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Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Seemingly at random, my DSL light goes off and then the router reconnects straight away.  This is bloody infuriating.  Especially when the games I play are mainly online and need an internet connection.  I've lost so many rounds and decent drops in the past couple of days it would be laughable if it wasn't so rage inducing.
25 REPLIES 25
catelliott
Grafter
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Registered: ‎05-02-2015

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Hi there Azagoth,
I've changed some settings on your connection, if you could monitor if for the next few days, it should stabilise Smiley
Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Hi Cat,
What changes were made please?
The practice of sharing the nature of changes which leads to fixing problems (I hope its a fix rather than a mask) informs the community as to potential solutions for others having difficulty.

@Azagoth,
For problems like yours, posting the information requested in the speed issues thread (see link below) enables forum members other than PN staff to assist you.
Kevin

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Anotherone
Champion
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Do you have any noise on the phone line Azagoth? Use the Quiet Line Test 17070 option 2 if need be.
Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Whatever you did seems to have stopped the DSL dropouts (at the expense of some speed), but it's made online gaming nigh on impossible.  Now I can't even connect to Dirty Bomb, let alone play it.  And the latency in other games has gone through the roof. 
I've been with Plusnet now for nearly 10 years now, and things have really started to go downhill recently.
Townman
Superuser
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Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Quote from: Townman
For problems like yours, posting the information requested in the speed issues thread (see link below) enables forum members other than PN staff to assist you.

Quote from: Anotherone
Do you have any noise on the phone line Azagoth? Use the Quiet Line Test 17070 option 2 if need be.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

No noise on the line whatsoever.
Anotherone
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

I expect Interleaving was turned on and the Target SNRM was raised
Quote from: catelliott
I've changed some settings on your connection, if you could monitor if for the next few days, it should stabilise

Quote from: Townman
What changes were made please?
The practice of sharing the nature of changes which leads to fixing problems (I hope its a fix rather than a mask) informs the community .........

More to the point is would tell Azagoth why his gaming is now complete rubbish Cheesy
Azagoth, something has obviously been causing the connection to drop. This could be interference, or it could be an intermittent problem with the line. Repeating Quiet Line Tests almost a bit OCD as well as paying close attention to whether you hear any crackles or other noises during phone calls would be a good move in the short term. Have you noticed any problems with incoming calls at all - eg. the phone rings and then stops, but when you pick up the phone, the caller is still there?
Can you also post your Full DSL stats (links in my sig if using either of those modem/routers) and
run the BTw Performance test using a wired connection (DON'T REBOOT, ignore the red preamble except make sure no other programs are using the Internet) and at the end of the first run, click the Further Diagnostics button, enter just your Phone number and Run the Further Diagnostics Test.
Do a Copy and Paste of the results and post here (no need to grab an image).
Could you also check your Current Line speed (Login required) (Don't post your phone number).
Do you have any spare filters at all?  Have you changed anything at your installation recently at all.?
Don't go rushing to change anything at the moment, that might make things worse.
Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

DSL Stats.
--- DSL Information ---
DSL Driver Version:  AnnexA version - A2pB022g.d20e
DSL VPI/VCI:        0/38
DSL Status:          ShowtimeRetrain Reason: 8000
DSL Mode:            ADSL2+
DSL Channel:        FAST
DSL Upstream Rate:  1156 Kbps
DSL Downstream Rate: 9000 Kbps
                      Down        up   
DSL Noise Margin:    8.8 dB      5.8 dB
DSL Attenuation:    34.5 dB      17.4 dB
DSL Transmit Power:  0.0 dBm    12.6 dBm

BT Further Diagnostics.
Download speedachieved during the test was - 7.44 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 2 Mbps-7.15 Mbps.
IP Profile for your line is - 7.94 Mbps
Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.95Mbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

Line speed.

Estimated line speed:
    There's no speed estimate currently held on your account.
Current line speed:
    7.9 Mb

Nothing has changed with my system at all.  The last thing I changed was a new GPU about 6 months ago.
My downstream rate used to be around the 11,000kbps, but I can live with losing a few k if it means a stable connection. 
Azagoth
Grafter
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Now this is starting to get chuffing ridiculous.  Starting from about 06:05 this morning the DSL has constantly dropped and reconnected.  It must've happened at least 10 times in the last 15 minutes alone. 
The connection is unusable.
Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Does your router report error counts?  If yes can you please post them along with the DSL stats.
Synch speed is some 2Mbps slower than the line's attenuation would lead one to expect, but that is probably down to the DS SNRM target being 9dB.
Have you raised a formal fault report for this?  If yes, please post the ticket number here, if not use the fault reporting link below.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Chris
Legend
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Quote from: Anotherone
I expect Interleaving was turned on and the Target SNRM was raised

You expect right, it's a simple way to improve stability and with the speeds still available on the line I certainly wouldn't have expected it to affect gaming that much. (I game on a 7Mb/s ADSL connection with interleaving on.
Quote from: Townman
Have you raised a formal fault report for this?

Unfortunately not. @Azagoth you can do so at https://faults.plus.net
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Anotherone
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Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Quote from: Azagoth
Starting from about 06:05 this morning the DSL has constantly dropped and reconnected.  It must've happened at least 10 times in the last 15 minutes alone.  
The connection is unusable.

Did you do Quiet Line Tests whilst this was going on?
I suggest you ask for Interleaving to be turned off again, that's Off not Auto, that will at least help with your gaming ping/lag.
Quote from: Chris
Quote from: Anotherone
I expect Interleaving was turned on and the Target SNRM was raised

You expect right, it's a simple way to improve stability and with the speeds still available on the line I certainly wouldn't have expected it to affect gaming that much. (I game on a 7Mb/s ADSL connection with interleaving on.

Chris, I suspect a lot will depend on the type of gaming the user is doing, and in any event it hasn't improved the situation here, but don't you think that where a user has Interleaving Off, that they should be consulted before it's turned on, and the ramifications mentioned? From the user's point of view, It's bad enough that the connection is faulty, but then for their experience to be made worse whilst the fault continues, is clearly highly irritating and attracts criticism of Plusnet which could have been avoided.
Also the user should be informed exactly what "adjustments" are made to their connection in any event. Less knowledgable users can always ask Forum Members or CRT what they mean if they aren't understood.
Quote from: Chris
Quote from: Townman
Have you raised a formal fault report for this?

Unfortunately not. @Azagoth you can do so at https://faults.plus.net

The difficulty here is getting the right kind of fault raised. If this is a yet unproven line fault, a broadband fault could end up going round in circles, with no doubt an inexperioenced CSC agent turning Interleaving back on without consulting the user (if it's turned off).  There's at least two other threads I've seen on this forum where that is the case and insufficient pressure has been placed on OR to find and fix the line fault.
Edit:
Quote from: Townman
Does your router report error counts?  If yes can you please post them along with the DSL stats.

Whilst that would be good to know for future reference, probably not as critical right now as Chris has told us Interleaving was indeed turned on so there would be a FEC error/RS Corrected error count.
Chris
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Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.


Quote
don't you think that where a user has Interleaving Off, that they should be consulted before it's turned on, and the ramifications mentioned?

Yes and generally when this kind of tweak of done it's over the phone when the customer calls in so the changes can be discussed.

The line is dropping a lot, in bursts rather than at all times of day.

    Upstream DSL Link Information  Downstream DSL Link Information
  Loop Loss:  17.3  34.5 
  SNR Margin:  6.0  9.1 
  Errored Seconds:  0  0 
  HEC Errors:  0   
  Cell Count:  4876  5247 
  Speed:  1164  9549
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Anotherone
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Constant DSL dropouts for the past few days.

Thanks Chris, this does tend to fully support the intermittent connection theory, especially with the lack of Errored Seconds which is at least a plus point. Does a CLT show anything at all?