Broadband connectivity problems - though laptop says access local and internet

[#1]

Please advise us on what we should do next?
My 87 year old mother in Slough, has yet more plusnet connectivity problems, starting yesterday after almost 4 weeks of happiness, since the last troubles! It coincided with my husband's and my (Jo's daughter) visit - neither our laptop nor our two gizmos would log in - and it possibly coincided with a phone call my mum was taking as we arrived. Anyway the whole lot went pear shaped and her laptop would not come back, all afternoon, and not after our departure. Restarts and resets and all the usual troubleshooting by my computer analyst husband. I can see that she has had 0 usage today. She has had no response to details added to the last question raised.
She has recently had two visits from BT engineers, most recently on 5th January.
Trying to find relevant info on the questions pages I have found this:

Quote

**internal** NSC CU on kBD didnt run. was fine on WLR3. 3-131950755007 'Bandwidth usage has been reset Customer survey available Engineer found that snr profile was set at 3db causing router firmware to have issues. Snr reset to 6db and customer log in details reset in router'

and after more troubles and another threat of £50 visit on 05/01 you wrote:

Quote

I have completed testing on your line today which has shown that the connection is still dropping frequently. No specific fault has been found but I can see that the SNR margin on the line is very low for your line length. The SNR helps the line to remain stable and unaffected by noise or interference on the line. The higher the setting for SNR, the higher the level of noise can be tolerated and the more stable the connection can remain.A low SNR is acceptable for shorter lines whilst longer lines require a higher SNR. I have placed an order with our suppliers to increase the SNR which should help to stabilise the connection. This will take effect over the next 24-72 hours. Please monitor the connection over the next few days and should there be any recurring issue please get back to us. [Removed]

There were not recurring issues until yesterday.
My mother, able as she is to use Skype, email etc. is not able to troubleshoot issues on the phone or online. If it is possible that it is our extra laptops and gizmos that are causing the connection to drop (it also used to drop the connection often when she was on the landline, but that seems to have changed) why does it not come back as soon as we are off the line? She has a Thomson router, and she does not have fibre optic. We have also had visits since the 5th January when the connection has not gone with our gizmos connected.
We try to persuade her that her problems would go away if she paid the extra for fibre optic, but apparently the engineer who called on the 5th said it could not be guaranteed, and she feels that her usage is so low it's not worth the cost.
I think she is on the brink of leaving plusnet – though finds the £30 cessation charge deeply insulting when she has had such poor service and so many days without connectivity. She has not been offered a new router or it suggested that was required - do you think that might help?
Thank you for all helpful suggestions - she gets so upset with these issues and thinks it is all her fault...
PS When it would not log in yesterday before we left her laptop said it was logged in, excellent level, and accessing local and internet – but this was not the case.
mav:csa

[#2]

I dont know what is wrong but " customer log in details reset in router'" is what springs out at me.
The picture you show suggests the laptop is connected to the router BUT the router is not connecting  ( I may be wrong just a hunch)
Instead of trying your gear I suggest you keep them off and concentrate on trying to connect her laptop.
When in the state in your picture what lights show on the router?  (which model of router does she have?)
Based on my first sentence some detail may need re entering on the router. Someone will be able to help when we know what router it is.
She may also have a booklet  "welcome to plusnet" or " Lets get connected" that you get with anew router.

[#3]

Hi @joshasprobs
Mind sending me a PM with the username for the account please? I'd like to be able to have a read through the history before commenting further.

[#4]

Thanks for replies. Still no connection. Router is an elderly Thomson supplied by Plusnet. Mum says lights are all flashing on, except ethernet, router plugged in test socket. Laptop intermittently says connected local and internet , but it lies. Husband did try re-logging on to the router on Sunday before we left, but to no avail. Mum also has a Belkin router slightly more recent than the Thomson - I think she could manage to swop them over if that might help? Last engineer who called put it back on the Thomson.
Logging into the router is not something we could talk her through very easily. But that wasn't the problem before.

[#5]

Did you send a PM to Adam  he can look at it from PN end.
You would maybe have to talk her through the logging on for the Belkin.  Ask her if the label on the bottom of the thomsons says technicolor TG582n   

[#6]

Yes, I did PM Adam, but have heard no more. Neither have plusnet replied in the now 80 hours since the ticket 119228172 was raised.
The router is not a technicolor TG582n, it is 585v8.
Will fibre optic sort this once and for all? She's going frantic not being able to Skype my sister in France, and now not able to use neighbours' wifi this weekend.
Talking her through logging on the Belkin might be possible over the phone, if she would need to. We did try the Belkin router once before but the same problem arose.
Thanks for interest

[#7]

I wonder, given the situation here, whether getting a new Plusnet router would make sense.  They're not brilliant routers in terms of programmable functions, but it would have the advantage of ruling out router problems and also means it's a Plusnet supported router so not issue on settings etc.  If they'll ship one out just for the cost of postage it could be worthwhile even if it ends up being kept as a spare once everything's sorted.

[#8]

If the problem is on the line between house and cabinet FTTC fibre may not sort it out.  Can she get fibre?
The setup information for the 585 is here
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/hardware/thomson-585-setup-guide.shtml
Maybe that would help talk it through.
Perhaps you can find  similar for the Belkin but perhaps not geared towards plusnet.

[#9]

Thanks for replies - my saintly husband is heading back to Slough tomorrow to try logging in to the router once again. What fun. We tried to get a new router out of plusnet when this all happened on Boxing Day - but were told that they would not send mum a free router because people had abused the system and left plusnet as soon as they got a new router! Absurd reasoning, imho.
Shame the system doesn't work the other way round - the problems we've had trying to get any sort of refund for all the days she's had no connectivity at all - and we had to pay for a 30 minute call the BT engineer made to my husband from her landline to his mobile to find out how to log in to her router... because the BT guy's brief did not go beyond testing the line? He would have left an old lady with no connection if she hadn't pleaded with him to call my husband. Plusnet just doesn't seem equipped to assist elderly users - mum is 87 - or are my expectations unrealistic? Could they not phone her, perhaps?
If we go for fibre optic, and it doesn't sort the problem, Plusnet will have to reimburse / end the two year contract, won't they?
Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

[#10]

Hi,
Apologies for the delayed response.
I've tested the connection and it looks like it is a case of the username being incorrect in the router.
Unfortunately as the router is not one we provided on the account, we can't push the login details down remotely.

[#11]

Hi just wondering if you got this sorted out?

[#12]

We're seeing a connection from the account now, so it appears so.