Download speed drops over the period of a week

[#1]

Hi,

I wonder if people have experienced this issue and have any idea what may be causing it.

I have VDSL (FTTC) service that reliably syncs at 40 Mbps down (I’m ~1Km from the cab), I see a reduction in download throughput over a week eventually leaving me with 10 Mbps down (via ethernet) which is well below the 20 Mbps guarantee (still sync at 40).

When an Openreach engineer (or I) simply pulls out the DLS cable at the master socket and pops it back in 2 seconds or so later, the router reconnects at 40 Mbps sync again and the throughput is back to 35Mbps or a bit higher. Then the cycle repeats. Good for a few days then at some point the download throughput starts to degrade ...

Any ideas?

Plusnet support have got to the point of saying that all avenues have been investigated and are offering to release me from my contract!

I have Asus DSL-AC68U router fully patched.

If Plusnet staff are looking, my 8 month old ticket ID is 206983092, I would not recommend starting from the top as I have had what I expect are a number of issues some which have no doubt been corrected, the current problem is shown above.

[#2]

@prosser99 

Your hub has the reputation of having a very poor chipset so before going any further I would try a different one. Do you still have your Plusnet hub? if so try it for a week to see if it’s any better. If you need the Asus for better wireless coverage then reconfigure it as an Access Point and turn off the Plusnet hub Wireless.

[#3]

Hi @Baldrick1, what was that 'very poor chipset' assessment based on? Professional reviews, comments here, personal experience? Personally I've found it rock solid until this particular problem cropped up. 

I was advised to buy a 3rd party router (by plusnet) as the plusnet router caused issues with the kit in our cabinet resulting in frequent disconnections. If I go back to the plusnet router I will be disconnected many times a day which will is even worse.

When I disconnect the DSL cable at the faceplate as I mention, that is all I am doing by the way, I am not rebooting the router or power cycling it. 

[#4]

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@prosser99 wrote:

When I disconnect the DSL cable at the faceplate as I mention, that is all I am doing by the way, I am not rebooting the router or power cycling it. 

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What you are doing is dropping the DSL then re-synchronising with the street cabinet. Your equipment might not have changed but other things might have downstream of your property. All that you can surmise is that there's some sort of incompatibility between the chipset in your hub and that in the FTTC cabinet that builds up some sort of a bottleneck.

[#5]

Well there's was definitely an incompatibility between the Plusnet router and the cabinet as I was asked to use a different router. 

Nobody at Plusnet or Openreach (it's been escalated to a high level so I'm talking to 3rd line / Openreach REIN engineers) have suggested swapping out the Asus.

Yes, I appreciate disconnecting the DSL line drops the connection etc.

Cheers.

[#6]

@prosser99  Unfortunately you seem to have chosen the worst possible device as the alternative modem/router. Openreach engineers will not have a clue about how bad it is, I would strongly suggest you try a different device. A BT HH6 is a cheaply available option. Not too sure why the Plusnet router was a problem, are you on a vectored line by any chance? There have been reports that it may not be compatible. Vectored lines are generally only active in rural areas where it can give higher speeds to users a long way from the cabinet.

[#7]

"Worst possible", well not quite! Apart from the Plusnet router that Plusnet told me to replace (yes I'm on a vectored line with Huawei kit in the cab), I replaced that with a TP-Link (was recommended, which I was a bit doubtful about) which spontaneously rebooted all the time! 

After that, I looked at a few reviews of Asus, Netgear etc and they all seemed pretty much on par from what I read so I tried the Asus. I didn't see any negative 'professional' reviews of the Asus. As I said to the other chap, what's your assessment based on? Professional reviews, comments here, personal experience? If you can find a proper review, I'd like to read it please.

I'd be more than happy to try another router if I could get my hands on one.

Is this the BT router you are recommending? Is it much different from the Plusnet offering, I hope so.

But back to the Asus, it's been over 3 days since I disconnected the DSL cable and all is still fine (>35Mbps which is good for me), but usual behaviour is that it will drop at some point and then take another step down a couple of days later.

[#8]

Hi @RealAleMadrid and @Baldrick1, 

I have got hold of a BT HH6 and set it up this morning. Initial results are that download throughput is on par with the Asus (during its first 4 – 7 days after reconnecting) but upload throughput is rather sketchy (I have never had upload performance issues with the Asus). Also far fewer features, but it did only cost me a tenner!

So I’ll wait and see how it performs for over a week without me disconnecting the DSL cable – fingers crossed. Well, whatever the result it will be interesting one way or another.

If one of you can lay your hands on an Asus review I’d still be interested to read it. I’ve just had a quick look around again and I see nothing about chipset issues with the Asus, I would have thought if it were know to be a very poor router I would have seen something in the first couple of search results?

Many thanks