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Working from home so need faster upload speed

TheMightyAJ
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,511
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Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

Hi @tomcowell86,

My apologies for not responding to your post earlier, I seem to have accidentally overlooked it. I've taken a look into your account now however and I've raised a response via a ticket, which can be viewed here.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Alex H
 Plusnet Help Team
JollyRocker
Dabbler
Posts: 10
Registered: ‎23-03-2020

Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

Hi guys,

@TheMightyAJ  / @Baldrick1 / @Mustrum 

Thank you all for your valuable feedback and sorry for the delay. I've just been looking at my BTWholesale results in more detail. Excuse my ignorance but this is the first time I've seen this type of report. Does that mean that my line is physically capable of providing 80 down and 20 up (VDSL Range), although it's my package that is restricting me to 55 down 20 up (observed)?

That said, as previously reported I'm only seeing 47 down & 8 up (depending on what tracker - that's ThinkBroadband results, Ookla is similar but BTwholesale is way lower - currently 35 down, 5 up).

My latest setup is I've managed to plug my computer direct into the router with a G1 ethernet with no real improved speeds recorded.

I tried to plug into my test socket, but I couldn't find a filter. My master socket faceplate IS the filter to cover the whole house to save having filters all over the place for handsets and skybox etc.  A CAT5e cable comes from back of the unfiltered master output to my router wall socket in the cupboard in the middle of the house for best coverage.

I'll see if I can lay my hands on a separate filter to plug my router direct into the test socket to see if I can hit my magical 50/20, but I doubt it.  p.s. my quiet line test was fine.

Thanks again.

Baldrick1
Moderator
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Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@JollyRocker 

Your line should give you download speed in the upper 60s and upload approaching 19Mbps at a minimum.

The purpose of trying the test socket is to eliminate the possibility that it's the filtered faceplate or your extensions causing the problem so I would consider it important to try this. There will have been a filter included with your router. Maybe it's still in the box?

@TheMightyAJ 

I believe that the 55/10 service was originally provided by Plusnet  capping a 80/20  connection. Is this still the case and the cap set correctly?

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Mustrum
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Registered: ‎13-08-2015

Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@JollyRocker  You are unlikely to see any changes in speed if you only use a speed checker - the PN profile takes time to change. A better way to test is to look at the sync and max attainable speeds from the Advanced/Troubleshooting/Help Desk tab on the Hub 1 router.

 

@Baldrick1  The 55/10 profile is a genuine Openreach/BTW profile, and was used to get rid of the 40/20 PN only profile,which they used their own system to cap an 80/20 profile. 

Baldrick1
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Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@Mustrum 

It might well be now, this service started with the Plusnet 40/20 service, which I believe was 80/20 capped to 40/20 by Plusnet. The 40/20 product was without warning cut to 40/2, later increased to 40/10. Existing 40/20 customers were then offered 55/10 instead of 40/10, I got 40/10 instead of 55/10. This was then corrected and I got 55/10. Out of the blue after some time it went up to 80/20 for many months (I kept my head down!) before going back to 55/10. This made me think that initially we were still capped on the 80/20 service at 55/10 instead of being originally capped to 40/20 . I agree that this is my assumption based on experience only.

Wnen I came to recontract I used competitors prices to get the price down. There are no budget 55/10 budget providers but several 80/20 ones who were cheaper than Plusnet would recontract on 55/10. However they were happy to match a competitors price if I upgraded to 80/20!

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JollyRocker
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎23-03-2020

Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@Baldrick1 / @TheMightyAJ 

I raided the garage and finally managed to find a filter.

So now my EchoLife HG612 is plugged straight into the master test socket.

With Cat5e to my D-Link DIR-880L Dual Band wireless router.

Unfortunately this makes it too far away from my desktop computer at present to plug into, so I've tried the test again on my mobile and again on the PC with PiAEK AC1200 dual-band wireless USB3 dongle and the results were just very much the same as before, whether wired or wireless i.e. 46/47 down, 7/8 up.

Last night I even disabled the wifi so that it was ONLY this PC plugged in directly to the router, so that no mobile phones, TVs, Firesticks, printers or SONOS etc. were sooking my available bandwidth, but still no marked improvement in up or down speeds.

Now that we've excluded a problem with my internal wiring, does that mean there's actually a problem with my external line that I'm not receiving the quoted 55/20?  The download speed I can live with, but if at all possible I need to maximise my available upload speed which would appear I'm not getting.

 

What upgrade options do I have and how do I go about that?  However presumably if I have a line problem there would be no point upgrading until the line is sorted.

Although that said, if I could actually see my "observed speed" of 20Mbps upload I'd be a happy camper.

Any further tricks to try?

plusnet-25-mar-20.PNG

TheMightyAJ
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,511
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Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

Hi @JollyRocker,

Thanks for getting back in touch with us. Based on what you've posted so far, you're achieving the estimated speeds for the current package. In regards to upgrade options, you could always go for the Unlimited Fibre Extra package and this wouldn't require an engineer to come out to the property to implement any changes. We can't arrange this via the Community Forums unfortunately, but our Customer Options Team can be reached on 0800 013 2632 between the hours of 8AM-8PM from Monday to Friday, 9AM-7PM on Saturdays and 9AM-6PM on Sundays.

In terms of getting the most out of your current speeds, I'd advise to stay connected via Ethernet cable where possible and not run any other apps or streaming services in the background whilst working, as this could be affecting the download speed.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Alex H
 Plusnet Help Team
Mustrum
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Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@Baldrick1  that all makes sense, and my experience was similar. I started on the 40/20 and every now and then found myself getting the full 80/20. They never quite managed to get round to changing me to 55/10, staff on here assured me I would be moved, but when it came time to re-contract the CS advisers could not remove 40/2 from the script they read, and so I moved elsewhere within the BT Group.

I have no doubt that some of those 55/10 conversions were done the wrong way, but in this case I believe it would have shown with a higher observed speed on the DSL checker - could be wrong though..

Baldrick1
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Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@JollyRocker 

I think that you're in a chicken and egg situation. Your performance will be considered fine for a 55/10 (it's not 55/20) service but receive attention on 80/20.

Consequently I would upgrade to 80/20. This might result in things getting corrected in the process. If it's still slow you can report a fault as your current speed will be below the minimum guaranteed. If it can't be correctedl you will be allowed to transfer back to 40/10 but lose access to 55/10. The choice is yours!

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JollyRocker
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎23-03-2020

Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@Mustrum 

Uh-oh!

I logged into my D-Link router to try and find the Sync and Max speeds but couldn't find them. But I did spot that my firmware was 4 years out of date so upgraded it.

Big mistake.

Now, I'm at rock bottom stats, far worse than I had before, despite still being plugged in to the router.  I've rerun the test several times since and no improvement.  Looks like I should have left well alone.

plusnet-25-mar-20_upgraded.PNG

Mustrum
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Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@JollyRocker  sorry I had not realised you were still using the old Openreach modem, which is where you could get the speeds from if it were unlocked.

TBH I suggest you have a look for a BT HH6 from your favourite online auction site, it should not cost more than £20 and will help you get the most out of your line. You current set up is a lot less than ideal!

There are some very good instructions from @Baldrick1 on how to set it up in the router section.

Baldrick1
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Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

@JollyRocker 

Your two box solution is rather long in the tooth now. You could try reverting the firmware to the original factory settings and start again but there is a risk with obsolete kit like this that you might make things even worse.

If you upgrade to 80/20 with a new contract Plusnet will give you a Hub One if you ask. The Smarthub 6 is a much better router though, setting instructions are here. https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-the-BT-Smarthub-6-on-a-Plusnet-Account/m-p/1587673#M85...

Both are combined modem/routers so you no longer need either of your current devices.

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JollyRocker
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎23-03-2020

Re: Working from home so need faster upload speed

Thanks all.

@Mustrum 

As a quick fix, based on your suggestions I've ordered a HH6 which says it comes with instructions to connect to Plusnet, so all should be good when it arrives on Friday.

Who knew that by upgrading the official firmware I'd actually be downgrading my connection which was nearly perfect, just needed tweaked to maximise available bandwidth.

Unfortunately it looks like I can't roll back by D-Link firmware, so in the meantime it feels like I've gone back to dial-up!

 

I even looked to see if there were some older firmwares available somewhere out there to try to get my faster connection back but could only find my latest "up to date" one... which is four years old...

Well, at least I didn't brick it and get totally cut off from the outside world during the lockdown! So at least that's something.

 

Thanks anyway guys, but I guess there's no more I can do to improve my line until my new all-in-one router arrives. At least now I know that's an option thanks to @Mustrum 

 

Stay safe out there! 😁