terrible broadband

[#1]

my internet connection has been terrrible for over a month now. It takes ages to load a page with pictures or an advert. Worst mistake of my life changing to this company.

here is my latest speedtest

http://mybroadbandspeed.speedtestcustom.com/result/aafd62e0-d370-11e7-85b3-095acd4b1f1e

[#2]

What should you be getting ?  and is the test WIFI or wired 

what does it say when you put your phone number in here http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/btwchecker.php

[#3]

my minimum guaranteed speed is meant to be 2.4M

This is via wifi but similar results with various laptops and mobiles.

I usually do a lot of internet shopping but since shopping pages have lots of pictures this is becoming totally impractical now.

Was with talktalk before. Customer service was a nightmare but broadband service was a dream compared to what I have now.

Funny my service was great for the first 30 days when I could cancel without penalty. The decline in service started exactly on my 31st day of contract and it has been like this since that day

[#4]

Hi Gillian,

A warm welcome to the forums.  There's lots which can cause problematic broadband connectivity ... especially in very wet weather, so its best to walk through the basics first please.

Broadband is not going to work well if the "phone" line is not working properly.

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.  From the Q&A list, choose the one which matches the problem, 'open' the 'section' and click the trouble-shooter link.  NB: If you receive a failure message (rather than a log-in prompt) then log-in to the user portal in a different browser tab and attempt to use the trouble-shooter again.

• Phone Faults

What are the expectations for your line? (as per the request above)

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.

• Kitz line check
• Kitz BT checker

How is your line performing?

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.

• TG582n Stats
• 2704n Stats
• Kitz list
• BTw Speedtest
• PN Profile

[#5]

ROUTER STATS

Mode:		ADSL_G.dmt.bis
Traffic Type:		ATM
Status:		Up
Link Power State:		L0
	Downstream	Upstream
Line Coding(Trellis):	On	On
SNR Margin (1 dB):	6.8	13.0
Attenuation (1 dB):	51.5	30.0
Output Power (1 dBm):	0.0	11.6
Attainable Rate (Kbps):	3960	168
	Path 0		Path 1
	Downstream	Upstream	Downstream	Upstream
Rate (Kbps):	3776	108	0	0
MSGc (# of bytes in overhead channel message):	59	11	0	0
B (# of bytes in Mux Data Frame):	118	2	0	0
M (# of Mux Data Frames in FEC Data Frame):	1	1	0	0
T (Mux Data Frames over sync bytes):	1	5	0	0
R (# of check bytes in FEC Data Frame):	0	0	0	0
S (ratio of FEC over PMD Data Frame length):	1.0000	0.8275	0.0	0.0
L (# of bits in PMD Data Frame):	952	29	0	0
D (interleaver depth):	1	1	0	0
Delay (msec):	0	0	0.0	0.0
INP (DMT symbol):	0.00	0.00	0.0	0.0
Super Frames:	60902550	54286112	0	0
Super Frame Errors:	130958	2101	0	0
RS Words:	0	1004635	0	0
RS Correctable Errors:	0	0	0	0
RS Uncorrectable Errors:	0	0	0	0
HEC Errors:	284366	2724	0	0
OCD Errors:	123	0	0	0
LCD Errors:	123	0	0	0
Total Cells:	2286598604	65483131	0	0
Data Cells:	129073929	13228952	0	0
Bit Errors:	0	627	0	0
Total ES:	9684	712
Total SES:	2260	16
Total UAS:	16017	14318

[#6]

Exchange Information
Exchange: Airdrie BT Code: WSAIR Location: Bell Street, ML6 0BS Distance:- Direct:    3.84 km   (appx)* By Road: 4.7 km

[#7]

PLUSNET PROFILE

Postcode:Phone exchange:AIRDRIE

Estimated line speed:

8Mb (This may vary between 4Mb and 13Mb) - Checked on 2017-09-01 18:55:19

Current line speed:

3.3 Mb

[#8]

I will test the phone line as soon as i can find my old wired phone

[#9]

Hi Gillian,

Thank you for all of the information - it is really useful.

Worst mistake of my life changing to this company.

Looking at the information provided, if there is a problem here, then it is most probably related to the phone line between your home and the exchange ... the same line ALL ISPs will use to deliver an internet service.  This line is provided and maintained by BT Openreach.  It is fairly rare that speed issues are caused by the service provided by the ISP, though at the margins, it is possible.

my minimum guaranteed speed is meant to be 2.4M

This refers to line SYNCH speed, not data through put speed which can be impacted by all manner of things from the ability of your PC to noise on the line causing high error rates.  The synch speed reported by your router is 3.77mbps somewhat higher than the guaranteed speed you refer to.

That said the Plusnet portal reports an estimated speed of 8mbps which is way over any reasonable expectation for a 51dB attenuated line, however the line ought to do a bit better than 3.77mbps, but not much.

The Plusnet profile (current speed) is right on the nail for the reported synch speed, so there is no issue there.

So the question remains - "Why is the DATA throughput so low compared to the synch speed?".  The usual answers are...

• There are a lot of errors on the line, often caused by audible noise, sometimes caused by electrical noise which cannot be heard on the line
• Something else (another device or application) is busy transferring data ... could be something in the back ground which you are not aware of such as backing up to the cloud or Windows updates being downloaded
• BT Wholesale's connections to the core internet network are over subscribed

The DS SNRM of 6.8dB points towards the possibility of line noise, but that's not easy to confirm without confirmation from Plusnet of the line's target SNRM.  If it is 6dB then when you took these stats, there was a bit less noise than that which was present when the router was last restarted / connected to the internet.  If the target is 9dB then there was a lot more noise than that present when the router was last restarted / connected to the internet.  The results of the Quiet Line Test will help there.

A bit more information from you will help identify the right way ahead to try to get some improvement.

Can you please perform the BTw speed test, further diagnostics as requested above.  This is a definitive DATA speed test, the results of which are sent to Plusnet and will be used in any further fault investigation.

Also can you please post the services available report from the DSL checker, also mentioned above.

@CTR - can you please post a VR plot (is the line stable) and the error history?

[#10]

every time I run the diagnostics on the btw performance I get this or similar. I have had this every time I have tried for at least a few days

1. Best Effort Test: 

Download Speed : 2.92 Mbps

2. Upstream Test: 

Upload Speed : 0.03 Mbps

Your speed test has completed and the results are shown above, however during the test an error occurred while trying to retrieve additional details regarding your service. As a result we are unable to determine if the speed you received during the test is acceptable for your service. Please re-run the test if you require this additional information.

[#11]

Hi Gillian,

I take it that the BTw speed test does not allow you to do the further diagnostic test?

This is starting to look like there might be issues with the BTw configuration.  Might be beneficial to try the BB fault reporter - see the link below.

Please do the QLT with any phone handset you have available.

[#12]

This is when I press the further diagnostic link and enter my phone number. It looks like it does another test and then that message appears

[#13]

on the quiet line test I can hear a very slight almost inaudible hiss or crackling so I don't know if this is normal. It is very quiet hiss

[#14]

Very low level hiss (a bit like the sound of 'the sea' if you put a sea shell to your ear) is not likely to be an issue, however crackling might be.  Check for this from time to time - such problems can be intermittent and sometimes the use of the phone "fixes" them for a while.

[#15]

So finally when it was performing even worse than usual although I didn't think that was possible without it dying completely I managed to complete the further bt tests successfully. Do I need to raise a fault  or can it be dealt with from this post? I did not reboot the router as requested on the test