Download speed just dropped one day, upload fine.

[#1]

Hi.

My download speed has just suddenly dropped one day, about a week, maybe two ago. I noticed one day my football stream and internet tv started buffering and became very choppy. I tested the speed with a random speed checker off Google (Ookla) and it was showing 5Mbs download, 18Mbs upload. So upload was where it should be, download was 1/10th of my guaranteed speed. 

I rang customer support and was told Plusnet only supported a BTWholesale test. I tried that and it's showing no issues, full speed both ways. Great, only there's no way it reflects the actual state of my connection at home. It's fine browsing websites; Youtube and amazon prime play ok to a point (buffering in higher resolutions) but as soon as I try to watch any IPTV related content it all just becomes unusable. I should mention all my testing has been done on a wired connection so it's nothing to do with Wi-Fi.

I had another conversation with tech support earlier today and they couldn't see anything wrong with my line either. They said booking a BT engineer visit was an option but there was a risk I'd be charged 60 pound for it for some reason?

My contract ends on 24th of December. I wouldn't mind staying but obviously the current situation is unworkable. 

Any ideas what could be the issue here? Safe guard is off, firewall is off, BTwholesale is showing full speed both ways but EVERY OTHER speed test online is showing very slow download and normal upload (18-ish Mbs). Would changing providers potentially even help? It would still obviously be the same physical line so if there's an issue there it would just continue, right?

I'm really at a loss here. 16 months with no issues of any kind and now just like that it becomes almost unusable.

Appreciate any suggestions.

Adam.

[#2]

Me & my friend both have the same issues. (Different households)

My guess is the Xbox & PS5 just arrived today for everyone, as its all digital platform, people are downloading loads of games and BT / Plusnet maybe throttling connections? That's the only thing I can think of

Hopefully its better soon!

[#3]

Surely they wouldn't limit my download to 1/10 of guaranteed and play dumb? I was thinking a socket fault but then that would affect my upload as well as download, right? 

[#4]

Same here (In West Coast of Scotland)
Download Speeds just dropped 50% below minimum speed guarantee.

I should be getting 44Mbs / 20Mbs But it's dropped to 21Mbs / 19Mbs
BTWholesale speedtest DOES show I'm only getting 50% of my rated speeds

I'm a few months into an 18 month contract. If they can't fix it.I'll have to pull the leaver on the minimum speed get out clause and change providers...

[#5]

Hi @Otohime, welcome to the Community Forums and I'm sorry to hear you're having speed issues as of recent.
Looking over your connection from this side I can see we're currently getting 79.4Mbps download and 10Mbps upload to your router. I initially learnt towards wireless interference being some or all of the cause however as you've mentioned the issue is occurring on wired connections also it hints there's any underlying problem somewhere.
Although our testing hasn't identified an underlying fault I can see when looking over your connection as seen below that there certainly looks to be something flaring up at times.

I beleive then, as something looks to be flaring up at times that this could also be the same thing which is causing performance issues your side also. I'd advise then, first of all so we can begin ruling a number of internal factors out to run through a few troubleshoot steps your side to see if the drops stop and with it the performance issues.
 

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 stop. 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
Given the frequency of the drops seen I'd advise leaving your router in the test socket for 32-48 hours if the drops aren't still apparent straight away.
 

If the problem still persists from here we will go down the route of raising a fault. Let us know how it goes.

[#6]

Hi @Jambo, thanks for getting in touch and I'm sorry to hear you're having speed issues also as of recent. Checking your connection from this side I can see we're getting the full 40Mbps download and 10Mbps download to your router with no signs of errors or other underlying issues. Can I ask then, the slower speeds you've observed, was this whilst on a wireless connection or on a wired connection also?

I ask as wireless issues and interference could explain why everything is looking fine from our side to the router but may be why you're having issues trying to replicate that service on wireless devices. If it is solely wireless issues where you've seen the speed issues then I'd advise going through the steps below on how best to optimise the wireless settings to best suit your property which should help moving forwards.
(When running speed tests we advise making sure no other devices or applications are heavily using the connection at the time as this can skew results.)

 

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.

Let us know how it goes or if the speed issues are occurring on wired connections also.

[#7]

Hello,
This is on a wired connection and not wireless, it’s happened for the last 3 days now always between 6-10pm.

We have a ticket open at the moment about this. Our speeds drop to as low as 5Mb/s, upload is not affected.

We tried switching off WiFi and disconnecting all Ethernet to all computers despite one but still had a 5Mb connection so I’m not sure it’s the devices.

Whenever we have had tests it shows a strong 40Mb connection to the house, despite this we get slower speeds during the evening. We have even tried swapping the router and it’s the same issues.

I presume it’s down to demand on the plusnet servers but not sure. Also during the evenings we get around 5-9% packet loss which is also frustrating.

[#8]

Hi @Bill_C, thanks for getting in touch and I'm sorry to hear you've been having speed issues also as of recent.
Upon checking over your connection and shown by the graph below we can see there's a fault being detected currently which could very well explain the impacted performance you've been seeing recently.

Fail
Test Outcome Code	GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_1613
Description	Potential HR Joint detected on GEA service. Please continue to submit a trouble report
Main Fault Location	CE
Sync Status	In Sync
Downstream Speed	60.6 Mbps
Upstream Speed	18.0 Mbps
Appointment Required	Y
Fault Report Advised	Y
NTE Power Status	PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result	Pass
Bridge Tap	Detected
Radio Frequency Ingress	Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise	Not Detected
Cross Talk	Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	572.1
Upstream Rate Assessment	Good
Downstream Rate Assessment	Good
Interference Pattern	Regular Interference Observed Daily
Service Impact	No Impact Observed
Interference Duration Longest Occurrence	;00:00to23:45
Interference Location	Customer Premise
Interference Observed In Days	14
Home Wiring Problem	Not Detected
Downstream Policing Discard Rate	0.0
Customer Traffic Level	Upstream and Downstream traffic detected
Technology	VDSL
Current 15Min Bin Retrains	0
Last 15Min Bin Retrains	0
DP Type	External
Profile Name	0.128M-80M Downstream 4dB, Retransmission High - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2020-10-31T14:00:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	25.2 Mbps	64.0 Mbps	60.3 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	4.8 Mbps	17.9 Mbps	17.0 Mbps
Up Time	754.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	899.7 Sec
Retrains	0.0	4.0	0.0

Current and Last 15 Minute Bin Performance
Parameters	Last Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)	Current Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)
Start Time Stamp	2020-11-13T13:30:48Z	2020-11-13T13:45:48Z
Ingress Code Violation	5	0
Egress Code Violation	0	0
Errored Seconds	0	0
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

Whether the fault is occurring internally or externally to the property however isn't clear when testing so before we look to raise this issue with our suppliers we'd recommend running through the below checks to rule a number of internal factors out first of all.

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 performance issues you've been seeing come to a stop. 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

If you could please let us know when you're in this set-up also then we can re-test from this side to see if the fault is still showing or not. Let us know how it goes and we look forwards to hearing back from you.

[#9]

Hi @BD 

Looks like the issue is on my end. Can you re-test to see if their are any issues now?

I've made a new thread to get some community help and ideas on best way forward.


https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Need-help-with-my-network/m-p/1776781#M117974