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laptop slow and disconnecting internet

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Just wondered if anyone can help. I joined about a month ago from BT. Speed of connection has improved from about 70-80 kb/s to about 150 to 170 kb/s when downloading on a Surface tablet. However, when using an Acer laptop , 3 years old with windows 10, I frequently get dropped off the internet in the middle of long downloads, and have to reconnect, and frequently the speed is down to 5-70 kb/s, although can go up to 170 kb/s for fleeting intervals.

Do you think the problem is likely with my laptop or the router? Can anything be changed on either? Don't want to spend a lot on my computer if it's not necessary.

Have taken out a support ticket and they seem to take 3 days to reply. Say the line is stable and 2 people have said they will send a new router. 2 weeks later and no new router has appeared.

Funny I thought PlusNet were highly regarded for their customer service, but I guess this must have nosedived after their takeover by BT. A recent survey of complaints seems to confirm this.

Last year whilst with BT I had 11 engineer visits to sort out a broadband speed problem. They kept sending telephone engineers when I needed a broadband engineer who could do underground work. I gave up in the end.

Contacting someone in India, and usually a different person each time was traumatic to say the least. Must have spent countless hours trying to resolve.

The only saving grace is its now costing £15 a month for broadband instead of £40.

Cheers

12 REPLIES 12
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,920
Thanks: 9,536
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Hi,

A warm welcome to the forums.

If there is something suspected to be wrong with the line, a new router is not going to solve anything.  We need to go back to basics here and check out everything so that we know what we are dealing with, then we can offer some relevant advice.  You will find the link to the Broadband speed issues link below in helping you find answers tot he following.

Which router are you using (model number) and firmware version?

Is the router connected to the master socket?

Are there ant telephone extensions?

Which master socket have you got?

Is the phone line quite?

Please perform a quiet line test - dial 17070 select option 2 using a corded phone plugged into the test socket behind the face plate of the master socket. It should be silent. A noisy phone line (or no dial tone) will have a marked adverse impact on the performance of broadband.

If the line is noisy or there is no dial tone, then a PHONE LINE fault needs to be raised with your phone provider. If this is PlusNet, you can report a fault on line using the button below.

 

Please post your router stats; for PN TG582n and 2704n routers use the buttons below, for other routers look at the Kitz link.

Also run a BT Wholesale speed test (ideally using an Ethernet wired PC with the WiFi turned off) then run the further diagnostics and post the results here. DO NOT REBOOT the router!

Also find your CURRENT SPEED (PlusNet line profile) from the PlusNet user portal - you will need to log in.

 


@crt can you please post a VR plot? Thank you.

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.

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Thanks for quick reply Townman. Will run tests tomorrow and get back to you

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Hi Townman

Router model : 270N

Firmware version : 7.275.6_F2704N_Plusnet

Router is connected to master socket.

No telephone extensions(openreach saw to that!)

Master socket: MK3

Phone line is quiet. Dialled number - no noise.

By wholesale speed test results download speed (Mbps):1.34

upload speed:0.14

ping latency: 53.25

Current plusnet line speed 1.1Mb

2704 router stats attached as screen capture

 

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,920
Thanks: 9,536
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Were all of those stats taken at the same time in the same connection session?

The speed test results all exceed the reported line synch rate ... that just does not make sense.

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.

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Tests were all done at the same time. Yesterday I received a new router. Took about 6 hours to get it to receive an internet signal despite the "come back in 15 minutes" advice in the router booklet. Anyway, the problem remains the same. I am getting about 150kb/s download on my Surface, and my laptop is either downloading at 20-40kb/s, or is cutting off from the internet despite the wifi saying connected and secured, then having to resume downloads. In the end I just give up and download on my surface. Is there anything I can change in my router settings so my laptop receives the signal better, other than the advice to try different channels - 1, 6, etc

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,920
Thanks: 9,536
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

OK, I see some potential for confusion / miss understanding here.  bps and Bps are so frequently wrongly interchanged, they are different units - bits and bytes respectively.

Line SYNCH speeds are usually reported in bps whilst DATA transfer rates are usually quoted in Bps.

You need to be certain that the performance you are comparing is in comparable units. 150kbps is not so far different to 20kBps.

Whatever, I remain disconcerted by the set of stats you posted before - they just do not "stack up".  The line attenuation reported by the router also looks suspect.  It would be useful to know what the predicted speed is for your line - it gives us a base line against which to assess the reported stats.

Please use the following links to check the services available and their estimated speeds. From the first link, please record and report back the distance from the exchange. The second link advises of which fibre services (if any) are available on your line and their anticipated speed.


 Can you please also repeat the stats gathering, watching out for the possibility of a line disconnection whilst gathering them.

Please post your router stats; for PN TG582n and 2704n routers use the buttons below, for other routers look at the Kitz link.

Also run a BT Wholesale speed test (ideally using an Ethernet wired PC with the WiFi turned off) then run the further diagnostics and post the results here. DO NOT REBOOT the router!

Also find your CURRENT SPEED (PlusNet line profile) from the PlusNet user portal - you will need to log in.


 

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.

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Hi To 200wnman,

Distance from exchange: direct 2.8km, by road 4.2km. ADSL2+ enabled. BT line speed estimate ADSL2+ - 2000kbps (2Mb). FTTC unavailable. Expected by 31/12/17.

BT wholesale rest res. Download speed (Mbps) : 0.81

Upload speed :0.16 , ping latency : 58.00

Current line speed : 0.8Mb

Interestingly, just after the tests I lost internet connection for a few minutes

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

The line has been tested and we can see a low sync rate between the router and the equipment at the exchange, therefore causing a lower throughput speed. To progress your fault, we need to arrange an engineer visit.

Engineer to visit Wednesday morning. Will keep you posted re progress

 

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,920
Thanks: 9,536
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Good news that a fault condition has been found.  That said 2Mbps is I think pushing it for your line at the reported 4.1km - the attenuation figure rather suggests that the line is more like 4.3 to 4.5km (10% longer).

Will await with interest to see what the engineers turn up.

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.

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Engineer visited today. Some imbalance on the line, but also switched my line to the fastest line instead of the worst which it looks like bt did after I switched to plusnet. Seems like there are not enough lines to go around so problem switched to someone elses line. My guess of the problem all along.

My laptop is now downloading at previous best speeds. No doubt will continue until someone else complains about their broadband speed and I get shunted back to a [-Censored-] line.

Thankfully it was one of the broadband engineers who visited me last year, and who knew of the problems from last time. Thankfully too he was qualified to go down the holes and fix it, without me having to wait in fro 11 further visits.

Thanks anyway for your help Townman

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,920
Thanks: 9,536
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Good to hear that you've got a satisfactory result.  For clarity, your line does not get changed when you switch suppliers.  The only time there is a physical change to your line is in a switch from/to a LLU service.  That said it is not unheard of for Kelly engineers (a BTOR sub contractor) to rob a good circuit of one user to fix another user's problem.  There are real BTOR engineers, there's JC Quinn engineers and then there's Kelly technicians!!

Sight of your new stats would be interesting.

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.

u2candothis
Hooked
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎09-04-2017

Re: laptop slow and disconnecting internet

Hi Townman,

please find attached stats taken today. Was able to get 1.8Mb download speed. Tending to go up and down a bit, but can cope with that as long as it stays nearer 1.5 to 1.8.

Cheers