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Incredibly slow fibre speeds

Quicky
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎20-08-2014

Incredibly slow fibre speeds

The first month I had my fibre broadband was amazing, I was getting roughly 70Mbps download speeds constantly. For the last month, my speeds have been beyond awful during peak times. I logged a ticket (92428599) with PlusNet and a BT engineer visited during the day and said he had no problems achieving maximum speed. When I ran the BTW speedtest later that night, while connected directly to the modem, it said I was getting 15Mbps (see screenshot). This is how it has been for the last 3 weeks.
Tonight it is down to 8Mbps. This is absurd - it's slower than the ADSL connection I had previously. I was under the impression that fibre speeds weren't throttled. I'm paying for Fibre extra, my line says I should get max speeds since my house is effectively sitting on the cab, but I'm not even achieving ADSL speeds in the evenings. It's disgraceful. How can I escalate this? Any help would be appreciated!
37 REPLIES 37
slavo71
Rising Star
Posts: 139
Thanks: 9
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎05-09-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

It may sound obvious, but during the slow times is there anyone else in the house using the internet to view Netflix/youtube/gaming etc. that could affect your speeds?
Quicky
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎20-08-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

It's a fair enough question, but no, there isn't. The screenshot was taken from my laptop when it was connected directly to the modern via LAN cable and accessing the web directly with no router connected to the modem (i.e. the only client device).
The nightly tests I've been doing have mostly been using a PC connected via LAN cable to the router with no other active traffic and I'm still only getting 8-10Mbps.
HairyMcbiker
All Star
Posts: 6,792
Thanks: 266
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

You will need to raise a fault via your plusnet home page/members login then follow the fault line.
Quicky
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎20-08-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

Is that a separate thing from logging a support ticket? I've already got a support ticket open, but haven't heard anything from Plusnet since Tuesday other than them taking the ticket off hold.
Quicky
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎20-08-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

I've just had a response from Plusnet on my ticket saying that they are sending me a new router. That makes no sense to me - I'm getting these slow speeds in the evenings when connecting directly to the modem via LAN cable. Why would that indicate a problem with my router!?
HairyMcbiker
All Star
Posts: 6,792
Thanks: 266
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

If you raise a fault ticket rather than a general help ticket there are different things to check. Been a while since I did one so can't say exactly.
I agree it is not a router issue if you are connected to the modem directly. More likely a hard issue, which is why I said raise a broadband fault ticket.
slavo71
Rising Star
Posts: 139
Thanks: 9
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎05-09-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

When the BT guy came to my house he tested the speed at the modem and it was great, he then got me to test via the router and it was c**p! He told me that the router was broken, I called tech support who had a look at the line etc and said the ip profile will jump up soon, which it did. I know that your ip profile is what it should be, so rather than wait for a new router I'd give tech support a call. I found that they do know what they are on about if you explain to them the problem.
Acassim
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,075
Registered: ‎11-06-2007

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

Hi all,
after having a good trawl through the BT data, it looks as though the SVLAN that you're on is currently showing as red which means that your service will most definitely be impacted as you're seeing in the evening. Now this is a bit of a tricky one as no service provider has an agreement with BT regarding their exchange VLAN's which means that we're not able to raise this as a fault and push them for a fix however this is most certainly going to be affecting everyone on that VLAN at that exchange.
This means that they're normally quick on the ball to rectify these types of issues however, there is a distinct lack of estimated time frame provided for a fix to be applied at the moment which is a little abnormal. Normally we will see an estimate provided when the VLAN hits Amber status and almost always show something when they hit Red.
Aside from waiting for a fix time time, the only other possibility is to look at requesting a shift to another VLAN (if one is available) however this can be a long complex procedure with a lead time of weeks. Even a shift to another provider on the BT network would still leave you on this VLAN so short of moving to another provider who operates their own network, this is going to be a difficult one to navigate.
I'll update the fault ticket for you to reflect the findings and flag the cause to the Faults Team and then see where we progress from there. A request to investigate the switch to another VLAN will no doubt be the first course of action however weekly checks of the VLAN will hopefully result in an estimated fix date.
Quicky
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎20-08-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

Hi Adam,
Thanks for the investigation but to be honest, almost all of that is way over my head. The issue I'm having is that I'm paying Plusnet for a 75Mbps connection and I'm receiving an 8Mbps connection. I've been putting up with it for three weeks and you're saying that the problem has no estimated time for a fix. My connection is slower than the ADSL connection I had previously, which cost a fraction of this service. What can I do with regards to either getting the issue resolved and sorting out some compensation? It must be obvious that this isn't acceptable.
Cheers
Acassim
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,075
Registered: ‎11-06-2007

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

Hi Quicky,
I completely understand where you're coming from, this is a confusing issue to have as a customer and generally makes them feel like their provider isn't interested in resolving the issue.
The long and short of it is that the exchange you're connected to is heavily over subscribed with users, this means that regardless of the ISP, anyone connected to it will be seeing issues with their speeds either constantly or during the busier periods of the day. As the exchange falls under the ownership of BT Openreach/Wholesale (not BT Broadband the ISP) there isn't anything that a given ISP can do to force this to be fixed as a fault.
The spreadsheet that BT produce shows this as a Red flag which means that they know it is over subscribed and know that people will now be seeing impact on their service so hopefully this means that they should be due to get this fixed soon however, they haven't provided a date or time for this in the latest publication of the spreadsheet.
What I have asked for in your fault ticket is to look at the possibility of moving you onto a different connection within the exchange in order to circumvent the issue however I'm unsure if there are any alternate connections at all and it can sometimes take a while to switch between them.
Ultimately we could look to switch you back to ADSL while the fix is made if you were looking to reduce the cost however there is little more that we can do as continuation of billing for the product is present while this type of issue is ongoing.
Quicky
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎20-08-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

This is the equivalent of my electricity supplier saying to me that despite the fact I'm paying my bills in full, they can only provide me with electricity for one day a week, but that it's not their fault, it's the guys that run the power station. How is that even legal!?
tarquel
Grafter
Posts: 76
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎18-08-2007

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

@Quicky:
https://faults.plus.net will take you there, although you've prob done it by now Wink
@adam:
Quote
after having a good trawl through the BT data, it looks as though the SVLAN that you're on is currently showing as red which means that your service will most definitely be impacted as you're seeing in the evening. Now this is a bit of a tricky one as no service provider has an agreement with BT regarding their exchange VLAN's which means that we're not able to raise this as a fault and push them for a fix however this is most certainly going to be affecting everyone on that VLAN at that exchange.
This means that they're normally quick on the ball to rectify these types of issues however, there is a distinct lack of estimated time frame provided for a fix to be applied at the moment which is a little abnormal. Normally we will see an estimate provided when the VLAN hits Amber status and almost always show something when they hit Red.
Aside from waiting for a fix time time, the only other possibility is to look at requesting a shift to another VLAN (if one is available) however this can be a long complex procedure with a lead time of weeks. Even a shift to another provider on the BT network would still leave you on this VLAN so short of moving to another provider who operates their own network, this is going to be a difficult one to navigate.
I'll update the fault ticket for you to reflect the findings and flag the cause to the Faults Team and then see where we progress from there. A request to investigate the switch to another VLAN will no doubt be the first course of action however weekly checks of the VLAN will hopefully result in an estimated fix date.

In case I've missed something, could this be similar thing to the issue I've looked into on my FTTC cab/exchange that I'm currently trying to get PlusNet to recognise [and get Openreach to resolve] - fault ticket #92781020 ?
Cheers.
Acassim
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,075
Registered: ‎11-06-2007

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

Good morning Quicky,
Apologies for the lack of update on this matter since the close of play yesterday, In addition, apologies for the lack of response to your tweet last night. I'm afraid that any response on that would be wholly inadequate given the restrictions of 140 characters given that this is such a complex issue.
I note from the quote below that you feel that we are being obstructive or unreasonable regarding this matter however I can assure you that this is not the case. We have only tried to be as open and honest regarding this situation as possible so that you're as informed as you can be and your expectations of the situation are managed properly.
Quote from: Quicky
This is the equivalent of my electricity supplier saying to me that despite the fact I'm paying my bills in full, they can only provide me with electricity for one day a week, but that it's not their fault, it's the guys that run the power station. How is that even legal!?

I appreciate the analogy in order to simplify the way you see the situation however this isn't accurate when using it to address the situation that we find ourselves in. This issue would be more accurately explained as the blame being passed to a public transport operator for delays due to council roadworks. There is little that the transport operator can do to circumvent the delays and they aren't able to stop the works from being carried out. They can however change the route to miss the roadworks which is what we are looking to do.
While there is no direct path to request or force BT Openreach/BT Wholesale to fix the cause of the problem, there is the option to request a switch to a new path in the exchange which is what we have proceeded with (this request was made by myself yesterday) so we are trying to do all we can with regards to resolving the situation for you. We completely understand that this situation is less than ideal and is no doubt frustrating however this is quite a rare and unique situation as far as service impacting faults go and we are prepared to do what we can for you.
The fault team will continue to update the support ticket as they progress down this avenue for you so hopefully we should have some indication back on this for you shortly. In the meantime, we're very sorry for the situation and we hope to have this resolved in a timely fashion.

@tarquel - In relation to your issue, it does seem that the exchange has been checked for congestion so this doesn't look like the same issue that Quicky is seeing.
Excert from your fault ticket:
Quote
Exchange - XXXXX
SVLAN - No issues on 6 VPs.
TAGs (Clean): Download: 43.2 Mbps - 60.1 Mbps / Upload: 10.7 Mbps - 16.8 Mbps
Fault located in local network
Description: FAULT - Battery Contact
Quicky
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎20-08-2014

Re: Incredibly slow fibre speeds

Hi Adam,
Don't get me wrong, and I appreciate your reply and the work you've done investigating the issue. I just find that often the way to get results in these situations is to shout as loudly as possible. As a consumer, these are often the only means we have. It took a whinge on twitter and a forum post just to get my problem properly investigated.
That said, in the analogy you've given, the public transport operator wouldn't be able to charge for journeys they couldn't make. You're charging me for a 75Mbps connection, knowing that you can't provide it. I'm not interested in where the fault lies, that aspect of it is not my problem.