Internet up and down but good connection

[#1]

Router reports steady good internet connection, but our ability to actually get to any site has been up and down since yesterday, up to about 10 mins at a time.  Router doesn't show anything looking like incoming attacks in that time.

[#2]

Okay - some questions/suggestions if we are going to help here.

(1) I assume you are on ADSL, not FTTC?

(2) Are these problems over wireless and/or ethernet?

(3) Sight of your router statitics page - redacting any personally identifying data - would help.

(4) If wireless, have you checked for the least congested channel (only check 1,6 and 11)?

[#3]

FTTC.  PCs connected via ethernet.  Good speed etc when not "down".

Which statistics page would you like to see?

[#4]

The two most useful would be the event logs and the link info pages, but don't ask me how you find them - I have no experience with FTTC - although I do know there is a sticky near the top of the board which it may have been helpful for you to read, entitled 'FTTC Speed faults'  - providing of course you had posted in the correct board to start with. There is also one on this board entitled 'ADSL Speed faults', but I imagine the different technologies involved mean you would have to read the correct link.

[#5]

Moderator's note:

Topic moved from Broadband to Fibre Broadband.

[#6]

I had just written a long reply and must have tried posting just as the thread was being moved and lost the blumming lot

Anyway to sum up, I had already checked the event logs for things like incoming attacks, restarts etc etc before posting.  And I really wouldn't describe it as a speed issue, since like a light switch it's either up full speed or completely dead.   I might raise a ticket then, to ask someone to do a line check.

[#7]

Hi @IngeJones, thanks for your post.

On testing your line, we're not seeing the drops in connection you describe, as illustrated below:

We're also not detecting any sort of issue after running fault diagnostics on your line as shown below:

GEA Test Detail
Circuit ID	<REDACTED FOR SECURITY>	Service ID	<REDACTED FOR SECURITY>

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	79.8 Mbps
Upstream Speed	20.0 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	Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	580.4
Upstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Downstream Rate Assessment	Very Good
Interference Pattern	Not Detected
Service Impact	No Impact Observed
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 3dB, Retransmission Low - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2018-11-06T09:00:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	80.0 Mbps	80.0 Mbps	80.0 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	20.0 Mbps	20.0 Mbps	20.0 Mbps
Up Time	899.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	899.9 Sec
Retrains	0.0	0.0	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	2018-11-19T08:32:18Z	2018-11-19T08:47:18Z
Ingress Code Violation	0	0
Egress Code Violation	0	0
Errored Seconds	0	0
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

As we're not picking up any problems, we'd recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting here.

If the problem still persists from here we will go down the route of raising a fault so that we can have Openreach investigate further for you.

Please let us know how you get on.

[#8]

Thanks very much for doing that and I didn't even have to start my own ticket!  Thats why I like Plusnet - good pro-active customer service!   In that case I will look into replacing my router and modem as they are very old now and could be developing faults.  The filter is newer, but wouldn't hurt to replace as well.

[#9]

@OskarPapa would a Hub One be suitable for my account, and if so how can I get one please?

[#10]

You have a very good connection with no errors indicated, running at full speed 80/20 with no retrains, changing to a hub 1 will achieve nothing and they are not much good any way, your existing modem and router is working perfectly well. Your drops in web access could be a local ethernet LAN issue but you have not given much information to diagnose the problem. What error is shown when you can't get to a site, what happens to the modem and router Led indicators when you can't get access? From the GEA test it doesn't look like any disconnections have happened so it would seem to be a local network problem or possibly a DNS issue not allowing access to websites. Do all attempts to access the WEB fail when you are having the problem? You may be able to set up different DNS servers in your router, to see if this will help, try searching for Google DNS addresses.

[#11]

Well a few weeks ago we did go through a period of the plusnet router itself dropping line and even restarting, but that seems to have stopped happening.  During this latest problem, the modem itself can be logged into and everything looks normal - we just can't get out.  It's only happened twice today and has been very brief, like a minute or two.  I think it seems worse at weekends.   The error on browser is something generic like "cannot load this site" and it applies to *every* site during that time.  Husband's PC, my PC, our phones and tablets (except the phones will use the mobile data when it's enabled, which has no problem).  I didn't look at the lights as the router is up in a high cupboard but I would assume nothing to see on the lights as nothing adverse reported on  dashboard.   Maybe we have a neighbor downloading huge files periodically?

[#12]

So what does this mean - it's the same whether I am getting normal connection or whether I am in a period of no response.  It's a screenshot of my Connectivity Check

[#13]

Hi @IngeJones,

I have sent a hub one which will be received within 5 working days. The issue appears to be an intermittent data transfer issue, where data is not being transferred to your devices while everything suggests that data should be transferred.

I must admit it is an unusual issue, sending a router is mainly to rule it out as a possibility as it is not unheard of.

I would recommend disconnecting any other network devices such as network switches, power-line adapters and wireless range extenders.

In the meantime, the next time the issue occurs please take screen shots of pinging 192.168.1.254 / bbc.co.uk / 8.8.8.8 individually and attach them to this post. You can access the command console by pressing the windows key + R then type cmd and click OK. To ping the addresses provided type ping 192.168.1.254 and hit enter.

Let us know how you get on.

Thank you.

[#14]

We can't manage without our switches in at least two rooms of this house (we are heavily ethernet dependent) but what I could do is get my PC directly patched into the Plusnet router which is in the same room, and then when my husband moans that it's gone down again, I can see if it has affected my PC too.  If not, then I guess our main 16-way switch is faulty - though it's comparatively new.

[#15]

Keep us posted on this, letting us know how it goes.