Slow internet on peak hours

[#1]

Hello, has anybody noticed a noticeable slow down in the internet speed during morning and evenings? (Peak hours)

I wake up early in the morning and I can enjoy YouTube and a good browsing speed, however when my wife tried to access internet later during the morning everything is sooo slow sometimes it does not even load web pages, not taking about video streams.

The connection is stable and works perfectly fine outside peak hours.

It looks like the network is way too congested and it cannot cope. I have been feeling this since a few months.

I do not think they can fix anything apart from upgrade the network, which is not going to happen.

Do I still need a landline phone to be able to do tests to raise a support ticket? If so, I will not bother.

I regret having move home with Plusnet, I am stuck with them for at least a year and I cannot wait to go to some other serious provider.

[#2]

Welcome to the forums @josemaria.

The simple answer to your query is yes, you will get congestion and possible slowdowns in performance during peak hours, especially if you live in built-up areas (like most people), but to be honest, unless your connection speed is really low, it shouldn't make the system unusable.

Are you using a wired or wireless connection?

If the problem is true network congestion. then it is true that only upgrading that is going to help, but that is up to BT/Openreach and PN or any other ISP cannot do anything about it.

Yes, a landline phone is needed to completely do the full checks, but if it is merely peak time congestion, them I think you can ignore that element.

As to 'being stuck' with Plusnet, moving ISP would not make much difference, unless you moved to Virgin, if they are available in your area - all other ISP's have to use the BT network, and the cogestion would remain.

[#3]

I was expecting a response like that. And it is unusable, the speed drops so much that for instance fast.com does not even load and when it does shows speeds in the kbps range, really pathetic.

As pathetic are networks in this country apparently. Really switching to another provider will not make any difference? What about switching to Fiber broadband? would that push a bit the speed? Despite the fact that IMHO calling it "fiber" is bullsh*t as the optic fiber does not reach anywhere near your home, at best fiber to the cabinet then VDSL (which could be even worst...)

[#4]

@josemaria Just for the avoidance of doubt, I am NOT a Plusnet employee, merely customer like you, but I have worked with and used computers for 35-40 years, and been on the internet almost as long as it has been available to home users, so I have gained a great deal of knowledge and experience.

If I, or any other of the knowledgeable customers on here are to help you, then it would help if you could, at a minimum supply us with as much of the detail requested in the Broadband speed faults sticky at the top of this board - https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/ADSL-Speed-faults/m-p/1270245#M297501 is the direct link.

No switching to another provider will not make any appreciable difference - as I said above, they all - except Virgin - use the BT infrastructure.

You COULD possibly get better speeds on FTTC, but availability and performance will depend on where you are, your distance from the street cabinet, and the take up of FTTC in your immediate vicinity.

I personally have no experience of FTTC - my standard BB is sufficient for my needs, but if you can get it, the chances are you will see an improvement, unless the cabinet is a long way from you. It is described as 'Fibre to the Cabinet' because that is what it is - the last leg from the cabinet to your home is still the copper cable, but that is unimportant.

[#5]

Hi @josemaria,

Please accept my apologies for the issue with your broadband speed.

After testing the line, I detected that the virtual path your circuit is provided through was over utilized (meaning your speed will decrease during in peak times.) After further inspection, this was cleared two days ago and more bandwidth became available for your area.

If you are still experiencing the issue after turning your router off then back on, please run a speed test here via Ethernet cable on Internet Explorer / Microsoft Edge. Personally I would steer away from using fast.com as when I have performed a speed test on both speedtest.net & fast.com they both provided very different results, speedtest.net been the most accurate.

Once you have performed the speed test, if it is lower than your estimated speed of 16 to 19.5Mbps, click further diagnostics then begin test. This will send the results from your computer to our server so we can progress the issue with our suppliers if necessary.

Along side this, please reply to the ticket here so we can investigate the issue further.

Thank you.

[#6]

@Jubby - Thanks for that.

@josemaria - It may still be helpful to follow my suggestion re: the speed faults link I provided - sometimes we can help a little quicker than PN (sorry, @Jubby- no offence meant. )

[#7]

Interesting, my wife just restarted the router today, so I will do the speed tests and check how it goes now.

I will provide more info for @jab1 just for curiosity sake

Thanks you.

[#8]

No offence taken @jab1.

@josemaria,
Let us all know how you get on. Please note, stop or remove anything that could be effecting your bandwidth such as downloads, updates, streaming and power-line adapters.

Thanks.

[#9]

I have done the tests you asked, then rebooted the router and tested again. It looks very fluctuating with an upstream always low. These are the router stats and results of the tests. This is the information from the router around 3 hours after a full restart:

DSL Type:	ITU-T G.992.5
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:	828 / 16,841
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:	460.58 / 526.56
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:	12.2 / 21.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:	14.2 / 27.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:	7.9 / 5.9
System Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	TMMB / ----
Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	BDCM / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):	16 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):	2 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):	-
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):	257 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):	3,628 / 39,695
CRC Errors (Up/Down):	10 / 114
HEC Errors (Up/Down):	1 / 2,382

Following http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ test results:

	Download:     14.56   12.59  14.9
	Upload:       0.5     0.36   0.29
	Ping Latency: 151.5   49     82.5

	Further tests: 

	Download speed achieved during the test was - 14.9 Mbps
	 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4 Mbps-21 Mbps.
	 IP Profile for your line is - 14.86 Mbps

	Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.28Mbps
	 Additional Information:
	 Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

This is the information from the router just after a full restart today around 17:55:

DSL Type:	ITU-T G.992.5
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:	828 / 16,708
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/MB]:	494.13 / 15.78
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:	12.2 / 20.9
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:	14.2 / 27.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:	7.5 / 6.0
System Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	TMMB / ----
Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	BDCM / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):	-
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):	33 / 12
CRC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 0

Following http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ test results:
	Download:     9.98   15   15.35	
	Upload:       0.2    0.6  0.54
	Ping Latency: 47.75  49.5 49

	Further tests: 

	Download speed achieved during the test was - 15.35 Mbps
	 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4 Mbps-21 Mbps.
	 IP Profile for your line is - 14.74 Mbps
	 
	Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.54Mbps
	 Additional Information:
	 Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps
	 

[#10]

Hi @josemaria 

I've just looked at your Estimates on the DSL Checker  and it's showing you are only able to get a max of 1/5 up/l - his would be on a wired connection. 

I can't seem to see anywhere on this thread if you are using Wifi or connected via a LAN cable? 

Our suppliers do not guarantee upload speeds so it can be difficult to get them to investigate and resolve these types of issues but we are more than happy to look into this for you and try and resolve the issue.
 

Could you possibly run a speed test during "non" peak times and compare to the results you just got? 

Thanks, 

MoR

[#11]

---

@josemaria wrote:
I have done the tests you asked, then rebooted the router and tested again. It looks very fluctuating with an upstream always low. These are the router stats and results of the tests. This is the information from the router around 3 hours after a full restart:

DSL Type:	ITU-T G.992.5
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:	828 / 16,841
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:	460.58 / 526.56
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:	12.2 / 21.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:	14.2 / 27.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:	7.9 / 5.9
System Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	TMMB / ----
Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	BDCM / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):	16 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):	2 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):	-
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):	257 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):	3,628 / 39,695
CRC Errors (Up/Down):	10 / 114
HEC Errors (Up/Down):	1 / 2,382

Following http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ test results:

	Download:     14.56   12.59  14.9
	Upload:       0.5     0.36   0.29
	Ping Latency: 151.5   49     82.5

	Further tests: 

	Download speed achieved during the test was - 14.9 Mbps
	 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4 Mbps-21 Mbps.
	 IP Profile for your line is - 14.86 Mbps

	Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.28Mbps
	 Additional Information:
	 Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

This is the information from the router just after a full restart today around 17:55:

DSL Type:	ITU-T G.992.5
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:	828 / 16,708
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/MB]:	494.13 / 15.78
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:	12.2 / 20.9
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:	14.2 / 27.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:	7.5 / 6.0
System Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	TMMB / ----
Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	BDCM / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):	-
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):	33 / 12
CRC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 0

Following http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ test results:
	Download:     9.98   15   15.35	
	Upload:       0.2    0.6  0.54
	Ping Latency: 47.75  49.5 49

	Further tests: 

	Download speed achieved during the test was - 15.35 Mbps
	 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4 Mbps-21 Mbps.
	 IP Profile for your line is - 14.74 Mbps
	 
	Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.54Mbps
	 Additional Information:
	 Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps
	 

---

Thanks for those stats, @josemaria. The only things that look (to me) a little worrying are the error figures in the first set of figures, but as I still can't get my head around when or which to be concerned about, I'll leave it it to the CS guys to comment further if required.

[#12]

@josemaria

Are you connected via an Ethernet cable or wireless? This is key as assuming that you are using a Plusnet Hub Zero the wireless performance of these is known to be what can be politely described as pathetic (as you may deduce, like @jab1 I am just another customer).

I note this from your stats

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:	828 / 16,841

Assuming this is the sync speed, this shows that both your upstream and downstream link to the exchange is good. It's possible of course that your problem is BT infrastructure congestion but...

The other thing is to make sure that, assuming that you have a Hub Zero, there are no other downloads going on when doing an upstream speed test. The Hub Zero suffers from a problem called buffer bloat and large downloads absolutely slaughter upload speed.

If you are using wireless and a Hub Zero then my advice is to ditch it and get a BT Smarthub 6 from Ebay. I have recently bought another, having sold my spare to a friend to fix his problem, for less than £20. Setting them up on your Plusnet account is simple and instructions can be found on the router board. These have very good dual band wireless performance providing you separate the bands. Again full instructions are available on this forum..

[#13]

The tests were made connected to Ethernet with the WiFi disabled. IE, Windows 10, no other download unless there was any OS hidden ones.

I am also writes about the errors, there are many.

I have a Thomson Technicolour tg582n.

[#14]

I've noticed that the upstream sync has remained at 828Kbps after at least a couple of reboots. I'm not aware that's a banded figure, but it looks suspicious to me, especially as at the reported attenuation the sync should be over 1Mbps (for comparison, my 38dB attenuation (D/S) connection is currently giving me an upload sync of 1.2Mbps at a SNRM target of 6dB)

The upstream SNRM target of @josemaria's connection looks as if it could be 9dB, which is a bit high, Can't say whether a line reset would fix that because the line does appear to be subject to errors, but perhaps it should be considered.

[#15]

Hi @josemaria,

If you are able to, please can you try an alternate router. Everything on the line is looking fine when I'm running tests, so the errors may be related to the router. Please let us know how this goes.