Fibre Extra sudden speed drop...DLM reset request please...

[#1]

Hello,

I am on Fibre Extra, and up until a few days ago I was getting a steady, stable 46-47Mb download speed with an IP Profile sync of 48...(using the BTWholesale diagnostic checker)

However, a few days ago I noticed that my speed had dropped quite a bit, and I am now only getting about 37Mb download and my IP Profile sync has dropped to 38...

I phoned your support team, and they told me that my line checks fine now, but there had been an external problem with it a few days ago, and so I can only assume that this this external problem had caused BTs DLM system to downgrade my line sync, hence the slower speed...

Because your support team checks came back with no current line issues, they said it couldn't be raised as a fault, and wanted to re-boot my router and change my wireless channel to see if that helped...I told them I use a LAN cable to do most of my internet based stuff, so a wireless channel change would do nothing, and I had already rebooted my router a number of times over the past few days to see if that sorted out the problem...

I asked them to do a DLM reset, as it sounds to me like it's simply a case of my line being under synced due to the line issue a few days ago, and they said they would reset my system...whether that means they have done a DLM reset, I don't know, but could I ask you to check on my account please, and do a manual DLM reset to get my line sync back up...

And if you could also run a quick eye over my account/system as well please to make sure everything else is good, that would be appreciated, as I know my system can run at a stable 47Mb download (with an IP Profile sync of 48, as it ran that way for a number of months until a few days ago)

Many thanks,

Kevin

[#2]

Unfortunately Plusnet cannot do a DLM reset on a fibre service. They can ask Openreach to do it but only if the line has become banded. You need to see the result of a GEA test to see if this is the case. Hopefully Plusnet will check this for you. If it's not banded then all you can do is wait patiently for the DLM to do it's thing automatically.

[#3]

Hi @kmm1013

I've checked the connection and there definitely seems to be something out of place somewhere as we can see your connection has started dropping out a few time for the past two days which would have resulted in lower speeds. Upon testing, the DLM profile is set to  0.128M-44M which is some occasions would cause banded speeds however, with the line currently showing to be syncing at 40Mbps it is unlikely to be the case. It could just be that the DLM profile is reflecting the current sync speeds.

GEA Test Detail
Circuit ID	NA	Service ID

Test Outcome	Pass
Test Outcome Code	GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_0000
Description	GEA service test completed and no fault found .
Main Fault Location	OK
Sync Status	In Sync
Downstream Speed	40.0 Mbps
Upstream Speed	8.9 Mbps
Appointment Required	N
Fault Report Advised	N
NTE Power Status	PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result	Pass
Bridge Tap	Not Detected
Radio Frequency Ingress	Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise	Not Detected
Cross Talk	Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	864.4
Upstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Downstream Rate Assessment	Good
Interference Pattern	Regular Interference Observed Daily
Service Impact	No Impact Observed
Interference Duration Longest Occurrence	From 12:00 to 16:45
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
Profile Name	0.128M-44M Downstream, Interleaving Low - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2019-04-27T14:30:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	39.9 Mbps	44.5 Mbps	42.2 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	2.7 Mbps	8.6 Mbps	7.5 Mbps
Up Time	0.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	887.1 Sec
Retrains	0.0	1.0	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	2019-05-10T13:00:27Z	2019-05-10T13:15:27Z
Ingress Code Violation	2	0
Egress Code Violation	4	13
Errored Seconds	1	6
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

Both the drops and errors we can see occurring with your connection certainly hint something's out of place somewhere so we'd advise running through some troubleshooting to help rule out a few internal factors which could be behind this.

I'd recommend starting with basic checks here

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 faceplate 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

If the problem still persists from here, please click here to raise the fault and let us know so we can progress the fault for you.

[#4]

OK thanks...so is it just an IP Profile reset/increase that Plusnet do?

Plusnet (I believe) can do something in terms of the IP profile, as this did something a few months back when I had a speed issue.

A Plusnet team member (RandallFlagg) increased my IP Profile a few months back, so I wonder what it was that he actually did? 

[#5]

Thanks for that...

By the look of it, the outages that you are showing are all me re-booting my router trying to get the system to sync at the proper/higher rate that it used to, so rather than these outages (which I did) cause the speed drop, they were all me trying to resolve the speed drop that happened prior to these...

My current BT Wholesale IP Profile is showing as 38.72 which I am sure could be significantly higher, though how we raise it, I don't know...that's more of a Plunet internal thing...

Thanks,

Kevin

[#6]

Hi @kmm1013, you're more than welcome.

We currently have a trial for speeds impacted by profile banding where we can request our suppliers to bump the connection profile however, as your speed is 4Mbps under the cap, it seems your broadband issues aren't profile related. There is an underlying issue there that's causing the fault especially seeing the errors showing on the test displayed above. If you could please follow the checks I've posted and let us know how it goes then we can progress this forwards to  fault if needed thereafter.

[#7]

Thanks for the GEA details

The 40.0 downstream speed always looks very suspicious to me, and is part of the problem I had last time, in that 40.0 is the precise max figure of a standard Fibre speed...seeing it as 40.0 jumps out to me as the Fibre Max element not being in place...

I think last time this happened, something needed to be done to tell the system (not sure if it was Plusnet's system or Openreach) that I was actually on Fibre Max, and that there should not be a 40.0 limit...

Eventually, my IP line profile went up to about 47ish and I got about 46Mb downstream...stable, and constant until a week or so ago when it suddenly dropped.

Hope that makes sense...Oh, and Openreach fitted a brand new Master Socket 5C for me fairly recently, and these do not have master sockets in them...they only have one socket, and it is basically a combined user/master socket, so there is no other socket for me to try...

[#8]

Thanks for that...

I have gone through the relevant checks, and now raised it as a fault.

I actually didn't query about raising it as a fault earlier because your support team told me on the phone earlier today that my line was showing clear and fault free, and because of that I was unable to raise a fault (even though the speed had dropped), that's why I thought it was a simple IP profile issue...

So thanks for double checking and seeing that there are actually some underlying issues, and I have now raised a fault...

Appreciate the help

Cheers,

Kevin

[#9]

Hi @kmm1013, thank you for raising the fault.

We can certainly see the speeds have dropped from what they sued to be (around 44Mbps showing when testing although could have been higher previous to this) to now 40Mbps and this paired with the errors we can see hint there's something out of place somewhere and it's worth us investigating further. However before we progress your fault, we would advise, although you may only have 1 socket in the property and a fairly new faceplate to still set-up within the test socket as shown below and ideally drop us a message once you've done so as we can re-test from this side for any change.

[#10]

OK thanks...I have taken the front plate off the socket, and connected into the only socket inside, so I am now in the master socket...

Thanks

[#11]

Hi @kmm1013 

As your profile has been banded to a 44M DL profile, we have sent a request off to get this reset to a full 80/20 profile. 

This should complete in 2-3 working days. 

We will update this thread accordingly.

Kind Regards, 

MoR

[#12]

Thanks very much for the speedy assistance! Much appreciated...

Cheers,

Kevin

[#13]

Hello MoR,

Just a quick update for you...I just had this reply to my fault ticket by one of your support guys...

"As per my message, I have tested the line today and I can't find any problems. The connection is stable and the speed is good at around 40Mbps."

"Please monitor and just get back to us if any more problems arise."

So, the inference from that is that (I believe) he considers the line to be problem free, and showing no issues...despite your GEA test yesterday which showed some errors, which is what prompted me to initiate the fault...again, the inference is that he considers the fault resolved, and doesn't plan to do anything further...

I am now a little confused as to:

a) Are there actually errors on my line, as two people seem to be reporting different things

b) The fact that my line is now stable at a constant 40Mbs which just happens to be the max limit of normal Fibre (so it looks distinctly like it is capped at the normal Fibre limit of 40Mbs, rather than the Fibre Max speed)

c) My line can obviously handle a reasonably higher speed than that, as for months it was sitting stably at about 46Mbs, and something somewhere in the past week or so has obviously caused it to resync at sub 40...the lady I spoke to a couple of days ago told me that there was an external problem with the line which has now been rectified, but was probably the reason for the sync drop, though obviously that is something I cannot check, but maybe you have the resources to see...

Anyway, I would appreciate it if you could take another look into this please and see what the actual state of play is...

Many thanks,

Kevin

[#14]

Hi @kmm1013 

Looks like the agent missed the banded to 44M line profile - I'm really sorry about this.  

It ALSO appears that due tot this, the fault I raised to unband the line has been "closed as clear" (supplier talk - it's obviously not been cleared).

I have updated the same ticket with a fresh set of results highlighting the banding issue, due to whats happened, we would need to raise a new fault and to do so would need to ensure the home checks have been done ans recorded on the ticket - I've also given you a couple of quick steps to take to do this so that nobody can refute the checks further down the line. Give them a shot and then reply to the ticket with the information requested and I'll get it back over to our supplier. 

I'm going to pass over some feedback to the Line manager of the agent who sent you that most recent update as it's just no right at all...I'm really sorry. Whilst he is correct in saying you are syncing "within your estimates", the sync rate isn't even hitting the high end of the banded profile which is also within the estimates. So whilst you may not be able to get up in the 50/60/70Mbps range due to the circuit limitations, we should at least be able to get you a bit higher than you are.

Kind Regards, 

MoR

[#15]

Thanks so much for double checking it all for me...appreciated!

I’m away from home until this afternoon, so I will do the checks when I get home...

Just to confirm, I don’t need to raise another fault? I just need to do the checks, and then reply on the ticket that I have done them, and you will re-open the fault and get the relevant actions arranged?

Kind regards,

Kevin