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DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

brush6136
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DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

I have the 40 mbps/ 2 mbps product & this has been running OK since March 2016. Normal unloaded speeds are around 36.7 & 1.9.

During the past couple of months, DSL stays up far longer than internet service. Current info from the hub shows that DSL has been up for 51 days & internet for only just over 2. This pattern is consistent. I very rarely get internet connectivity that exceeds 25 days.

I use on demand services a fair amount on a Humax Freesat STB & PVR. BBC iPlayer seems to be most affected by potential variations on the line & I have to provoke a reconnection by repeated presses of the play button. Netflix on the other hand hardly ever has this issue.

Anyone have any ideas on this? My plusnet hub is connected to the only phone socket in the house. Humax Freesat box via 2.4ghz wi-fi which generally has few issues of this type & is in the same room as the hub no more than 2.5 metres away. Apart from a couple of tablets, mobile phone & 1 Win 10 & 1 Linux Mint devices (not all on at the same time).

If I use the Panasonic Freeview TV independently of the Humax the iPlayer, can have similar connectivity issues. My internet disconnects generally seem to happen when not using the kit in the wee hours.

Any ideas on this gratefully accepted. TIA.

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MrSilver
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

On some other threads there seems to be some issues with the hub and uploads. 

 

If in the wee hours do you have any devices doing overnight backups?

 

@Chris in another thread you were able to show upload traffic? Can you see anything on this line in the wee hours? 

brush6136
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

Thanks for the reply. No I have no devices doing a backup. Maybe the nearest to this might be the odd sync of new photos from my Android device, but this traffic would be very small.
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Chris
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

The RADIUS logs we can see show the PPP connection through to us, there's only been 1 drop we've seen in the last 34+ days.

Do all devices have the same issues? Or just the wireless ones?

Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
brush6136
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

Apart from the issue with iPlayer, I don't have issues with any specific device. The drop in the internet connectivity seems random. It's just that I find it odd that dsl is up for some time but the internet connectivity lasts for a shorter period of time (don't know if that's right it's just that I've not noticed anything like this before with any ISP). Generally the overall performance seems good.

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Chris
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

How often are you seeing these drops? More than the graph is showing?

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brush6136
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

I haven't been keeping a record so maybe I should now. So any response I give at this stage will be subjective. I only "see" this by looking at the entries on the hub. What I'll start doing is checking the entries daily that way I'll be able to come up with some facts rather than me giving an impression of what's happening. I'll also investigate when iPlayer plays up. The BBC seems to always go for the assumption that it's your connection that's an issue. As I said earlier I just don't have any issue with Netflix. I'll also try to pinpoint the exact time & the error from the logs in future.

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DS
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

From reading I think you are suffering from WiFi connectivity issues

 

If you click on the following link - Plusnet Hub Manager - tap enter (if your password is already filled in) and you will be taken to your Hub's wireless page.

 

Then click the 5GHz Wireless tab, from there select no on the Sync with 2.4GHz

Now add -5GHz to the existing wireless SSID and click apply.

 

Any modern WiFi enabled devices will now see two SSID's in your property - at 2.4GHz (your hubs SSID) and 5GHz (your hubs SSID-5GHz).

If these devices are in a fixed location (ie PVR) and the signal strength is good, you can select the new 5GHz SSID option as it's faster, but shorter in range.

 

Moveable devices (eg mobile phones) that see both can be set to connect to either - so if you're near the Hub you'll get a faster WiFi connection, but those devices that move away from the hub (eg in to another room) should automatically connect to the original SSID (at 2.4GHz)

 

Note: 5GHz is better in close proximity, 2.4GHz will be better at a distance.

 

I think your devices have been 'bouncing' between both spectrum's, thus the issues I believe you are seeing and if you delete the 2.4GHz SSID from it's memory, your issues might well improve.....

 

You may also wish to go to this hub page - DHCP - and increase the lease time to the maximum of 21 days (click apply before closing the hub manager page down)

 

edit to correct DHCP link - I use the other IP address settings on the hub and posted this by mistake. Sorry!

brush6136
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

Thanks for your reply. No I'm not suffering any (known) wifi or any other connection issues that I'm aware of. I noticed that the entries in my Plusnet hub showed shorter Internet connectivity than DSL. I've never seen this situation before. Usually if there is an issue I see DSL disconnection and of course a disconnection from the internet service.

In fact as I write this I'm using a laptop directly connected via a Gigabit ethernet card to a port on the hub, & don't get any issues there. The same is true with my other devices no matter if the wifi is 2.4 or 5 Ghz.

My only issue is that using BBC iPlayer sometimes I get what appears to be some kind of interference, but this occurs whether or not I'm connected via WiFi or ethernet cable.

What I'm trying to understand is why the hub is showing a shorter amount of connection time for internet connection than for the DSL, and if there is any link between the iPlayer issues. The other on demand service I use being Netflix I never have any issues with.

I have the 40/2 product & the speeds I experience are as good as they're going to be I think. I am the only user and my property is a small bungalow, the maximum distance by wifi away from the hub is around 4 metres.

Notwithstanding the usual imperfect performance of WiFi generally (your body being the biggest interference factor very often) I don't really have apparent issues with device connectivity. Including this machines direct connection to the hub, I connect using Homeplugs, both bands of WiFi.

As I said earlier I'm trying to understand the fact that the hub is showing internet connection shorter in time than DSL. My next step is to try & see if this also includes connectivity problems at the clients irrespective of whether it's wired or not.

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dvorak
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

Just to be clear, when you say internet service are you referring a PPP reconnect logged on the router or something else?
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DS
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

Do these drops tie in with when the BBC iPlayer is in use?

(before you answer I don't think it's related to the DSL)

Having had a very brief look around the www, this post (it is old), possibly posts above and below does discuss the BBC iPlayer, Panasonic, Humax (and Sony). I'm certainly not trying to take the blame off PN or indeed the hub

What version hub is it?

brush6136
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

I don't usually see in the logs any incidence associated with the internet disconnect. Sorry I'm trying to build a picture of these events so I can try & home in on what might be happening.
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brush6136
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Re: DSL up for many days. Internet nowhere near as long. Issues with BBC iPlayer.

The answer is no. I just had an "event" on iPlayer where there seemed to be some delay in the stream but when I checked the logs on the hub there was nothing. So maybe there is some small condition that is affecting iPlayer but I don't know what it is. This can happen when running from the Humax STB, but I've also experienced this from the TV (Panasonic Viera) version of iPlayer. What usually happenings is that the stream seems to be interrupted, transmission pauses & if I press the play button usually starts again.

The hub details are Plusnet Hub One | Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 | Last updated 25/09/16.

Around 36 hours ago I did lose DSL whilst watching a Netflix stream. The service recovered & has been up ever since. If I watch iPlayer with a live program either on this Linux box or Windows 10 I haven't experienced any issues.

It may of course be a problem that will have to get worse before anything positive is revealed & to allow further reveal of an issue. I guess all I can do is keep on logging when these events occur & report back when something key changes.

 

Don't use a big word where a diminutive word will suffice.