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Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

FIXED
JamesDaGames
Grafter
Posts: 29
Thanks: 6
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎12-08-2016

Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

Hello everyone,

 

Over the past week or so, the internet in my house has been rather unreliable with pages almost constantly being unable to connect or only partially display if they manage to load at all. If I had to provide a date for when I believe it started, I think it started happening around the 4th or 5th of August.

I am almost certain it is an issue with my internet connection rather than my PC, as I have already performed malware and virus scans when the issue first started and they did not come back with any detection's and I am not the only one experiencing this issue as I have had my mum telling about websites slowly loading as well. 

One thing of note is that I don't believe it is the speed that is the underlying problem, as once a website is able to load properly after trying multiple times, it is able to play the content properly (such as watching a YouTube video in 720p60fps or watching a live stream like the Olympics on bbc iplayer)

 

 

I've tried many things so far to try and fix the problem, although none of the fixes I have tried have been successful. These have included:

 

- Restarting the router

- Changing the wifi channel (It currently uses channel 12) 

- Flushing the dns

- Resetting winsock 

- Uninstalling and reinstalling my browser (The issue happens in all browsers I have tried - Chrome, Edge, Firefox)

 

I have compiled a series of screenshots showing the error(s) from my browsing this morning in the hope that they might be able to provide some insight. If you would like any more information, please do not hesitate to ask me, although I am at a loss of what do to so I hope that someone here can direct me as to what to do.

 

Thank you in advance for any help, it is greatly appreciated.

 

Edit: Just in case it helps, my OS is Windows 10 64 bit with the anniversary update installed.

21 REPLIES 21
JamesDaGames
Grafter
Posts: 29
Thanks: 6
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎12-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

Some more images that may or may not be relevant. But still show the issue in question

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Some identifiable information removed from wifi analyser.png.

SwordAl
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎08-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

What router are you using? The Technicolour one with the Openreach modem or the newer Plusnet One model?

JamesDaGames
Grafter
Posts: 29
Thanks: 6
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎12-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

Just a small update from this afternoons browsing.

 

It seems to of gotten slightly better over the course of the afternoon and it is definetly not related to speed as 2 streams of the olympics were able to be run in high quality although there was some slight buffering every now and then.

 

I think I might be suffering from a DNS server issue which some other have reported over the last week or so, so I will presume it is something that will fix itself eventually.

JamesDaGames
Grafter
Posts: 29
Thanks: 6
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎12-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

The technicolor tg582n with the openreach box

SwordAl
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎08-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

I just got off the phone with Plusnet support for the exact same issue (same symptoms, same OS, watching lots of Olympics Smiley) and may have a solution for you.

What we found is that it is something to do with the router. We didn't determine the exact issue but we now have it working in a decent state. It does seem odd, since it appears to be an issue with the external Plusnet network, but doing the following has fixed all issues I was seeing.

 

Please try the following after reading my entire post. You need a device with a wired ethernet connection. The following instructions are for Windows 10 but are probably similar for other versions.

  1. Turn off the Technicolour router (not the Openreach modem).
  2. Unplug the router from the modem. This should leave the Lan 1 socket free on the modem.
  3. Plug in your computer into the modem in Lan 1 on the modem using an ethernet cable (you can reuse the one which previously connected the router to the modem).
  4. Open the Network and Sharing Centre (search for it in the Start Menu)
  5. Click Set up a new connection or network
  6. Click Connect to the Internet then Next
  7. Click Broadband (PPPoE)
  8. Username: yourPlusnetUserName@plusdsl.net
  9. Password: yourPlusnetPassword
  10. Tick Save Password.
  11. Tick Allow other people to use this connection if other users on the PC need internet access.
  12. Connect

Now it should attempt to connect and at the end there should be a button saying "Browse the internet". Click it and your browser should open. Test some pages and they should all load fine. If this is the case then congrats! Your router is to blame. If not then I can't help you.

So what you have now is completely working internet on a single computer. Since the router has been taken out of the network you no longer have wifi and only the single ethernet port on the modem. You do have some options if your computer has a wifi adapter. To turn your wired computer into a wifi hotspot for other devices check out http://www.connectify.me/ [note: I last used this 6 years ago on Windows 7 and it worked well but haven't tested on Windows 10].

What you do now is plug everything back the way you found it (router, modem etc), phone Plusnet (0800 432 0200 and then 2 for technical support) and explain everything. Mention:

  1. Your symptoms (connection issues, partly loading webpages etc).
  2. Say your connection speed has been good (test at www.speedtest.net)
  3. Say that you've tested on multiple devices, both wired and wireless (important), and multiple browsers.
  4. Say that doing what I described above (plugging your computer straight into the modem) has worked and that the issues therefore seem to be the router's fault.

They will probably still run some tests on your line and maybe ask you to do the direct modem setup again.

After they confirm that they agree with you they should offer you one of their new routers for free, that's what they did for me. The new router is combined with a modem and is basically the same as the BT Homehub 5. It is far more advanced than the very basic Technicolour router.

My router is in the post, I got the confirmation email 2 mins  after hanging up! It is not yet confirmed that it will actually solve the issue but I'm 99% sure it should, and so was the support guy. Good luck!

PS. I'll be making a dedicated post about this in the forum since I've seen many people with the same issue. Let me know how you get on!

JamesDaGames
Grafter
Posts: 29
Thanks: 6
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎12-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

Fix

I've managed to fix the problem by manually setting the DNS address to google's public DNS rather than letting windows automatically determine the DNS address to use. I haven't manually switched back to plusnet's DNS yet, but I am now pretty sure that it is a problem with their DNS servers, so hopefully this will spell the end of my problems.

 

I am going to presume that windows ruined something when I upgraded to the anniversary update as my problems started happening after upgrading, which I originally thought was a coincidence. 

I'll update the thread again if I start to experience problems again.

 

 

Ian_DC
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎15-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

I have had identical problems (and quite a few others) since receiving the Windows 10 anniversary update. After searching for days for a solution (very slowly because of the continual timeouts) this is the only solution that worked for me, although I used the alternative addresses for the Plusnet DNS server. So, I'm very grateful for the information.

Davehuge
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎10-10-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

FIXED!!!

Yes, I had exactly the same problem on all 4 of the Windows 10 PC's in our house!

 

At first it was due to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update that had just been installed. I was cursing Microsoft but after spending hours of my time trawling the internet, I found this thread and realised it's a Plusnet problem not a Microsoft problem!

 

Happy to say it's fixed now.

I changed the 'Preferred DNS Server' to 8.8.8.8

 

Hope this helps other people too as it was driving me crazy!

DNS Server.JPG

 

 

Ian_DC
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎15-08-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

It's always difficult to decide exactly who is to blame in these cases. Had it been entirely Plusnet, I would have thought they would have been inundated with complaints. On the other hand, it might be Windows 10's inability to automatically resolve DNS servers for particular ISPs. This may have been corrected in later updates, but since manually setting my DNS server, I have left well alone and hope it continues to work!

goforich1
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎01-09-2011

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

This magically fixed my delay problem, but leaves me withsome problems accessing my Synology NAS. Does anyone know if there is a proper PlusNet solution?

MrSilver
Pro
Posts: 550
Thanks: 82
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎05-10-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

For the nas just put and entry in your local windows host file,

 

https://support.rackspace.com/how-to/modify-your-hosts-file/

 

So

192.168.1.11 nas

is in my hosts file with synology on an internat static ip!

Davehuge
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎10-10-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

Just wish Plusnet would fix this problem.
goforich1
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎01-09-2011

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

Davehuge, I spent time with Plusnet Support yesterday fixing this. They insist that this is a Windows 10 problem, not just PlusNet.

Your 8.8.8.8 solution had worked but I wanted Plusnet's recommended solution.

At my request the support guy subsequently emailed me the following below (How to set DNS to avoid slow web response).

When I suggested that Plusnet should post this somewhere in their FAQ, he said that it would cause problems with people trying to fix it themselves. So I take zero responsibility for what you do with this. 

Also the instructions were not entirely consistent with what I see in W10.

On the phone he initially instructed me to go to the command prompt and  Run: ipconfig /flushdns

This flushed the DNS Resolver Cache. I have no idea if this is necessary.

 

How to set DNS to avoid slow web response (as in email from PlusNet)

Select Network (right click on the Start menu, which is at the bottom left of the screen.

select 'Network Connections'.

right click on the Ethernet network, and then click on 'Properties' from the menu.

IPv4 Properties

Within the '[network connection name] Properties' window that opens, the customer must left click on the 'Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)' option to highlight it, and then click on the 'Properties' button.

Select Manual or Automatic

Within the 'Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties' window that opens, a number of options are presented.

Manual Settings

Ensure that the 'Use the following IP address' option is selected, the complete the fields with the relevant information:

IP address - This should be '192.168.1.XXX', whereby the three Xs are replaced with a number from 0 to 255 (this cannot be the same as the router's address; as such, if the customer's router's IP address ends in 254, you may not use that value)

Subnet mask - This should be set to '255.255.255.0'

Default gateway - This must be the router's IP address. If recently supplied by Plusnet, this would be '192.168.1.254'

DNS Settings:

Manual Settings

Ensure that the 'Use the following DNS server addresses' option is selected, the complete the fields with the relevant DNS server addresses.

Customers with Safeguard

Server Address

Primary          213.120.234.42

Secondary     213.120.234.38

Customers without Safeguard

Server Address (1st option)

Primary       212.159.13.49 Secondary 212.159.13.50

Address (2nd option)

Primary 212.159.6.9            Secondary 212.159.6.10

Once entered, click 'OK' and close any additional windows that have been opened as part of this process.

 

Davehuge
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎10-10-2016

Re: Slow website loading and constant timeouts over the past week or so

I find it difficult to understand it's a Windows 10 problem.

When I take my laptops to other people's houses and use their internet connection (not Plusnet customers) there's no problem.

Surely its logical to say it's an issue with Plusnet?

Regards, Dave.