cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Connection keeps halting for several seconds

thesheep
Grafter
Posts: 57
Registered: ‎14-06-2008

Connection keeps halting for several seconds

Last month or so I've noticed that my BB connection often hangs for several seconds when I request a web page, or try to listen to internet radio, etc.
So I may click a web link, and the browser waits for maybe 15 or 20 seconds before it starts to download the page. Then the same for the next link, etc. Then it goes fast for a while again, and everything is OK. Then it hangs again. Etc.
It's getting really quite annoying. For example listening to internet radio the stream will often drop out for a couple of seconds, pick up again, drop again, etc.
Now I expect this to happen sometimes but it's happening a lot.
Speed test (not the BT one) reveals that peak download speed is fine. But the speed test itself takes an age to complete - far, far longer than it should.
I was going to raise a support request for this but I'm pretty sure it would be pointless. And after my previous three months of pain on a PN BB fault I don't have the stomach for it.
6 REPLIES 6
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Connection keeps halting for several seconds

Have you worked out if it is a DNS problem or not?
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
thesheep
Grafter
Posts: 57
Registered: ‎14-06-2008

Re: Connection keeps halting for several seconds

Well my modem/router is set to get DNS servers automatically from my ISP... I guess I could manually put in the PN ones and see if that helps, although I haven't changed these settings for over a year so I'm not sure why it would make a difference?
My computer itself is set to look at the router's IP address for DNS. I assume that's how it should be... I'm not supposed to put PN DNS directly in my computer am I? Maybe I am. Will try that. Afterall, I have re-installed the OS recently.
godsell4
Rising Star
Posts: 3,366
Thanks: 15
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Connection keeps halting for several seconds

I would guess your line is being subjected to short periods of noise ... can you run routerstats on a PC to log what your SNR looks like over a few days and of course especially at times when you experience this problem.
--
3Mb FTTC
https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Connection keeps halting for several seconds

Hi there,
Setting your computers DNS records as ours certainly isn't a bad idea.  It'll also override those which your router picks up.
thesheep
Grafter
Posts: 57
Registered: ‎14-06-2008

Re: Connection keeps halting for several seconds

OK I set my router's DNS servers specifically to the PN ones, but it doesn't seem to have helped.
This morning it has been particularly bad, rendering the internet basically unusable just now (between 9:20 and 9:40am).
What I noticed was this:
When my browser requested a page, the page would start to download and then hang. You might see the top part of the page, or just blank. It would hang for maybe 3 minutes or more.
However, sometimes if I stopped the page load, and then started it again, it would load up really quick. Then the next page would hang again, etc.
Why are internet connections so frustrating?!!!
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Connection keeps halting for several seconds

I've also noticed a lot of pregnant pauses again recently on page loading - also I suspect there may be some DNS problems again resulting in a 404 error, but that might have been a one off. Don't know if any of this is Gateway related, currently on pte-ag1.