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Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

bin
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎05-12-2014

Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

Having been met by a deafening silence I thought I'd do a bit more digging.

Back in - I think - April 2015 BT announced that BB speed in our area would be increasing. Lo and behold it happened.

So - apart from a couple of glitches we have enjoyed speeds of around 10-11 Mbps down and 1Mbps up since then.

Lately the d/l side has dropped back to 5-5.8 which is what it always used to be before the BT upgrade.

After some checking on Speedguide.net I realise what had happened. Back in 2015 our line must have been upgraded to ADSL2 - the information here supports exactly the figures I have been seeing. We could not have achieved that speed unless we were on ADSL2.

Since it seems that - as my ISP - PlusNet have control over this service configuration they must have changed this back - at some point in time since my full year line rental payment in December - to ADSL

Any thoughts anyone?

37 REPLIES 37
pjmarsh
Superuser
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

Hi bin

 

The stats you've posted on your other thread show you have ADSL2 upload speeds, so you haven't been re-provisioned onto an ADSL service.

 

I'm no expert on line stats, so could be missing something, but to me your line looks to be performing as I'd expect.  I couldn't explain the why your speed has dropped.  Someone else might be able to spot something though.

 

Phil

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

SpendLessTime
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

From your other post https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/Download-speed-halved-upload-still-good/m-p/1411514#M312395

DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.5

So you are on ADSL2+ as can be confirmed from http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/linestats_explanation.htm

 

  ADSL1 ADSL2 ADSL2+ VDSL VDSL2
Standard G.992.1 (G.DMT) G.992.3 G.992.5 G.993.1 G.993.2
Max Downstream 8 Mbps 12 Mbps 24 Mbps 40 Mbps 80 Mbps

 

Annex A Annex B Annex I Annex L Annex M
DSL over POTS
(telephone)
DSL over ISDN digital services Utilises voice frequency ranges for additional 256kbps upstream Extended Reach - increases range of DSL service up to 7KM Upstream frequency range increased to 276kHz for > 3.5Mbps
VDSL2 Profile8c
Bandplan EU128
VDSL2 Profile17a
Bandplan 998-M1x-A
     

 

Ex - Plusnet Customer (2009 - 2023) now with BT
bin
Aspiring Pro
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

So - here we are some time later and I have had the following response to a lengthy ticket.

"I have tested your line and can find no issues with it. The minimum estimate for your line is 6.5Mbps, this estimate is created based on the known length of the line, joints and materials used to create the line. The line is performing well and within the expected limits with a sync rate of 6.1Mbps."

So, we are around 350m from an FTTC cabinet and my d/l SNR is set to 6............

Repeat question - Plus Net why have you deliberately and obviously cut my d/l speed.

Is it so you can save money on the bandwidth you buy from BT?

Is it to try to force people to upgrade to Fibre?

Is it to improve the quality of our customer broadband experience?

If this is 'Broadband that loves you back' I have to say it is starting to feel like Tainted Love.Angry

 

ejs
Aspiring Hero
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

What makes you think Plusnet must have done something deliberately?

There are all sorts of different things that could affect your line speed, and there are no guarantees that your line speed will never get any worse than it was at some point in the past.

Have you tried another modem? Things don't last forever.

bin
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

I have tried 3 different routers - one brand new purchased specifically to try to resolve this issue - no difference.

Why do I suspect PN? Well, if it had dropped to some odd number that made no sense then I could at consider it to be a fault somewhere. There was no gradual drop off - it just nose dived to 50% of previous.

Also if there was a fault then I'd expect it to show up somewhere - but PN say my line tests out perfectly - so there cannot be a fault - since they control the tap what other explanation is there?

ejs
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

Plusnet have already told you, and it is apparent from looking at the stats, that there is nothing artificially limiting the line speed between your modem and the exchange.

Perhaps looking at bits per tone, SNR per tone or even HLog data from your modem may provide more insight into what the problem might be. If there really is nothing wrong with the line itself and the equipment at each end, then the loss of speed would likely be due to more noise from somewhere affecting the broadband frequencies. And looking at the bitloading or SNR per tone data might help identify any particular frequencies or characteristics of the noise, which might help tracking down the source - if there is one.

bin
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

Thank you ejs - that sounds encouraging. I'm sure that for those with the technical knowledge all this make sense. As a simple end user all I can do is report on what I experience and draw my own conclusions.

The tests that you describe - is that something that PN would normally do? How does one initiate that if they are already saying there's nothing wrong.

It is just a little curious that on more than one occasion last year my speed dropped to half and then went back up after I queried it. If it was fixable then why not now?

Sorry to sound like I'm whinging but getting any kind of sane explanation for this from PN is a bit like pushing fog up hill with a pointy stick.

ejs
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

Unfortunately the things I described are things you'd have to do yourself, using a program such as DSLstats to obtain and display the information from your modem/router.

For there to be something Plusnet can quickly do to restore your speed, it depends on what the problem is or was. If the speed drop was caused by some temporary event which has gone by the time you query it, then there would probably be a quick fix.

JayG
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

What does the BT broadband availability checker give as an estimate for your connection?

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

For comparison purposes, my connection is estimated at 6.5 - 8.5 Mbps downstream, but actually connects at 11.5 Mbps (1.2 Mbps up)

That is closer to the estimate obtained from the Kitz ADSL speed estimator (36 dB attenuation in my case) - for a line of 34dB the estimate is up to 12.3 Mbps.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php

Potential problem for you is if the BT estimate is as pessimistic for your connection as it is for mine, which would make it very difficult for PlusNet to raise a fault on it, even if it has synched much faster in the past.

jelv
Seasoned Hero
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

Your speed does seem a bit slow given your line attenuation.

If you use the quiet line test on your phone is it totally clear with no background noise? (Dial 17070 option 2)

How many phone sockets do you have in the house? If more than one could you post the router statistics with the router plugged in to the test socket inside the master socket please.

jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
bin
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

@ejs Interesting - thanks very much for the pointer. Fortunately there is a linux package so I'll give it a whirl and see what I get.

bin
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎05-12-2014

Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

@jelv Thank you. I only have one socket - the router is plugged in to the test socket. I have used new BT filters, different routers to no avail so far.

Quite line test is absolutely quiet - had problems last year with outside connection point that was damaged and corroded. That was replaced.

This is from the support ticket yesterday - I hope it makes some sense to you.

WP Product: WBC MAX24 mb/s (ADSL2+ Annex A) 448kbit/s Upstream
WP Profile: Generic Speed 5400 Time Out
Ellacoya: Service_Offer_59
Status Check:
WBC 160K - 24M No delay (INP 0) 6dB Downstream, UC No delay (INP 0) 6dB Upstream (ADSL2+)

General Information
NTE Status:           NTE Power Status:     PowerOn     Bypass Status:     
 
     Upstream DSL Link Information     Downstream DSL Link Information
Loop Loss:     19.4    35.0
SNR Margin:     6.9     6.1
Errored Seconds:     0     0
HEC Errors:     0     
Cell Count:     0     0
Speed:     1251     6195


Estimate :
6.5 to 8.5

Product :
Unlimited (Contracted)


CLT : Pass
TAM : Null
NIC : Pass
Consistency Check : Pass

PTTR :

Not available

Notes :
No fault found
CBC usage low

VP = IPSV00019736. - green

jelv
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?

With a loop loss (attenuation) of 35 I'd expect a sync over 10. See http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php

The noise margin is correct so it's not that slowing it down.

Unfortunately, what's happening is almost totally outside of Plusnet's control and is down to OpenReach. Plusnet could ask for your target noise margin to be set down to 3db which would give you a bit more speed, but that could cause line instability which resulted in it being automatically put back up to 6db.

Could you post the results you get when you put your phone number in to the BT checker that JayG posted above please.

jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
JayG
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Re: Why have PlusNet downgraded my service?


jelv wrote: 

Could you post the results you get when you put your phone number in to the BT checker that JayG posted above please.


Yes, if anyone is wondering why post #10 suddenly appeared from nowhere it's because it was apparently trapped by the spam filter and I had to get it released by a mod. (No, I Haven't a clue why it happened.)