Intermitent Slow broadband speed

[#1]

Hi

Have been  having problems with slow broadband speeds, unable to use internet and websites take a long time to load. Has anyone got any idea what could be causing this?

Would appreciate your help as it has been like this for a couple of weeks now, When the problem stikes it is unusable really. Thanks in advance.

Below are the results of the BT test and the router stats.

I have just rebooted the router to see if that cleared it but to no avail, hence the low uptime.

DSL Connection

Link Information         Uptime: 0 days, 0:28:36 DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.3 Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,083 / 5,195 Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 95.66 / 765.43 Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.8 / 0.0 Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 26.1 / 46.5 SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 5.9 / 2.9 System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ---- Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / IFTN Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0 Loss of Link (Remote): - Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 116 / 0 FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0 CRC Errors (Up/Down): 18 / 143 HEC Errors (Up/Down): 11 / 174

1. Best Effort Test: -provides background information.

	Download  Speed
	2.14 Mbps

0 Mbps

7.15 Mbps Max Achievable Speed

 Download speedachieved during the test was - 2.14 Mbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 2 Mbps-7.15 Mbps.
 IP Profile for your line is - 4.58 Mbps

2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.

	Upload Speed
	0.44 Mbps

0 Mbps

0.83 Mbps Max Achievable Speed

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.44Mbps
 Additional Information:
 Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

[#2]

Hello there. From looking at the stats you've provided, it seems that the low SNR of 2.9 on the downstream could be causing the issue.

If you're using the connection wirelessly, I would recommend plugging your PC into the router via ethernet to see if that helps your speed.

If it does, I'd suggest taking a look at this guide: http://www.plus.net/help/broadband/getting-the-best-wifi-signal/

However, let us know if the issue continues via a wired connection and I'll change the SNR target tomorrow morning when I'm in work.

[#3]

Hi fantawttw. A welcome to the forum btw. I just had a quick look at your other posts to see if there was any useful history, and it looked like this problem was supposed to have been solved yesterday, but perhaps not.

Do you have any noise on the phone line?

Edit: Can you check your Current Line Speed, it ought to be 4.5Mbps (Login required) - don't post your phone number.

[#4]

Hi Anotherone,

I think you may have mixed up the years on my previous posts. My last issue I had with Plusnet was back in 2014 it was along similar lines though so I will forgive the mixup  but to confirm

Here is the current line speed.

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

Current line speed:4.5 Mb

I have conducted a quiet line test and it isn't absolutely silent but it also isn't crackling and popping either

Hi Anoush

This is happening regardless of whether I am Ethernet or Wifi, so I would be grateful if you could change the SNR target tomorrow.

Thanks for the responses.

Jon

[#5]

Oh gawd, yes I did mix up the years and the months I just saw a 12 on the first post When you say it isn't absolutely silent, if it's a very quiet gentle steady hiss then it should be OK. Anything else then can you describe it?
With your Current Profile your speed should be better, it might be worth hopping Gateway to see if there is any change. Check which Gateway you are on first.
Log into the modem/router and where you see the Disconnect button in the Internet box, click that. (This doesn't drop the sync). Wait about 30seconds then click Connect. Check which Gateway you are on and run the BTw speedtest again. Hopefully you'll see an improvement.
The errors are a bit on the high side at present even for a non-interleaved line - are you a Gamer? A change in Target SNRM to 6dB (assuming you are on 3) should improve that.

[#6]

I've changed the SNR to 9db as the loop loss is 46.5. The router is now in sync at 3943 which is slightly less than before (still above the estimate) and there are now minimal errors, so you should now receive a better throughput.

Hope this helps

[#7]

The loop loss should have absolutely no bearing on what the Target SNRM is set at @Anoush. A lot depends upon the quality of the line which cannot be simply judged by loop loss. What was the Target SNRM before setting to 9dB? If it were 6dB (and not 3dB as might have been assumed from the stats) then the implication is the line may have some noise issues which need looking at in a bit more detail. Simply setting the Target SNRM at 9db (which clearly DLM did not think was necessary as it would otherwise have done it) just masks an issue and just over a 1Mbps drop in sync speed on a slowish ADSL line is not what I would call "slight" I'm afraid.
The change in Target SNRM will obviously have caused a drop in sync which in turn will have changed the PPP routing and fantawttw is probably on a different Gateway. The slow throughput at the time could easily have been due to congestion which is another aspect that could have been the cause.

[#8]

We do generally see the longer lines often need a higher SNR to cut down the errors, however there's no hard and fast rule.

What Anoush had seen was a low mean time between errors, and increasing the SNR helps with this and therefore increases the throughput.

[#9]

@Chris It would be helpful to know what the Target SNRM was before it was set at 9dB if you could look at the delta & any other reports please.
As you say there is no hard an fast rule, but there are many factors that can affect the quality of longer lines

[#10]

The target SNR was 3db

[#11]

Thank you Anoush. The number of ES showing in the posted stats would certainly have given a fairly low MTBE, but I've seen some other lines with lower MTBEs still achieving better throughput, again there are a number of factors that can influence that.
As it's (was?) a non-interleaved line (is fantawttw a gamer?) the ES are likely to be a bit higher than an Interleaved line anyway. DLM must have found the line OK at 6dB to drop it to 3dB but then some lines can see-saw a bit when that happens. Assuming the line hasn't started suffering REIN, SHINE or other intermittent issues then perhaps pinning it with a minimum 6dB might be the way to go. Need feedback from fantawttw.

[#12]

Hi,

I thought that the tweak that was made to the SNR had made a difference however this morning I've had the slowdown occur a couple of time. I am not a gamer myself however my eldest son definitely is.

I myself work from home and am a software developer so I need the internet all though the day to do my job.

I'm not sure how the SNR would make a difference as I said in my OP. This only happened recently before that everything was working excellent with no problems at all.

I will post more information this evening once my son has been on his PS4. I'll soon know if it's fixed as I wont hear him moaning about Battlefield4 or COD lagging and him getting shot every time he re spawns.

Regards

Jon

[#13]

Hi Jon, when you are ready, if you post the current stats from the modem/router again, run a BTw test, open a command window and run the command    ping ntp.plus.net   both those tests when the connection is not being used at all, and also check which Gateway you are on.

If the throughput is poor compared to the max.achievable, then try a Gateway hop as I mentioned in message #5 and then repeat the tests and post all the results.

[#14]

Increasing the SNR can help reduce the errors, thereby improving your throughput. If you are still experiencing speed issues, as the mean time between errors (MTBE) is 21 even with the SNR at 9db, I would now suggest running through our broadband troubleshooter at http://faults.plus.net and completing it if necessary to raise the fault to our faults team for further investigation.

[#15]

Hi,

After leaving it a couple of days due to being away and being to tied up at work here are the latest stats.

I have noticed the slight down in download speed but the connection seems to be more stable.

As a side note BT have just started digging up my road to put a FTTC box in. so at somepoint in the next few months it may be I get better speeds etc after the switch to the new FTTC box.

Many thanks

Jon

DSL Connection

Link Information         Uptime: 0 days, 19:07:41 DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.3 Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,087 / 4,487 Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [GB/GB]: 7.70 / 35.14 Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.7 / 0.0 Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 25.9 / 46.0 SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 5.7 / 6.0 System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ---- Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / IFTN Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 17 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 2 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0 Loss of Link (Remote): - Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 3,115 / 0 FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0 CRC Errors (Up/Down): 485 / 626 HEC Errors (Up/Down): 430 / 2,160

C:\Windows\system32>ping ntp.plus.net

Pinging ntp.plus.net [212.159.6.10] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.159.6.10: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=60
Reply from 212.159.6.10: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=60
Reply from 212.159.6.10: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=60
Reply from 212.159.6.10: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=60

Ping statistics for 212.159.6.10:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 11ms, Maximum = 12ms, Average = 11ms

Which gateway

You are currently connected to gateway pcl-bng01.

This is located in City Lifeline House.