Plusnet new connection - ongoing problems

Hello

My new connection from plusnet has been running for about a fortnight now. I
once saw speeds of about 3500kbps - once - but most of the time I get
download speeds of about 250kbps i.e. significantly slower than even a tenth
of what I would expect. Plusnet's linechecks suggested speeds of about
5000kbps prior to singing up with them. I appreciate that the DSL sync speed
reported by the router etc. will always be higher than true download speeds.

Endless checks with two different routers and a PC connected by CAT5 and the
DSL connection straight from the NTE5 test socket show consistant results -
both BT speed tester and http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk show the same
paltry 250kbps . Sometimes the BT test suggests that my profile should be
giving be 4500kbps, other times it says my line rate is 270kbps. Quite a
difference!

http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk/results/20607761.png

Plusnet have responded to my several tickets and have done some resetting
(of the DSLAM?BRAS?)but every time, the line reverts back to being very
slooooow. In fact it is so slow as to be unuseable and apart from the one
occasion when it did work at the correct speed (one evening last weekend,
forget when), it has been more-or-less useless. The ticket system is
somewhat slow to respond but they do indeed respond, but it means that fault
finding is hardly contemporaneous.

Seeing as my contract is a 1 year contract, with 3 free months to start with
and no hardware supplied, I am keen to get this working or bail out of
broadband and not bother. I am certainly not getting the sorts of rates I
was expecting when I signed up wth PN - where do I stand and how should I go
about getting this fixed or getting away from the ISP?

Thanks for any guidance/experience/encouragement you can offer.

DDS

>>My new connection from plusnet has been running for about a fortnight now.
>>I
>>once saw speeds of about 3500kbps - once - but most of the time I get
>>download speeds of about 250kbps i.e. significantly slower than even a
>>tenth
>>of what I would expect. Plusnet's linechecks suggested speeds of about
>>5000kbps prior to singing up with them. I appreciate that the DSL sync
>>speed
>>reported by the router etc. will always be higher than true download
>>speeds.
>>Endless checks with two different routers and a PC connected by CAT5 and
>>the
>>DSL connection straight from the NTE5 test socket show consistant results

> Have you been turning the router on and off or leaving it on
> permanently?

It's been on and off many times; forcing it to re-sync. It has been left on
for several days , then off & on again several times in a day, and then left
off for several days. This weekend it's been on since yesterday evening
except for a few reboots.

DDS

> My new connection from plusnet has been running for about a fortnight now.
> I once saw speeds of about 3500kbps - once - but most of the time I get
> download speeds of about 250kbps i.e. significantly slower than even a
> tenth of what I would expect.

> Thanks for any guidance/experience/encouragement you can offer.

You've all offered some good advice and thanks for doing so. Some of it I
should already have known but my excuse is that moving home and starting a
new job has addled me a bit. Needed some sleep!

Answering various points raised:

1) "The general advice for a new connection is to leave on for at least 10
days". I'll do that and I'll watch to see how the line SNR changes. At the
moment I'm seeing about a 10dB noise margin (up and down, also 63dB
attenuation for both).

2) "plusnet.service.customerfeed-back" - again, something I should have
known about but forgot. i'll check out that newsgroup and see if further
guidance can be sought.

3) https://portal.plus.net/my.html?acti...transfer_speed says my
current line speed is 4000kbps. My router however reports 416kbps down and
448kbps up. These are all quoted as bit rates, so there isn't any muddling
up of bits and bytes - small "b"!

4)My understanding is that I pay monthly but I am tied in for a year such
that if I want to leave early I have to pay a 40 quid disconnection fee,
something I would not be willing to pay seeing as I am yet to get a useable
servie. If that changes however, and I end up with something that works then
I won't want to change ISP (and I would accept that a disconnection fee
would then be warranted should I elect to cease or change anyway).

Ticket numbers Bob - and thanks for saying you'd look into it for me -
are/were 32481346 & 32371651 & 32371642 & 32371438 & 32371439
& 32369675 & 32369674

Thanks for everyone's help - more detective work needed.

DDS

Hello

> What does this link show your line speed as?
> https://portal.plus.net/my.html?acti...transfer_speed
> What up and down speeds does your router actually show?

In addition to my earlier response (please see further down this thread),
the BT speedtester report says

Download speed achieved during the test was - 212 Kbps. For your connection,
the acceptable range of speeds is 50-250 Kbps.

Additional Information: Your DSL Connection Rate :416 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448
Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 250 Kbps

(My two routers independently agree with the up and down speeds)

The fact that the profile has reverted to 250kbps, whereas I have seen it
report as 4500 kbps, is the problem of course. Don't know why it does so
(yet).

Duncan Di Saudelli wrote:

> My router however reports 416kbps down and
> 448kbps up. These are all quoted as bit rates, so there isn't any muddling
> up of bits and bytes - small "b"!

So, regardless of anything else, your downstream is almost 8 times as
fast as you'll get with dial-up, and it's an always on.

Lets assume you have 16 KB / sec usable worst case based on 270 kb/s and
lots of errors, that's still much faster than you can read.

Also 16 KB / sec = 1.3 GB / day ..... what's your monthly bandwidth
allowance? 10 GB? So you have more than enough data rate to blow your
monthly bandwidth in 8 days.

It may not be as fast as you want, or even as fast as you think it
should be, but it's probably fast enough for most things you'll want to
do, and it's a lot faster than using a dial-up modem.

Rgds

Denis McMahon

Plusnet Support Team wrote:
> On 13/03/2010 22:18, Duncan Di Saudelli wrote:
>> Seeing as my contract is a 1 year contract, with 3 free months to
>> start with
>> and no hardware supplied, I am keen to get this working or bail out of
>> broadband and not bother.
>
> Err, we don't do 1 year contracts on residential products?!

From the "no contract option" popup for the GBP 5.99 / month residential
offering on <http://www.plus.net/?home=hometop>

"Don't want a contract? Perhaps you're a student or living in temporary
accommodation.

Pay a one-off setup fee of £40 and have the freedom to leave Plusnet
when you choose with 10 days' notice and no penalties.

If you need a router, you can also buy one from us for as little as £20.

Alternatively, take a 12 month contract and you'll only be charged for
your setup and router if you leave within 12 months of signing up."

I'd call a 12 month contract a 1 year contract as well, although what
the OP's really done is made a 12 month commitment to buy the service in
exchange for the waiving of router and set-up costs, which will become
no longer waived if he breaks his commitment.

Rgds

Denis McMahon

>> My router however reports 416kbps down and
>> 448kbps up. These are all quoted as bit rates, so there isn't any
>> muddling
>> up of bits and bytes - small "b"!
>
> So, regardless of anything else, your downstream is almost 8 times as
> fast as you'll get with dial-up, and it's an always on.
>
> Lets assume you have 16 KB / sec usable worst case based on 270 kb/s and
> lots of errors, that's still much faster than you can read.
>
> Also 16 KB / sec = 1.3 GB / day ..... what's your monthly bandwidth
> allowance? 10 GB? So you have more than enough data rate to blow your
> monthly bandwidth in 8 days.
>
> It may not be as fast as you want, or even as fast as you think it
> should be, but it's probably fast enough for most things you'll want to
> do, and it's a lot faster than using a dial-up modem.

I see the point you're making and it is a useful aid to keeping things in
proportion. However, by analogy it would seem similar to buying a car which
has four cylinders, only to find it firing on one alone. Better than the
pushbike it replaces, but not what was hoped for: efficiency and speed not
being as fast as wanted or as fast as expected.

Again - acknowledging your original point, it isn't something to panic over.


DDS

> My new connection from plusnet has been running for about a fortnight now.
> I once saw speeds of about 3500kbps - once - but most of the time I get
> download speeds of about 250kbps i.e. significantly slower than even a
> tenth of what I would expect.

<snip>

> Thanks for any guidance/experience/encouragement you can offer.

Well things have changed once again - thanks Plusnet if you've been able to
action the tickets. I now see 3.4Mbps download speed so fingers crossed, it
might "stick" at this profile.

Mybroadbandspeed says http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk/results/20675831.png

BT speedtester says "Download speedachieved during the test was - 2971 Kbps.
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information: Your DSL Connection Rate :4512 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM),
448 Kbps(UP-STREAM). IP Profile for your line is - 3500 Kbps"

I'm hoping that things will stabilise and I shall leave the router
permanently on and connected straight into the NTE5 as from now on.

Thanks for your help and directions.

DDS

On 14/03/2010 13:34, Duncan Di Saudelli wrote:
>>> My router however reports 416kbps down and
>>> 448kbps up. These are all quoted as bit rates, so there isn't any
>>> muddling
>>> up of bits and bytes - small "b"!
>>
>> So, regardless of anything else, your downstream is almost 8 times as
>> fast as you'll get with dial-up, and it's an always on.
>>
>> Lets assume you have 16 KB / sec usable worst case based on 270 kb/s and
>> lots of errors, that's still much faster than you can read.
>>
>> Also 16 KB / sec = 1.3 GB / day ..... what's your monthly bandwidth
>> allowance? 10 GB? So you have more than enough data rate to blow your
>> monthly bandwidth in 8 days.
>>
>> It may not be as fast as you want, or even as fast as you think it
>> should be, but it's probably fast enough for most things you'll want to
>> do, and it's a lot faster than using a dial-up modem.
>
> I see the point you're making and it is a useful aid to keeping things in
> proportion. However, by analogy it would seem similar to buying a car which
> has four cylinders, only to find it firing on one alone. Better than the
> pushbike it replaces, but not what was hoped for: efficiency and speed not
> being as fast as wanted or as fast as expected.

Indeed - and if there are strong indications that your line *should*
support a reasonably fast speed but it actually doesn't, then there's
got to be something wrong somewhere, either with your own wiring/router,
BT's line, the BT exchange, or at Plusnet itself.
From personal experience, I can tell you that this can sometimes take
ages to resolve, if not handled properly throughout.
For starters, you'll have to go through the Plusnet
fault-reporting/ticket system, which may or may not reveal the problem
and its likely cause. If it looks like it's in your internal wiring,
you'll be advised to sort this out yourself before they'll call in
Openreach, or you'll get charged for the visit.
If it looks like a BT problem, then there's the potential problem of
getting Plusnet to actually call out Openreach, which from my experience
can take a lot of chasing up.
If and when they do, Openreach will probably find and fix the fault.
Best of luck!

George

"George Weston" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 14/03/2010 13:34, Duncan
> Indeed - and if there are strong indications that your line *should*
> support a reasonably fast speed but it actually doesn't, then there's got
> to be something wrong somewhere, either with your own wiring/router, BT's
> line, the BT exchange, or at Plusnet itself.
> From personal experience, I can tell you that this can sometimes take ages
> to resolve, if not handled properly throughout.
> For starters, you'll have to go through the Plusnet fault-reporting/ticket
> system, which may or may not reveal the problem and its likely cause. If
> it looks like it's in your internal wiring, you'll be advised to sort this
> out yourself before they'll call in Openreach, or you'll get charged for
> the visit.
> If it looks like a BT problem, then there's the potential problem of
> getting Plusnet to actually call out Openreach, which from my experience
> can take a lot of chasing up.
> If and when they do, Openreach will probably find and fix the fault.


Am I glad I'm not having this sort of problem, so often seen here and as
George says what a system as been created to make it near impossible to get
help and solution in a reasonable time with the various parties putting the
customer first.
I really hate the blackmail to make one go away with the threat of an
extremely large bill coming the customers way from BT.

Do other countries have the same awful contractual set ups as the UK?
Particularly Europe?
Regards
David