Internet speed getting slower over time and now below minimum guaranteed

[#1]

Not a problem, I've just added a reply to your fault ticket. 

Feel free to nudge us again once you've responded.

[#2]

i just responded to the ticket. i apologise for not seeing that i had to choose am or pm, although i have had to do this before. i have added into my response for pm appointments that i often get short notice appointments to Papworth hosp. if that happens, i have to go, there is nothing i can do about that. i've just had similar circumstances with London hospital for the last 18 months. just trying to be honest. hopefully, things will work smoothly but if i have to cancel, hope i wont get charged.

[#3]

Hi @prettygrim49.

I'm sorry to hear of the issues that you're experiencing with our services. I've picked up and responded to the fault ticket on the account, however if you have any queries regarding this or if you need to make any amendments to selected appointment slot, please let us know on here as soon as possible and we'll pick this up for review.

[#4]

ok. i'm not expecting anything to change but will post here asap if a hospital appointment suddenly happens.

many tnx

[#5]

i wondered if i might ask a question concerning the connection in the hope that someone can enlighten me a bit?

if i am correct, for the majority of us on fibre to the cabinet, then stuck on copper cable from there to the house, is that copper connection still ADSL2? if that is the case, i thought there was a limit of around 25mb for that side of things? if that is right, how is anything faster achieved? is that the reason, certainly in my case, perhaps, that my speed is dropping, trying to get in line with ADSL2 speeds? if not, what on earth is causing this speed drop? if nothing is found, according to my thinking, 2 more router reboots and i'll be getting less than the minimum speed, so where would that then put me? changing ISP as i said in an earlier post wont do anything because the only change would be the name on the bill. i'd still be on the same poor BT equipment, giving the same poor quality connection speeds and service. we all know that any problems encountered on the copper line between cabinet and home are still there, regardless of whether fibre is laid between exchange and cabinet and the speed that fibre is capable of.

i'm just curious. spent my life asking questions. to me that's the only way to learn. hope someone can educate me further

many TIA

[#6]

---

@prettygrim49 wrote:

if i am correct, for the majority of us on fibre to the cabinet, then stuck on copper cable from there to the house,

Correct, that is the only 'fibre' service currently available from Plusnet

is that copper connection still ADSL2?

No, it's VDSL which has more frequency bands than ADSL If you're fortunate enough to live very close to the cabinet then over 80Mbps can be achieved over the last bit of copper.

  ....if nothing is found, according to my thinking, 2 more router reboots and i'll be getting less than the minimum speed, so where would that then put me?

Unfortunately with a slower connection. If it's below the guaranteed minimum then Plusnet will release you from your contract free of cancellation charges.

changing ISP as i said in an earlier post wont do anything because the only change would be the name on the bill. i'd still be on the same poor BT equipment, giving the same poor quality connection speeds and service.

That's true unless there's also a cable operator providing a service to you area, hence that's the snag with taking the get out of contract free clause as it may not help you. If you go to a more expensive ISP you might get a more pro-active service from the ISP with respect to chasing Openreach and the converse if you stay at the budget end of the market. At the end of the day you can't beat the basic physics around this current technology. I explained the reason why this can happen in my earlier post here   https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Re-Internet-speed-getting-slower-over-time-and-now-bel...

Hopefully there are other underlying issues causing your slowdown. Only an investigation by a knowledgeable competent Openreach Engineer can investigate that. Hopefully you will be sent one!

[#7]

many tnx for the explanations, Baldrick1. i guess my only hope then is that i get sent an engineer whop is totally competent and extremely knowledgeable. unfortunately, that isn't always the case. as for a cable broadband provider, not a chance of that. i live in a town that is as much 'the back of beyond' as some of the Scottish islands!

the annoying thing is that, for the sake of holding back on investment to the extent that pleasing shareholders and certain members of the government (and dare i say 'encouraging them to vote how BT wanted') was a higher priority than the millions of customers they have and, in actual fact, the future. 5G could put BT in a very precarious position! with a lot if not all of the Emergency Services going to be using it, it has to be right. i think a lot of people who are displeased, shall we say, with BT's service are going to swap over to that. if it is done correctly, even if more expensive, people will change providing they get the speed and reliability that BT isn't providing at the moment. fibre to the cabinet, as you said previously, was a money saving move and it is going to come back and bite BT really hard in the rear end! on top of that, with no need for a landline, look at how much that'll cost BT! considering how they have ripped customers off over the pricing of that over the last ten years, with unnecessary price increases for no improvement in service, i'm sorry to say, but serves it right!!

anyway, i'll see what happens on Tuesday and post the result here

tnx again for the help and the explanations

[#8]

I agree that 5G could be a game changer in the future but it still has to be available in your area. Maybe I'm just an old cynic but I can see a future where cable, FTTP and 5G are all competing for business in some urban areas whilst more rural locations are still having to put up with ADSL or FTTC as there's less profit to be had from servicing these localities.. Alternatively we could have the Ofcom approved Market A and Market B pricing rip off expanded to cover new technology; then fewer country dwellers will be able to afford the faster service.

[#9]

i tried to do a little bit more investigating yesterday, Baldrick1. i am on a cabinet that is roughly 600mtrs from my home, cable route wise, not straight line. although there are 3 different routes the cable could go, they all work out to roughly the same. unfortunately for me, that seems to be too far from the cabinet to have a decent speed. equally unfortunate for me, there's no cable operators near me so got no choice but to use the BT equipment. i do feel sorry for Plusnet and the other ISPs because they are tied to BT (in Plusnets case, a bit more than the others, i believe). they are stuck with what BT says it will/wont do, so the ISPs get it in the neck from the customers. ultimately though, it's always the customers who suffer. as i said previously, being offered the chance to change ISP is a waste of time because the fault moves with the customer, basically. the alternatives are for much more pressure to be put on to the government and BT to get either fibre to the premises sorted out as an absolute priority or at least make sure that the existing copper cable is as good as it should be, repairing it properly so as to give a decent connection and speed instead of keep fobbing customers off. the next thing is to give customers a bigger discounted service because having no internet at all, the last option, is to remove what is now classed as a fundamental human right and that is no alternative at all, is it? all these problems because the one company that is holding all the cards, bought out the government to be able to keep speeds lower and only give half a fibre service. pretty poor really, i think.

[#10]

hi all. just to give you an update. BT engineer was at my home today, as arranged. he was from Glasgow, helping at at my locale which seemed strange to me. thought there must be other engineers closer if there was too much work for the local lads.

anyway, he found faults, thank goodness, so no bill coming my way, which is good. he managed to get my speed back up to 30.3mbps, which is better than the 27mbps it had dropped to. he is hopeful that it will remain as it is now as it appeared to be pretty stable. obviously, time will tell. gonna continue to monitor it daily, as i have done since i joined Plusnet. if it fails again, i'll post back

many tnx to those who gave me help and info. very much appreciated

[#11]

Hi @prettygrim49,

Thank you very much for letting us know how the engineer visit went. I'm glad to hear that they found the cause of the fault and that the issue now appears to be resolved. Please let us know if you experience any further problems with your connection.

[#12]

no problems at all, EmilyD. i have fingers crossed that the fix today continues. as i'm now back into a 'training' time, i'll be upset if the speed drops again. the downstream snr is already dropping towards 5db. hoping it maintains a sensible level, even in the evenings and comes back up during the next day. time will tell, so gonna keep my eye on it. so many problems caused for customers and so much expense for ISPs and BT in particular, trying to correct these problems when fibre to the premises would have eliminated it all!

[#13]

well, it's been 3 days since the engineer visit and (touch wood! and crossing everything possible) no router reboots so far. i was a little concerned this morning, however, when i started my pc and checked the connection, i found that the downstream snr was only 5.7db. that is the lowest it has started at for quite a long time, including since the engineer visit.knowing it will fall further, particularly towards evening, i am wondering how low it will go. when used to seeing it start at 6.5db and higher, this low figure was a little disturbing. we will see what happens.

[#14]

@prettygrim49 

Hi

I am in a similar situation, 1.5km from the cabinet, paid for under BDUK (taxpayers money), determined by OR/Stupid County Council, 20 Mbs throughput and dropping, due to cross-talk. The other side of the street, 500m distance , 80Mbs.

I am investigating 4G, getting 30Mbs down. 20Mbs up and actually cheaper than my current contract.

There are 20+ properties in the same boat, FTTP, well Boris will fix it (woosh, voilà un cochon volant!!), not, and to get it put in will cost 20K.

I do feel ISP's could do more, complain to Ofcom, go public, whatever it takes.

Yet another ripoff.

[#15]

@prettygrim49 

My snr settles at 3db (Huawei dslam), and I lowered it to 2db, sits at 1db mainly to eke out a bit more speed from my very long line. (no its not possible on the PN router)

Re distance, I got mine confirmed with a GEA test (having measured it using some mapping software) and sadly it confirmed my calculations.