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Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

I've been complaining to Plustnet for the last couple of months about our internet dropping out a couple of times a day. The light would always be blue, with the hub thinking it was connected, but no internet.

Plusnet did whatever tests they do and found a fault at our end and sent round an Openreach engineer. He diagnosed it as the router. Plusnet sent out a new router and I set it up yesterday or Friday.

Since setting up the new router the issue has been even worse, internet is dropping out every few hours, but the light on the router is always blue. Going into the hub manager it says it's connected, but neither the pc (which is connected via ethernet) or any wi-fi connected device can get internet. I've disconnected via the hub manager, re-typed in my password, reconnected, and that doesn't work.

Restarting the router DOES work, every time, but only for a few hours.

Does my router need a firmware update? Is there some issue with the account? Is this another duff router? What's going on?

It's really difficult to phone Plusnet, taking a minimum of 30 mins to get through. I phoned BT just to test how quick it takes with them, and I was through in a minute or two. At this point, it's tempting to just pay the £80 or so cancellation fee to Plusnet and switch.

61 REPLIES 61
BD
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,359
Fixes: 86
Registered: ‎24-04-2017

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @redrook and welcome to the Community Forums.

I'm sincerely sorry to hear you've been having connection issues as of recent and the problems look to have persisted even after changing the router. Checking over your connection I beleive currently there's 2 underlying issues with your connection as it sounds like the problems you've been seeing when devices are showing connected and aren't getting online are being caused by wireless and there are steps which should help in hopefully stopping this for you and saving the need for you to restart the router.
I've included below my guide on how to log into the router and how best to optimise the settings to suit your property and surrounding area and I'd recommend doing both the splitting of frequencies and changing wireless channel to get the most out of this connection type.
I can confirm that your router is on the latest firmware and some of the issues you've seen could be related to a know issue currently with the latest firmware but the steps I've advised below on splitting the frequencies should get around this.

The other underlying issue I believe there is is the connection looks to be dropping intermittently also. When testing I can see also there's a number of errored seconds showing which also hints to an underlying problem with the connection as a whole. Our testing however isn't identifying the location of a fault so I'd advise once you've optimsied your wireless settings and hopefully no longer need to reset the router to go through the troubleshoot steps below at some point to rule out a number of internal factors that could be causing the errors and drops.
 

I'd recommend starting with basic checks here: http://goo.gl/p2tpvL

And if that doesn't help the next thing would be to rule your internal wiring out by plugging the connection into your test socket which is under the face plate of your master socket and seeing if the drops continue. This rules out internal wiring, face plates and extension sockets as being the cause. How to locate the test socket and set your connection into it can be found here:
https://community.plus.net/t5/Library/Testing-From-The-Master-Socket/ba-p/1322242

Feel free to drop us a message when in the test socket set-up and we'll happily re-test your connection from this side to see how it's looking. If the errors and drops persist whislt you're in the test socket then the next step will be to raise a fault regarding this. Let us know how it goes.


As advised here are the steps on how best to optimise your wireless:
 

The guide below will show you how to log into the router and change the wireless channel as it's usually another router in the area on the same or similar channel that will be causing issues for both wireless frequencies. Before picking a channel I'd suggest downloading a free app called wifi analyzer which will scan your area for all the routers and show what channels they are on between 1-13. Although the above app isn't essential it helps you pick where your router would be best in terms of channels and saves a lot of time doing it via trial and error.
 

1) To connect to your Hub One, you will need to open a browser and go to 192.168.1.254 If you have any issues doing this via Wireless, we recommend trying to do it via Ethernet cable instead.
 

 2) You should come to a page with information about your connection, click 'Advanced Settings' at the top and it will ask you to sign in with a Password. This is located on the back of your router under 'Admin Password'
 

 3) Select the option for 'Wireless' followed by '5 GHz Wireless'. What we want to do to begin with is turn 'Sync with 2.4 GHz Wireless' to 'Off' and update the SSID to be different. The easiest way would be to add '-5G' to the end so it is identified as its own connection. Once this is changed, we will need to keep an eye on it for a day or 2 to see if the issue continues. If it does, the next step would be to change the wireless channel. Keeping in mind the original 2.4Ghz unchanged name network connection would be the best to connect your devices  to for a stronger signal.  
(When deciding which device goes on what frequency keep in mind that the 5GHz is designed for close range stationary devices and standard 2.4GHz the one which gets the wireless around your property further.)
 

4) Following the above guide to get to your 'Advanced Settings' page, you will need to change the settings within the 2.4 GHz Wireless tab and the 5 GHz Wireless tab.
 

5) Under the correct heading, you will need to find 'Channel Selection' on the list and change this from 'Automatic' to any one of the other channels, This can also need doing under '5 GHz Wireless' to cover both signals. Give it 3-4 hours of testing to see if the issue still persists and try to change the channel again if you see little or no improvement.
 

 

redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hello @BD , and many thanks for your detailed reply.

Just to quickly confirm what I should do, and what I've done.

 

1. Basic checks - done, bearing in mind I can only check dial tone when I dial a number. It is making a two-tone dial tone, which I do find unusual. Does this indicate an issue?

 

2. I see what you're saying about switching to 5Gz wi-fi, but the connection is not only dropping out over wireless, the pc connected to the router by ethernet is also not getting a connection (although it is now using a wi-fi dongle since we've had to move the router to the master socket). So I'm not sure it's worth changing wi-fi settings. I also need 2.4Gz as I need good signal everywhere in the house and garden (which I usually get). I'm happy to try this if really necessary, but as I say, it's not a wi-fi issue.


3. Plug into test socket - It is now in the test socket.
It's usually on an extension (which was fine previously), but today on master. It worked all night and most of today, but then dropped out about 4pm - so I plugged it into the test socket and reset it. Landline now unplugged. The engineer replaced the master socket when he was here, as he said ours was very old, so the front panel just pops off, no screws to remove.

If it drops out when on the test socket, I'll let you know again too.

 

EmilyD
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 2,032
Thanks: 357
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Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @redrook,

 

Thank you for getting back in touch. The two tone dial tone sounds like what happens when you have a voicemail message waiting - if you dial 1571 it will let you listen to the message.

 

Thank you very much for confirming that the connection problems still occur when you are connected via ethernet and for connecting your router to the test socket. Your connection log is currently showing a stable connection, with no drops for over 15 hours. Please keep the router connected to the test socket for at least another 48 hours and let us know if you experience any further connection problems whilst in this set up.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Emily D
 Plusnet Help Team
redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @EmilyD 

Great, I'll check the voicemail on the landline when it's plugged back in

Unfortunately this morning when I tried to start work just before 9am the connection had dropped. I see you wrote your reply not long before that, but I'm not sure when you checked for drops, but it was definitely not connected at 9am. I tried both on my laptop and my phone.

I reset the router and now it is working again. This seems to me that there is not an internal wiring issue. I will continue to leave it in the test socket and hope to hear from you soon.

EmilyD
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 2,032
Thanks: 357
Fixes: 117
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @redrook,

 

Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry that you've had another drop in connection and for any inconvenience that this has caused you. On checking the connection log I can see that this drop occurred at 9:01am. Please keep an eye on your connection over the next 48 hours and let us know if you experience further drops.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Emily D
 Plusnet Help Team
redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Thanks @EmilyD for confirming, I'm glad you're detecting the drops too.

I'll keep it in the test socket as you say and report back on whether there are any more drops.

redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi again @EmilyD, there seemed to be another drop tonight, I would guess around 6:45pm?

I tried both my phone and laptop, neither could get internet. However, my work laptop didn't seem to lose connection, which is really strange. I didn't think to check whether I could get a connection using ethernet, but I'll try to remember to do so when it happens again.

redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @EmilyD 

Another drop this morning, at about 10:35am. No connection over wi-fi or ethernet. Router is still in the test socket, I feel this now needs to be raised as a fault, as it has dropped several times in the test socket,

adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi Redbrook, sorry to see that problem has continued for you, our connection logs also confirm that broadband dropouts are definitely an issue at present:

 

image16044909426875

 

Please report a fault with us online at http://faults.plus.net and we'll be able to get that investigated and sorted out for you. 

 

 

Moderators Note: Imaged fixed.

 

 

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

HI @adamwalker many thanks for confirming, I've clicked the link but didn't seem to need to do anything else as it says "you've given us all the information we need to investigate your problem". Hopefully the issue can now be resolved, look forward to hearing back.

redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @adamwalker @EmilyD @BD , I only noticed one drop today, some time this evening. Router is still in the test socket, I won't move it until told otherwise. Can I please ask what's being done in relation to the fault raised? Thanks

Alex
Community Veteran
Posts: 5,500
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @redrook 

Sounds like you need to raise a fault, a member of staff will pick up on your thread and should be able to do that for you.

I say that as the link doesn't work for you and I don't want to login using my sisters account to test it in case it flags up a ficitious fault for her. (I would soon know if she had internet problems trust me).

EmilyD
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 2,032
Thanks: 357
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Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

Hi @redrook,

 

I'm sorry that your connection is still dropping. Unfortunately, the fault that you raised hasn't come through to this side. As that is the case, I've opened a fault ticket from here. We'll need to arrange an engineer so that this may be investigated further. Please can you reply to the ticket here with your availability? If you get back in touch on here once you've done that, we'll pick this back up and get that booked in for you.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Emily D
 Plusnet Help Team
redrook
Grafter
Posts: 39
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-11-2020

Re: Connection dropping reguarly, light always blue, router replacement even worse

HI @EmilyD I have replied to that ticket with some availability next week.

Can I please ask why an engineer needs to come to the house? Since the router is in the test socket does that not mean that the fault lies elsewhere? Could it be something the previous engineer did not do at the street box/exchange?

Thanks