cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

FTTC weirdness

tman247
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎13-05-2010

FTTC weirdness

We've been on FTTC with +net for nearly 3 years. We had a the full 76Mb/250GB cap on this link, and it's pretty much been faultless since we went live. Certainly no complaints from me. I remember the engineer who installed the line said we achieved the full 76Mb/s with no problems.
With the amount of streaming the kids are now doing, I noticed that +net had pretty much gone unlimited on all packages, but as existing customers, I needed to request to be moved to the uncapped product. Seemed sensible, as I wouldn't have to worry about usage anymore. As far as I was concerned, it should just be removing the cap. Nothing else should change.
I submitted the request, and the regrade was completed in about 3-4 days. Again, all proceeded as expected, but, since the regrade, I'm noticing what I can only describe as weird symptoms;
Web pages will (ususally) still load pretty quick, but I don't think quite as quick as before, and often, the page won't complete loading (the spinner will keep going on the browser tab). A page refresh might sort it, but sometimes it won't
Sometimes, pages just won't load at all first time round. Again, one or more refreshses might sort it out
I've run through about 3-4 speed checkers, and all report a downstream speed of ~52Mb/s, where I know before I was achieving the full 76Mb/s (download speeds from some sites were often >8MB/s)
It's difficult to pin down exactly, but I've rebooted the router a couple of times, and that connects ok (haven't restarted the VHDSL modem yet though). There are no errors or drops on the EWAN port (BiPac 7800N by the way), so it's not  a 'bad' line. Anyone have any ideas? I haven't logged it as a support call yet, as I thought I'd check here first. I'm guessing while 'uncapped', +net have the usual fair usage policy, but I wouldn't have thought this should have affected our connection like it appears to have done.
26 REPLIES 26
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,839
Thanks: 9,487
Fixes: 155
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: FTTC weirdness

Hi tman247,
Interesting observation!  This will not get picked up by the DCT until Monday.

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.

acarneiro
Grafter
Posts: 100
Registered: ‎20-03-2012

Re: FTTC weirdness

I suspect restarting the VDSL modem would be the first thing to try.
No reason why it should have gone awry, but hey.... gremlins are everywhere... Wink
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,839
Thanks: 9,487
Fixes: 155
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: FTTC weirdness

But the VDSL modem is only handling the carrier link up to the exchange.  Changing from a measured service to an unlimited service is not going to make a change there.  My GUESS is that the change is in the traffic prioritisation space.  Huh

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.

tman247
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎13-05-2010

Re: FTTC weirdness

Well, my thoughts were that the 'unlimited' option would definitely have different traffic qos, but not enough to affect things in the way I'm seeing them. Oddly, streaming (eg Netflix) has been working ok since the regrade (at least the kids haven't complained about it), but it's just the general browsing, web response and odd delays in loading web pages. These definitely weren't an issue before the regrade.
I don't think the VHDSL modem is part of the issue. As has been pointed out, it only makes the connection to the local exchange. It's the PlusNet connection from the router that seems to be at issue - since the 'upgrade'. Do FTTC connections go through a learning process the same as standard copper broadband? Would this 'regrade' (that should, in theory, just have been a cap removal) have dumped me into a more congested (or throttled) part of PlusNet's network that might actually reduce connection speeds?
While it's nice to be 'unlimited', if this carries on, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't bothered.
Terranova667
Pro
Posts: 1,511
Thanks: 125
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎19-02-2014

Re: FTTC weirdness

the only training period if you can call it that on FTTC is when you get first installed which lasts for two days, or if any major work is done at the cab or exchange that would warrant DLM being opened again, but either way it is to establish your profiles and sync rate with the fibre cab and modem not whether you are unlimited or not as it's just a data cap that is uncapped if your getting less speed then clearly something has gone wrong somewhere but I wouldn't have thought it would be because your now unlimited unless the uncapping process changed something it shouldn't. 
dvorak
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 29,471
Thanks: 6,622
Fixes: 1,482
Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: FTTC weirdness

have you tried setting your DNS servers to something else, say google, and see if that helps?
Customer / Moderator
If it helped click the thumb
If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
tman247
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎13-05-2010

Re: FTTC weirdness

I had considered it could be a DNS issue. I use a 3rd party DNS service, but have a local caching DNS server as well. I've tried various DNS resolution tests, and the names resolve quickly and consistently as before. I've no reason to believe it's DNS. There's certainly no delays in the initial loading (lookup) of web sites, just when the page reaches the end.
It's all very strange, and definitely started after when went 'unlimited'.
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: FTTC weirdness

You could check the plusnet current line speed and IP Profile from the BT Speedtester further diagnostics match, just in case the plusnet current line speed got reset to some default value that's possibly slightly too high when changing to the unlimited product.
tman247
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎13-05-2010

Re: FTTC weirdness

Thanks for that. I checked the +net line speed for my connection, and that reports as
Estimated: 52Mb/s (I know +net often underestimate line speeds)
Actual: 80Mb/s (that surprised me, but that's what it says)
The BT speed checker reports the following;
Download speed : 52.88Mb/s
Upload speed: 13.36Mb/s
Latency: 25.38ms
So, BT speedchecker is in line with the other checkers I tested, but +net report by actual line speed as 80Mb/s. Something is wrong here! Not sure if this would also explain the browsing delays I'm seeing. 52Mb/s is still a healthy speed, but not what I should be getting!
Terranova667
Pro
Posts: 1,511
Thanks: 125
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎19-02-2014

Re: FTTC weirdness

Yeah the plusnet one isn't set correctly it should be the same as the BT IP profile, it said 80Mb for me on the plusnet side when i first had fibre installed until it was changed to match the BT ones, It maybe that you were put on the two day training again although i dont know why that would be or it could be something else, anyway  DLM may have already updated at the BT end but not the plusnet end yet you can wait and see if it does so over night if not someone from the DCT can manually change it on Monday.
AndyH
Grafter
Posts: 6,824
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎27-10-2012

Re: FTTC weirdness

What's your BT IP Profile?
tman247
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎13-05-2010

Re: FTTC weirdness

How do I find that?
tman247
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎13-05-2010

Re: FTTC weirdness

Quote from: Terranova667
Yeah the plusnet one isn't set correctly it should be the same as the BT IP profile, it said 80Mb for me on the plusnet side when i first had fibre installed until it was changed to match the BT ones, It maybe that you were put on the two day training again although i dont know why that would be or it could be something else, anyway  DLM may have already updated at the BT end but not the plusnet end yet you can wait and see if it does so over night if not someone from the DCT can manually change it on Monday.

DLM? DCT? Sorry.
tman247
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎13-05-2010

Re: FTTC weirdness

Quote from: AndyH
What's your BT IP Profile?


Ok, found it. The downstream BT IP Profile shows as 54.56Mbps, upstream is 20Mbps.