Fibre speeds significantly lower

[#1]

Hi All,

I recently joined plusnet fibre from BT fibre but even though the speed estimated was suppose to be exactly the same am getting considerably lower.

When doing a speed test with various test thinkbroadband, uswitch and which they all report speeds within the 15Mbs, the service i pay for is Unlimited Fibre Extra Minimum Guaranteed Access Line Speed:37.1Mb

Any suggestions i've gone through all the usual checks, and considering plus.net is a BT company i didn't expect this low of a service as its preventing online gaming and netflixs/ondemand

Thanks

Paul

[#2]

So first question here-is that 15Mb wired or over Wi-Fi? MGALS is only over Ethernet. The line is as you say exactly the same as it was with BT-its still an Openreach line so unless something has been damaged in the install the line speed should be the same. If however, you're measuring the Wi-Fi speed your Plusnet router could well be on a bad frequency, which the BT router wasn't.

You'll find guides to improve the Wi-Fi by changing the channels on the site. If it's poor wired speed then the usual checks would apply-move to the test socket and get it reported. In your case, maybe configuring the BT router to plusnet may also help, since the router is really the only change.

[#3]

Hi,

Performance is poor when wired and connection is to master plug.

What is disappointing is that if it’s the router frequency why would Plusnet be using these?
Makes no sense to supply something not fit for purpose.

Old BT router wikis no longer available to me.

Do I need to purchase a specialist router to work with plusnet?
I’ve just being using the router plusnet sent which formed part of the initial setup cost was I sent the incorrect one?
What router should I purchase they and will plusnet refund new router cost if this is/isn’t the problem?

Thanks
Paul

[#4]

@griffgriff

Regarding frequencies, there are two allocated bands which all routers must use, 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

The 2.4Ghz band is the original one, has 13 allocated channels, but in most cases use will straddle more than one channel.

In areas of high population densities, the 2.4Ghz band gets congested, coupled with the fact that other devices use nearby frequencies that can cause interference. On the plus side 2.4Ghz goes further, but again in a crowded location it's a curse.

The 5Ghz band has more bandwidth but poorer coverage.

These allocations are not under the control of any isp.

Wifi performance can be improved by

getting a router with better antennas, can be expensive.

using a mesh system to improve coverage

using extenders via the mains to another wifi point.

The success of this will be determined by the property, location and choice of solution.

Speed tests really need to be carried out as defined on this website, wired not wifi, master socket, not extensions where the wiring may be sub-standard, and in all cases not during times of heavy traffic.

In addition there are times when things slow down, just like the motorways, where the infrastructure cannot cope, I consistently get slow-down's between 18:00 to 23:00, but I know that the connection to the exchange is ok (because I am a geek and monitor 24/7 on pretty graphs!!)

[#5]

Totally understand but there are 2 wireless devices one wired.

Plus should not provided a guarantee speed if that cannot be provided.

Just to confirm all speed tests have been via at different times
Early morning
Mid day
Late evening
Wired connection
Master plug
BT wholesale speed test
Thinkbroadband
Which speed test
uswitch

All reporting speed is significantly below the guaranteed speed that plusnet have stated on my account.

Trying to identify the problem to resolve, done all the suggestions on the help and sticky posts so possible it maybe an external.

Regardless of number of users on the internet at any point I should be getting the guaranteed speed as a minimum as stated by plusnet.

Thanks
Paul

[#6]

You don't need specialist routers. I simply suggested Wi-Fi in the first instance as that's probably the cause of at least 90% of early speed complaints. It's also not the fault of the hardware. It's simply that the old hardware will have been in for a while a settled in a clearer frequency range. The new hardware hasn't had the time to do so.

In this case it'd irrelevant anyway. You say wired testing is also low so it's not the Wi-Fi. So next step is one device, wired, with the router connected to the test socket behind the master. If the speed is still low then you need to raise a fault on the line

[#7]

@griffgriff

The simple way to resolve whether it’s the router causing your problem is to use your old BT router. Depending on which model you have you will find the settings either here. https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-the-BT-Smarthub-6-on-a-Plusnet-Account/m-p/1587673#M85... or here  https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Use-a-BT-Hub-2-3-4-or-5-on-a-Plusnet-connection/m-p/1192234#...

[#8]

I no longer have access to the previous BT router

[#9]

Watching this one (and a few others) with interest as the issue might similar to mine. Trying to see if I can spot a pattern at all!

Tests I’ve submitted have been hardwired except for the very first ones I did. I’m well beyond the initial startup settling in period too.

I am currently in limbo, but will copy below my most recent comment to my open issue…

“I am adding to this ticket so the information is up-to-date after my telephone discussion with Mohammed yesterday (08/01/19 - approximately 13:00). I eventually convinced him to send me a new router to try out. He was insisting that there is nothing wrong with my service as I was getting close to the minimum guaranteed speed of 31Mbps (the first message I received after initiating my upgrade actually promised 31.9Mbps, I still have a copy of this email. This was at point of sale). He also stated I was no longer getting dropouts.
Although most of the time I have been getting close to 31Mbps, it is not always the case. On numerous occasions I’m only getting 27/28Mbps. Only this morning I performed a few Speedtests before heading to work. These consistently were around the 28Mbps mark, down from yesterday’s 31Mbps. Again I will confirm these are hardwired tests and NOT WiFi.
I did look at the connection details of the router too. Yesterday it told me the speed was approximately 33Mbps, but had only been connected for approximately 7:30 hours. This morning that had changed to approximately 31Mbps, connected for approximately 4:30 hours! Previous speeds I have seen were definitely higher than 33Mbps (37 or 38Mbps rings a bell) and now it seems that the connection keeps dropping again.
Obviously I will now wait for the new router to arrive and then perform yet more tests once it does. I really hope that this fixes these issues as we’ve already had a visit from a BT engineer, who said there’s nothing wrong with the line! Incidentally around 3 or 4 years ago we had an issue with our broadband and to cut a long story short the engineer actually replaced all the wiring related to our connection, before finally swapping something at the exchange which actually fixed that previous issue. So the line issue was actually highly unlikely.
I did speak to my work colleague again who is our IT guy. He wondered about the possibility of cabinet issues, but agreed I should wait and see what the new router does.
I do hope you can appreciate my frustration. If I carry on with the connection speed dropping at this current rate, the speed will be below my original broadband speed of 8Mbps in no time. I would assume that Guaranteed Minimum Speed of 31.9Mbps should mean just that, not under that a considerable amount of time! If not why bother giving a Minimum Guaranteed Speed? https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2018/better-information-broadband-s...
To sum up, I will report back after further tests once the new router has arrived. I will also try add screenshots of the router connection details I mentioned earlier once I’m back from work.
Finally is there any possibility of having only a couple of technicians dealing with this issue going forward please? Maybe if a new person isn’t introduced at each new stage it might be easier to actually solve the problem!”

[#10]

@griffgriff Sorry to hear you're having speed issues.

We've tested your line and we can't see any remote issues as shown below.

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	58.1 Mbps
Upstream Speed	11.6 Mbps
Appointment Required	N
Fault Report Advised	N
NTE Power Status	PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result	Pass
Bridge Tap	Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise	Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	620.8
Upstream Rate Assessment	Reasonable
Downstream Rate Assessment	Reasonable
Interference Pattern	Regular Interference Observed Daily
Service Impact	No Impact Observed
Interference Duration Longest Occurrence	From 21:15 to 21:30
Interference Location	Customer Premise
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-80M Downstream, Error Protection Off - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2018-12-27T13:15:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	58.0 Mbps	59.3 Mbps	58.1 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	11.5 Mbps	11.7 Mbps	11.5 Mbps
Up Time	855.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	899.9 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	2019-01-09T12:48:02.426+00:00	2019-01-09T13:03:02.426+00:00
Ingress Code Violation	0	0
Egress Code Violation	0	0
Errored Seconds	4	0
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

If you're still having issues please follow the steps below we can investigate further please connect your computer/laptop to the router with an ethernet cable and run the BT Speedtester service at http://speedtest.btwholesale.com

You must ensure that you have no other programs running at the same time such as streaming, general browsing and the most common one is antivirus programs downloading updates in the background. This must be done on a wired connection and not wireless Once the initial result is completed please click Further Diagnostics. Please type in your phone number and click run diagnostic test. This will run a test and send the results to the server for investigation

 @Prawnyloks Sorry to hear you're having issues.

Once you've received the new router let us know if you're still having issues

[#11]

@MatthewWheeler

Hi Matthew,

Done the test as you said wired and to master socket clicked on the further results for the information to be sent the results are below it seems to have gone even slower

thanks

Paul

[#12]

Thanks for carrying that out.

I'd recommend reporting a fault here so we can investigate further

If you can let us know when you've completed it we can get your issue picked up straight away and escalated to the relevant team -Matt

[#13]

Hi Matthew,

The new router arrived and nothing has changed. Speeds still below the guaranteed minimum. I have updated my open ticket with this information, including the checks I did on the new router, but if there’s anything else that can be done in the meantime to speed up resolving this issue I’d appreciate it.
I do have limited spare time for too much other than basic testing for the next couple of days though.

[#14]

@Prawnyloks please do not hijack others post it would be best to open your own to keep track of things

[#15]

@griffgriff sorry, this wasn’t my intention. I purely posted my update for @MatthewWheeler as he asked, so I could see what he suggested next. I shall be creating my own post once I get some spare time if this is deemed useful.
Good luck getting your issue fixed!