FTTC Line Speed Mystery

[#1]

Quote from: reddev87

I just found it weird that A: PN have it set to 30Mbit, when it should match BT's IP profile, and B: My speed hasn't suffered because of it.

A: Our profile was updated on your account via a delta report from BT on 20/11/11 which is peculiar considering this does not appear to match your current IP profile.  I'm looking in to this for you.
B: We are currently testing one of our staff lines with various profiles set on our network layer so we can see if we have a problem to fix.  Technically our network layer should have restricted you to 30Mbps once the BT delta report had changed our profile.  In the meantime I have manually updated your profile to 37Mbps to match the IP profile.

Quote from: ffox

Why are there two profiles anyway?

We have to assign a profile our side so that our network will control the QoS.  The delta report system keeps the two profiles in synchronisation so should not cause any problems customer side.
I'll follow up to this post once I have further details.

[#2]

Quote from: Alex

Our profile was updated on your account via a delta report from BT on 20/11/11 which is peculiar considering this does not appear to match your current IP profile. The delta report system keeps the two profiles in synchronisation so should not cause any problems customer side. :).

Given the spate of recent problems, would it not make sense for Plusnet to urgently liaise with BT, and maybe conjure up a simple program geared solely towards finding (and rectifying) mismatch in the profiles. I wouldn't be surprised if the results pointed to hundreds within the silent majority who are totally unaware that the service which they are currently paying for is actually a fair bit better than they might be led to believe. Or could that be an understatement on my part?

[#3]

As originator of this thread could my situation get some attention please? In Member Centre Speed my line speed is exactly as it was when I first posted. My download speed tests are >32 Mbps

What, if any, impact is this situation having upon my 'internet experience'?

[#4]

@caulbox,
Once our investigation is complete we will liaise with BT if required to ensure that the delta reports from their network are adjusting our network correctly.  As it stands currently we don't expect any issues/impact with customer experience.
Adagio,
I have updated your Plusnet profile to match your IP profile. 

[#5]

Quote from: Alex

A: Our profile was updated on your account via a delta report from BT on 20/11/11 which is peculiar considering this does not appear to match your current IP profile.  I'm looking in to this for you. B: We are currently testing one of our staff lines with various profiles set on our network layer so we can see if we have a problem to fix.  Technically our network layer should have restricted you to 30Mbps once the BT delta report had changed our profile.  In the meantime I have manually updated your profile to 37Mbps to match the IP profile.

Well something is weird. Before I mentioned the problem my PN profile was 30Meg, but my lines actual throughput was 37.5Meg constantly.
Now it seems that since my PN line speed was updated manually, my line tops out at exactly 35Meg (4.38MB/s), which leads me to believe something is amiss.

Quote from: adagio

As originator of this thread could my situation get some attention please? In Member Centre Speed my line speed is exactly as it was when I first posted. My download speed tests are >32 Mbps What, if any, impact is this situation having upon my 'internet experience'?

Interesting coincidence, you were getting almost an identical throughput on your line as I was when my PN profile was also incorrect. May I ask what speed you get now that it has been updated manually?

[#6]

Quote from: reddev87

Interesting coincidence, you were getting almost an identical throughput on your line as I was when my PN profile was also incorrect. May I ask what speed you get now that it has been updated manually?

This morning a few minutes ago. Lower than yesterday but within range of recent results. IP profile 37Mbps

[#7]

The same is happening to you then, you were getting 37.5Meg in your previous test, when PN's profile was incorrect, yet when it was fixed, you lost 2.5Meg.
I'm confused. Answers on a postcard please.
I'll admit that losing 2.5Meg is not a hell of a lot to be bitching about, it's just irritating that there is something not right with the whole profiling system.

[#8]

Quote from: reddev87

I'm confused. Answers on a postcard please.

Here's one I prepared earlier?

Quote

there is something not right with the whole profiting system.

[#9]

Thanks for keeping us in the loop and providing the above results.  We are still continuing to investigate this issue and as previously stated I will update with our findings here once we reach a conclusion.

[#10]

Quote from: reddev87

The same is happening to you then, you were getting 37.5Meg in your previous test, when PN's profile was incorrect, yet when it was fixed, you lost 2.5Meg.

I am not sure that I would draw that conclusion from 1 sample, I had previously seen speeds between 32.5 & 37.5, so this morning's result fell, as I said, within the expected range. In the evening speed can drop significantly, which I rightly or wrongly, put down to contention. I will continue to make checks a.m. and see what happens.

[#11]

Quote from: Alex

Thanks for keeping us in the loop and providing the above results.  We are still continuing to investigate this issue and as previously stated I will update with our findings here once we reach a conclusion.

Hi Alex,
Have you been able to draw any interim conclusions from your investigations so far?
You know my own case very well, so I won't repeat it here.
However, I will comment that from the admittedly very limited evidence in this thread, I have drawn my own conclusion that Plusnet's profile system for some users, who are achieving maximum, or approaching maximum speeds, is reporting lower Profile speeds (much lower in one case).
I wonder if there could be a little glitch (maybe data corruption) somewhere in your system?
Ever since I have experienced lower speeds (along with with physical line faults that now appear to be more or less finally resolved (apart from what appears to be a still high error count)), my Plusnet profile has been reported as 37 Mb:-
Phone exchange:
OLDHAM
Estimated line speed:
1.0Mb (Accurate to within +/- 1Mbit) - Checked on 2011-06-02 19:25:40
Current line speed:
37 Mb

This speed test from this morning is the best I have achieved since the loss of service back in July:-

Is it just feasible that your profile system has been working in reverse for some time?
I notice that when you update user profiles, the result appears to be a loss of download speed.
This may only be affecting marginal cases i.e. where users only just achieve maximum speeds, or as in my case, will never achieve maximum speed due to distance from the cabinet.
As you are fully aware, I was able to solidly achieve 32 Mb to 33 Mb downloads for the first month's connection.
This issue could be an explanation as to why my higher speeds have not returned, despite the line now being "fixed"
Just a thought, other users:-
My speed reductions have coincided with physical line faults. Have you all needed your line/connection to be repaired by BT at any stage?
There may or may not be some sort of a link to this profile reporting issue.

Also, I have read in some official report or other that if ISPs attempt to push maximum speeds to users who can't actually achieve them, the result could be a confusion in the DLM equipment, that actually makes matters worse (speed-wise).
If I can locate that report, I'll post a link to it.
Paul.

P.S. I always struggle to compose a message of more than a few lines in this forum, as whatever is being typed disappears from view.
I don't have this issue in any other forums. Does anyone else have the same issue?

[#12]

I'll add some more evidence onto this topic...

Quote from: reddev87

Well something is weird. Before I mentioned the problem my PN profile was 30Meg, but my lines actual throughput was 37.5Meg constantly. Now it seems that since my PN line speed was updated manually, my line tops out at exactly 35Meg (4.38MB/s), which leads me to believe something is amiss.

That sounds remarkably like my line!
I first got FTTC back in June. For 2 days, my IP profile was 38717, until DLM reduced me by 4Mbps (and added interleaving) due to packet loss & errors on the line. After this, my throughput was consistently 33.5Mbps according to Speedtest.net
Then on 31st October, BT upgraded the cabinet to the 17a profile (ie the new frequency plan), which enabled my line could get the full profile again (well, a profile of 38716; it reports an attainable speed of 60Mbps!). For a couple of days i got throughputs of 37.5Mbps, but I foolishly reconnected... After that, my IP Profile at BT stayed at 38716, but the actual throughput dropped to a tad under 35Mbps. I've kept testing (and reconnecting) but getting consistent results of 35Mbps.
There have been a couple of exceptions. 2 weeks ago I got the 37.5Mbps back for a couple of days, while the usertools gateway checker returned "unknown". Then during last day I've been getting the same (on pcl-ag04). I'm not planning on disconnecting 😉
I've attached a graph of my results, because they show remarkable consistency - though i don't test during the hobbled evening hours.
The one observation that I can be sure of is that when I have seen the speed change from 35 to 37.5 (or vice-versa), there has been either a new synchronisation at the modem (cos I power-cycled) or a new connection at the router (cos I used the GUI to force a disconnect/re-connect cycle). That may suggest that the limiting profile is being sent across the network (either within BT, or through to PN) at these events.
NB: My PN "current line speed" was set manually to 37Mbps in June, and has stayed this way ever since.

[#13]

Hi WWWombat,

Quote from: WWWombat

The one observation that I can be sure of is that when I have seen the speed change from 35 to 37.5 (or vice-versa), there has been either a new synchronisation at the modem (cos I power-cycled) or a new connection at the router (cos I used the GUI to force a disconnect/re-connect cycle). That may suggest that the limiting profile is being sent across the network (either within BT, or through to PN) at these events.

When you used the GUI to force a disconnect/re-connect, was that a full reboot from the Maintenance/Device page, or have you located somewhere in the GUI to perform just a re-sync?

Paul.

[#14]

The disconnect/re-connect was at the router, using the router's admin GUI. That means it is only establishing the PPPoE connection (and authenticating with Plusnet), with no new synchronisation at the modem. To be honest, this is the main way I trigger a new connection, rather than through a full resync - in my experience, a full resync never normally results in any different speeds or profiles.
I recall something from some BT SIN document that shows they forward the profile speed as part of the PPP. This was a document where BT asked for ISPs to keep a low timeout on the PPP connection, less than the 20seconds or so for a resync, to ensure that new speed details were sent in the event that there had been a resync - which implies that ISP's *don't* get the new speed after a resync, but *do* get the new speed after a PPP re-connect.

[#15]

Hi WWWombat,

Quote from: WWWombat

The disconnect/re-connect was at the router, using the router's admin GUI. That means it is only establishing the PPPoE connection (and authenticating with Plusnet), with no new synchronisation at the modem. To be honest, this is the main way I trigger a new connection, rather than through a full resync - in my experience, a full resync never normally results in any different speeds or profiles.

My experience is the complete opposite in that whenever the modem has re-synced, either "on the fly" (Plusnet do not see these events as they are so quick - less than 20 seconds & the dynamic IP address is maintained), or via a complete modem reboot where a new IP address is allocated, my sync rate, profile, & associated throughput speeds do change.
The attached graph shows exactly what I have just described.
A few of the re-syncs were forced by me, but most of them were automatically done (presumably via DLM) "on the fly" when my connection was obviously unstable.
The very latest re-syncs on 29th November were initiated by me. the first was a re-sync (obvious, but small sync speed improvement) & the second was a reboot (slight increase, but not shown at the scale the graph was generated).
The connection's gap shown around mid-day on 15th is from when the engineer replaced around 100m of cable from the pole & rewired my master socket.

Paul.