speeds are banded due to the drops on your line as shown below.

In addition our tests are showing what's known as a high resistance fault which will most likely be the cause.

Can you go through the steps here and let us know how you get on?

[MatthewWheeler]

Thanks for responding, MatthewWheeler.

Checklist:

Phone dial tone: Present and phone has been working normally.  There is background noise on the line but whether this is out of the ordinary is difficult for me to determine - I have used this phone line successfully in the last few days both from home and calling in from outside.

Modem connections are no different from when I was getting up to 8Mb performance, checked that the plugs are secure and in the right place and communications between the PC and modem are working normally. 

No Wi Fi connections are in use when I run the tests.

The modem connects to the main master socket which was recently updated.  Last yeat BT also replaced all the wiring from the street telegraph pole including to our property.  Tests were repeated with the phone disconnected, no significant change.  No microfilters are in use as this is integral to a modern master socket, and hence you can assume that they have been specified to BT standards.

Today's test - done at a time when I can be sure no-one else is using the network, using a PC connected by Ethernet to the modem/router:

7:50 BT wholesale test
1. Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
    Download  Speed
    0.16 Mbps
     
0 Mbps    0.25 Mbps
Max Achievable Speed

 Download speed achieved during the test was - 0.16 Mbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 0.1 Mbps-0.25 Mbps.
 IP Profile for your line is - 0.25 Mbps

2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.

    Upload Speed
    0.03 Mbps
     
0 Mbps    0.83 Mbps
Max Achievable Speed

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.03Mbps
 Additional Information:
 Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

Router stats:

System Up Time 00:14:03
ADSL Link     Downstream     Upstream
Link Rate     283 Kbps     888 Kbps
Line Attenuation     34.0 dB     18.1 dB
Noise Margin     32.9 dB     13.3 dB

For your information I have a record of a previous BT wholesale test on 15/12/17, which stated that download speed achieved was 8.32Mbps, acceptable range of speeds was 4Mbps - 21 Mbps.

I would surmise that the higher speed test on 15/12/17 represents the line operating normally, with the speed limited by the normal condition of the line and distance from the exchange.  The recent results below 1Mbps therefore most likely relate to your report of a high resistance fault.

I have been with Plusnet since 2006 and am pretty sure that around 8Mbps is the best I have seen on this line, better than the initial speeds in 2006.  The issue is that the connection is performing considerably below this level and with frequent line drops as shown on the plot it can be very disruptive to certain services that we are more and more being forced to interact with online and require us to remain logged in for the duration of an interaction.

[#6]

Thanks for the link kdog, it reported that for WBC ADSL2+, downstream line rate was up to 7 Mbps, downstream range 6 to 8 Mbps, and Annex M upstream rate up to 1Mbps.  This corresponds well with the test results seen when my line is working properly.

[#7]

Cheers for reporting a fault, we'll get back to you on ticket 175656420 as soon as we can. - Adam 

[#8]

Today's modem stats (2/6/18 10:06)

ADSL Link     Downstream     Upstream
Link Rate     283 Kbps     888 Kbps
Line Attenuation     34.0 dB     18.0 dB
Noise Margin     31.8 dB     12.8 dB

For reference:
5/10/2014 Link Rate         6186 Kbps         1181 Kbps
5/10/2014 Line Attenuation     35.0 dB         18.3 dB
5/10/2014 Noise Margin         6.3 to 6.4 dB         5.2 to 6.1 dB

29/11/15 Link Rate         9123 Kbps         1163 Kbps
29/11/15 Line Attenuation     33.5 dB         17.6 dB
29/11/15 Noise Margin         6.0 dB             6.8 dB

Plusnet's support said their test picked up a copper line fault... "we are not your landline provider we have not been able to carry out further tests on this fault. Please can you contact your landline provider and ask them to look into this fault for you..." (I have an engineer booked for Monday).

Wait, wasn't PlusNet acquired by BT in 2007?  And isn't Openreach Limited wholly owned by BT Group plc?

The Shannon–Hartley theorem says that given a certain channel bandwidth, the channel capacity increases with the signal to noise ratio and in an Additive white Gaussian noise model this means you can operate at reduced noise margin with greater bit rates, until the bit error rate gets too high.  So why is the line not operating at a 6dB noise margin as before?  The large noise margin at low link rate implies that the channel bandwidth has not dropped significantly.  This suggests to me that there is impulsive noise interference or intermittent line connectivity.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Post released from Spam Filter.

[#9]

@cjseymour I obviously don't know what your main problem is, but if Plusnet have picked up a copper line fault, that needs to be rectified by your telephone provider (BT) before PN can sort out the resulting broadband fault. Although Plusnet are part of the BT group, that does not mean they are responsible for phone faults if your phoneline is with another provider.

[#10]

Disconnects in modem log:

[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:22:03            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:14:34            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:13:20            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:11:05            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:09:56            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:08:40            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:07:16            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:05:58            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:04:00            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 09:02:05            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 08:59:35            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 08:55:42            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 08:52:41            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 08:48:05            
[Internet disconnected] Sunday, June 03,2018 08:25:05            

ADSL Link     Downstream     Upstream
Link Rate     283 Kbps     1072 Kbps
Line Attenuation     34.0 dB     18.0 dB
Noise Margin     33.0 dB     10.0 dB

 BT Wholesale Broadband Performance Test 3/6/18 at 10:33 after modem reboot

 - with alternate modem-master RJ11 skt lead to ADSL2+ port and new BT phone

Download speed (Mbps): 0.26
Upload speed (Mbps): 0.21
Ping Latency (ms): 39.00 ms

[#11]

I replaced my modem/router with an old ADSL modem/router yesterday.  This morning at 08:05 it reports DownStream Connection Speed 284 kbps, UpStream Connection Speed 986 kbps.

[#12]

From what I can your speeds have now increased?

Did the phone engineer manage to find the cause of the issue?

[#13]

The engineer reported 2 issues: a nicked termination in the phone company junction box and a poor quality line pair.  The line pair was changed over to a different pair.

Modem/router stats immediately after repair (11:50):

ADSL Link     Downstream     Upstream
Link Rate     4384 Kbps     819 Kbps
Line Attenuation     50.0 dB     32.0 dB
Noise Margin     6.8 dB     6.8 dB

However, after 4 hours internet speeds are still very low.  I don't understand why these should be so much worse than the line speed reported by my router.

Modem/router stats and BT Wholesale Broadband Performance Test after restarting the router again, at 15:34:
Link Rate     4267 Kbps     799 Kbps
Line Attenuation     50.0 dB     32.0 dB
Noise Margin     5.9 dB     8.0 dB

BT Wholesale Broadband Performance Test shortly afterwards:
Broadband Speed Test Results
Download speed (Mbps): 0.24
Upload speed (Mbps): 0.15
Ping Latency (ms): 33.13 ms

Furthermore, the next BT test did not load and reported this:
"The Performance Tester is disabled to support TAP3 for your broadband connection.
Please try again shortly, however if this problem persists,
raise the issue with your service provider."

The TAP3 test normally follows the second test and requires the router login to be
changed to speedtest@speedtest_domain.  I had not done this, but after the previous message
then tried it but found the test connection did not appear to resolve the address http://test3.speedtest.btwholesale.com
After returning to the normal Plusnet connection, the message about TAP3 persisted.

[#14]

In my experience the TAP3 error message goes away after 24 hours, it's only supposed to be run once a day.

[#15]

Hi @cjseymour,

I'm sorry to hear that you're still experiencing poor speeds. I've tested your line today and the test is indicating that your line is currently syncing at 4.2mbps, however it's not allowing me to run the full test as the copper line fault is still open with your landline provider.

xDSL Status Check
Circuit ID:	CBUK80187XXX	Service ID:	BBEU0053XXX
Telephone NO.:	NA	Test Executed On:	04-06-2018 18:54:43

xDSL Status Test Summary
Sync Status:		Circuit In Sync
General Information
NTE Status:		NTE Power Status:	PowerOn	Bypass Status:

	Upstream DSL Link Information	Downstream DSL Link Information
Loop Loss:	32.0	49.5
SNR Margin:	9.5	6.6
Errored Seconds:	0	0
HEC Errors:	0
Cell Count:	1013095	13839360
Speed:	603	4227

Maximum Stable Rate (KBPS):	8128	Fault Threshold Rate (KBPS):	6502
Mean Time Between Retrains (Seconds):	6009	Mean Time Between Errors Upstream (Seconds):	758
Indicative Line Quality:	R	Mean Time Between Errors Downstream (Seconds):	13020
Custom Thresholds
MTBR_RED:	MTBE_RED:
MTBR_GREEN:	MTBE_GREEN:

Problem Explanation: [OD01] The Line associated with the provided Service id is currently in Fault.
Resolution/Recommendation: Refer End User to telephony provider to confirm PSTN fault open.

I'd recommend that you run through the troubleshooting checks here. If these don't resolve the problem, please contact your landline provider and ask them to check whether there is still a fault on the landline side. If they confirm that there isn't, please ask them to close down the landline fault and then contact us again so that we can run another full test on this side.