Dramatic speed drop on reset

[#1]

I wonder if someone can help.

I'm away from the UK for 6 months - and I have Plusnet fibre at home so that I can remote into it... Typical speeds 78 meg down and 17 meg up.

I had this installed in December last year - this is the kind of high speed broadband where you still have the standard phone connector and splitter. Few modems seem compatible.

When I received the modem I realised it was very limited - no VPN server for example and so bought a TPLINK router which has a specific Plusnet capability.

That worked but i found it would drop out occasionally and even more occasionally not reconnect without a reboot. I went back to the original router and that too would drop out.

We had the BT guy out who fitted a new box to the wall (there is only the router on a short lead and a single cordless phone on a short lead). He sat around for 15 minutes and could find no fault. 

Sure enough 2 days later the Internet failed again.

As I was planning on coming to Spain for 6 months we did two things - a box connected to Google - if it failed for long enough to get Google it would intiate a reboot of the router... and also a simple timer to reboot it anyway.

From April until June this worked perfectly. Then the download speed dropped to 5 meg where it has stayed since. I contacted Plusnet who INSISTED someone had to go to the house - I explained that was no possible.  They said that disconnecting the router would drop the speed.

I checked with two independent experts who agreed the speed might drop a bit from 80 meg but NOT to a regular 5 Meg - where it has stayed (by remoting into the unit and running Chrome on a PC there I can check the speed).

Does Plusnets's claim sound reasonable or rubbish? 

I've now had someone call in and disconnect the 24 hour timer but I suspect the router will still fail every couple of days and be reset by the device checking Google.   I cannot get ANYWHERE with Plusnet - despite still charging me for 80 Meg download when I'm only getting 5Meg - and I'm not actually in the UK until late October.

Any ideas? I can access the router control panel of course remotely.

[#2]

Hi @scargill

Remotely you can check the "Plusnet line Speed" at https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed (login required) to see if Plusnet have capped your line speed. That can be altered by Plusnet via Chat/phone if needed.

If you can still VNC onto the UK PC, you can check using Chrome the BTW IP Profile by entering just your phone number into http://www.speedtest.btwholesale.com/PerformanceTesterWS/diagnostics.do , to see if that is the source of your speed issues. Obviously as you're accessing the line under test, the speed test result part of this test will be misleading, But the IP Profile is what you're after so that's not an issue.

By the way, if you're the "ESP guy", I enjoy your blogs

[#3]

Yes I am that guy 🙂

Ok, so I remoted in -

The plusnet test. Estimaged line speed - says there is no speed estimate currently held on your account.

It says the current line speed is 5.3Mb...

and the BT test based on telephone number says 5.08Mb download and 12.76Mbps upload... Ping 41.99ms.

Not sure where to go from here - it is supposed to be 80Mbps download - and it has been like this for weeks now and all I get from support is "you need to be at the premises"...

Does the above mean someone has capped the download and if so how do I get them to un-cap it please?

[#4]

Hi Pete

The Plusnet Line Speed should be slightly less than the BTW IP Profile Download Speed as it normally calculated from the IP Profile and acts as a traffic limit so that BTW don't drop packets when you hit their IP Profile speeds.

The Profile speed is set in the cabinet by the dreaded DLM module which can only be reset when

1. an engineer has visited the premises and exhausted the testing
2. he/she decides that a DLM reset is required
3. then the engineer remembers to phone it through to Openreach

Does your router show the line sync speeds? If so, is it reporting good values (i.e high) or the lowly 5Mbps?

[#5]

So on the router back in the UK...

Current rate - up 18999 down 6697  (ie 6.6 meg)

Max rate up 23568  down 72818  (ie 72 meg)

SNR db  8.2  and 7,3

Line attenuation (db( 10.6 and 11

Errors 0 and 0

Does this help and what does it mean - does it mean that BT is deliberately holding the download datarate down?

[#6]

Either you are misreading the down speed or something is badly wrong as the max rate matches the actual down speed only if it is 66,970 (note the noise margin is 7.3)

[#7]

I'm not an expert on the effects of the SNR and Line Attenuation, but the max sync speed clearly shows that the line is capable of good speeds.

But it looks the cabinet DLM has put it down. Whether that was due to excessive power cycling of the router or a real fault, I cannot tell.

Even at a LA of 11 it would indicate that the phone line is 797m away from the cabinet, so should be getting 48Mbps. (purely calculated from the LA values given using http://www.speedguide.net/dsl_speed_calc.php ) Your property maybe closer to the cabinet.

And as previously stated, DLM is under the control of Openreach field engineers so you know what that means unfortunately

[#8]

6 meg not 60 - here is a screengrab from the router.

[#9]

That shows nearly 67Mb/s - 66,997

[#10]

Chat with Plusnet and ask for the Plusnet Line Speed to be reset as the line is looking good currently.

[#11]

Will do - sadly it looks like I'll have to wait for the chat - just for a change, "due to high volumes of calls" - which means "because we don't have enough staff" - there's a 15 minute wait time on calls - and the chat is off for the weekend by the look of it...

Thanks

[#12]

Working here - check you haven't got an ad blocker running

[#13]

i have nothing like that running..

[#14]

@scargill

Hi Pete

I found Chat wouldn't come up when I choose a route through the page https://www.plus.net/home-broadband/contact/

So I pick different questions and then got offered the "Start Chat"

I tried

• Already a Customer
• Contact Customer Services
• Broadband
• I'm having problems with my broadband
• My connection speed is slow
• Still need to contact us?
• Start Chat

Just tried this route twice and it worked both times

[#15]

Thanks - I've contacted them - the guy had me fill in a fault form which was a kiddies form - nothing to do with the fault - so he said he would then contact the team.

5 minutes later a form turned up in email - please disconnect the modem etc... EXACTLY what I'd told the fellow I cannot do as I'm not there. 

I have serious doubts about this company - I just can't do anyth-ng about it until I get back to the UK.  I'm sure I'm not speaking to real people on the chat but bots with a limited set of responses... clearly no-one is actually reading the notes before responding.  present company excepted.