Upload bufferbloat - router issue?

[#1]

Hi,

I got PlusNet in March and generally I'm quite happy with it, except when I want to upload anything. In that case the whole internet connection basically breaks and no one in the house can even use google until the upload is cancelled. The upload itself is much much slower than it should be and stops a lot. 

I recently discovered this is due to bufferbloat. I've done a speed test and the average upload bufferbloat was 1700 ms. A friend told me that this can happen with some routers and I should be looking into finding a different one. I currently have the Plusnet Hub Zero/Plusnet 2704n. My questions are:

- Could a different router solve the problem?

- Where could I get a different router from PlusNet? I couldn't find anything in My Account

- If I can't get a different router from PlusNet: am I allowed to buy and use non-PlusNet router that I buy myself? I heard that for some providers this can be a breach of contract

Thanks in advance!

[#2]

@wrapkamel Welcome to the forum.

The 2704N has a reputation of not only having poor wireless performance but also suffers badly from buffer bloat. Also bear in mind that with ADSL even the best lines are limited to an upstream rate of about 1Mbps so will always struggle when uploading large files. Have you considered paying a little bit extra for fibre?

As a budget alternative I would recommend a BT Smarthub 6, obtainably pretty cheaply from auction sites such as Ebay. These work on both ADSL and Fibre connections. Whether this will give you a significant improvement is hard to tell unless you try one. Setting instructions are here:   https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-the-BT-Smarthub-6-on-a-Plusnet-Account/m-p/1587673#M85...

[#3]

Hi @Baldrick1 , thanks for getting back to me. Unfortunately in my area I can't get fibre, so the ~1 Mbps is all I can get at the moment. I can work with that, but the issues that I'm having are reducing the speed even further, making it almost impossible to upload anything. 

Thanks for the router recommendation. Just to double check: does that mean that I'm allowed to use a different router with PlusNet?

[#4]

@wrapkamel 

Absolutely, they even tell you what settings to use, see  https: //www.plus.net/help/broadband/broadband-connection-settings/