Hi all. Apologies for a lot of words coming up!
I've been experiencing some connection (eg. page loading) issues for some time, on and off. I had previously (c. Nov23) improved things by switching from Plusnet's DNS to Google... possibly when there were errors others were also seeing with this. Now the issue doesn't change regardless of the DNS server.
The problems I'm noticing are with webpages or services loading: sometimes they won't load at all (eg. can't be found) with responses suggesting DNS errors, connection errors, or "can't be reached" (eg. ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT) messages. These had been occasional and usually temporary, but are now full time.
In some "real world" tests, when attempting to visit a range of 10 websites (plus.net, bt.com, ee.co.uk, freeagent.com, apple.com, google.co.uk, bbc.co.uk, etc) some pages will (almost) always fail to load and others will be intermittent, but unusually slow (at least 30-60 seconds to begin loading) -- and often, when a page or service does load, it doesn't complete the process - leaving me with webpages not fully loaded and progress indicators still spinning, perhaps with stylesheets or images missing from the not-fully-loaded page or service. 9Some of these partial loads do finally complete, several minutes later).
Plusnet Support have run tests and listened to everything, resulting in an OpenReach engineer visit this morning. They have found nothing wrong with my line and have excellent, clear & stable test results for everything their end. They have, however, still changed the port/equipment I'm connected to on their network, just in case - and then further tested to show same excellent, clear & stable line and connection.
I usually use my own router, with the PB Hub 2 in Bridge Mode as modem only. In the last couple of days though, to ensure this ain't my fault, I have removed all my own equipment, have factory reset the PN Hub 2 and am connected to it by ethernet cable... exactly the same problems.
I have the same trouble over wifi, whether from PN Hub 2 or my own router and on all equipment - a mac laptop, an android phone, a windows pc and smart TVs etc. The OpenReach engineer also replicated the issue on his own laptop.
OR engineer called PN support to advise no fault on my line or their equipment, but they say they are still seeing connection drops on my broadband, though they agree line test is clear. Does this all suggest there's a problem somewhere the other side of my line, eg. between the exchange and Plusnet? I'm not seeing other posts here, but are other people having any similar issues?
Right now, everything is the worst its been - and has been like that for 24h. Some website, like coop.co.uk, won't load at all. Others, as mention above, have variable and intermittent results. Services like BBC iPlayer, Netflix and ITVx do nothing. I'm also (mostly) unable to update my phone apps via Google Play Store and my smart devices are useless!
OR engineer persuaded PN support to send me a new Hub 2, in case there's something up there - but the tech logs on my existing one show nothing and PN support see nothing either; their tests keep showing them it's an OR broadband line issue... so I'm not hopeful that after waiting a few days for the new Hub 2 to come, things will be any better.
Any thoughts - or especially similar experience tales - very much appreciated. Thanks!
