Upgraded to Full Fibre 900 – Now Experiencing Worse Performance and Poor Support

[#1]

Hello,

Earlier this week, I upgraded to Full Fibre 900 from my previous FTTC connection, where I consistently received around 65 Mbps. Back then, my router was located in my office, very close to my PC, and I had no issues at all — smooth gaming, stable connection.

However, during the FTTP installation, there was significant back-and-forth with the Openreach engineers regarding where the new fibre line should terminate. I specifically requested that the cabling and router be placed on the top floor, near my office, but they strongly advised installing it on the middle floor instead. I reluctantly agreed.

Since the upgrade, I’ve had severe connection instability. Gaming has become completely unplayable, with my ping fluctuating wildly from 15ms to 40ms, then spiking to 300ms, 6000ms, and beyond. It's extremely frustrating, especially since I upgraded to get a better experience.

I purchased a Wi-Fi extender, hoping it would help, but it hasn't improved the connection — it's still inconsistent and unreliable.

I contacted Plusnet support, explained the situation, and asked if Openreach could come back to reposition the ONT/router to the top floor as I originally requested. I was told this wasn’t possible unless I paid out of pocket, which feels very unfair given the circumstances.

To make things worse, I was told there’s a “10-day stability period” — something I believe is inaccurate, as FTTP doesn’t require any such period. I escalated to a manager, hoping for a better resolution, but was again told the same thing.

Is there any way to request Openreach to return and reposition the fibre install without me having to pay, considering I was pressured during installation?

Any advice from others who’ve been in a similar situation and successfully resolved it?

This experience has been incredibly frustrating. I expected better from a Full Fibre upgrade, and I’m deeply disappointed by how this has been handled by Plusnet and I feel like they have basically left me on my own to deal with this.

[#2]

@Banz 

Is there any chance of running ethernet cable, perhaps externally?

If there is then the router can either be moved or a WiFi access point (WAP) connected to the ethernet cable to give you the speeds you desire in the office.

Brian

[#3]

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, running Ethernet cables externally isn’t an option for us — and to be honest, it feels a bit extreme to have to resort to that in the first place.

Even when I’m standing right next to the router and running speed tests, the results are highly inconsistent — sometimes as low as 20 Mbps, sometimes 80 Mbps, and occasionally as high as 400 Mbps. There’s no stability at all, which is concerning for a Full Fibre 900 connection.

Ideally, we would have had the router installed on the top floor, where I could have run Ethernet directly into the offices. But as it stands, it’s either a router positioning issue or potentially a problem with the fibre installation itself.

I plan to purchase an additional Ethernet cable to run some wired speed tests for comparison. That said, I still believe I should be getting a stable and usable Wi-Fi signal with the router positioned in the middle of the house — and certainly if it were moved to the top floor.

In my view, the solution shouldn’t always be to use Ethernet, I still expect a stable Wi-Fi connection, I had that before on FTTC.

Do you know how I can get Plusnet to support me further on this?

Or how I might be able to get Openreach to revisit and move the ONT/router to the top floor as originally requested?

I will be documenting all my speed tests as evidence of the ongoing issues. If I don’t receive support to resolve this, I will have no choice but to escalate the matter to the Ombudsman.

[#4]

Wi-Fi is going to be highly variable depending on what band (2.4GHz or 5GHz) the connecting device is associated with. Sub 80mbps isn’t unexpected for 2.4GHz and 400mbps is the upper end of what you can expect on 5GHz when using a Hub Two. If you navigate to the Network page in the Hub Manager it will tell you the band each device is using at a given moment in time. You won’t have seen this variance previously because your line simply wasn’t fast enough to expose it. 

[#5]

@bobpullen  The band being used is 5GHz, please see my recent speed test history, I don't think this is very good, I am paying for full fibre connection and can't even get over 65Mbps, my previous contract I was hitting 65Mbps consistently.

Doing normal work activities or browsing online you can get away with it but if your trying to game or do something similar its unbearable.

 I will go take my laptop and stand right next to the router and see what the results are.

The point is its extremely unstable and inconsistent, look at this awful ping, as well as not getting anywhere near the speed being paid for.

[#6]

If those results are next to the hub, and the device is connected using the 5GHz band then something is definitely not right, particularly if the same devices were able to consistently hit your speed cap before.

Seems very odd though if the hub hasn't changed (has it?), as that's ultimately what's responsible for the Wi-Fi connection, not what access technology the line is provisioned on.

@Banz wrote:

I plan to purchase an additional Ethernet cable to run some wired speed tests for comparison...

Would be v.useful at this stage as it would help rule out an issue with the FTTP connection into the property.

[#7]

@Banz

From the point of view of a WiFi signal being available to all is to position the router in the middle of a property, this is not always practical or needed.  

The speed tests, are they direct to the Hub or using the WiFi extender?  using a WiFi extender does not necessarily improve wireless performance, the speed of the connection between the hub and the extender will limit the speed for either 2.4 and 5GHz from the extender. Multiple devices using the extender connection can slow the overall performance. The high ping figures could suggest a busy network.

Assuming you are using a Hub Two if you check this page Home >Advanced Settings >Broadband can you confirm fields

Downstream / Upstream are 1000Mbps (NOT 100Mbps)  and the Broadband Username is yours? 

Have you consider a Mesh system as they could improve the WiFi signal around the house.

Gemini AI guidance on Mesh system https://g.co/gemini/share/28022e67247d 

Powerline adapters are worth looking at but they have their own issues https://g.co/gemini/share/5d78f0303ee9 

[#8]

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@Dan_the_Van wrote:

Downstream / Upstream are 1000Mbps (NOT 100Mbps)  and the Broadband Username is yours? 

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@Dan_the_Van - I checked this and the WAN port negotiation is 1GbE, so no problem there. The correct username is also in use from what I can establish.

[#9]

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@Banz wrote:

Unfortunately, running Ethernet cables externally isn’t an option for us — and to be honest, it feels a bit extreme to have to resort to that in the first place.

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Have you thought of using Powerline Ethernet? It turns the mains circuit into an ersatz cable connection.

Lots of options, some even come with a combiuned access point.

Wifi is never a good idea for anything gaming.

[#10]

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@mrjkenward wrote:

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Have you thought of using Powerline Ethernet? It turns the mains circuit into an ersatz cable connection.

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I had to google 'ersatz' to satisfy my curiosity.

One definition was "an artificial or inferior substitute or imitation", which IMO often (though not always) sums up powerline connections.

[#11]

The performance of powerline depends on many things, starting with the quality if the mains wiring. It will also fail if you want to connect circuits that go through a pile of fuses boxes and isolators. powerline has none of complication of wifi and once running you can forget about it.

powerline will never be as good as wired Ethernet, but it can be better than wifi. Newer versions of powerline come with Gbps+ LAN.

I have used powerline for a long time to connect Mesh satellites to routers. It is also great for adding things like media devices to a network. Setting them up for wifi can be a pain because the people who make them are hopeless.

Maybe your experience isn't as happy. But you aren't the one looking for a solution to a problem. That was @Banz.

[#12]

So your property is a 3 story type building. They have installed the router and the ont on the first floor?

Three initial things i would do atm would be this

When testing use the same speed tester, don't do x,y and z testers

1. Do a wired test to make sure the hub is ok 

2. if its low do a direct to ont test - search for pc pppoe login 

3. do some wireless tests in the middle floor

a) not sure if hub 2 can change bands but a different band can give more performance 

b) try repositioning the hub 2 in that floor area 

c) download a wifi analyizer so that you can see local band congestion.

Also is there any way you can run a cable from the middle floor to the top. 

I'm thinking you do need multiple units to solve your networking setup.

edit, saw your wifi test and a purchase of a cat5e cable.. If not purchased yet get a reasonably long one so you can place the router after pc to router testing in the another place in the room to test upstairs.

[#13]

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@mrjkenward wrote:

Newer versions of powerline come with Gbps+ LAN.

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You’re not going to get anywhere close to 1Gbps through Powerline, irrespective of the port rating on the plug. 

[#14]

And also the speed can fluctuate or die and you have reset the plugs ..... its not quite a fire and forget solution.

Its a really nice idea but in reality it has some major drawbacks. 

[#15]

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@Banz wrote:

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, running Ethernet cables externally isn’t an option for us — and to be honest, it feels a bit extreme to have to resort to that in the first place.

Even when I’m standing right next to the router and running speed tests, the results are highly inconsistent — sometimes as low as 20 Mbps, sometimes 80 Mbps, and occasionally as high as 400 Mbps. There’s no stability at all, which is concerning for a Full Fibre 900 connection.

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The 900 connection is at the ONT / hub, and connected ethernet devices.  Only ethernet can be guaranteed to work at contract speed. Do you have any other wireless or radio devices near the new router location ?  Sky TV links, room audio links, things like that ? Any of those could be competing for your airwaves.

Only a cabled test can prove that you have an installation issue (fibre, ONT or hub) that would allow you come back on OR / PlusNet.

IMO anyone expecting (as opposed to hoping) a wireless network is going to work well is an optimist doomed to disappointment.

Bill