Slow Broadband in the evenings

[#1]

My broadband has been dropping from 38Mb down to 1 Mb every evening for the last couple of months. I have read other posts which suggest that this is caused by network congestion at the exchange and that it happens to many people.

Can anyone tell me how long this normally takes to resolve?

Also, what is the procedure for claiming my payments back? I shouldnt be footing the bill for something I can't use.

At what point am I free to move to a more reliable provider? I am only 5 months into my contract.
I would call and ask but I dont want to wait on the phone for an hour.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[#2]

Before going any further blaming others have you checked out your own set up? Are you complaining that a wireless connection is dropping in speed or are you doing a proper test by connecting the router to the test socket, that's the one behind the removable front part of the master socket and doing the BT wholesale formal speed test (www.speedtest.btwholesale.com) with a computer connected to the router by an Ethernet cable. Unless you jump through this hoop PN will not accept that you have a speed issue.

If you do the BTw test then the further diagnostics the result is stored and PN can see for themselves the issue.

[#3]

Well before you go blaming me😀. I have completed the test with the cable plugged in and also reset the router to factory defaults.

[#4]

Sorry if this came out wrong. I was not blaming you, I was trying to help. I will go away.

[#5]

I am only kidding Baldrick, I appreciate your help. I understand I need to follow due process but I just want to be prepaired for Plusnet dragging this out. After discovering they expect me to wait an hour to talk to them each time, I am prepairing for them to drag this out.

[#6]

I take it nobody has any answers to my questions?

[#7]

It's more likely to be BT that will drag this out if it is exchange congestion, they will initially deny it until given evidence then will take many weeks or months to fix it.

[#8]

Don't go there we tried and failed 

Stuck with them till our contract ends or if your will to pay them the remaining then they would be happy

Good luck

[#9]

@br043871

Shall we start again? I'm sorry if you think I'm teaching you to suck eggs. Congestion is down to Openreach and BT Wholesale to resolve. Whilst it is necessary to pressurise Plusnet as much as you can for them to get it fixed as soon as possible, they are neither the cause, nor are they in a position to fix it. If it is congestion your only alternative option will be to go to a cable supplier, if there is one in your area. Other ISPs using the BT network would probably be in the same boat.

It could be that the problem is being caused by just one module in the fibre cabinet and a bit of reconfiguration in the cabinet would improve the situation. If you have completed the formal speed test during the evening including the further diagnostics then if I were you I would keep up asking Plusnet when the problem was going to be fixed.

[#10]

Hi there. I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing speed problems.

Testing your line isn't finding any issues, and there doesn't appear to be any congestion on the part of our suppliers network that your connection is routed through. With that said, I've reported a fault to our suppliers to further investigate.

Our faults team will be in touch when we've got more info.

[#11]

Any ideas on timescales? It is unusable tonight and I been to VPN into work.

BT own Plusnet so this is a bit of a smokescreen, they should get their house in order.

"Network Congestion" sounds like selling the same bandwidth twice and expecting both to pay. Bit like finding another guest in your hotel room.

Can you let me know the complaints and escalations procedure to me so I can utilise it should this process take too long? At what point am I due compensation?

[#12]

Also, I bought a tp link router to see it this would help, it didn't.

Next door have sky fibre is OK, the other side have non fibre broadband and that is OK.

[#13]

You can find the complaints code of practice linked in the footer of most pages on Plusnet's website.

[#14]

Any ideas on timescales? 

Our faults team should be in touch within 24-72 hours.

BT own Plusnet so this is a bit of a smokescreen, they should get their house in order.

When I'm mentioning suppliers, I mean BT Wholesale (BTW) with whom we operate independently from, to keep the the playing field level for other ISP's that also use BTW as their supplier.

"Network Congestion" sounds like selling the same bandwidth twice and expecting both to pay. Bit like finding another guest in your hotel room.

Due to how the broadband service works, there are many circuits on the same SVLAN (Service Virtual LAN).

We receive regular reports from our suppliers which advise if a SVLAN is nearing or surpassing thresholds that means there's congestion. I checked the latest report and it was showing as green, which indicates there's no issues they're aware of. However, as you are experiencing problems, I've raised a fault anyway, so they can further investigate this.

Can you let me know the complaints and escalations procedure to me so I can utilise it should this process take too long?

Our complaints process can be found here.

At what point am I due compensation?

We generally don't refund for speed faults, but we'd be happy to discuss a gesture of goodwill when the fault is resolved.

Also, I bought a tp link router to see it this would help, it didn't.

Thanks for ruling out an issue with the router.

Next door have sky fibre is OK

If the problem does lie on the BTW equipment, then it's unlikely a Sky customer would be affected as I believe in a lot of exchanges Sky have an LLU presence which means they'd use their own equipment.

the other side have non fibre broadband and that is OK.

Without knowing which ISP they're with, the SVLAN they're connected to and being able to test their line, it's difficult for us to relate this to the issues that you're experiencing.

[#15]

The nightly slowdown has begun so no football tonight.  Is there any update from the faults department?  The problem has with you guys for a week now.