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I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Hey folks,
Well, someone decided there was indeed a problem with my connection and an engineer was called out yesterday, after messing around with the junction box, the main face plate, and the hub up the road. I got told that my profile was being set to 25 meg as the line cannot handle any more than that. The problem is, it was working until early hours of this morning and now I am back to 6 meg. IF i am lucky.
The profile checker online with BT states my profile is set to 25, yet I cannot achieve it. I was told by the engineer to leave it alone for ten days, to settle down. ( not much point as the problem has been consistent and told my line was fine, however it is a copper / aluminium mix in this area and issues have been raised before. Unfortunately there is nothing he can do, apart from next time IF he comes out, swap some connections and maybe improve it somewhat, THEN if that doesnt work, raise it to his manager and see if any cabling can be replaced. ( HIGHLY doubtful ).
Having had my line tested I know it is capable of 29 meg, I have hit 36 on it so far, and it dropped back down in just over a week, slowly to what I was hitting and currently am hitting now.
I do not understand why I was told one speed, when I signed up, no line checks were done, to find errors or reported faults in the area, and now it appears I may be stuck with a service which is of no use to me.
it has taken me just under 3 weeks get this diagnosis, and now I have to sit around and WAIT again, to see what happens next with an intermittent connection and one which is not fit for the purpose I signed up for.
Has anyone else on here had this same problem? if so, did it get resolved or do BT just sit on their backsides and do nothing if you are not a direct customer of theirs?
Thanks
Craig
19 REPLIES 19
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Thanks for replying. It currently says:
Telephone number:
02476------
Phone exchange:
EXHALL
Estimated line speed:
29Mb (Accurate to within +/- 1Mbit) - Checked on 2013-05-21 18:14:28
Current line speed:
78 Mb

My last speedtest was.

Thanks
Craig
Ps, the engineer did say he was setting the profile at 25, and that is running at 66% of the total capacity, because if he puts it to 100% for the full speed the line would not handle it due to it being an ali/copper mix. I had the same problem on ADSL with virgin and they insisted my line was ok. The previous engineer to the one I had yesterday replaced the cabling outside, yet not to the master socket in the house, told me the line was ok. Yet according to all the tests it is dropping out and the sync speed just keeps dropping.
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

It's possible (likely?) that an intermittent fault of some sort is present that is affecting your speeds now. I assume you have a fault investigation ongoing - have Plusnet responded following the engineer visit?
BT might attempt to close the fault but I think further investigation will be needed.
David
hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Hey Spraxyt
Thanks for your reply.
Plusnet are following it up tomorrow, Luke is handling my case and wants it resolved.
The engineer has not reported back to PN yet, however I have just spoken to them and found my modem is synching at 10 meg, and the engineer said yesterday it had been locked to 10 meg due to the line being Ali / copper mix. Speedtest is not convincing and I am not holding out much hope of this being resolved any time soon to be honest.
The engineer says my line is not throwing up any errors and has set my Internet to 66% of maximum capacity due to him saying it cannot handle the full 29 without throwing out errors. I was stable all day yesterday at 22/23 still not 29 but better than it was, now back to it crawling, 6/7 meg to 12 then back again, yet he has put it down to the Ali / copper mix and said to give it ten days as it should now be stable, less an 24 hours later and back to square one.
Is had the same problem with virgin on Adsl also, hitting 0.5 meg if I was lucky to be told no fault on the line.
I had the whole outside recalled and still the issue persists.
Frustrating is not the word.
Regards
Craig
hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

This just taken via me wired into the modem on a PPPOE connection.

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

I think all you can do in the circumstances is persist with Plusnet but it won't be easy.
David
hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Well, if I am  not getting the service which I am paying for, then easy or not, I am not letting it lie.
Being gold by engineers that my line can handle 25+ is one thing. Then being told it is a copper / Aluminium line winch cannot handle fibre speeds is quite another.
Old phone lines may be ok for Adsl or Adsl 2 yet will not be able to handle the speed quoted for fibre. Cabling needs to be done as trying to send a fibre signal down an analogue line is pointless, especially when it is as bad a mix as mentioned above.
Something needs to be done in order to deliver the service I was told I would receive and I will stick with getting it fixed for as long as it takes. This is simply ridiculous.
Regards
Craig
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Quote
winch cannot handle fibre speeds is quite another.

I'm happy to see Luke's raised an escalation about that so things are going in the right direction. As it's already been mentioned persistence is the key here and we're willing to see this through with you.
Adam
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
npr
Pro
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Registered: ‎21-01-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Quote from: hypnoboy

Something needs to be done in order to deliver the service I was told I would receive and I will stick with getting it fixed for as long as it takes. This is simply ridiculous.
Regards
Craig

Good for you.
I can't offer any good advice, just moral support for your problem.
I'm in a similar situation with 850 metres of aluminium cable between me and the cabinet.
My latest BT speed test:
20.46 mbps down
0.01 mbps up  Angry
So far I must have had around 10 BT visits, most have been pointless with the BT guy just testing the line and saying it passes all the tests.
Most of the remaining visits have concluded that is the best the line can support. A bit of a stupid statement IMO as whatever speed we get, good or bad, it's the best the line can support. They ignore the fact that a upstream speed of 0.6 mbps or less it unacceptable for "super fast broadband".
Plusnet have been good about getting BT out but I'm afraid it's not really achieving anything, just more and more pointless BT visits.
Like you, I fully intend to see this out to the end.
hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Hey NPR
I know where you are coming from, I am lucky to get 7 meg at the moment if it stays on long enough to send an email.
The problem is, that no one checks the lines to find out IF the line is fibre, it is only after the service has been installed that we find out that our line appears to be copper / aluminium. Which is clearly NOT fibre, and therefore cannot provide the speed which is quoted.
This is a major flaw on the part of BT and I do not want to be fobbed off by any more engineers, I do my research, I question, and I will not be fed inaccurate information regarding that they think they know and more importantly what they believe I DON'T know.
I will continue this and see it to the end but I am not bothered about how many engineers come out, how many emails I send or who I have to call. The fact is, I was due to be provided a service which plusnet believe they can offer, which BT states I can receive, and only AFTER it is installed, do I find out the line is copper / aluminium and not fibre.
Best of luck with yours NPR I wish you luck and please do keep me informed as I would be interested in finding out how it progresses for you.
Mine has been escalated, so I am going to be chasing it up and staying on the case all the way to the end
Adam, thanks, I will indeed persist on this issue and thank you for the reply.
Kindest regards
Craig
gofaster
Rising Star
Posts: 369
Thanks: 16
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Hypnoboy - your line IS fibre but only to your local cabinet (hence FTTC = Fibre To The Cabinet) It is only the last section between the cabinet and your house which might be ali/copper.
Do you know how far from your house the cabinet is?
hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Hey gofaster,
I am approx 1km or just under from the cabinet, however I was told by the engineer who came at the weekend that there has been a lot of issues in this area due to aluminium breaks in the copper line. I believe a few issues around here have been resolved. I am awaiting another engineer today. ( hoping he shows up ). To see what is going to be done about it. I can but hope that I will be one of the ones it can be resolved quickly for.
Thank you for your input, it is always good to learn more and help me move forward.
Regards
Craig
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Hi hypnoboy,
Just noticed there's an engineer visit booked for this morning, let me know how things go.
Adam
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
hypnoboy
Grafter
Posts: 40
Registered: ‎17-06-2013

Re: I could be stuck on permanent slow speeds. Advice appreciated.

Adam,
Feel free to check the notes on my acct.
One error found 800 meters up the road, fixed, engineer was removing the cap on my line which is set at ten meg.
Luke walker has emailed hle as the cap has not been lifted and the fault has been left open by BT.
I cannot monitor anything until the cap from BT has been lifted and cleared. Only then can I advise anyone on further errors to be looked into.
3 hours I have been waiting for the cap to be lifted and now waiting for hle to do that.
Regards
Craig