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Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Booboo12
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Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

hi i usually email support when i have a problem but the option has disappeared. I am deaf and cant call support. can anyone help me. my internet is dropping out almost daily and its frustrating as i have to reset up all my tv etc and my hearing equipment each time.

30 REPLIES 30
Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Hello,

A warm welcome to the forums.

One has never been able to email Plusnet for obtaining support - there used to be not proficient chat service.  Plusnet offers a range of assistive access methods for support, see https://www.plus.net/help/legal/accessibility/ but if your broadband is your only internet connectivity, using NTG might not be convenient.

This forum space is arguably better than chat for written support.

The first step on sorting out internet issues is to check the state of the telephone line.  Do you have any hearing at all, or someone who could check (listen to) the line for you?  The remote phone fault checking will not always find faults which might be discerned from the subscriber's end, so for example as a crossed connected line, where due to an engineering mistake in the local cabinet your line becomes connected to a different line.

Broadband is not going to work well if the "phone" line is not working properly.

Please perform a quiet line test - dial 17070 select option 2 using a corded phone plugged into the test socket behind the face plate of the master socket. It should be silent. A noisy phone line (or no dial tone) will have a marked adverse impact on the performance of broadband.

If the line is noisy or there is no dial tone, then a PHONE LINE fault needs to be raised with your phone provider. If this is PlusNet, you can report a fault on line using the button below.  From the Q&A list, choose the one which matches the problem, 'open' the 'section' and click the trouble-shooter link.  NB: If you receive a failure message (rather than a log-in prompt) then log-in to the user portal in a different browser tab and attempt to use the trouble-shooter again.


 The above test will speak the number associated with the line, thereby verifying that the line is connected correctly.

You could run through the phone fault checker (link below) and also follow the broadband speed checker (again see the link below).

Also sight of your router stats would be helpful if you can access then please.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

BD
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
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Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Hi @Booboo12, thanks for getting in touch and I'm sorry you're having connection and speed issues as of recent. I can confirm when testing over your connection from this side currently we're seeing 22.4Mbps download currently reaching your router which looks to fall within the 20 - 29.5Mbps download estimates we have for your line. Looking over the connection over the last week or so I can see there looks to have been a few drop outs which have occurred shown by the graph below however not enough drops occurring that would highlight an underlying issue that we can raise with our suppliers.

 



Can I ask then, are the drops above in line with the issues you've been seeing your side recently or have you been seeing more drops than the above graph shows? I ask as the issues you've described could be solely wireless related and I beleive how the graph compares to the issues you've been seeing may help narrow this down. Are the devices you notice the drop outs and speed issue son solely wireless or wired connections also?


 

Booboo12
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Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

No, Its dropping out far more than the graph shows. often just for a minute or so but its enough that I have to put the password back into eveything.

The devices are using wifi but its the router thats going to orange thats causing the problems.

Gandalf
Community Gaffer
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Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Thanks for getting back to us @Booboo12 

Putting your password back into your devices indicates the wireless signal is dropping so I'd recommend changing the wireless channels within your router's settings. I've included some steps below if you're unsure how to.

There's some information here https://community.plus.net/t5/Plusnet-Blogs/How-to-boost-your-wi-fi/ba-p/1450193 with an explanation on why you might need to.

1. Go to the router's homepage at http://192.168.1.254
2. Click on the Advanced Settings tab
3. Type in the admin password found from the back of the router and click the OK button
4. Click on the Continue to Advanced Settings button then the Wireless tab
5. From here you'll be able to change the wireless channel.

It's generally a case of trial and error, changing one channel and retesting to see how it goes, but if you download a wireless analyser app, you should be able to find out which channels are least being used to make the trial and error process easier.

I'd also recommend carrying out the below steps to make the 5GHz wireless network visible.

By default this is merged into a single network name that your devices see, so your router will automatically connect your devices onto whichever frequency that it believes to be best, whether that'd be the dual band 5GHz or the regular 2.4GHz wireless but sometimes it's better to manually choose which one to use.

Once you've carried out these steps below, you should be able to manually connect your devices on to the 5GHz wireless network which is generally faster and doesn't succumb to interference in the same way as the 2.4GHz network.

1. Go to the router's homepage at http://192.168.1.254
2. Click on the Advanced Settings tab
3. Type in the admin password found from the back of the router and click the OK button
4. Click on the Continue to Advanced Settings button then the Wireless tab
5. Click on the 5GHz Wireless tab
6. Select No next to Sync with 2.4GHz
7. Change the name of the Wireless SSID to something different
8. Click the Apply button and wait for the change to be applied

Also if the light on the front of your router regularly changes colour by itself, could you plug your router into what's known as the test socket explained Here making sure there's no extension cabling between the telephone socket and your router, as this should rule out any internal wiring from causing the issue. 

If you're still having issues after you've tried the above steps, let us know and we'll send you a new router as the next step in getting to the bottom of the problem.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
Booboo12
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Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

router still dropping out and its not showing all these on the log. Speeds now well below guaranteed minimum. Please could you investigate further.

 

 

Performance Test Results Report Basic Performance Test - Time Stamp Latency Download Upload Friday 11 June 2021 | 6:58:48 26 Ms 10.24 Mbps 3.78 Mbps Advanced Performance Test - Download Test Download speed achieved during the test was 10.24 Mbps For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 20-21.42 Mbps Your DSL Connection Rate: 0 Mbps(DOWN-STREAM),0 Mbps(UP-STREAM) For your connection, the maximum achievable download speed is 21.42 Mbps IP Profile for your line is 21.42 Mbps Upload Test Upload speed achieved during the test was 3.78 Mbps For your connection, the maximum achievable upload speed is 10 Mbps IP Profile for your line is 10 Mbps Summary Advanced Performance Test - Result Message This test was not conclusive and further testing is required. This might be useful for your Broadband Service Provider to investigate the fault. Note:An error occurred while trying to retrieve additional details regarding your service. As a result we are unable to determine if the speed you received during the upstream test is acceptable for you service. Please re-run the test if you require this additional information. Please visit the Speed Test Guidance if you are unable to understand the test results.

Marksfish
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Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

I had a router problem which did the same. The TBB graph (http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/monitors.html) would show long periods of total packet loss, but still show connected on the PN logs. I had to have a new router in the end.

Mark

adam945
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
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Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

@Booboo12 Thanks a lot for sharing your results.

 

To reiterate my colleague's previous message, these drop outs do not appear to be apparent on our end, In this case, I'd advise you to check out our troubleshooting guide to see if this helps.

 

Common Broadband issues and how to fix them: https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/connection-troubleshooting/

 

Looking at the profile, it appears that a reset is also necessary, this has also been raised and a Ticket has been created with our Technical Support Team to monitor.

 

 

 Adam
 Plusnet Help Team - Leeds
Booboo12
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Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Open reach have been out to us many many  times over the last three years its a fault with the copper lines  somewhere on fennant road ponciau. Not our property and not in the cabinet itself. They have spent hours themselves monitoring it at our home and could see it drop but not register. 

Booboo12
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Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

so our router was down 5 times between 6.30 pm and 11.40 pm last night again. We are sure not all of these are being recorded on your logs.

Could we possibly try a new router

BD
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
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Registered: ‎24-04-2017

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Hi @Booboo12, thanks for getting back to us. Looking over your connection yesterday evening I can see the connection dropped twice at around 7pm and just before 9pm however we can't see the other drops you've mentioned. Can you confirm if you turned the router off and back on at any point yesterday evening at all?
As it's clear there looks to be a router/wireless related issue occurring due to the amount of drops which aren't showing this side then the first approach we'd advise would be to run through the wireless improvement steps and changes.

Can you please confirm then which of the below checks you look to have carried out so far?

 

- Split the 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless frequencies?
( When deciding what device goes on what frequency it's worth keeping in mind that the 5GHz is designed for close range stationary devices and it's the standard 2.4GHz frequency which does most of the heavy lifting in getting your signal around the property.) Some customers disable the 5GHz frequency completely and advise this helps which may be worth trying if you've exhausted other options.
 

- Tried numerous wireless channels for the 2.4GHz frequency to see if issues improve?
( Sometimes it can take trying all of the 1-11 channels to see which best suits your property however if you have an android device then there's a useful app which may help called 'wifi analyser' (blue and white wifi icon) which will show other routers in your area and what channel they are on giving you an idea of what channels would be best for you. When testing other channels I'd recommend looking at the speeds/performance you're getting as opposed to the signal bars as they can be sometimes misleading.)
 

- Is the router currently positioned away from any large electronic / metal devices that could be interfering with the signal?
(Specific devices that can commonly effect wireless are TV's, boilers, radios to list a few.. We advise that if possible the router is place unobstructed as this helps with wireless performance.)
 

There are some cases where customers are surrounded by things that cause interference or a large number of routers all trying to compete on similar channels. If this is the case then we can only advise looking into 3rd party equipment such as wifi extenders, power line adapters or more advance routers which may help combat the interference. I'm hoping though that my breakdown of the wireless improvements will give you a few things to try you may not be aware of that hopefully helps and saves the need of additional equipment.
 

Let us know how it goes and I look forwards to hearing from you further.

Booboo12
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Hi,

to confirm ,We did not switch the router off at all.

I have done all advised with the wi fi, no devices  on the 5ghz.

we already have a wi fi extender for the upstairs of the house as our connection was poor. This is working fine.

Our issue seems to be with the router dropping randomly, not with the wi fi.

Booboo12
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Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

we have used the wi fi anylyser and have it on what looks the least congested but best signal.

The only equipment the router is near is the pc which is connected via ethernet

Gandalf
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Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

Thanks for getting back to us @Booboo12 

Do you see more drops than pictured below? If you do, does the light on the front of your router change colour?

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
Booboo12
Dabbler
Posts: 23
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Registered: ‎17-06-2019

Re: Deaf customer needing support.fibre broadband keeps dropping out frequently and speeds slow.

yeswe had 5 drops in total friday evening between about 6 and 12pm. no idea about the rest of the day as I was at work.

One drop yesterday.

Been ok so far today.

Yes the light on router changes to orange with a B on it each time it drops.