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Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Monty73
Hooked
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎25-11-2020

Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Hi,

For many months this year I had regular drop-outs and issues with the FTTC broadband that drove me crazy.  Eventually after many engineer visits it was tracked to a faulty port in the cabinet.  We were lifted and shifted to a new port, but that profile was incorrectly set up and caused a whole new range of fun issues.  Eventually this was resolved and all was well.

Over the past couple of months I noticed that after rock-solid stability, for some reason the downstream connection was banded to 34999.  I asked (as a follow-up to the previous fault) if this can be resolved and was told it would be.  However nothing happened.  Now we have been banded to 32399 for no apparent reason.  This gives a real-world transfer speed around 27000 to 28000.

I am out of contract in a few weeks. One of the considerations as to whether we stay or go is connection speed as two of us are currently working from home.  If the speed can be improved, we then only have to do battle re the cost.  If the speed cannot be improved that is fine and we will go elsewhere knowing we exhausted the possibilities here.

I hope someone can assist, and sorry for the essay.

Matt

10 REPLIES 10
MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,583
Thanks: 5,415
Fixes: 385
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Over the past couple of months I noticed that after rock-solid stability, for some reason the downstream connection was banded to 34999.  I asked (as a follow-up to the previous fault) if this can be resolved and was told it would be.  However nothing happened.  Now we have been banded to 32399 for no apparent reason.

@Monty73 banding is contolled by the BT Openreach DLM in the cabinet. Whilst there can be occasional transient faults which affect the banding, do not auto correct and require intervention to reset, if the DLM had reduced the banding a second time , it tends to indicate some form of line problem.

If the speed cannot be improved that is fine and we will go elsewhere knowing we exhausted the possibilities here.

Be aware that if you move to another ISP on an FTTC product, they will use exactly the same line and equipment in the cabinet. Its likely that any banding due to line problems would either remain or be reapplied fairly quickly.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Monty73
Hooked
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎25-11-2020

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.  I totally understand that a new supplier will not provide a new overhead or underground cable from the cabinet just for me! As far as I am aware I would be swapped to another port possibly on another card in the cabinet, however.  As failing ports / cards have been confirmed as the cause of my problems over not just this year but also previously, swapping again may buy me a bit more speed at least for a while.

Once I get a final answer as to the connection speed, I can then make a decision on whether it is worth haggling to stay or if I just take my chances elsewhere.  I know I am in that grey area where it is not as fast as it could be but probably not slow enough to be classed as a fault, so not holding my breath!

Matt

 

MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,583
Thanks: 5,415
Fixes: 385
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

As far as I am aware I would be swapped to another port possibly on another card in the cabinet, however.

Im not even sure they will do that. Its possible that an FTTC to FTTC migration is done remotely by just changing the domain routing. Changing to an LLU operator would normally involve PSTN jumpering but that would be at the exchange not the cabinet. Athough I believe SKY are provisiong new connections as SoGEA and porting the phone number to voip , so no physical presence at the exchange and/or cabinet may be needed.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Monty73
Hooked
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎25-11-2020

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Is anyone able to assist with this please?

Mads
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,873
Fixes: 79
Registered: ‎06-08-2018

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Hey @Monty73, thanks for getting in touch. 

I've checked over the connection and made a few tweaks from this side, can you reboot your router with a pin/similar and let us know how you get on. 

 

Thanks.  

Monty73
Hooked
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎25-11-2020

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Thanks for tweaking things @Mads .  I just rebooted the router and still stuck at 32399 compared to the max rate of 47718.

Any further ideas or assistance would be great.

Matt

Mads
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,873
Fixes: 79
Registered: ‎06-08-2018

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

@Monty73 Together with our network partners at Openreach we will try to provide you with the best speeds possible. If you feel this is not the case, please raise your speed fault online at faults.plus.net

Monty73
Hooked
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎25-11-2020

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Ok so I need to report a fault now?  It would be handy to know what the tweaks were aiming for so I can add to the report please.

 

Matt

Monty73
Hooked
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎25-11-2020

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

I have now raised a fault as my IP Profile is currently 30.01 which is pretty dire and a lot slower than the fairly consistent high 30s to 40 I have had (other than during the several months of dropping connections earlier this year).

Conveniently, the minimum guaranteed speed is lower now than it was previously so it seems that rather than fixing issues, profiles / speed ranges are reduced to fit the infrastructure.

Matt

Monty73
Hooked
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎25-11-2020

Re: Please can you assist with my banding issue?

Well, since I raised my ticket #208894193 on 30 November, I have not heard a thing. My profile is still 30.01 (actual download speed in the mid 20s) and the max line speed is still fluctuating.  Previously my profile has been consistently in the mid to high 30s.  There is obviously some kind of issue lurking and it may be that it needs to fail completely before getting resolved, but some kind of response or acknowledgement would have been nice.

This reminds me of a motorcycle I once owned where the brake disc started warping.  The dealer said it was not bad enough yet and that I had to wait until my brakes failed in order to get the issue fixed. Never bought that make of bike again. 😂

Matt