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Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

samandmark
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎04-12-2012

Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Hey all,
So, I've been with the 80/20 FTTC service since the middle of December.
Originally this seemed good (coming from a 3.5Mb DSL service).
However we started to get lots of drops at the start of this year, so logged a call with Plusnet on 6th Jan. The speed plummeted around the same time.
The faults team could see that the line was dropping loads, so BT were called out to sort it.
3 weeks later, and 3 or 4 BT engineer visits later the results are:
The engineer has now replaced or checked:
replaced the Openworld modem,
replaced the frontplate,
checked the wiring as it leaves the house,
replaced the wiring to the telegraph pole,
checked the cable between pole and cab - correcting a couple of faults,
changed the fibre ports in the cab,
done a lift and shift of the equipment at the exchange.
The 5 min fibre test gives zero errors (which he said is amazing).
Every line test the engineer completes with his tester gives around 69 Megs, everytime.
However, the moment we plugged your router into the modem, or used a PPoE connection with my username and password, the connection speed drops - normally to about 13 meg down, 5 meg up. (Speedtester.bt.com)
Using his laptop through our router gives the same13 meg - so I know it's not a problem with any of our laptops.
Bypassing the Plusnet router, and performing a PPPoE connection into the Openworld router gives the same speed result. (NB I can't perform the last step of this to use the BTSpeedtester username, as the PPPoE connection won't connect to the internet on that account, and the Plusnet router won't take a blank password)
I have reset the router back to default (not that it had changed).
The engineer feels that this speed issue is somewhere after the BT transport ends - perhaps a provisioning error, or software error with the Plusnet equipment.
I am at my wits end on this. I cannot see where the issue can be. Tech support tell me that the account is correctly provisioned, and they are posting me a new router, however I don't think it;s a router issue as the PPPoE connection removes that.
The line is still showing a few drops (maybe 2 or 3 a day).
How can there be such a difference between the BT Sync speeds (last one was 69.9 Down and 20.0 Up), and the actual throughput? There's no point paying for FTTC, I may as well drop back to my cheap as chips BE connection....
Any help to keep me sane would be gratefully received.
M.
11 REPLIES 11
AndyH
Grafter
Posts: 6,824
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎27-10-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Are the speed tests consistent or do they vary depending on the time of day? Have you tried any other tests like speedtest.net/thinkbroadband?
samandmark
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎04-12-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Hi Andy,
Generally within a meg or so of 13 meg. Sometimes a bit slower early evening. Very occasionally (a once off during a week I may get 19 Mb, but when  I retry it drops down again.)
I've been using mybroadbandspeed.co.uk too.
Thanks,
M.
AndyH
Grafter
Posts: 6,824
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎27-10-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Hopefully your speed profile with PN is set correctly - seems like you've tried everything else!
samandmark
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎04-12-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Thanks! The chap on the phone earlier said it was set all ok. I would have thought though that if the line was good, it would have just maxxed out to the available bandwidth?
I'd like a second opinion on the profile though - just to be sure!
Cheers.
M.
chrispurvey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 5,369
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎13-07-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Everything is set fine on our systems, I can see that we have sent a router out. Let us know how you get on.
samandmark
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎04-12-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Thanks for checking it out Chris.
We'll see when the router arrives. I'm not sure though, as it's still slow using PPPoE straight to the modem.
Fingers crossed. If it's not that then I think we've tried everything.
This evenings speeds:
Today 20:33 10498 kbps (1.31MB/s) 2853 kbps (357kB/s)
Had to restart everything when I got in to get a connection up.
Cheers.
M,
chrispurvey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 5,369
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎13-07-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Something not right there, well the router is on it's way to you now anyway. I'm going to give the faults team a nudge about this.
samandmark
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎04-12-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Thanks Chris.
The router has arrived, so I'll plug it in this evening and see whether that helps.
<fingers cross>
M.
samandmark
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎04-12-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

Posted here as well as my support call - just for wider input into ideas on the issue...
So, I swapped the router out yesterday evening.
Speed is still the same:
19:50 - Tuesday evening - 13526 down, 5266 up
11:48 - Tuesday evening - 11210 down, 7010 up
06:59 - wednesday morning - 12350 down, 9720 up
07:00 - wednesday morning - 12030 down, 6550 up
It's as I feared, no improvement...
M.
chrispurvey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 5,369
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎13-07-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

I've already informed our faults team so we're just awaiting there response.
Estragon
Rising Star
Posts: 811
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎07-02-2012

Re: Slow FTTC - 70Mb for BT, 13Mb for Plusnet - Where is the issue????

@samandmark
If you run the BT Performance Test, note the latency down, but then go to the Further Diagnostics button below the results and click that.
That will give you graphics we can ignore, two text boxes of results with more info in than the basic test, and some other text.
Please can you copy and paste everything that is inside those two text boxes?
I suspect banding has been applied to the line because of the errors you were getting.