80/20 Trial - Stuck Profile - Engineer Visit - PN Staff Advise please?

[#1]

Ticket #55147079
Hello PN staff
I'm confused as to what's happening with my ticket.  I went on the to the 80/20 (from 40/20) trial a week ago but the speeds never shifted at all.  Several requests were put through for the order and it seemed to go through yet the profile remained resolutely stuck.
I've just been contacted by PN support to tell me they need me to give 3 slots for an engineer to visit.
Do I really need an engineer to visit, given that I would have to take a half day off work to ensure I am at home?  The appointments offered to me are monday - friday only.
I'm just confused as others here seem to have the same problem and they ended up being re-ordered onto 40/20 then back on to 80/20 which seemed to fix the sticky profile.
Can you maybe explain what's happening for me as the ticket replies don't seem to do that very well, and I really don't want to take a half day off work unless I absolutely have to.
Thanks chaps, really appreciate it!
Mark.

[#2]

Hi there,
Unfortunately moving back and then reproviding on 80/20 most likely won't fix the issue, the engineer needs to attend because all that is dealt with in the local cabinet (green box) which is what needs investigating. The reprovide is unlikely to fix because provisioning is done remotely once the fibre line has been installed, so that won't get checked.
I'm afraid the only appointment slots available are weekdays either in the morning between 8am and 1pm or in the afternoon between 1pm and 6pm.
It doesn't have to be yourself at home, just someone who can answer the door and show the engineer where the socket is (though it'd be good if they were able to understand speed test results as the engineer should prove the line working once the issue has been resolved), not sure if that helps at all?
Hope that helps explain.

[#3]

Thanks Matt, have replied to see if there is a chance of getting an engineer on the 4th or 5th of June as I am already off on those days.  If not, I will have to book a holiday in order to accommodate an engineer.

[#4]

Hi chaps, still not on 80/20 yet.  Latest reply to my ticket is that I may not need an engineer to come out, a particular department within wholesale has been contacted to see if they can resolve.
Fingers crossed, was put on to the trial a fortnight ago but the profile never changed so hopefully they can unstick it for me, otherwise I'll probably have to take a day off work for an engineer to visit.
Appreciate everything you are doing, but is it normal for resolutions to these sorts of issue to be a bit on the slow side?  Not being cheeky, so don't read into that the wrong way 

[#5]

Quote from: Matt

the engineer needs to attend because all that is dealt with in the local cabinet (green box) which is what needs investigating.

That's right, you need (like the rest of us) for a BT Openreach engineer to come to your home, use his mobile to phone someone at some office location for them to then remotely change the profile ??!!
All completely ridiculous. A second order being put through would probably have done it.

[#6]

Was informed on the 17th that my profile is now definitely fixed.  My IP profile and speeds are still exactly the same though according to the bt speed test.
The  PN adviser responded to this by saying it takes 4 days for the line to stabilize then it will automatically increase on the 4th day.
I cant find this information anywhere else , can anyone confirm this is how it works?  Apologies for my ignorance !
Heading

[#7]

Quote from: Chinster

The  PN adviser responded to this by saying it takes 4 days for the line to stabilize then it will automatically increase on the 4th day.

"Making it up as they go along" springs to mind.

[#8]

It took BT 2 weeks to realise (when the engineer finally turned up that is!) that no one had done the 80/20 for me even though they said they had!
He phoned someone on his phone and they did it remotely. Engineer replaced Infinity front plate 'just in case'!!!

[#9]

Well it's been 4 days since the latest fix and nothing has changed so have updated the ticket with my latest BT speedtest.
Will soon be into my 4th week of being on 80/20, without actually being on 80/20 if you know what I mean
I'd be narked if I was paying for it, but I'm not paying for it so am fine about it.
Having said that, is this an indicator of the length of time folk will have to wait to get issues resolved when they are paying for it?  I hope not

[#10]

My initial 10 days are up and BT speedtester has remained on 42/20 yet over the 10 days I have had a stable 41/10.
I was originally on 37.5/8.1

[#11]

HI Chinster,
Having just looked at your line stats I don't see that there's a problem with the profile. The banding is currently 17.5M-35M but your sync rate is 28.4 Mbps, so the profile of 27.5Mbps is right. With the banding being up to 35Mbps, if it were possible you should sync up to that at least. What was your speed when you were on the 40Mbps service?
Jojo

[#12]

Exactly the same as it is now, there has been no change.

[#13]

As an aside, do you have historical data for my line or for other lines which were on a similar speed on 40/20 then were moved to 80/20?  Would that not give an idea of any potential increase that might give comparison data?
There is also a lot of conflicting and confusing information forthcoming from plusnet.  The Staff on the ticket seem to think there is a problem but you have posted that it all looks fine.
Don't think I'm grumpy, I'm not at all, I would obviously like to benefit from 80/20 speeds but if for some reason there is absolutely no difference in speeds from the 40/20 profile, it would be great to know why that is.
I was under the impression that if 40/20 speeds were poor then there was a slim chance that 80/20 may not actually help much.  My 40/20 speeds were pretty consistent though, usually between 20-30 down and 1-5 up.  Would that fall into a poor enough bracket that 80/20 is of no benefit?
Perhaps the 80/20 product should eventually only be offered to folk who can obtain a certain speed on their 40/20 line, otherwise there's no point?
I dunno, colour me confused 
Perhaps me and my line are the perfect guinea pig for the 80/20 trial, who knows! 

[#14]

Hi Chinster,
I've just had a bit more of a dig and the problem you have is your sync rate not being high enough. I think there's probably a fault on your line causing this. The profile is definitely not the issue. Could you tell me when you would be available for an engineer visit any time from tomorrow?
Jojo

[#15]

Quote from: Chinster

Perhaps me and my line are the perfect guinea pig for the 80/20 trial, who knows!

Plusnet experimented with my line on the 80/20 trials.
On the 40Mb service, the best my connection has ever synced at is 35Mb.
My connection has suffered many physical issues & we tried the 80/20 service when all the issues appeared to have been fixed.
Prior to the trial I was again able to sync higher than 30Mb for the first time in around 8 months.
We didn't really expect any miracles as 80/20 makes use of higher frequencies that longer lines (like mine) struggle to receive.
However, as these higher frequencies can use higher power from the cabinet based DSLAM without causing crosstalk onto nearby ADSL connections that were already weak having travelled around 4km from the exchange, the experiment was purely aimed at seeing if DSLAM output power would be increased slightly, thus allowing slightly more sync speed.
The result was that DSLAM output power was NOT increased & thus speeds were not increased at all.
This was quite a recent experiment & over the last couple of weeks, my physical connection issues appear to have resurfaced yet again.
There is a very remote chance that my physical connection issues had clouded the experiment results, but it really does appear conclusive that if 40Mb is not being achieved anyway, there is absolutely no point trying out the 80/20 service apart from increased upload sync speeds.
On the 80/20 trial, my upload sync speed was around 5Mb & I really could see the difference when uploading large spreadsheets, CAD drawings etc. from home to my employer's servers.

HTH.

EDIT:
I am back on the 40Mb service (trialing 10Mb upload) at my request as no DS advantage was seen from the 80/20 service.