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Unrequested BB Change

tiffy
Rising Star
Posts: 136
Thanks: 22
Registered: ‎01-05-2009

Unrequested BB Change

Very satisified Plusnet BB & phone customer for a long time, happy with ADSL2+ service even though FTTC is available to me, very stable line, no disconnects, good speed, more than adequate for my requirements.

Happened to notice this open question on "my questions" did not receive any e-mail notification to this effect.
"A LLU PSTN cease has been placed on this account. This is due to complete on 07/11/2017 23:59:59"

Responded with following.
"Please explain this message, it was certainly not raised by me. I have no known issues with my phone or BB systems ?
I was not aware that Plusnet had LLU presence at my exchange, is this now the case ?
If so what are the implications if any to my current ADSL2+ service ? "

This response received on 8/11/16, after the change had taken place on 7/11/16.
"Sorry for the confusion, we have been migrating customers to our own dedicated network and our system has somehow not recognised this and sent you this ticket. The only implications for your service are that you are now on the new network which will only bring benefits as we have more control over how it is managed.
There is a LLU presence in your exchange "

As it happens, I have a "Sam Knows" White Box monitor and religiously monitor & record my router stat's., have observed the following since re-synch after the change on Monday 7/11/16..
My downstream synch. speed has dropped from 16256 to 14762 Kbps.. (was synch'ed for over 3 months prior)
My downstream SNRM has increased from a stable average of 3 to 6 dB..
My downspeed data speed has dropped from avg. of 13.25 to 12.5 Mbps..
My UDP packet loss has increased from zero to avg. of 2.2%..
UDP latency has dropped from avg. 22.6 ms. to 20.9 ms.. (Not that important to me, not a gamer)

I have records available to support all of the above recorded changes on Sam Knows White Box, Thinkbroadband speed records & RouterStats clearly showing the before & after effects.
Absolutely nothing has changed with my system, all changes appear to have occured on Mon. 7/11/16 at the planned implementation time.

Although I still have a stable BB connection, it certainly is not as fast as it was prior to 7/11/16, the only noted improvement being UDP latency which is not that important to me.
It's a bit of a concern to me that I only found out about these changes by chance and wonder what the response would have been to any subsequent issue I raised regarding speed drop or increased packet loss ?

Any staff member care to comment ?
Should I raise a ticket ?

8 REPLIES 8
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Unrequested BB Change

I don't know but I suspect that changing to the new network has forced a dynamic management reset at the exchange hence the increase in default noise margin from 3dB to 6dB but I have no idea at all about the increase in packet loss except that there are a few threads on here where customers on the new network are seeing fairly horrible packet loss

ClassicLaddie
Dabbler
Posts: 19
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Registered: ‎30-12-2015

Re: Unrequested BB Change

tiffy, your post has remarkable similarities to an issue I have been investigating for several months. Historically, I have enjoyed a very good adsl2+ service with plusnet.  However it changed around August / September this year. I believe I was migrated around then, and it was a bit of a bumpy transition. My service eventually settled but after it did, performance was down noticeably from what it had been. For me, the new network has not brought any notiecable improvements. I eventually gave up trying to find an issue and I am coming to the conclusion what I get now is just how it is. I have opened a ticket as a last resort and have had some feedback to say my line had incorrect settings. That doesn't mean much to me but I am patiently waiting to see what comes of my ticket.

The last few words of your plusnet response 'we have more control over how it is managed' when they talk of the new network may be a clue. With my service, its as if someone is constantly fiddling about with the settings on something like a stingray traffic manager but not getting it quite right. 

I would recommend opening a ticket to have your service checked and not spend too much time wondering why it has suddenly changed. 

 

  

billnotben
Community Veteran
Posts: 7,689
Thanks: 2,164
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎23-09-2010

Re: Unrequested BB Change

I also had a drop in max line speed when I was moved to the new network.

Some have said that this can't be related but the 10% speed drop has me convinced otherwise.

The new network is all about control. And I think plusnet are exercising their control.

That is the whole point of the new network. It has nothing to do with benefiting the customer. It's all about benefiting the supplier.

tiffy
Rising Star
Posts: 136
Thanks: 22
Registered: ‎01-05-2009

Re: Unrequested BB Change

Many thanks to all for replies to date.

Yes, many similarities with all recorded, in my case I can tie down the changes to an exact date and time from my live Sam Knows White Box recordings and my router re-synch records, considering this with the original "open question" I was mistakenly sent, see first post, I don't think anyone can possibly be in doubt that the changes recorded where the product of the migration performed on 7/11/16.

However, will give Plusnet tech. staff the chance to respond, nothing heard to date, still early days.

Strangely enough, on checking my "White Box" monitoring records this morning, my UDP packet loss has returned to zero since 18:00 hrs. last night, before my first post !
My downstream synch. & data speeds are still down as reported, my SNRM remains at avg. 6.0, was avg. 3.0..

Tiffy

tiffy
Rising Star
Posts: 136
Thanks: 22
Registered: ‎01-05-2009

Re: Unrequested BB Change

Well, certainly looks unlikely that any Plusnet staff are going to comment on my issue !

Also noted today while speed testing on the BT Wholesale test page that my downstream IP profile has been reduced from 14.34 to 13.03 Mbps., my upstream IP profile remains unchanged.
The BT speed test reflects the same loss from pre migration tests as already reported.

On the bright side, my packet loss remains at zero since 18:00 hrs. last night, had been consistantly much higher since migration on Monday as already reported.

If my packet loss remains OK, think it will be a total waste of time raising a fault ticket, don't think that anyone will be interested despite having all the evidence to hand, today's lack of input from staff demonstrates this.

Has anyone actually experienced improvement to their line stat's. post migration to the Plusnet "new system"  ?

Tiffy

Chris
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Posts: 17,724
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Unrequested BB Change


My downstream synch. speed has dropped from 16256 to 14762 Kbps.. (was synch'ed for over 3 months prior)
My downstream SNRM has increased from a stable average of 3 to 6 dB..
My downspeed data speed has dropped from avg. of 13.25 to 12.5 Mbps..
My UDP packet loss has increased from zero to avg. of 2.2%..
UDP latency has dropped from avg. 22.6 ms. to 20.9 ms.. (Not that important to me, not a gamer)

 

The majority of those are going to be related to the change from 3db to 6db, packet loss and latency are the exceptions.

 

I've requested that the SNR margin is reduced back to 3db as it was previously, this may take an hour or so to go through.

 

Let us know how the packet loss is looking after this change.

Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
tiffy
Rising Star
Posts: 136
Thanks: 22
Registered: ‎01-05-2009

Re: Unrequested BB Change

Chris,

Many thanks for your intervention, much appreciated.
Have just logged on today, from RouterStats I can see that your requested SNRM change from 6 to 3 dB. took place at approx. 12:00 midday, my router re-synch'ed at 16,096 Kbps., virtually back to pre-migration speed, happy with that.
A quick check on DS data speed showed that this has also returned to pre-migration speed.

From my White Box stat's., UDP latency remains at the improved post-migration figure.
Again from White Box stat's., UDP packet loss spiked high at the SNRM change / re-synch. as would be expected, this appears to be slowly dropping down to near zero again, will further monitor (1 hour WB sample rate)

Worth noting that after the migration at approx. 04:00 hrs. on 7/11/16, UDP packet loss quite suddenly dropped to zero again at approx. 18:00 hrs. on 9/11/16 and remained there until todays SNRM change / re-synch..
This occured after my initial post but I did update in a later post.

SNRM of 3dB. has always worked well on my line, very stable, no disconnects, usually manually re-synch'ed every 3 months or so to refresh the connection.

Currently happy bunny, if the UDP packet loss drops a bit more with time as it did after Monday's migration should be back to normal with the bonus of a slight improvement in latency.
Will further monitor and report.

Tiffy

tiffy
Rising Star
Posts: 136
Thanks: 22
Registered: ‎01-05-2009

Re: Unrequested BB Change

Further update to Chris as promised:

Glad to report that my UDP packet loss as monitored by SN White Box returned to near zero with 2 hours of the SNRM reset which took place at approx. 12:00 hrs. on 11/7/16, apart from the odd, short duration packet loss spike which occasionaly appears on the White Box graph, all well, in fact, looking back through my historical monitoring data, this has always been the case, certainly pre-migration on 7/11/16.
All speeds and SNRM stat's. have been perfectly stable, same as pre-migration if not slightly better.

So, all in all a good result, quite happy with the outcome.

Again many thanks for the intervention, SNRM reset and general support.

Regards, Tiffy..