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Internet dropping in and out

Benjack
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Internet dropping in and out

Since about evening yesterday my internet would randomly cut out and then restore itself a few minutes later. Internet light on the router would go out and the broadband light would flash. I've tried turning the router off and on, I've plugged it into the test socket with a fresh micro filter, with no luck. Any suggestions? it's beginning to impact my ability to work from home.
24 REPLIES 24
selondonuser
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi,

 

This has been happening to me for a while now, mostly in the evening. The pattern of the issue occurring is very irregular however it appears to be happening mostly in the evenings.

Checking the event log on my PlusNet hub I've noticed that my hub is sending a "PPP LCP Send Termination Request"

and prior to that I've seeing a large number messages similar to the following (my own IP address has been masked in these messages).

IN: BLOCK [16] Remote administration (TCP [172.104.242.173]:54769- >[xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]:80 on ppp3)

IN: BLOCK [12] Spoofing protection (IGMP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx- >224.0.0.22 on ppp3)

IN: BLOCK [12] Spoofing protection (IGMP 192.168.0.1- >224.0.0.22 on ptm0.101)

Although the messages show that the firewall on the router is simply blocking these incoming attacks, I can't help to think that my internet connection dropping every 2 days is related as the rate of these type of messages appearing in the log do seem to increase right up to the time of the of the internet connection being disconnected and restarted.

Although the disruption lasts only for a few minutes, it is quite irritating if your in the middle of watching something on BBC iPlayer, Netflix or Amazon prime and suddenly your stream crashes out.

 

Benjack
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi

Thanks. i will have a look at the event log, but im not sure where it is.

 

I was getting the same as you, either dirupting youtube videos in the evening or currently disconnecting my vpn i need for work.

selondonuser
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

If you log in to the web management of your PlusNet hub (usually that is 192.168.1.254).

Click troubleshooting at the top page and then click on Event Log (you will have to enter the admin password for your router which can be found on the back of your router if you haven't changed it). Scroll down to the time when the disconnects happened (note the time on the log doesn't adjust for British Summer Time and is always in GMT/UTC).

 

PS: I've you haven't changed the default admin password of your hub I would strongly recommend you change it as soon as possible.

Benjack
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Thanks, but i don't have that as an option. I have home, basic settings, advanced settings and helpdesk (which is just a list of things)

TheMightyAJ
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,511
Fixes: 126
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi @Benjack,

I'm really sorry to hear that you're experiencing these issues. I've tested your line this evening and whilst I can definitely see the connection is dropping out, I'm afraid that I'm unable to find any underlying reason for this. This seems to have started quite abruptly around 5PM yesterday, can you think of anything that may have changed in or around the property at that time which could have caused this? Additionally, you said you'd set the router up within the test socket - did you keep it setup within the test socket or did you return it to it's original position?

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Alex H
 Plusnet Help Team
selondonuser
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Actually nothing changed in my network for a few months and my plusnet one hub has always been connected to the master socket. Whenever I have any issues like my work VPN disconnecting or issues with streaming I have noticed the light on my hub has turned amber and in the event log i have noticed the ppp disconnect messages and I have no idea as to why this is happening nor do I have the ability to increase the logging level on the router to debug level to get more insight as to why this is happening. Based on the messages in the logs it would suggest my disconnects are part of a controlled process but no real indication as to why that process is triggered. Anyway to increase the log level temporary to debug level?
Benjack
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi @TheMightyAJ 

Nothing has changed here that i am aware of. Finished working from home, had dinner, and then had a rather stop-start evening of chilling.

The router is still plugged into the test socket.

I did have someone on twitter take a look at the issue and also couldnt find anything, though they did tweak a setting. It has seemed to make the drop-outs occur less frequently but they are still happening.

Also thanks for confirming that you can see an issue. its always annoying when someone says there is no issue when there clearly is.

BD
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,359
Fixes: 86
Registered: ‎24-04-2017

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi @selondonuser, thanks for getting back to us. Looking over your connection from this side I can confirm we've seen 4 drops in your connection over the last week or 2 however non of our testing is highlighting any underlying issues or causes behind this.
 



Firstly, can you confirm if the drops you've been seeing line up to the drops we've seen this side or have you been seeing more disconnections than this? I have a few ideas what the issues you're seeing could be caused by given your description of the issue but this depends on how frequent the issue is occurring and if it's causing a loss in connection from what we can see our side or not.
I look forwards to hearing from you further. I'm afraid there's no other mode the router can be adjusted to that would give further information to the issues you've seen.

BD
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,359
Fixes: 86
Registered: ‎24-04-2017

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi @Benjack, thanks for getting back to us and I'm sorry to hear the connection issues look to be persisting. I can confirm when looking over your connection shown on the graph below  that although as you've mentioned the changes in your connection settings look to have helped there still looks to be something out of place somewhere.

I can see the change the advisor looks to have made to the signal strength given the length of your connection/line however this still looks to be under where we'd expect for the length of the line and I've put through a further change to bump the signal strength up to where it should be which hopefully resolves the remaining drops seen.



The change I've put through should take effect straight away so I'd advise monitoring from this evening onwards to see if issues persist. If so, then please go ahead and raise a fault at faults.plus.net and give us a nudge on here after doing so and we'll happily look into this issue further for you.

selondonuser
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi Ben,

Firstly thank you for looking into this. This pretty much lines up with what I have been seeing from my end every 2 or three days in the evening. I was unaware of the disconnect that appeared to have happened on the 5th around 1am as I probably was sound asleep then.
If you have any ideas what could be causing the issue that would be great.
BD
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,359
Fixes: 86
Registered: ‎24-04-2017

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi @selondonuser, thanks for getting back to me.
I'll be honest in that I was somewhat expecting you to advise the drops were happing more than the connection graph showed our side as if so then I could put the issue down to being potentially caused by router settings which we could dive into, but with the drops matching our side and nothing testing our side on either your connection or line I'm stumped on what's causing the intermittent drops we've seen.
As seen below the connection is showing fine from this side with no errors or underlying issues which would explain the drops.


Test Outcome
Pass
Test Outcome Code GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_0000
Description GEA service test completed and no fault found .
Main Fault Location OK
Sync Status In Sync
Downstream Speed 65.0 Mbps
Upstream Speed 12.2 Mbps
Appointment Required N
Fault Report Advised N
NTE Power Status PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result Pass
Radio Frequency Ingress Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise Not Detected
Cross Talk Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres 687.7
Upstream Rate Assessment Reasonable
Downstream Rate Assessment Very Good
Interference Pattern Not Detected
Service Impact No Impact Observed
Home Wiring Problem Not Detected
Downstream Policing Discard Rate 0.0
Customer Traffic Level Upstream and Downstream traffic detected
Technology VDSL
Current 15Min Bin Retrains 0
Last 15Min Bin Retrains 0
DP Type External
Profile Name 0.128M-80M Downstream 3dB, Retransmission Low - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Retransmission Low
Time Stamp 2021-05-30T19:15:00
Parameters MIN MAX AVG
Down Stream Line Rate 64.8 Mbps 66.3 Mbps 65.7 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate 12.2 Mbps 12.6 Mbps 12.4 Mbps
Up Time 3.0 Sec 900.0 Sec 888.0 Sec
Retrains 0.0 1.0 0.0
Current and Last 15 Minute Bin Performance
Parameters Last Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins) Current Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)
Start Time Stamp 2021-06-12T17:45:45Z 2021-06-12T18:00:45Z
Ingress Code Violation 0 0
Egress Code Violation 0 0
Errored Seconds 0 0
Severely Errored Seconds 0 0
Unavailable Seconds 0 0




If you haven't already, I'd advise to run through a number of internal checks your side to help rule out a few factors that could be behind the drops.


I'd recommend starting with basic checks here: http://goo.gl/p2tpvL
 

And if that doesn't help the next thing would be to rule your internal wiring out by plugging the connection into your test socket which is under the faceplate of your master socket and seeing if the drops stop. This rules out internal wiring, face plates and extension sockets as being the cause. How to locate the test socket and set your connection into it can be found here:
https://community.plus.net/t5/Library/Testing-From-The-Master-Socket/ba-p/1322242
Given the frequency of the drops occurring it may be a case of setting up in the test socket and monitoring over a few days to see if issues look to persist.

With the connection currently not dropping within our suppliers fault levels (3 drops in 24 hours or 6 drops in 72 hours) I'm afraid there's not much further we can do to progress the issue this side unless the issue looks to worsen but hopefully the checks advised help rule out a number of other factors that could be behind this.


 

Benjack
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

@BD 

Thanks. I agree my connection shouldn't look like a sheet of very quick music.
I will give it a shot tonight and in the morning and get back.
Still not sure what changed thursday afternoon for it to go crazy like that.

Benjack
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎11-06-2021

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Hi @BD 

I think what you did worked. i didn't have any outages last night or this morning that i am aware of. Some things did seem to be running a bit slow at points.

 

Still not sure what caused the big change thursday afternoon.

 

Im not 100% sure but i think an engineer may have been booked for me for some point next week. i don't think i need them for the time being so could you cancel it please.

Gandalf
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 26,563
Thanks: 10,265
Fixes: 1,599
Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Internet dropping in and out

Thanks for getting back to us @Benjack 

I'm glad to see your connection's now stable. I've cancelled the engineer visit, but let us know if there are further issues.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet