Does my line need to be reset?

[#1]

Hi all,

I noticed that my broadband was running slowly on Friday 27th January, at only 2.2mbps download (it's usually about 6.5mbps). I checked my phone line and found I had no dial tone, so I reported the fault. All of my neighbours were similarly affected, so BT Openreach spent several days moving the entire cabinet (only about 15 feet) and replacing all of the aluminium wires with copper.

On 1st February, I was told that it was fixed and my broadband should be working. It isn't working, it's actually far worse - it now crawls along at only 0.18mbps download (0.8mbps upload). I've raised this issue with Support but they will only tell me that speeds take 3-5 days to "stabilise". I've had a completely unusable connection for a week now, despite the fault being fixed 3 days ago, and I don't think I'm being unreasonable by expecting to be able to use the service I'm paying for.

Having looked around the forum, it doesn't seem to be too uncommon to experience a drop in speed after a repair, and the remedy seems to be resetting the line (because of DLM?). Will resetting my line stop the speed being throttled at 0.18mbps and put it back to 6.5mbps?

Thanks!

[#2]

DLM does take a bit of tiem to re-stabilise yes, but not from 0.2 download!

Is your voice working fine now / free of noise? 

If you run the BTW speedtest and ckeck that profiles it comes back with (on the further diagnostics page).

Then id suggest raise a fault at faults.plus.net as by the time they pick it up on Monday it will be well after the DLM should have fixed it. Looks more like something has not been connected properly so giving terrible performance.

[#3]

Not with 0.8Mb upload. It probably just needs a DLM reset. ADSL stats would be much more useful than speedtest results.

The DLM must have seen a very large number of disconnections for it to band the speed to the lowest possible band, so it could take a long time for it to undo it on its own.

[#4]

Thanks for replying MrSilver!

Yes, I thought I should have seen some improvement by now, so I thought it was rather odd. I certainly don't want it "stabilised" at only 0.18mbps!

Voice seems to be ok, but I'm afraid I can't be sure if the line is free of noise. I literally never use the line to make calls, so the only phone I have is the cheapest one I could buy - it's always crackled a bit, even before this problem started when my connection was a rock solid 6.5mbps. I think any crackling is due to the cheap phone.

The BTW speedtest comes back as 0.23mbps download, 0.91mbps upload, with 56.38ms ping latency. I get exactly the same result on the Further Diagnostics page, but with the message "Your speed test has completed and the results are shown above, however during the test an error occurred while trying to retrieve additional details regarding your service. As a result we are unable to determine if the speed you received during the test is acceptable for your service. Please re-run the test if you require this additional information."

I already have a Support Ticket open from when this first started - would raising another fault cause complications? Or leave me liable for the £130 callout charge from an engineer?

[#5]

Thanks for your reply ejs!

Yes, the upload speed being faster is what made me wonder if it was banded. If it had been just as slow as download I'd have assumed a fault. I think there were a lot of disconnections while Openreach were working on it - it was on (but slow) one day, then off the next, on again... And when the problem first started, I went through all of the troubleshooter guides which meant I turned it off and on again at least twice.

Here are the stats from the Helpdesk page on my router:

1 - Product name:	Plusnet Router
2 - Serial number:
3 - Firmware version:	7.275.2_F2704N_Plusnet
4 - Board version:	F@ST2704N
5 - Mode	ADSL
6 - Uptime:	1 days 18:22:29
7 - Data rate:	1100/283
8 - Maximum data rate:	1108/7540
9 - Noise margin:	5.9/12.1
10 - Line attenuation:	27.5/50.0
12 - Data sent/received:	303.7M/2.4G
20 - Broadband username:
21 - Wi-Fi network/SSID:
22 - Wi-Fi connections:	Enable(802.11 b/g/n(up to 144 Mb/s))20 MHz WPS enabled
23 - Wi-Fi security:	WPA2
24 - Wi-Fi channel:	Automatic (Smart Wireless)
25 - Firewall:	Default
26 - MAC Address:
27 - Software variant	Version 1.0
28 - Boot loader:	7.275.2

I'm a bit alarmed it says uptime is only 1 day 18 hours, because it's been switched on way longer than that. I did see an Openreach van at the cabinet yesterday morning though (so after I've been told it's "fixed"), so maybe he's done something else and has caused another disruption...? I don't really know what 'good' stats would be, so any light you can shed on this would be much appreciated.

[#6]

Oh, I also forgot to mention that the Openreach engineer actually came into the house on the morning of 1st February, and tested our line through the master socket. He didn't find any problems with it, so I guess that means the line is ok.

Sorry I didn't tell you that before - I wasn't the one who let him in, so it completely slipped my mind that an engineer had been.

[#7]

An update on what's happening.

I've called Plusnet three times over the last couple of days. The first time they tested the line, said it was ok, but said my ADSL was set to "up to 15mb" which was "wrong" and that my SNR setting was "high", so they changed my SNR margin and told me to wait 4 hours and I should see an improvement. No improvement.

Second time, they've tested the line (again) before agreeing to reset my DLM, saying I should see at least some improvement within 4 hours, and if not, to call back. No improvement.

Third time, they've tested the line yet again and passed me onto the 'fault team' for further testing, so now I have to wait up to 3 days for a call back.

I honestly have no idea what could be wrong at this point. The line has been tested in person by an Openreach engineer (on 1st Feb), and remotely by Plusnet three times. Could BT Openreach have messed up when moving the cabinet, or would a fault in the cabinet/line be easily detected? Or would a fault just stop my broadband working entirely?

I haven't had usable broadband for 10 days now, and with the 3-day wait for the call back, it's looking like it's going to be 2 weeks at least. Sorry to moan, but it's just so frustrating.

EDIT: I've just checked on my Member Centre, and on the High Speed Broadband page it says:

Estimated line speed:

There's no speed estimate currently held on your account.

Current line speed:

20.9 Mb

And yet my actual speed is still just 0.18mbps. Does this mean my line isn't banded?

[#8]

If the DSL stats look the same as they were before, I'd guess it is banded and the attempts to reset it didn't work, possibly because they weren't done correctly.

[#9]

Thanks for your help, ejs! I appreciate it! I can't see any major changes - just some slight differences in data rate and noise margin. I'm concerned that it says uptime is only 13 hours, because the router has been on continuously since noon on Sunday (when Support told me to restart it). I've also spoken to more of my neighbours and they all have normal broadband speed again, so it looks like it's just me having problems.

1 - Product name:	Plusnet Router
2 - Serial number:
3 - Firmware version:	7.275.2_F2704N_Plusnet
4 - Board version:	F@ST2704N
5 - Mode	ADSL
6 - Uptime:	0 days 13:27:36
7 - Data rate:	1103/283
8 - Maximum data rate:	1112/7496
9 - Noise margin:	6.0/12.0
10 - Line attenuation:	27.5/50.0
12 - Data sent/received:	41.6M/291.9M
20 - Broadband username:
21 - Wi-Fi network/SSID:
22 - Wi-Fi connections:	Enable(802.11 b/g/n(up to 144 Mb/s))20 MHz WPS enabled
23 - Wi-Fi security:	WPA2
24 - Wi-Fi channel:	Automatic (Smart Wireless)
25 - Firewall:	Default
26 - MAC Address:
27 - Software variant	Version 1.0
28 - Boot loader:	7.275.2

EDIT: I just checked this page: https://status.zen.co.uk/broadband/
Can't find any outages for my area code today, so still have no idea why uptime is only 13 hours.

[#10]

Another update:

I've now received an email from Plusnet stating that they've requested their suppliers to "turn interleaving on" which "usually takes 24 hours to turn on, but can take up to 5 days to take effect." This doesn't make any sense because according to my detailed router stats since the 5th February, it's already on: D (interleaving depth): 320 Downstream 4 Upstream. I've attached a screenshot of the detailed stats from the 5th. Isn't interleaving on as standard, and only turned off if you ask to be put on fastpath? I've never asked for it to be turned off.

My upload speed has also dropped from 0.8mbps to 0.4mbps. Download speed is still around 0.18mbps, but at one point it dropped to 0.1mbps. The router has been switched on continuously since noon on 5th February (when Support told me to restart it, for the umpteenth time) but uptime again says it's less than 13 hours - could the fault team be running tests on the line which have reset it?

I also still can't get a definitive answer from Plusnet as to whether my DLM has actually been reset or not. I've asked for confirmation twice and have been ignored on both occasions.

These are my current Helpdesk tab router stats:

1 - Product name:	Plusnet Router
2 - Serial number:
3 - Firmware version:	7.275.2_F2704N_Plusnet
4 - Board version:	F@ST2704N
5 - Mode	ADSL
6 - Uptime:	0 days 12:53:26
7 - Data rate:	444/283
8 - Maximum data rate:	1092/7580
9 - Noise margin:	25.1/12.1
10 - Line attenuation:	27.4/50.0
12 - Data sent/received:	42.9M/586.0M
20 - Broadband username:
21 - Wi-Fi network/SSID:
22 - Wi-Fi connections:	Enable(802.11 b/g/n(up to 144 Mb/s))20 MHz WPS enabled
23 - Wi-Fi security:	WPA2
24 - Wi-Fi channel:	Automatic (Smart Wireless)
25 - Firewall:	Default
26 - MAC Address:
27 - Software variant	Version 1.0
28 - Boot loader:	7.275.2