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What's happened to my connection?

NorthPole
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What's happened to my connection?

Up until the Plusnet 'great crash' on 10 September, my ADSL connection had been stable for over 6 months at around 8.5 Mbps downstream, with a S/N of +- 3dB. On the morning of 10 September, I found that the S/N had fallen to an unsustainable 0.9 dB, with thousands of serious error seconds (SES) reported, doubtless a response to the general connectivity problems.
However, despite several router restarts once service was restored in the following days, my downstream speed has never recovered. It's now reporting at just over 7Mbps, with a S/N of at least 6dB. What's worse, file downloading speeds have dropped from as much as 950 KB/s to a maximum of 650 KB/s, and at times today have dropped to only double figures - it felt like using dial-up again! Line attenuation in both directions is virtually unaltered, and I would stress that there have been no changes to my computer, router or phone line set-up at home.
I realise speeds can vary with congestion and other factors, but there seems to have been a permanent deterioration in speed since 10 September, at least for me in this exchange area. Is there any hope that things will revert to something like their previous state?
15 REPLIES 15
Townman
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Can you please post the information requested in the speed issues thread - see link below.

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NorthPole
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Townman,
There you go - the Plusnet line speed page gives:
"Estimated line speed:
    There's no speed estimate currently held on your account.
Current line speed:
    6.3 Mb"
Of course, I don't have the equivalents for my line before 10 September, so you'll have to take my word for those figures!
Townman
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Thanks for the figures.
The synch rate is slightly slow for the attenuation, though not much.  It would appear that the target SNRM has been altered to 6dB and that there might be some interference occurring.  Alternatively the repeated dropping of the link in an attempt to 'improve' it could we'll be a contributor to the slow down.
On a good line with no interference, one would expect the mid afternoon SNRM to be right on the target - either 3dB or 6dB.
Is your line quiet?  Dial 17070 option 2 and do it periodically.
@crt,
What is the target SNRM on this line and can you provide a VR plot please?

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Chris
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

It's worth pointing out that the issue on the 10th September would not have made any different to your line stats, this was purely a DNS problem not an issue that caused sync drops or line stats to change.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Townman
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Hi Chris,
I thought the issue was down to routing, giving rise to DNS look-a-like problems?  Wink
Can you please confirm the target SNRM and line history please?
Kevin

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Chris
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Line looks pretty stable:

Loop loss: 40.5
SNR 5.6
Sync: 7210
Indicative Line Quality:  R 
Mean Time Between Errors Downstream (Seconds):  4 
WBC 160K - 24M Medium delay (INP 1) 6dB Downstream, UC Low delay (INP 0) 6dB Upstream (ADSL2+)
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Townman
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Chris,
Thanks for the info.

NorthPole,
MTBE looks really bad and the ILQ being red is not going to help get the SNRM back to 3dB soon.  You are going to need to do the usual speed issues check - plug into the test socket (eliminates your internal wiring) and check the line for audible noise (dial 17070 option 2) on a regular basis - and then raise a fault report.  The cause of the problem is way before the PlusNET network.

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NorthPole
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Townman/Chris,
Thanks for your follow-up on this. I'm away on holiday at present, but will do what you suggest by way of testing on my return and log a fault if it seems appropriate.
As regards the 10 September 'crash', although it may have had nothing to do with the line quality deteriorating, it does seem a strange coincidence, no? Some of the router restarts were my attempts to get a decent connection before realising there was a general problem.
NorthPole
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Townman/Chris,
I've now done the tests you suggested, and can't detect any noise on the line from the master socket other than a perhaps a very slight hiss. But I'm now stumped on how to actually raise a fault ticket - I've been round and round the Support pages without finding anything.
Townman
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Use the broadband fault link in my sig.
...PlusNet have rather hidden it!

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cedlor
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

Just a thought - has your router been left on while you have been away?  If not it may take a while to get up to speed.
Perhaps post the stats and speed test again
NorthPole
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

cedlor - no, the router has been left on all the time I was away.
Townman - it seems it's not possible then just to raise a ticket (as was the case previously), without going through the Troubleshooter?
Townman
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

The trouble shooter ensures that you have done all within your control to eliminate the possibility of a fault within your domain (you area of responsibility) to reduce the risk of a NFF surcharge from BTOR.  Thereafter it also performs some automated tests.

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NorthPole
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Re: What's happened to my connection?

I see that there is planned maintenance work at my exchange (St. Albans) on 8 October, so I think I'll wait and see if that changes anything (one way or the other) before using the Troubleshooter.