Internet connection dropping out several times a day

[#1]

Hello,

I joined Plusnet in September 2017 and found that the initial setup of the service was very easy and immediately had low ping (20-30ms) and near 80mbps speeds with good stability. 

Recently however we have been experiencing patches where the connection is becoming very unstable, to the point where it is almost useless. The dropouts occur randomly and the time between drop outs can range from over 20 minutes to literally less than a minute after it comes back up (router log supports this as well). These days of instability will sometimes disappear for a week or two only to reappear and make the connection useless. 

I can confirm it is the internet connection to our LAN that is dropping as all network users experience the issue. The router has been reset multiple times and we have changed the dsl cable to the wall socket. We have FTTC with the BT wall socket with dual ports, one for broadband and the other for the phone line so there is no filter in place, just a dsl cable to the back of the router. 

Prior to joining Plusnet, we have experienced this issue before on other ISPs where we have tested the service port as well but to no avail. When we joined Plusnet, these issues disappeared but have recently come back again. Atleast with Plusnet the service is coming back online, we once went 2 days without a connection with Origin. 

When the connection is working, it is great with low latency and high download/upload speeds but the instability is awful. Don't know what could be causing it as it has happened through different ISPs and different routers. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for us as its becoming a bit repetitive now.

Edit: I have just dropped out 3 times in less than 10 minutes - most of the time was spent attempting to reconnect aswell. 

[#2]

Welcome to the forum @RattyTatty

I don't know what is wrong but these disconnections shouldn't be happening - but you know that! I would be inclined to run through the checks at https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/connection-troubleshooting/ and then report a fault at https://www.plus.net/apps/kbdfaults

It takes a bit of your time but makes Plusnet aware of your problem and gets the problem into the queue for action. Plusnet will probably ask you to run these checks anyhow. Even if the checks don't find a fault, it will eliminate some possible causes and move matters on somewhat.

[#3]

Sorry to hear you're having issues.

It's certainly intermittent as shown below.

If you can raise a fault here we can get this looked into for you.

[#4]

Hi @BrightonRock

I've reported a fault with them so hopefully we can get things moving. I think I can say i've done most of the tests on the troubleshooting page anyway - been through the rounds with other ISPs :P.
I'm assuming its problem with the line somewhere as its noisy and I believe we have had it in the past where we lose internet access in the network when there activity on the phone line (someone ringing us or the call being ended) so hopefully the fault will help.

Cheers for the reply! 

[#5]

Hey @MatthewWheeler,

I have raised a fault as instructed. 

Thanks for looking in to it for us. 

[#6]

Sounds like a classic case of line fault(s) - do you have a lot of copper between you and the cabinet? The internet dropping when the phone rings and the noisy line both suggest that the signal is pretty degraded by the time it reaches your socket. The fact that its intermittent is a pain as it makes it almost impossible for engineers to trace, they just have to hope that they hear it enough times whilst they're there that they can narrow down where it might be then just start replacing bits and hoping for the best! The fact your then have to wait days or weeks to know if it's fixed then makes the whole thing very drawn out, sounds like you already know this though.

[#7]

@RattyTatty It looks like a engineer visit is needed.

Can you respond to the text we've just sent?