Very slow broadband / frequent line drops

[#1]

We have service provided by Plusnet since December 2021. The property had a phone line but no phone service for several years and never broadband.

We have had approx 5 site visits by Openreach - master socket changed

All connections cut and remade on the various DPs between the house, our lane and the main road

Last weekend the broadband router dropped the line over 15 times. (told this by Plusnet when I called about poor speed)

Our speed is dreadful, cannot get more than about 3mbps down and rarely above 0.5mbps upload

Would be interested in knowing how to get the extended test results that show signal/noise ratio etc

Our exchange is not in Openreach's priority list for upgrade and FTTC/FTTP is not available with no estimated date when it may be available.

Computer is a Dell Precision connected via Cat 6 directly to the Plusnet router.

One master socket only, one phone also connected to master socket (socket is 2 port version) 

No extension cabling, no external filters

[#2]

Text from Plusnet email after PN told me about the line drops

Thank you for your patience. Our suppliers have advised us that they have fixed the issue you reported to us. We have run further diagnostics and we can see that your service is now working as expected. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. If there is anything else that we can help with then please do not hesitate to get back in touch. You can reply to this ticket through the Member Centre Contact us facility or you can call us on 0800 432 0200 Kind regards, Plusnet Support

Sms Message: Our suppliers have advised us that they have fixed the issue you reported to us. We have run further diagnostics and we can see that your service is working as expected. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.]

Openreach said no fault found when tested at master socket (to us) and nothing to fix 

[#3]

line tests

[#4]

Another update from PN. Line speeds have improved too

Great News! Your fault should now be resolved!

Our suppliers have advised that they have resolved the fault affecting your services. Upon testing the connection today, we can see that it is working correctly.

Because of this, we have now closed the fault report. If you are still experiencing problems with your service, please get back in touch by giving us a call on 0800 432 0200 between 08:00-20:00.

Kind regards,

<Moderator note: Agents name removed as per Forum rules>

Sms Message: Plusnet: Great News! Our suppliers have advised that they have resolved the fault affecting your services. Upon testing the connection today, we can see that it is working correctly. If there is still an issue, please call us on 0800 432 0200. Thank you.]

[#5]

Hi there,

I'm really sorry for the connection issues and you've had so many engineers out.

Is all okay now or are you still having problems? 

[#6]

Hi Gandalf,

Looking at the logs - WAN

we had multiple line drops on the 15th August

3 drops on the 20th

then another last night (23rd) at 20:21

Currently today at 09:57 speed test gives me Ping 102ms, downl 3.73mbps, upload 0.63

compared with Monday 22nd at 12:45 - Ping 34ms, download 6.34mbps and upload 0.77mbps

seems the improvements I saw on Monday have dropped down again

thanks - any suggestions ?

[#7]

Hi Gandalf

can you advise if these SNR figures are acceptable too ?

17:47:28, 15 Aug. (1633036.000000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=7360Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=7.2dB, Up=11.0dB
17:47:45, 15 Aug. (1633053.680000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=7360Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=7.3dB, Up=11.0dB

17:53:55, 15 Aug. (1633423.010000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=7584Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=6.0dB, Up=11.0dB
17:54:12, 15 Aug. (1633440.070000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=7584Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=6.0dB, Up=11.0dB

17:56:53, 15 Aug. (1633601.020000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=7360Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=7.2dB, Up=11.0dB
17:57:10, 15 Aug. (1633618.040000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=7360Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=7.0dB, Up=11.0dB

18:23:37, 15 Aug. ( 108.320000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=6752Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=3.9dB, Up=11.0dB
18:25:50, 15 Aug. ( 241.630000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=1280Kbps, Up Rate=896Kbps; SNR Margin Down=14.3dB, Up=11.0dB
18:26:09, 15 Aug. ( 260.540000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=1280Kbps, Up Rate=896Kbps; SNR Margin Down=15.4dB, Up=11.0dB

18:34:14, 15 Aug. ( 745.560000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=1280Kbps, Up Rate=864Kbps; SNR Margin Down=3.2dB, Up=10.0dB
18:34:36, 15 Aug. ( 767.220000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=1280Kbps, Up Rate=864Kbps; SNR Margin Down=5.0dB, Up=10.0dB

09:40:25, 16 Aug. ( 81.220000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=7712Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=6.1dB, Up=11.0dB
09:40:43, 16 Aug. ( 99.550000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=7712Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=6.1dB, Up=11.0dB

11:04:21, 16 Aug. ( 5117.850000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=7488Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=7.4dB, Up=11.0dB
11:04:41, 16 Aug. ( 5136.950000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=7488Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=7.5dB, Up=11.0dB

13:53:34, 20 Aug. (360860.990000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=7488Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=5.5dB, Up=11.0dB

20:21:18, 23 Aug. (643317.400000) ETHoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 35 Down Rate=7712Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=6.4dB, Up=11.0dB
20:21:48, 23 Aug. (643347.190000) PPPoA is up -​ VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=7712Kbps, Up Rate=928Kbps; SNR Margin Down=6.5dB, Up=11.0dB

thanks

[#8]

I've taken a look for you and testing your line isn't showing any issues. From what I can see your router's getting a download speed of 7.7mbps, and upload of 0.9mbps. Apart from the drops you've mentioned, your line seems stable recently. 

When you've run a speed test today, is that still from your computer wired directly into the router using an ethernet cable? Also were all other devices turned off and nothing else running in the background on your computer at the time? 

I've attached below the test results if it helps:

xDSL Status Check

Circuit ID: [CBUK redacted] Service ID: [BBEU redacted] Telephone NO.: N.A. Test Executed On: 2022-08-24T10:05:24.330Z xDSL Status Test Summary Sync Status: Circuit In Sync General Information NTE Status:   NTE Power Status: PowerOn Bypass Status:       Upstream DSL Link Information Downstream DSL Link Information Loop Loss: 28.3 43.2 SNR Margin: 9.6 6.5 Errored Seconds: 0 0 HEC Errors: 0   Cell Count: 0 0 Speed: 928 7712   Maximum Stable Rate (KBPS): 3424 Fault Threshold Rate (KBPS): 2739 Mean Time Between Retrains (Seconds): 86400 Mean Time Between Errors Upstream (Seconds): 86400 Indicative Line Quality: G Mean Time Between Errors Downstream (Seconds): 1080

Connection logs for the last 30 days

[#9]

Thanks Gandalf

Speed test now running at 34ms, download 6.53mbps and upload 0.74mbps - a lot better performance than at 10:00 today

PC attached via ethenet to the router.

any explanation to what was going on on Sunday evening & Monday for all those restarts ?

Last night, internet access stopped and orange flashing light on the hub, (I didn't reboot hub) , service came back after  a few minutes

[#10 · Accepted solution]

Ah I'm glad to see that your speed's improved now.

As line tests aren't showing any issues, I'm afraid I can't explain what's caused those drops, but it may be worth keeping an eye on things and hopefully drops aren't too frequent moving forward. 

Let me know if you have any further issues though. 

[#11]

yes, will do.

thanks again

[#12]

Hi there, I've just checked back on this for you and I'm glad to see the connection has had an uptime of over 6 days which is great: <img src="http://visualradius.plus.net/visualradius/generated/image16618602715251.png"/>

I trust that matches the experience you've been having?

[#13]

Hi Adam,

yes service has been stable since the end of August until this week

Very slow download yesterday - BT wholesale line test showed between 0.0 and 0.5 download and 0.6 upload. I spoke with Danny in customer support and he requested a line reset which seemed to have done the trick yesterday.

Today, however the broadband went off - nothing in the logs for WAN - however what's strange is that there are no log entries at all after 31st August - is there a way to tell if logging is enabled ?

broadband came back on after a few minutes

thanks

Robin

[#14]

Hey @dyha5b,

I'm very sorry to hear that you've experienced a drop today. I've had a look over the account and can see there have been a handful of drops over the last few days, so I ran a test to see if we could detect what's causing the problem. We couldn't find the exact cause, but testing does indicate a potential issue with the home setup. Is the router currently setup in an extension socket or the master phone socket, do you know? Additionally, has anything changed in the home setup recently, such as a new device being introduced or the location of equipment being moved around, etc.?

[#15]

Hi Alex

Router connected to 2 port master socket

phone also connected

no external filters

only 1 phone handset

no other changes - its been ok for several months now since openreach's last visit

Jack has arranged for openreach to visit on Friday morning as the phone line is noisy too

thanks

robin