Slow Speed - Unstable line

[#1]

For the past 2-3 weeks or so I have been consistently been having a problem on the evenings. I have very intermittent extreme packet loss for around 20-30 seconds at a time every few minutes stopping me from loading web pages or speaking on programs such as discord. There is no connection loss though to anything. When running speedtests on an evening I am lucky to have got the following tonight as often I can't even get an upload speed at all. I have tried in the test socket, stopping any programs from running and still have this issue.

Download Speed (Mbps): 6.16

Upload Speed (Mbps) : 1.70

Ping Latency (ms): 48

[#2]

hi and welcome are you able to post your router stats

[#3]

DSL Line Status

Connection Information

Line state:	Connected
Connection time:	2 days, 10:35:55
Downstream:	39.99 Mbps
Upstream:	9.995 Mbps

[#4]

i see youve been running nearly 3 days have u tried rebooting your modem maybe something as simple as that if not then id wait for someone from plusnet to pick this up maybe something they can do there end or may require an engineer.....have you trie any other speedtest sites as some dont always report the right speeds

[#5]

Hi @Firomix

Our sync speed matches the one you've posted most recently, so no issues on the line at this stage.

One of my colleagues is in the office until 10pm this evening, so I'll ask him to monitor the connection for you post 7pm and see what we can turn up.

Thanks

Dave

[#6]

Still had the same issue tonight to the point to play any games without losing connection every few minutes i've had to tether my phone so hopefully something was picked up

[#7]

Hi Firomix,

Sorry to hear this - we'll monitor this again tonight and let you know the results.

Best wishes

Dave

[#8]

Did you find anything monitoring this? The problem seems to be getting worse

[#9]

Hi @Firomix,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing further issues on your end of things. I've tested your line again this afternoon and we're unable to detect any faults from our end of things. The connection appears to have been up and running for the last 6 days and the downstream sync rate going into the property is currently performing at 40Mbps, with the upstream sync rate of 10Mbps.

So that we can help to narrow down where this issue lies, please could you clarify if the results posted in your initial post were retrieved from a Wi-Fi speedtest or an Ethernet connected speedtest?

[#10]

I'm not having an issue with the connection dropping so that's fine it's purely on an evening during peak times that the issue lies. I can get a speedtest during the day on both wired and wireless always above 35mbps down and 9mbps up but anything after 5ish I get intermittent connection spikes every few minutes where often I can't even get an upload speed at all and the general speed to download i'm lucky to get 1mbps download on Steam/B.net or origin. When speedtesting a good speed would be as in my original post and getting 6mbps down and 1mbps up.

The main issues are intermittent lag spikes during games, loading web pages and using discord generally. When playing games i'll often get disconnected. Loading web pages can often stop loading for another 30 seconds or so then finish. Whilst using discord every couple of minutes my ping will shoot to 900+ but I will not disconnect and no one can hear me properly. None of these issues happen when my phone is tethered to the network instead of the router.

I have tested it in the test socket, removed any unnecessary devices and tested it all regularly now. My only suggestion my end might be a faulty hub but it would be very weird that it's only faulty in peak times.

[#11]

A few questions that haven't been asked, which could probably be relevant:

• are you connecting direct via ethernet?
• what's the software version on you router - http://192.168.1.254 and go to the bottom of the page
• what's the date of the software on the router
• has this always been an issue, or recent?

Regarding discord, after many months of giving up with gaming (due to our connection to the www dropping), he's recently started again, plus my son has been having issues with this whilst gaming, though he, as of 2 days ago, is now direct via ethernet and not how he normally connects, via powerline adapters. I don't know if this issue is due to discord or our Plusnet connection, but the others he's been gaming with are not having issues and are not with Plusnet.

Not blaming Plusnet, but does seem odd the others he's gaming with are not having issues with discord. I've not checked this yet, but maybe discord is set to run better on IPv6, which is  something Plusnet don't currently offer - the other gamers have IPv6...?

edit. Ok, my bad, took a call and didn't hit post before the recent replies. I see wireless and wifi now.

[#12]

To cover the above I have Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.226. I have a powerline adapter on one PC and the other is a straight cable to a switch connected to the router (also tried without the switch). The entire cable etc from house to exchange was replaced in novemberish for a similar issue but the issue then was the connection dropping and conecting at a MUCH slower speed that was almost unuseable. From then till about a month ago it's been fine.

[#13]

226 is a very old version, which could be in part the reason.

I did help a mate out once, he had a switch and as it was unmanaged, oddly it was 'bleeding out' across to other devices. We bypassed the switch and he never came back to me, so I have to assume his issues 'went away'. He did have BT Vision at the time and this in part seemed to make gaming worse, even when it was in standby.

Is that the PC (via PLA) that's giving you the hassle?

edit. Are both PC's gaming at the same time? Could be bufferbloat or not enough bandwidth for both...?

[#14]

Hi @Firomix,

Thanks for confirming these details, off the back of which there's a couple of points I'd like to raise. Firstly, the router firmware in use doesn't appear to be up to date - which could explain some of the issues you're experiencing via a Wi-Fi connection. I'll raise this to our products team so they can push through an update to the router as soon as possible.

Secondly, have you been able to test your PC whilst it's connected to the Router whilst having removed the Powerline Adapter from the setup? As it is 3rd party equipment, there is a chance it could be causing an issue, though we'd need to test the connection without it being setup to say this definitively.

[#15]

Is there anything I can do to force the update?

I have tested it without the powerline adapter still have the issue