Broadband speeds - making sense of the figures

[#1]

I have a FTTC Unlimited broadband service with Plusnet

I did some tests when it was set up (Autumn 2012) and I have recorded downloads speeds of 20 to 23 and upload speeds of 16. I have a reading from June 2013 of 24 and 6 respectively.

Lately things have seemed not be so great and I was getting readings as low as 8 and 3 respectively.

Today I have run some tests:

I run: https://speedtest.btwholesale.com

It gives:

Ping: 23 ms
Download: 8.37 Mbps
Upload: 0 Mbps


If I run: https://broadbandtest.which.co.uk/

It gives:

Ping: 16 ms
Download: 16.5 Mbps
Upload: 6.9 Mbps



If I run: https://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

It gives:

Ping: 22 ms
Download: 13.09 Mbps
Upload: 5.66 Mbps


With the BT test you can also do additional diagnostic which gives the following information:

Advance Test

Download Test
Download speed achieved during the test was 8.37 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 12.96 - 18.52 Mbps
IP Profile for your line is 18.52 Mbps

Upload Test
Upload speed achieved during the test was 0 Mbps
IP Profile for your line is 10 Mbps

I did raise at ticket with Plusnet and is still awaiting resolution but I am wondering is the BT test flawed in some way? What is that IP profile, is it accurate? How can it be lower download speed range/profile than I was getting back in 2012/13?

Also, why the disparity in tests from BT's 8 up to 13 with one checker and 16 with another all within a short space of time?

[#2]

@picnoir 

Can't help with your specific query but if you put your phone number in here you should get the expected speeds for your line.

/www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Brian

[#3]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from ADSL Broadband to Fibre

[#4]

Cheers, seems to tally up with what I should be expecting.

High of 32, low of 17/18.

Interesting that it has an "Observed Speeds" section saying that on 8th May it detected a "Max Observed Downstream Speed" of 19.99.

Just got a reading of 10 broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk

[#5]

The ticket says:

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Thanks for reporting your broadband problem

Our tests have found a fault with your broadband service.

You've given us all the information we need about your problem, we'll raise this to our supplier for investigation.

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And then

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The Question 201676221 has been released from hold and sent back to CSC - FTTC Faults - Speed

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But no change since 4:51am, Thursday 14 May 2020

[#6]

Hi @picnoir,

Thank you for taking your time to get in touch.

I am very sorry that you are having a problem with our service. Sadly you do not have an account username linked to your profile therefore I am unable to check the process of this for you. Please do not provide this on this platform as this is public for everyone to use.

If the ticket is in that pool that is correct and I assure you our faults team will respond as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Josh

[#7]

Got a response to my ticket with Plusnet:

[quote]I have run a test down your connection and can see that your line is currently banded at 20 Mbps, this means that even though your line has potential to reach higher, it does not have the availability to do so. This is usually due to a previous fault on the line restricting the speeds.I am sending for this banding to be lifted, and this can take up to 24 hours to complete. Therefore please reboot your router on Monday morning and monitor your connection from there.

We will retest your line once this has completed to see if this has improved the speeds to the property for you and will contact you back if we need to do further investigations.[/quote]
I've been getting a lot less than 20 anyway so doesn't fully explain it but the fact the line is currently restricted and may have been faulty before that gives some logic to not getting the performance I once was. Hopefully things will be better after Monday!

[#8]

Found this one banding:

When first activated, your line is 'fully rate adaptive'. This means there's no upper limit to your sync speed (within the capabilities of your broadband product).

If your line drops frequently, has a high error rate or severe noise problems, a banded profile can be applied to aid stability.

This will force your line to sync within the range of an assigned band and is used to limit the sync rate when it's not stable above a certain rate.

I don't really get it. If I have problems with the line shouldn't they be sorted rather than just impose a restriction down until it's "stable"?

If the instability is down to something under my remit they should give me a chance to fix it surely?

[#9]

Now a week since the last update ☹️☹️

[#10]

@picnoir  Are you saying your data throughput speeds have not improved?

You need to check your modem sync speeds to see if the banding has been removed and get back on to support if nothing has changed. PlusNet put in a request to "their suppliers" which may or may not get actioned but PlusNet assume they have done it so probably don't do any further checks so you may not get any update.

[#11]

So last Wednesday I got back to them to say nothing had changed.

They came back on Monday with:

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I have retested your line and can see your speeds are still banded at 20mbps. I have tracked down the unbanding request sent to our suppliers and can see they have advised to book an engineer appointment with yourself in order to progress the fault.

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Then by email today Wednesday (not on the ticket):

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We've had to temporarily pause the investigation of your broadband speed issue while we complete some additional steps. Once this is done we can restart the investigation. Please see the details below:

We need our supplier to complete some actions

Our commitment under the Ofcom Speed Code of Practice means that if we can't get your speed above the Minimum Guaranteed Speed of 15Mbps we promised you, you'll be given the option to leave your contract early without paying any termination fees.

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On the ticket it says:

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Right to Leave PAUSE is performed, following are the details
Reason Code: Supplier Exceptional Cases
Right to Leave Start Date: 14-05-2020
Right to Leave Pause Date: 10-06-2020

User Comments: Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic we are working closely with our suppliers to ensure customers without any broadband or phone connection at all are dealt with as a priority.

Therefore we want to make you aware that there could be a delay in your Speed Fault being updated or the availability of an engineer to resolve this matter should one be required.

As we are signed up to the Ofcom Speed Code of Practice, we want to make you aware that with agreement of the regulator it is possible the 30 day resolution time-frame we quote may not be met.

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It seems almost like they want me to just leave.

It will be 4 weeks tomorrow since I raised the issue and I am now in limbo with no idea when it will be resolved.

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