Connection stability

[#1]

For the past 7 months (before I joined plusnet) I've had reliability issues with broadband. Having completed the troubleshooting process an engineer came out. Identified a fault on the line and said he would change the line at the cabinet. For the next two or three weeks the service was reliable, since then it has become very unreliable again. 

The problem is that the line randomly drops and even when it comes back up the service is unusable. The service can run for one to four weeks without any problems, then it becomes unstable for one to several weeks, during these periods the service is available intermittently and we are generally relying on 4g mobile data.

Here are current state from my router, which is clocking up cc errors at the rate of 100,000+ per hour, the SNR doesn't look too good either.

• IPv4
•   /  
• DSL

Line State:	up
Modulation:	ITU G.992.5(ADSL2PLUS)
Annex Mode:	ANNEX_A
DSL (Sync) Uptime:	0d:1h:56m:56s

	UpLink / DownLink
SNR Margin:	3.2 dB / 0.1 dB
Line Attenuation:	27.1 dB / 51.0 dB
Output Power:	12.3 dbm / 0.0 dbm
Data Rate:	450 kbps / 6655 kbps
ES:	5 / 4165
SES:	0 / 4112
UAS:	99 / 99
FEC:	246 / 0
CRC: CRC: 9 / 257068

[#2]

Thanks for getting in touch @PNcommuser

I'm sorry to hear that you're having issues with your connection.

It's certainly intermittent as shown below

In addition our tests aren't showing any obvious issues but we can see there's quite a few errors on the line.

So we can investigate this further can you raise a fault here and post back once you've done so.

This will allow us to get your fault picked up and escalated to the relevant team.

[#3]

Thanks for your reply. I have opened the broadband trouble shooter as requested.

The disconnections are annoying, but the real problem is the unavailability when the line is up this can last for hours at a time. Here are the current stats....

Line State:	up
Modulation:	ITU G.992.5(ADSL2PLUS)
Annex Mode:	ANNEX_A
DSL (Sync) Uptime:	0d:0h:13m:28s

	UpLink / DownLink
SNR Margin:	1.0 dB / 0.8 dB
Line Attenuation:	26.8 dB / 51.0 dB
Output Power:	9.3 dbm / 0.0 dbm
Data Rate:	442 kbps / 6655 kbps
ES:	0 / 517
SES:	0 / 490
UAS:	100 / 100
FEC:	986 / 0
CRC:	0 / 29539

[#4]

Thanks for getting back to us.

From what I can see you've started raising the fault but you haven't finished raising it yet?

We'll need you to fully raise it before we can investigate further

[#5]

Has anyone noticed that the SNR is a tad on the low side!!!!!!

[#6]

Ok, I've completed the broadband troubleshooter. Still no Internet. ..current stats:


Internet

IPv4
/
DSL
Line State: up
Modulation: ITU G.992.5(ADSL2PLUS)
Annex Mode: ANNEX_A
DSL (Sync) Uptime: 0d:3h:2m:34s
UpLink / DownLink
SNR Margin: 7.1 dB / 0.0 dB
Line Attenuation: 27.2 dB / 51.0 dB
Output Power: 12.3 dbm / 0.0 dbm
Data Rate: 473 kbps / 6655 kbps
ES: 0 / 5001
SES: 0 / 4876
UAS: 77 / 77
FEC: 165 / 0
CRC: 0 / 301095

[#7]

Hi @PNcommuser

Thanks for the update. 

I can see the ticket has been amended to progress further with this. 

Can you give us a shout when you have replied? 

Thanks, 

MoR

[#8]

Which router is being used here? Is there any possibility that settings have been adjusted to give low SNRM in an attempt to gain more speed?

[#9]

The router at the time of reporting was D-Link DSL-3782. I'm not aware of any settings that can be set manually to try to boost speed. I have used 4 different routers this year with numerous new cables, filters, etc...This morning I connected the plusnet router and the service is running normally - sounds like it's cured, but it probably isn't! I will monitor it and see what happens. Normally after some kind of reset it will perform well for a week or two and then deteriorate.

Openreach did identify a line fault when engineer came out last month.

[#10]

The DS SNRM figures were just far too low. I would have expected the link to drop and then reconnect at 6dB UNLESS some over riding router configuration setting is forcing it to not establish a connect with a sensible SNRM.

The Plusnet routers do not have the option of doing this, which might be why the connection is now stable.

[#11]

Thanks for the reply.

This is from the plusnet analysis when I reported this issue, which suggests the link is dropping.

16 drops in last 24 hours
32 drops in last 72 hours 

This problem has been going on for about 7 months and in the past 4 months I have used 4 different routers with 2 different isps. After a week or two of stability the problem has always returned.  Perhaps the Plusnet router will be the cure, although I'm pretty sure I've tried it before.

I found this thread which has some useful tips:

https://community.plus.net/t5/Library/Broadband-Faults-Guide-Frequent-Disconnection-Fault-DCN/ba-p/1...

[#12]

Openreach did identify a line fault when engineer came out last month.

I would suggest that there could be other faults not found / not fixed - please do ensure that you follow through on the current fault report.

Can you please post the stats from the "new" router.  They might provide some insight as to what is happening - your (apparent?) stability might be at the expense of speed!

[#13]

Unfortunately this router doesn't have that level of detail. What there is shows speed to be as it should be, which is the same for all routers when 'working normally'. Ps. I have monitored previous dlink router with similar snr to that below for upto a couple of weeks then it starts to go haywire - snr dropping down to -1 and CRC errors about 2000 per minute.

Uptime:	0 days 17:00:19
7 - Data rate:	1164/6655
8 - Maximum data rate:	1172/10252
9 - Noise margin:	6.1/10.4
10 - Line attenuation:	22.6/42.0

[#14]

That SNRM pints to something requiring attention. I hope that completing the fault report leads to identifying something which can be fixed.

[#15]

Hi @PNcommuser, I have updated your fault ticket as looks like we will need to progress with another engineer. If you let us know once you have replied, we'll pick it up and get it booked in for you.