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Connection Slowed by 20mbps

jan
Rising Star
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Connection Slowed by 20mbps

Hi All,
  yesterday evening I noticed several times that browsing seemed a bit sluggish. After checking it wasn't only happening on a single site.  I then used speed test several times since and found my connection is now averaging 53-55mbps instead of the roughly 73-76mbps I normally get.  The Plusnet linespeed page says my linespeed is 77.4 mbps

I tried switching gateway but the results are the same.
The computer is plugged in to a 1gbps network and nothing has changed on the router etc...
a 20mbps drop in speed seems quite substantial.
thanks,
Janimal
44 REPLIES 44
Chris
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

Changing gateways isn't going to make any difference, your line has connected to the exchange at a lower speed.
The profile on our side hasn't updated to match yet, but your line is now connected at 58.7Mbps rather than the 79.9Mbps it had connected at previously.
Downstream Speed 58.7 Mbps
Upstream Speed 20.0 Mbps
Profile Name 40M-80M Downstream, Error Protection Off - 10M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off

Is there any noise on the phone line at all? I'd suggest reporting this to us at https://faults.plus.net as your line is now below the estimates.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
jan
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

Hi Chris,
 the phone line sounds the same as normal.  
There were a couple of BT wholesale vans messing around with the old copper cabinet at the top of the road this morning, they didn't seem to be fiddling with the fibre cabinet though.
cheers,
Jan
jan
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

I have reported the fault. The BT wholesale linechecker now says my line is only capable of 56.8
Quote
Download speedachieved during the test was - 55.17 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 40 Mbps-56.83 Mbps .
Additional Information:
IP Profile for your line is - 56.83 Mbps
Terranova667
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

While it is fibre from the exchange to the fibre cab it is still the same copper line to the home so any messing about by BTO at the phone cab could still have an effect because it still uses the phone line for the service just as it does with ADSL, hopefully something can be spotted by support and get the speed back for you. 
jan
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

The support response said they were testing the line and it could take up to 24 hours. There has been no response for two days.
Having just performed a speed test through put seems to have dropped even further.

When can I expect an update to ticket #101439602?
Thanks.
danludlow
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

Your story sounds familiar to me Jan, in fact I could have written it myself. My FTTC started great in June last year and has steadily slowed. In the early days, over 50Mbps was normal Down, and about 19Mbps Up, today it's 35Mbps Down, 12Mbps Up (at the router, it's slower at the PC). My fastest possible speeds have been constantly reduced by BTW and two days ago, when I rang to make an Engineer appointment, I was told that the line could no longer support PlusNet Fibre Extra speeds and I have therefore been downgraded.
It seems that take-up on my Cabinet has been very high, and that the lower speed is crosstalk interference from the many connections to it, a problem with FTTC that is increasingly apparent. I would not be surprised if your slower speeds follow extra connections in your cabinet. I am no expert, so I'm guessing that even one cable alongside yours could have an effect, and more with each added connection. Others in these forums have told me that a speed loss of 30% is not uncommon, and I'd agree. If only it was limited to 30%!
Solutions are being tested and worked on,  seemingly, how good and how soon, I have little idea.
jan
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

I have just learnt a lot about crosstalk in the last couple of days. It is a shame that not a single FTTC provider seems to mention the possibility that your speeds can plummet without warning.  
In fact since speed vs cost is probably the primary factor for most people,  it seems distinctly dodgy to me, that I have to base my purchasing decision on a speed estimate that
1) has no guarantee that the estimated speed  is what can be achieved
2) gives no indication that the achieved speed will be sustained throughout your contract.
There should be an incentive for ISPs and BT to resolve the crosstalk issue, such as pricing by mbps throughput - when your throughput drops, the price you pay drops.
I know most of the neighbours (59 of 100 houses) in our street, and since I also run a community website for the street I know quite a lot about their surfing habits and which ISPs they use!  ADSL & VM cable are the dominant providers, but I guess it just takes one FTTC sign up with the cabling in the wrong place to severely impact speeds.  😕
However at this point I haven't heard anything back from Plusnet, so I'm still hoping that it is an issue other than crosstalk.
Fingers crossed!
AndyH
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

It's very hard to know what the problem might be, particularly if Plusnet have done a line check (which looks like Chris has) and it's come back as a pass.
We will probably see vectoring introduced in the latter stages of this year, start of next year and this should eliminate cross talk.
jan
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

Quote from: AndyH
It's very hard to know what the problem might be, particularly if Plusnet have done a line check (which looks like Chris has) and it's come back as a pass.
We will probably see vectoring introduced in the latter stages of this year, start of next year and this should eliminate cross talk.

Chris said to submit a fault, which I have. I just haven't heard anything back.
Is the max achievable speed for your line returned by the BT speedtest generated by the test itself or taken from a database of some other testing?
AndyH
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

Do you mean the IP Profile? This is based on 96.7% of your sync speed with the fibre cabinet.
What are your estimates like if you put your number in here https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/ ? These are more accurate once your line goes live with FTTC, because Openreach will not know the exact line characteristics before a line is connected for the first time.
Chris
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

The line is currently syncing below the estimates, so we can get this raised as a fault. I think the faults team should pick this up today.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
jan
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

@AndyH
I'm not sure if you've read the thread or not? I have had this FTTC connection since October 2013, they should be pretty familiar with the line characteristics by now? As Chris pointed out I have always synched at approx 76mbps in all that time.
[More editing] Sorry AndyH re-reading what you said makes perfect sense, I apologise for misunderstanding & the tone of my response  Embarrassed
Yes I have done that test, and it gives
                                 DOWN
                       HIGH          LOW
Range A           80              60.8
Range B          74.8           48.4
[edit]
Thanks for the info Chris
jan
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Posts: 126
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps


Plusnet said my IP profile had been stuck on 55mbps so they raised it to 65mbps (which did raise my speedtest throughput to ~60mbps) , when I said it had always been at 76mbps for 17 months they said they would send an engineer out.
So this morning I used speedtest.net, TBB and BTW speedtests & they all gave 60mbps down.  The engineer came & tested my line & said the line was in absolute perfect condition. Then he did a speed test at the socket and got 50mbps - I then did them at the computer & got 50mbps.
So he went back off to the cabinet & said he would give me a call - after getting in touch with BTW & plusnet.
He has just called me and said the only reason my line is slow is because Plusnet capped it.  He has spoken to BTW and they said only plusnet can raise the speed.
He also told me that BTW are going to be having a meeting with plusnet within the next 24 hours, because this is a recurring problem apparently.
So Plusnet, can you please reset my profile back to the 80mbps  I pay for?
thanks.
Oldjim
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Re: Connection Slowed by 20mbps

have you checked what the current line speed is set at https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed and did he do a speed test with the BT login because, if he did, and it was the same it is nothing to do with Plusnet