Line drop - then drop in speeds

[#1]

I am afraid I have had another drop in broadband and since then the speeds are down.

Please see attached. As this has happened many times over the recent years, is there anything that I can do? any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Obviously, I cannot complain as the speeds are still above the contract agreement. But usually they are 60-62 Mbps and they drop significantly after an outage.

[#2]

The obvious thing to do is check if "full fibre" (so fibre all the way to your home) is now available to you.

Beyond that and plugging the router into the master socket with suitable filters on any other phone sockets, the broadband system is doing the correct thing, adjusting the speed to make the service work.

If you have a noisy phone line (crackles), faulting that may get a line issue fixed and might improve broadband speeds but the real fix is a move to a full fibre service. 

[#3]

I'm not full fibre and that's not available I'm afraid. There is no landline and I run the ethernet cable from wall socket to the router and then directly cable it to my PC.

These drops, followed by slower speeds, has been happening for years. They say they fix it and then it happens again. Is there really nothing I can do?

[#4]

The only thing that really is within your power is to check your in home cabling.

If you don't have a landline, ensuring that you are plugged into the BT "master" socket and that there isn't any extension wiring may help.

Otherwise it sounds like you are on a fairly long phone line and something causes errors (probably outside your home) so the broadband "re-syncs" to maintain reliability.

There is a process called "Dynamic Line Management" which does the best that can be done with your copper line.

There is plenty of information about the process but although quite old now, this is well written and has a good overview of the process. 

https://kitz.co.uk/adsl/DLM.htm 

[#5]

The cabling is all fine here. I really meant is there nothing Plusnet can do? They are the providers and the problems, despite being infrequently, keep happening and the same thing happens over and over again. The speeds are now just below 40 Mbps, but before the outage were 60-62 Mbps. I can't raise a fault as there isn't one and if they test the line they can't see a problem. But there clearly is one.

Anyone know how best to ask Plusnet for help?

[#6]

Contractually, unless you are beneath the minimum speed guarantee there is no comeback on Plusnet for the broadband service. What is that minimum speed?

Even then, all Plusnet can do is report the fault to their supplier (Openreach) who will (at best) go looking for dodgy joints in the cable.

I had a similar long running problem with my ADSL service and eventually struck lucky when the engineer investigating the fault phoned me.

He worked down the line reterminating at each point and eventually fixed the dodgy joint. I just struck lucky.

My (later) VDSL service slowly got worse over the years until (mercifully) full fibre arrived. Generally that "just works".

Broadband over copper phone lines is often literally "wet string". 

[#7]

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@PabloBruno wrote:

I'm not full fibre and that's not available I'm afraid. There is no landline and I run the ethernet cable from wall socket to the router and then directly cable it to my PC.

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If you are not on FTTP, then there is most certainly a "land line" though there will only be a voice service if it is FTTC.  The current service offer where FTTP is not available is SoGEA which is delivered over the "landline", but has no voice service.  So which are you FTTC or SoGEA?

The cable from the socket to the router is not ethernet cable.  It is voice grade twisted pairs or should be.  What is its cross section - round or flat / d-shaped?  How long is it?

Does the NTE5 has a filtered faceplate or are you using a 'dongle' filter?

Try plugging a handset into the line - see if it is quiet and is there a dial tone?  You might not use the phone service, but if the service is FTTC, then there should be a clear dial tone.

How far are you from the green cabinet?  Does the landline come in to you house overhead or underground?

I would expect far better with those line stats - these are mine and I get 80/15

Noise margin:5.0 / 3.9

Line attenuation:9.1 / 19.9

Signal attenuation:9.1 / 25.2

In the first instance, I would check the internal wiring - are there any internal extensions from the phone socket?  I know that I have a lot of internal wiring, but I installed it myself and I know that it is all twisted pairs and tidy.

[#8]

If you are not on FTTP, then there is most certainly a "land line" though there will only be a voice service if it is FTTC.  The current service offer where FTTP is not available is SoGEA which is delivered over the "landline", but has no voice service.  So which are you FTTC or SoGEA?

No idea and I can't check as Plusnet website is down.

The cable from the socket to the router is not ethernet cable.  It is voice grade twisted pairs or should be.  What is its cross section - round or flat / d-shaped?  How long is it?

It's a cable from the phone socket to the router that came with the router (see pic).

Does the NTE5 has a filtered faceplate or are you using a 'dongle' filter?

See pic.

Try plugging a handset into the line - see if it is quiet and is there a dial tone?  You might not use the phone service, but if the service is FTTC, then there should be a clear dial tone.

Don't have a handset as don't have working landline anymore.

How far are you from the green cabinet?  Does the landline come in to you house overhead or underground?

I have no idea, Isn't this something Plusnet or Openreach can tell ME?

Once again, I appreciate your help, but this all feels like things Plusnet should know about, fix and let me know when it's fixed. Customers are not supposed to be engineers.

[#9]

Plusnet might well know these things, but we customers do not.

This information is really helpful.  Do you have a telephone handset or can you borrow one?  Have you got the plugin filter supplied with the router?

Good to see that you are using the xDSL cable supplied with the router.  That will be of an appropriate quality.

Are there any other telephone extensions?