Constant short broadband outages

[#1]

Hi,

I have been experiencing intermittent broadband outages that only last a few minutes but are becoming increasingly troublesome.

I was able to get an engineer to test the line a little while ago who did state that he could see that they have been occurring but not outside of normal parameters.

However, he suggested I contact Plusnet if they continue, and they are still happening. Could someone have another look as it is now interrupting important meetings and I feel that if it keeps happening there must be something wrong somewhere?

Any advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

[#2]

First step is to check the line for audible noise. Dial 17070 option 2. The line should be dead quiet.

[#3]

Many thanks for the prompt response. Unfortunately, we never use the landline and have no phone with which to test.

[#4]

You can short circuit a good deal of diagnostic messing around by obtaining one through purchase (less than £10) or borrowing one. Checking for a dial tone / clear line is a fundamental self help test.

Beyond that you’ll need to wait for a staff member to perform a line test to see if that identifies any issues. A clear test there does not though assure that there is nothing wrong.

[#5]

Buy one as suggested.

[#6]

Thanks for the responses. However, on this occasion I am not going to waste money on an item I will never use, especially as I have been told by an engineer that there have been drops, I am still experiencing drops and therefore I know there is a fault somewhere.

I will wait for an engineer to test the line once more as advised.

[#7]

A phone hand set is never a waste. But that’s your choice. Bowing out of here, for staff to pick up when available.

[#8]

Thanks a lot for getting in touch @PabloBruno

I'm sorry to hear that you've been having internet connection problems, though on our side at least, things are looking okay. 

I'll pop both a GEA test, and visual radius below which shows the line looks fairly stable, so I'm assuming the problems you're having are with the wireless connection within the property. Do you have any devices wired up to the router that are also disconnecting? Is the light on your router changing colour when it disconnects? 

If not, there are a few settings that I can fiddle with on your router from my end, which might improve your wireless service. Changing these will drop the connection for a brief moment though, so I'll need the go ahead from yourself before doing it.  

KBD

GEA Test Detail
Circuit ID	NA	Service ID

Test Outcome	Pass
Test Outcome Code	GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_0000
Description	GEA service test completed and no fault found .
Main Fault Location	OK
Sync Status	In Sync
Downstream Speed	54.0 Mbps
Upstream Speed	11.0 Mbps
Appointment Required	N
Fault Report Advised	N
NTE Power Status	PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result	Pass
Radio Frequency Ingress	Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise	Not Detected
Cross Talk	Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	682.3
Upstream Rate Assessment	Reasonable
Downstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Interference Pattern	Not Detected
Service Impact	No Impact Observed
Home Wiring Problem	Not Detected
Downstream Policing Discard Rate	0.0
Customer Traffic Level	Upstream and Downstream traffic detected
Technology	VDSL
Current 15Min Bin Retrains	0
Last 15Min Bin Retrains	0
DP Type	External
Profile Name	0.128M-80M Downstream 4dB, Retransmission High - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2022-03-29T10:30:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	56.4 Mbps	57.5 Mbps	57.3 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	10.9 Mbps	11.1 Mbps	11.1 Mbps
Up Time	859.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	899.9 Sec
Retrains	0.0	1.0	0.0

Radius

[#9]

Hi adam945,

Many thanks for responding. I only have a PC wired via ethernet cable to the router and the router is flashing red/orange when there is no broadband. Hence, I don't think there is any need for any setting changes, thank you.

As per your results, the broadband is 99.5% stable. But are these intermittent outages normal? They seem to be happening more frequently, and annoyingly during important online meetings. I only ask you to double check as this happened in Jan 2021 and after the faults became more frequent the whole line went down and we were without service for about 10 days; I think after a major BT fault had to be resolved. Obviously, I don't want this to happen again. So can you confirm that these drops are within norms and do you have any explanation as to why they may be happening please?

Kind regards.

[#10]

---

@PabloBruno wrote:

Hi adam945,

Many thanks for responding. I only have a PC wired via ethernet cable to the router and the router is flashing red/orange when there is no broadband. Hence, I don't think there is any need for any setting changes, thank you.

---

The above suggests that there may be a fault with the Hub. I assume you mean the blue light turns orange and you get a red 'B' symbol?

[#11]

Hi there,

Appreciate that any drops are annoying and I'm really sorry if they're happening while you're in a meeting.

Our suppliers would generally say that 3 drops within 24 hours or 6 drops within 72 hours is normal.

As line tests aren't showing any issues ^ I can't say what's causing those occasional drops I'm afraid. 

If you can provide your router stats from the Advanced Settings tab of your router's settings at http://192.168.1.254 this may shed some light into why your broadband's dropping. 

[#12]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from ADSL Broadband to Fibre

[#13]

Thank you everyone for all your responses and advice.

I will keep an eye on the problem and hopefully the drops will lessen.

[#14]

It would be an idea to solve the problem, rather than live in hope. The page @Gandalf requested from your Hub would be a start - if you really want help in solving the issue.

[#15]

Something is amiss here - the user reports frequent drops (the router flashes orange) but Plusnet's connection history report (VR plot) shows no drops over extensive periods - 11 days - and then only a couple of odd drops.

Can there be a doubt that a drop in sync will give rise to a drop in the PPP session and thereby no correlating events on the Plusnet visual radius plot?  I suspect not.