Slow speeds and no response to fault ticket

[#1]

Last Thursday some idiot workmen dug up our telephone line and we lost everything. BT fixed the line and restored service on the 8th but seemed to continue working on it over the weekend until the 11th/12th. During this time I was using broadband but I notice a lot of dropouts (and noise on the phone line) and by Tuesday the speed was AWFUL. A quick check showed that the IP profile had dropped to 135 Kbps, presumably as a result of all the drop outs. I raised a fault ticket (no. 36017731) at 4:00 pm on the 12th and waited...Over the next couple of days I posted some more information that I though would be useful for the tech staff. On Wednesday I phoned the fault line to find out what was happening, only to be told that the fault report may not be picked up for up to 72 hours, and if I'd heard nothing to phone back at 4:00 pm tomorrow at which point it could be escalated. I did this but was told because I'd added extra comment I would now have to wait 72 hours from the last comment before the fault was picked up. When I questioned this I was told nothing could be done, 'it's just the way the system works'! Well, if true, Plusnet need to change their systems because they are rubbish. I was however VERY insistent, as I'd been without a proper service for over a week, and I was eventually told it would be immediately escalated. Of course this may have been flannel to get me off the line. I am really bugged by all of this as it is quite obvious to me that it was all the work by BT that has caused the problem in the first place, and what I need them to do is reset my IP profile back to a more normal level (I was getting solid 1500-2000 Kbps rates before the digging - not brilliant but better than my current 90). If I'd know what was going on I'd have been better off just switching off my router until they'd finished messing about. However, the service from Plusnet has so far been appalling - I'm sure with a bit of intelligence applied to the problem we could have sorted it within the day. I know that they have a process to to follow, but it is very frustrating when you know what needs to be done.

[#2]

Hi paulbay,
Welcome to the forum. Your fault has been escalated as it was over the 72 hours. I've just had a look myself and your sync rate is now looking good at 1760, this would give you a profile of 1500. I'll run a line test later for you and see if it's raised then lift ours if necessary. Just leave the router connected until I let you know further.
Jojo

[#3]

Hi paulbay,
Just ran a line check and your profile's up to 1500 so I've just matched our one. If you go into your router and disconnect then reconnect you'll see the change.
Jojo

[#4]

Thanks Jojo. That seems to have fixed it (for now). I'm just hoping that the line is stable as otherwise presumably my profile will drop again. What I don't understand is why the profile went up again so suddenly. Was this something you initiated - after all I know my connection rate was around this figure for at least 2 days. I was under the impression that the new algorithms on ADSL Max were supposed to fix low profiles due to outages much more quickly (hours in severe cases). Mine didn't budge at all for 4 days (stuck at 135) then went to 350 earlier today and now has shot up. I'd just like to make sure that I understand the mechanisms involved so that I know to ask the right questions next time. Frankly I think (given I can't get more than 2000 Kbps I'd be better off with a fixed line speed instead of being on ADSL Max which seems to have made things worse.
Also (sorry to go on) but is it true about adding comments to the fault causing requests to go to the bottom of the pile each time? It seems ridiculous to me, but if true I'd like to know so I can avoid adding useful information to the case in future.

[#5]

Hi paulbay,
I think the suspicions you had about the digging were probably correct. The profile didn't lift because of any intervention, just because the line had become more stable. After looking at it earlier our connection logs seemed to coincide with what you had said so that's why I was failry confident it would go up tonight. As for the tickets the system may see a comment as an update and not progress as it should and that's one of the reasons we have the escalation process which the agent placed for you. Me and the guy who was doing escalations tonight were talking about your fault and after testing we both thought it looks like it's ok now. The fault ticket is back with you now but will stay open for 14 days just incase there's any re-occurrences, whereby you can just pass it back rather than going through the whole fault checker again.
Jojo

[#6]

This is not the first time I've had this sort of problem. What is so frustrating is not the initial period of loss of service while the line's being fixed, but then having to put up with days of disruption waiting for the speed to pick up again even though you know the line is back to normal. This is especially difficult for me as I work from home. It seems to me the DLM is not reactive enough to changes after such problems (from a customer point of view anyway). I understand that from your point of view you want a customer to wait the 72 hours before doing anything, but this is a real problem especially when I've been through five days of disruption already. I've read that lines can be put onto a banded profile which keeps the connection within a certain range of speeds. Given that my line cannot apparently support a high rate anyway something like this (say at the 1472Kbps - 3072Kbps band), would seem to suit me better. Is there a way of requesting this, or is there other problems with this that I am not aware of which make this unsuitable?
The only other alternative that I can see is to use a provider that offers an extended support contract, which guarantees a reply to a fault within an hour and a fix within 24 hours. I know Zen offer something like this - do Plusnet do something similar?

[#7]

Hi paulbay,
As you are on ADSL1 on 20CN we cannot apply a banded profile. This can only be done on ADSL2+ which is not available on your exchange. We do offer something called anhanced care which offers speedier response times but this is a business product which you would be able to get if you transferred your account to business.
Jojo