connection and speed problems

[#1]

Yet again I have to fume at the connection and speed of my PN service. After my last grumble and the plusnet bods saying nothing was wrong with my speeds or connection, things improved for a while. But it seems today we are back to square one. Dial up would be quicker.
I'm not a technical person in any way and a lot of the terminology is beyond me, but to me, if a computer is giving acceptable speeds one day, then slow and stop the next, it doesn't mean its filters etc when they haven't been touched or interfered with in any way. To me its their traffic management that causes it. Am I not right?
Sorry for the rant but I'm at the end of my tether with it.

[#2]

Hi peanut,
I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems with the speed of your connection. I've taken a look and can see a number of disconnections as seen here:
<img src="http://community.plus.net/visualradius/generated/image14037994612253.png"/>
I've also attached your line statistics below. It's not the Traffic Management that's causing the problem that you're seeing, for more information on how Traffic Management works, this is probably a good read: http://community.plus.net/blog/2012/12/21/its-unlimited-why-is-it-still-traffic-managed/
Your SNR is very high for one reason or another, and really, we could do with knowing what's causing it because this is the reason for your low speeds. Has anything changed internally recently or have you installed any new electrical equipment? Are you able to connect into your Test Socket with an alternative microfilter, just to be sure?
Even if the microfilters haven't been touched, doesn't mean they aren't faulty, anything can become faulty at any given time.

[#3]

Quote from: peanut

To me its their traffic management that causes it. Am I not right? Sorry for the rant but I'm at the end of my tether with it.

Hi Peanut,
It does depend upon what YOU mean by traffic management.  The vast majority of problems such as this are down to either internal equipment issues or the line between your home and the exchange - not the part of the solution between the exchange and the ISP (PlusNet).  There is a bit of technology (DLM) which manages the line when there are operational difficulties between the exchange and the router - this is BTOR's DLM.  In order to keep a problematic line working, it will raise the TARGET SNRM which has the consequence of lowering the speed.  This is NOT traffic management in the commonly understood sense.
Problems can come and go like the wind, especially bad joints - poor performance in wet windy weather and happy as "Sam" on good days.  The difficulty with such problems is that they can be hard to locate, with the consequence that both user and supplier can become quite frustrated by performance and inability to resolve.  A problem which is not showing when inspected cannot be located and fixed.
Is your phone line noisy?  Dial 17070 option 2.
Is your router connected over a phone extension socket / cable?  These can pick up electrical interference being generated by a failing power supply, a degraded central heating switch or a multitude of other devices.
You say you are non-technical - do you think that you can get your router stats and post the here please?  If you use the PN Supplied router, you will find them here - http://192.168.1.254/cgi/b/dsl/dt/?be=0&l0=2&l1=0 - you will need the username and password for the router.
Hope that helps explain.

[#4]

Hi Chris
Thanks for the quick reply.
The picture you've put up states in one part "on-line for 3 days". What does that mean please ?  I've never been on-line for 3 days continually. I don't actually understand it anyway. I said I was hopeless with IT technology.;
I will change the filters to see if it helps. Since I posted my grumbles I went on to one site and it took about 4 mins to download the page !
Kind Regards

[#5]

Hi Towman
Thanks for your reply. A bit technical for me tho.
I've done the line check and it sounds perfectly clear to me. The computer is on a line extension tho not a long one. As I said to Chris I will change the filters and cross my fingers.
I'll have to wait for my other half to check router stats whatever they are..
Kind Regards

[#6]

Ps; I did mean to ask. Would these problems not happen if I had fibre ?

[#7]

Hi Peanut,
If there is a problem with your internal wiring or the local line, you will see similar problems with fibre.  If the issue is with the cabinet to the exchange or exchange equipment moving to fibre would eliminate those problems.
Your extension lead between the phone socket and the router (even if short) is not likely to be helpful.

[#8]

Quote from: peanut

The picture you've put up states in one part "on-line for 3 days". What does that mean please ?

The image shows the connection between the "router " component of your modem-router and Plusnet's kit - the markers are where the connection drops and reconnects and indicate when the internet is not accessible. This mostly occurs when a resync happens but not always (Plusnet are not able to monitor the sync status).
The "on-line for 3 days" tag doe not mean you were using the connection, but that the link to the internet was available for use continuously for that length of time.