Reduced speed profile set for my account (again)?

[#1]

@jab1  Hi John, I suspect a bit of a noisy line, DLM doing what it does and reducing speeds. From the 
OP it seems a DLM reset was done last time, but not sure any other diagnostics were carried out.

For the sake of less than £10, a cheap phone would help confirm.

But I would say it is time to get a fault reported and proper checks to be carried out.

[#2]

Thanks, @Mustrum . Kind of my thoughts to be honest, but whether @OhWell sees it that way...

[#3]

Out of interest what would a phone plugged in tell you, a crackly line or something?

I still have the fault open with PN, so I might just dig out the Hub 1 and hook it up so they can connect to it, and do whatever tests they do.

For my understanding, if there were issues at some point on.my line (possibly due to infrastructure works), would this DLM sense that and re-calc the line speed lower? If so, could I not just get PN to reset the DLM? (assuming the issues have gone now)

Thanks.

[#4]

Yes, the phone would indicate if the voice side of the circuit had issues, which would affect the data side, and need fixing first.

Your understanding is correct, unfortunately, PN don't have the ability to reset DLM parameters on an FTTC line.

[#5]

@jab1   sorry to correct you John, but PN can submit a request to get DLM reset - takes a day or so these days.

@OhWell   However, give that you had one recently, and your line speed appears to be reducing again suggests there is still an underlying issu, hence my earlier suggestion to get that investigated/fixed.

It is a shame a PN staffer has not popped up on this thread yet and had a look on what is happening. Given your first couple of posts on the thread I suspect you and the Help Desk were talking at cross purposes / hopefully we have helped you to explain what we think is happening and you are able to relay that next time you talk to them.

The cheap phone really is one of the best tools you can have to investigate broadband problems. They don't need to be plugged in all the time, just as a basic check, or of you notice the router going down.

HTH

[#6]

@Mustrum - OK, as I had to say on another topic on our local forum  'I stand - or sit - corrected. 😀

[#7]

Hi Mustrum,

As the fault ticket with PN is still open, when they call back this week I could connect the Hub 1 to the line so they can check the line their end.  Whether they suggest an actual BT Openreach engineer visit I don't know.

If they say they can't see any issues with the line, and the current speed is just what it is, would I be able to shift to the lower package mid-contract?

My downstream is hovering around 40Mb, I might as well be on 10/40 rather than paying extra for 20/80.

Thanks.

[#8]

Hi @OhWell,

I'm really sorry that your speed has dropped again. I've tested your line today and the tests aren't showing any causes for this, but as I can see your speed is artificially restricted to 44mbps by the Dynamic Line Management software, I've done a DLM reset for you, which should hopefully improve your speed within 24 hours.

If anybody's interested in seeing the full results of the test I've just ran, I've attached them below:

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	44.0 Mbps
Upstream Speed	14.9 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	534.9
Upstream Rate Assessment	Low
Downstream Rate Assessment	Low
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
DP Type	External
Profile Name	0.128M-44M Downstream, Error Protection Off - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2022-10-13T17:30:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	11.4 Mbps	43.9 Mbps	19.6 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	7.8 Mbps	14.9 Mbps	9.5 Mbps
Up Time	850.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	899.8 Sec
Retrains	0.0 Sec	1.0 Sec	0.0 Sec

Current and Last 15 Minute Bin Performance
Parameters	Last Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)	Current Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)
Start Time Stamp	2022-10-26T17:00:52.385+01:00	2022-10-26T17:15:52.385+01:00
Ingress Code Violation	0	3
Egress Code Violation	0	0
Errored Seconds	5	2
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

If your speed doesn't improve or if it does then drop back down again, then we're probably best arranging an Openreach engineer to visit you and investigate further to try to get to the bottom of the problem for you. 

As for moving to the lower fibre package while in contract, I'm not sure if that's possible but I'll be happy to arrange for one of my colleagues from our Customer Options Team(0800 013 2632) to call you back to discuss further. If you'd like to go ahead, drop me a private message with your phone number and a rough time frame when you'll be available for a call. 

^ I've just asked and it's not possible, unless we're in a position to waive termination charges, for example if we've been given 30 days to try to bring your speed above the minimum guaranteed speed we've promised and have been unable to.

[#9]

@OhWell, having spoken with a colleague from the team, he's happy to downgrade your service to the basic fibre package if you agree to a new contract with us. Let me know if this is something you'll want to discuss further. 

[#10]

@OhWell   given your lines expectation as shown in the earlier BTW DSL checker, the results in @Gandalf  GEA test above are very disappointing. Clearly there have been issues for a while with those averages. 

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	11.4 Mbps	43.9 Mbps	19.6 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	7.8 Mbps	14.9 Mbps	9.5 Mbps

Quite frankly as is the offer to allow you to move to Unlimited Fibre, but with a new contract.

Were it me, I would be insisting on the fault being properly investigated, rather than being fobbed off and accepting speeds much less than your line is capable of, and quite likely to get worse.

[#11]

@Mustrum, I don't believe by making an offer is fobbing them off. I've provided all the options. Happy to arrange an engineer visit if the speeds don't improve by the DLM reset or if the speeds do drop again. 

[#12]

Hi all,

Just done a speed test on the router, and they are currently back at around 50Mb now.

Will monitor to see if this is stable, but fingers crossed. Thanks

[#13]

Awesome that's good to see @OhWell and thanks for the update.

Fingers crossed all is well but let me know if you have any further issues

[#14]

@OhWell   any chance you could post details/pic of the DSL settings from the Advances status page as a comparison from earlier.

Thanks

[#15]