Connection constantly dropping - OR engineer visit completed, 3 routers tried!

[#1]

Question ref: : 197282184

Hi all,

We've been in our current property just over three months. When we first moved in, we knew a drop in speed was to be expected (since we're about ~2.5km from the exchange) but we had a solid connection and it yielded ~ 8Mb/s. Just before Christmas, the connection become erratic and was constantly dropping (still is!) and producing exceptionally odd stats on my TP-Link router. I raised the issue with PN and an engineer came out for a visit since it was a suspected HR fault. They checked the line, recrimped suspected wet joints at the bottom of our garden and performed line tests and resets to be sure. Everything came back within nominal values and they reported that our line should support ~ 4Mb/s, To ensure it wasn't my equipment - I ordered another two routers (TP-Link, and Billion). So far, the TP-Link has had the same disconnection issues as my previous TP-Link. The Billion has managed to hang on a little longer each time but is still suffering from the disconnects regularly. As a consequence, my connection speed has been throttled by the DLM to ~ 1.5Mb/s.

I have a few questions for you lovely people:

1) If the line tests show no errors, but 3 different routers suffer from continutal disconnetions, does this not suggest a fault in the line / cabinet?

2) Is it worth trying a PN Hub One? (If only to rule out via a complete E2E test that doesn't involve my equipment).

3) Is it possible that this is all due to proxmity to Christmas lights in the area (We have taken ours down earlier, as a diagnostic step - kids were not amused!)? 

4) I'm not receiving my guaranteed download speed - is it worth getting a DLM reset if there is a pre-existing fault?

I had a really great service up until recently. I often work from home - and speed / disconnects will make this impossible.

I don't really want to have to move to EE 4G broadband ...

Happy new year!

Nathan

P.S. Disconnected whilst typing - logs attached.

[#2]

Thanks for your post @nathanrdedman

I'm sorry to hear about the connection issues you've been having.

I've tested your line and it's fair to say it's quite intermittent as the below graph shows

In addition to this, our tests are still showing a High Resistance fault. If you've tried multiple routers already then there isn't much point in sending you one of our routers out as it's not likely to make a difference.

With regards to the speeds, I'm afraid your line isn't banded by DLM at the moment and even if it was we wouldn't look to get the banding removed until the line returns to be stable as the drops you're experiencing would make DLM most likely reapply the banding.

I've taken personal ownership of this for you going forward and the next step I'd propose is to arrange an escalated engineer visit. If you can respond to the ticket on your account here and post back once you've done so I'll get that picked up for you

[#3]

@nathanrdedman 

I saw this earlier today and noticed you have posted in the ADSL section of the forum so I was surprised to see your modem/router logs show it trying and often failing to establish a VDSL2 connection otherwise known as FTTC ( Fibre to the Cabinet ). Can you confirm which PlusNet broadband product you have. Is it unlimited or unlimited fibre. Could you put your phone number (blank it out in the result) in the DSL checker https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/ 

This will give estimated speeds on your line for the different types of connection. You say you had a reliable 8Mbps service until just before Christmas, was it a sudden change to low speed and disconnections? Also did the engineer visit get your speed back up to 8Mbps, I guess not if he said the line would only support 4Mbps, did you get that speed at all?

What I am wondering is why are you on FTTC, at 2.5Km from the exchange you should easily get 10Mbps on ADSL2+ if not a bit higher. If the FTTC cabinet is near the exchange the VDSL2 speeds are likely to be a worse than ADSL2+

It does look like you have a serious line fault, your router is only syncing at 787Kbps down and 592Kbps up which is terrible and the connection graphic shows continuous disconnections. Does the phone line work for voice calls, if not you probably have what is known as a single leg disconnect, that is one of the phone wires is broken somewhere, broadband can still work but very badly as yours is.

I also had a crazy idea that PlusNet have accidentally changed you to a VDSL2 service when you were previously on ADSL2+, it's unlikely but has been known to happen.

It certainly is not Christmas lights and don't even think about trying a Hub1 router, the ones you have are better.😊

[#4]

Thanks @RealAleMadrid. and apologies for my late response.

I think I may have posted in the wrong section of the forum (the disconnects drove me to it!).

We are, indeed on FTTC (FTTP available at a price!) and our contract is Unlimited Fibre.

The drop in quality / service was quite sudden.

Post engineer visit didn't improve things (see attached - currently at 0.5Mb/s). Voice calls work but can be a little noisy, although no noise was detected by the engineer.

We transferred our product from a house that had 70Mb/s - not sure if they assumed that being in a similar postcode after the move perhaps foxed PN? I doubt it.

I can just about live with ~4Mb/s if the connection was solid.

[#5]

Moderator's note(s):

Thread moved from ADSL Broadband to Fibre Broadband.

[#6]

@nathanrdedman 

So you are definitely on FTTC but it is very poor, what I was hoping to see on the checker was the estimated speeds for ADSL services, but unfortunately you have not displayed these. I have a feeling they would give higher speeds than FTTC, if the exchange is only 2.5Km away.

Have you arranged another engineer visit via the ticket link on @MatthewWheeler's post because there is certainly a problem with the line, particularly if the phone is noisy.

[#7]

Hey @nathanrdedman,

Thanks for getting back to us and letting us know how the appointment went.

I can see Matt will be checking back in with you tomorrow to let you know of the next steps and engineer notes.

Thanks.

[#8]

@RealAleMadrid 

I've displayed only what was shown from the checker. It's down at the moment, but I think I saw an ADSL version of the checker? I'll try again tomorrow.

The engineer came again today and this time found an issue! ~180m from the house, there's a loop fault. Sadly, they weren't currently qualified to perform underground work, so it's going to be checked tomorrow or the day after hopefully.

I'll update when I have more info (or resolution!)

[#9]

Thanks for the post back @nathanrdedman 

It looks like an engineer has gone out this afternoon and renewed the drop wire coming into your property. So far you seem to have a stable connection, the longest you've had this year:

Fingers crossed that's the fault sorted out now however as your connection is intermittent @MatthewWheeler is monitoring this and will check this again on Monday.

Let us know if you notice any further issues.