Broadband slow and dropping connection!

[#1]

Hi,

Still waiting for plusnet support on this one.

Erratic speed issues still happening, 1.5mb down, 0.75 mb up at the moment!

[#2]

Have you actually raised a fault with Plus Net?

[#3]

I have just logged it again.

As I think I've mentioned before, the phone waits are too long, I've tried several times but given up after 30 mins! In the past I've been able to get through via this forum, but that doesn't seem to be working now (the line checks done further up the thread are done too long after I've reported a bad period and it is an erratic problem!).

Its been a while since I last reported the fault though, so I've just done so again. To be honest, I forget how to find the fault form, its quite obscure and at the end of the troubleshooting tool, which is at the end of the list of help articles - I know I should be more patient, but it is frustrating, and plusnet support should really be monitoring this forum.

Anyway, clearly that's not the case, and though I've raised faults in the past (and sometimes the issue has been resolved for a few months until performance seems to degrade again), I've raised another one.

To be honest, given the time of day I seem to get the issue, I suspect its contention, but even then, dropping to <1mb for periods and being between 1mb and 3mb for long times isn't an acceptable level.

Anyway, thanks for the (polite) help and the reminder to go through the fault reporting process again, though as I've said, I would have hoped that all support channels led to the same outcome!

[#4]

Sorry to hear that. I can see the fault you've raised online had reported a fault through to our suppliers and they couldn't find a problem with your service. Would you be able to try a wired connection?

This will help us narrow down where the issue lies.

[#5]

I will, it'll take a few days to organise as none of the devices have an RJ45 connector. There is a Netgear Orbi mesh with the base station connected to the router via cable, but there is the wifi connection between the device and that which can be a factor.

In terms of diagnosis (this time around), other than the wired cable, all other troubleshooting steps have been followed, including removing all but one device from the network, trying different routers, using different sockets, etc, etc.

We've had this issue in the past and gone through the wired connection and eliminated that as a cause, also the inside of the house has been recabled by openreach and we've also replaced routers (and hence the orbi mesh network), and then the problem has been found and fixed outside of the property. (Openreach engineers have said there is problem between the house and the cabinet - I assume that problem hasn't been fixed yet!)

Hence my reluctance to go back through that whole diagnosis process, especially since we've incurred so much expense to eliminate everything inside the property only to have the problem resolved (temporarily) externally.

But, if that's the only want to prove the issue I'll make arrangements to see if we can get a wired connection. Also, because of the intermittent issue it will also need to wait for the situation where the problem is occurring, and I'm present (other family members report issues to me regularly) and I have the kit to hand.

[#6]

Hi @rsd 

OK - Plus Net  have asked you to test using a wired ethernet connection between your main router and a single device such as lap top or desktop computer. For such a test to be of any value you need to test randomly  for a period of a few days and while testing.  all the other network devices you mention would need to be switched off - no other wired or wifi newtworks of any kind  at all, should be in operation or connected to the router by wire or wifi  connection. This is the only reliable way that I know of to prove there is a fault beyond your property negatively influencing your internet conenction.   I hope this has been explained  to you.

Also, I would recommend that you use Plus Net's supplied router to do the testing - if you have one, or at least get their approval to test with an alternative router.

If you don't have a lap top or desktop computer then you will need to aquire one . There is no 100% method to prove that a wifi connection is reliable. 

You mention internal wiring in the house which perhaps implies extention phone points. Do you have extentions and are they are in use? 

Do you have a master socket with a removable front faceplate, with a test socket behind it? If so when you remove the faceplate does this disconnect all other phone outlets in the house? While speed testing all other wiring in the house needs to disconnected regardless of who installed it or when.

You'll have been asked to plug the router into the master socket test point via a dongly filter as this is the only place a reliable speed test can be conducted.

Good luck with your testing and let us know the results!

[#7]

Some answers:

- No, I don't have a plusnet router. When I signed up an Openreach engineer came to check (and replace) the wiring. He said that the routers weren't up to much good, that I should use my own and didn't leave anything with me! I continued to use my homehub5 for a bit, but since replaced it with other router(s).

- No phones connected. There is simply a cable from the master socket to the router, this was installed by the Openreach engineer and tested when he did the install. It as during that test that he told me there was a problem between the house and the cabinet, but that all the wiring inside was testing fine.

I was assured that the problems in the external cabling were resolved.

A year or so later we had pretty much the same problem as we're having now. At that time I went through extensive testing as you've outlined below. All it proved was what we suspected, that the problem was not inside the house. After much wrangling with PlusNet, email exchanges, etc, etc, something got done to fix the problem and I received apologies for all the disruption!

Now, about another year later, the line has once again degraded.

You can maybe see why I am reluctant to once again through an exhaustive internal testing regime to prove that once again everything is fine internally when all previous indications are that there's some problem outside the property and one that can be resolved by PlusNet/Openreach in the same way as they have done before.

And also, why I really want PlusNet support to respond to all this - they have the records from the previous incident and so probably have a head start.

So, I will try the wired connection, but I'm not going to go through an elaborate and exhaustive testing regime when this has all been done before and proven that there is indeed something wring outside the property. But, to answer the question, because of all the problems we've had, the internal wiring is dreadfully simply and no active extensions.

[#8]

Just a thought: what length is the DSL cable between the master socket and the router? Is it an original cable? Who supplied it ? Ordinary phone cable which would be terminated in RJ 11 connections are NOT always of sufficiently good quality. Ideally the DSL cables need to be twisted pair , especially if longer than 3 or 4 m. You can use Cat  5 e cable with RJ 11 plugs on both ends , or if you've a filtered faceplate on the master socket that end can be an RJ45 plug. 

[#9]

Now, that could be it... its about 10m.

It was installed by the Openreach engineer when they came to diagnose the problem originally. While they were here I asked them to recable, replace all the sockets and test it all to be sure that the internal wiring could be eliminated from future issues.

It runs from the master socket (ground floor) to the middle floor so that the wifi router then would cover the house. Since then I've put the Obri mesh network in place to improve coverage, so no reason why I can't move the router to the master socket now, that would eliminate that as a cause. It will also mean that it will be possible in the future to remove that one extension cable!

I'd be surprised if its the cause as this is a recurring problem that traces back to when faults were found on the outside line (and have been fixed when I've logged faults previously), but it'll be an easy change to make and eliminate it... I may need another repeater to get full coverage again, but that can come later.

Thanks for the useful suggestion, I'll try it and see how things are over the next week

[#10]

That didn't work - the master socket, i.e. what I assume is the master socket as that is where the line comes into the house is not connected. When I remove the socket it looks like the engineer has crimped the incoming wires onto the extension that runs about 10 - 12m and no live wires look to be connected to the socket (not even dialling tone on phone).

So, the only connection I have in the house is the one socket, with an internal cable of 10-12m to where the line enters the house.

This is as installed by Openreach and tested after they installed it.

[#11]

A further update, I've managed to get a cable connection working. I bought a USB to RJ45 dongle today and I'm able to get a cabled connection. At the moment I'm getting 33-34mbps download on both wifi and cable - i.e. same performance. If I can catch it when it slows down to <1mbps I'll run the same test on the cable connection.

Since it turns out that I only have the one working/connected socket in the house, then I guess I can meet the terms of the test... as for all other devices disconnected, that also is easy as I can just pull the cable between the Orbi wifi network and the router. Does that cover all the bases for the tests I need to do?

[#12]

How very strange,  and what a mess it sounds!

But it probably  explains your problem. At least it needs fixing . You need a "qualified" and knowledgeable OR  / DSL engineer to come and redo the lot!  You need to get rid of that 10m of improper extention ( and I wonder if  the twerp connected the 3rd  bell wire as well, if so that would impact on speeds )

@Gandalf , can you expedite this for @rsd : And @rsd, any chance you can photograh the mess OR have left you with?

Fom the DP the cable needs to feed directly into a corectly installed, new  NTE5C Master socket with Mk 4 filtered faceplate

 https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Replacing-NTE5C-faceplates/td-p/1517214

No need for  extention cabling in the property 

[#13]

How has your speed been since you've had a wired connection?

If you can send us a photo of your setup this should also help too.

[#14]

I'm using the wifi connection.... there seems little diagnostic use in the wired connection as a good connection there doesn't prove much.... yesterday I was getting equally good speed (35mbps) on both wired and wifi - I tested on both 3 or 4 times during the course of the evening.

The problem is intermittent, it can be fine for a few days then slow down/be unreliable for a bit, so having good wired speed doesn't prove much if there is also decent wifi speed. I'm planning on waiting until we have a bad patch again and then running speed tests on both connections to see if there's a difference if that makes sense.

So, I'll use the wifi by default until I encounter a bad patch.

Photos of wiring in the next post...

[#15]

Here's the socket where the line comes into the house.

Bottom right is the line coming in, bottom centre is the extension added by the Openreach engineer