Profiles again... why does a brief glitch have to be so heavily punished?

[#1]

I live very close to my exchange, and most of the time I sync around 18 Mb down and 1.2 Mb up.  When all is well, a download actual speed of over 14 Mb is normal.
Occasionally, my router (Linksys WAG54 GS v1.1, firmware 1.01.03) drops out, and is a devil to reconnect.  It tends to resync at a variety of speeds (sometimes as low as 1Mb), and I recycle the power a few times until it resyncs back at 18Mb, at which it will probably remain stable for days at a time.
Of course, by then, my profile has dropped to a ridiculous 700Kb or some such, and remains low for some time, gradually creeping up.
This means that I quite often end up with my upload speed faster than my download speed, since it seems that the upload sync speed is ignored when setting the profile.
It drives me crazy - there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my router or my wiring, since as I say, sync is normally stable at 18/1.2.  But the penalty for the occasional glitch is an unusable connection.
Why does a profile have to be imposed at all?  I'd much rather have max speed (and the occasional drop which I get anyway) for the 99% of the time that I get really good sync, than have an intolerably low profile caused by the occasional glitch.
I've had a ticket open on this for quite some time, and I'm getting the impression PlusNet simply can't do anything about it.

[#2]

I sympathise, but your impression is correct - Plusnet can't do anything about it. It's the way that the BTw system works, and all ISPs are in the same boat (apart from LLU).

[#3]

Yes, i take the point.
The thing is, they do have the ability to reset a profile manually, do they not?  I can understand why they don't want everyone asking them to do it, but if they can set it, why isn't there the option to fix it, so that the 1% of downtime doesn't have a disproportionate effect on the uptime?
Are there routers out there that let you set the max sync speed yourself?  I wouldn't mind an occasional manual tuning exercise if the disconnects became a nuisance.
dick:quote

[#4]

They can reset their own 'copy' of the profile manually, but they cannot directly alter the BT 'copy' of the profile.  The lower of the two profiles is what determines your maximum connection speed.
They can force a 10-day 'retraining' session in some circumstances, but this is a very limited resource, and can have other side-effects on your line.
Unfortunately, all BTw ISPs are a the whim of the BT DLM system
B.

[#5]

This particular 'law' was written by a gentleman called 'Murphy', i'm afraid.
If the router struggles to reconnect (at a reasonable sync) then there may be an intermittent line issue (fault of noise) or you may have a router fault.
I had an old router that seemed to work perfectly well but would disconnect randomly (only every few days) and pick up low speeds, changing the router solved this for me.
Would you be able to try another router?  Can you run routerstats to see if noise picks up (margin drops) prior to your disconnects?

[#6]

If you manually reset the router, does this make BT's end think there's a line fault and thus hit you further?

[#7]

It seems unfair that a small glitch can drop your Plusnet profile nearly instantly, but when things stabilize the Plusnet profile can take a day to catch up again. Unfortunately in practice ADSL+2 (21cn) does not appear to be the same product we were led to believe it was going to be.
Lenseman.

[#8]

Having similar issues.
After being "upgraded" to the 2CN network, I had serious problems with regular disconnections & consequently very, very low speeds (120Kbps on average)
Part of this I put down to the router (another Linksys WAG54G), as when I replaced it with a old BT Voyager, the line became stable albeit stil relatively slow (980 kbps on average)
I now realise that the problem with the Linksys has probably lowered the IP profile to a stable state. However I am now in the same situation as others, do I reset the router to try and establish a higher profile or would that register with BT's systems as a drop in connection and therefor keep the profile as is?
Hope that someone from Plusnet could give guidance on this.
I also have a long outstanding ticket on this issue (although in their defence, Plusnet informed me that adding a comment to an outstanding ticket pushes it to the back of the queue!!)

[#9]

In my case I had a line fault which has crippled my profile. The fault has been fixed and my router stats are excellent now with potential for nearing 8mbps I think (used to get 6 and that was with a lower snr than I get now so hopefully it will be better), but the profile is keeping me at 2.5

[#10]

Quote from: conival

I also have a long outstanding ticket on this issue (although in their defence, Plusnet informed me that adding a comment to an outstanding ticket pushes it to the back of the queue!!)

That kinda explains why my tickets take an age to get answered 

[#11]

Quote from: conival

Plusnet informed me that adding a comment to an outstanding ticket pushes it to the back of the queue!!)

We've also had that categorically denied.

[#12]

Quote from: lenseman

Unfortunately in practice ADSL+2 (21cn) does not appear to be the same product we were led to believe it was going to be.

Ain't that the truth, typical Rip Off Britain at work.
Roll it out THEN test, instead of ensuring the service before opening it up to the masses..

[#13]

Quote from: Strat

Quote from: conival Plusnet informed me that adding a comment to an outstanding ticket pushes it to the back of the queue!!) We've also had that categorically denied.

I called PN with news of my complete lack of internet connection last tuesday night. I wanted the op to amend my ticket with the bad news. I was told this would put my ticket to the back of the queue.
After the experience I've had with the ticket system over the last (nearly) 2 months, this "back of the queue" thing makes perfect sense to me. It is a stupid system, if it is indeed this way.

[#14]

Just an update.
I left my router on for over 3 days as instructed & there was no change in sync speed.
Powered off/ on, profile has only increased to 1250 kbps, latest download speed: 758 kbps
Really getting cheesed off with this IP profile thing, have requested that PN raise it with BT
Not holding my breath.......

[#15]

conival - the IP profile looks right for the current sync speed on the line, the profile our side now matches the BT profile but you may need a disconnect/reconnect for that change to take effect but that should up the throughput a little.
Now the big question is my is the sync rate so low? The target SNR looks to be 15dB which will bring the speed down but I still think there's something else amiss. The line test doesn't show anything obvious wrong but based on the stats I can see on the ticket I'd say the line should easily be doing double to what it is, probably a bit more with a lower SNR.
I presume you've checked/replaced all the wring/filters as well but they're worth double checking and if you can try the router direct in to the master socket with nothing else connected (test socket preferred if you have one) and see what speed it syncs at.
So long as the line stays stable the SNR will decrease. BT can't see the difference between different resync events so you rebooting is the same as a loss of sync from noise. Errors will also cause DLM to react even if there are no resyncs. With resyncs just try and avoid more than a couple in any 15 minute period.
On the tickets issue, unfortunately if a customer comments on a ticket that is currently waiting to be answered it will push it to the back of the queue, this isn't by design and yes we do want to fix it so it doesn't happen, but the fix isn't a simple thing to achieve. I can't remember off hand what the latest is, but while I've been typing this I've thought of a better way of picking up tickets caught like this than we currently have.