Poor download speed

Last year I moved my Plusnet broadband account from my mother's house in Cheshire to ours in Whitby N Yorks. I took the original Thomson router with me. From day one the speed has been lower than I would have expected with frequent disconnections.

The router stats show a download attenuiation of 50db, Sn of 15db and a sync speed of 1.3Mb but sometimes dropping to about 800kb. I can sometimes get it to sync at about 1.8Mb but it soon drops the line and syncs at a slower speed.

There is no test socket as its quite an old installation. I have disconnected the ring wire but that made no difference.

Doing a line check via Samknows gives the following results:-

"According to BT Wholesale, your phone line should be able to support

up to 1Mbps via ADSL
1.5Mbps or greater ADSL connection via ADSL Max
3Mbps or greater via ADSL2+
Standard ADSL RAG results

You cannot receive 2Mbps ADSL
You may be able to receive 1Mbps ADSL
You can receive 512kbps ADSL
You can receive 256kbps ADSL"

(Post code YO22 4DB)

Can anyone give me an opinion as to whether I should be getting better results or is it something I just have to accept?

Is there more than one telephone socket?

There are two sockets both with filters fitted. Where the line enters the house there is a small junction box with no socket.

Have you disconnected the ring wire in both? Which is the master, the one you use or the other? See these pics. The LJ 2/1A is a master, the LJ 2/3A an extension.

Thanks for the replies.

The ring wire is dissconnected from both sockets but I did it a while ago so I'll check that.

The LJ 2/1A Master socket is the one with the router connected. I'm away for a couple of days but I'll try some different filters and and old Netgear DG834 router I can borrow when I get back.

Do you think that I should be seeing a higher sync speed from the line stats I've got?

The issue is the noise margin of 15dB, and whatever has caused that. Please can we have the rest of the stats from your router, including the upstream and all the error stats. Best to copy and paste them rather than type them - typos often creep in and really matter in stats.

On 50dB attenuation you should connect at between 3Mbps and 5Mbps.

Sorry I was trying to avoid making the original post too big. These are the stats I saved the other day. There appears to be lots of errors but I don't know what they mean or how bad it is.

Uptime: 0 days, 19:58:35
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 832 / 1,312
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 9.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.5 / 17.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 30.0 / 50.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 11.0 / 15.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 435 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 7 / 172,465
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 7 / 29,955
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 2 / 26,129

thanks for reading.

The only high number in the errors figure is the number of error seconds.

Please can you turn the router off for about five minutes, then on again, and as soon as it is all up and running give us a new full lot of stats. We need to see the noise margin asap after the restart, so we know its base figure .

Thanks Bob. I'm away for a couple of days so I won't be able to post that info until I get back. Please don't think it rude of me for not replying until then. I've just followed the link to your web site and found a treasure trove of useful information which I will read and digest.

As an aside, when the phone line was installed many years ago by my Dad I was under the impresssion that it was some form of shared line as we could often hear other conversations in the background. I've not experienced that recently but then we tend to use mobile (cell) phones more often than not these days. Oh and we don't have any cordless phones connected.

In reply to a post by Olly232:

There are two sockets both with filters fitted. Where the line enters the house there is a small junction box with no socket.

Is one socket fed from the other (daisy chain) or are they Tee'd off from the junction box ?

There may be a DAC box involved if it was a shared line in the past, that can also lead to the problems you are experiencing.

I didn't think it would work at all if a DACS box was present? If there is one how can I tell?

Edited by deleted (Fri 28-Dec-12 14:36:14)

If you had DACS you wouldn't be able to receive broadband at all.

It's not compatible with a broadband service.

If you drop a ticket number in here, I or a member of the digital care team will be able to have a look.

Edited by deleted (Fri 28-Dec-12 15:01:08)

Hi James. Good to know you are still around. i remember you from the original Metronet days!

I didn't want to trouble plusnet with a ticket without doing a few checks myself and seeking the opinion of others on here. The strange thing now is that looking my current line profile on the Plusnet web site it states that my line speed is currently 3.4Mb. Could it be that while my back is turned its behaving itself? I bet the speed is pants when I get back there on Sunday.

I noticed that the SNR was looking a bit on the high side, so wanted to check for things like banding/errors to see if there was an obvious fix.

I was just after a ticket number so I could locate your account without your having to post a username.

Feel free to drop me a PM and I'll see if there's anything obvious.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The only high number in the errors figure is the number of error seconds.

Please can you turn the router off for about five minutes, then on again, and as soon as it is all up and running give us a new full lot of stats. We need to see the noise margin asap after the restart, so we know its base figure .

James has done something to reset the SN value. I've only just managed to get back here to check the router. Before the power cycle just now the download speed was 1,180Kb and the SN about 26dB. After the power cycle I'm seeing the much improved stats shown below and it hasn't changed after 25 minutes. BT is giving an IP Profile of 3.64Mb but only gives a download speed of 1.01Mbps. Plusnet show my current line speed as 1.2Mb in the Member Centre. Do plusnet have a speed limiter too? Fingers crossed it remains stable.


Uptime: 0 days, 0:00:17
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 864 / 4,128
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.5 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 30.5 / 51.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 11.0 / 9.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0

That looks fine.

Something must have upset it in the past for the margin to be 9.5dB. There is a possibility that if it runs smoothly with that 9dB sync-time margin then the DLM will drop it to 6dB in 10-14 days. Just keep an eye on how it varies 24/7 anyway. In case there are any big sudden swings.

The Current line speed you have quoted is a copy of the BT IP Profile rounded down a bit. They do limit your speed to that.

It gets updated automatically a few times a day so should rise soon. If it is the same this time tomorrow that update has failed and you need to ask them to do it manually. Don't go doing a lot of re-sync's to try to jolt it. That could send the 9dB up to 12dB and cost you connection speed (bandwidth).

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The Current line speed you have quoted is a copy of the BT IP Profile rounded down a bit. They do limit your speed to that.

Thanks for the quick reply and your advice Bob.
According to BT my IP profile is 3.64Mbps after running their speed test. Actual throughput is 1.11Mbps according to speedtest.net. I'll hold out for it to improve over the next few hours.

Edited by deleted (Tue 01-Jan-13 18:24:37)

Post deleted by Olly232

As soon as line speed shown in the PlusNet Member Centre catches up with the BT Profile your speed will increase as well. As Bob said, this can sometimes take a day, but it will catch up and once it does you'll be downloading at double your current speed.

Andrew

I hope it does improve and remain stable. If iPlayer becomes usable I'll look to upgrade to unlimited from Value. We're fortunate to be on a Market 3 exchange.

The connection has remained stable and constant since I posted the stats nearly two days ago but the down and upload speeds remain poor. BT Speed test gives the following results:-

Download speed achieved during the test was - 1.01 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1.2 Mbps-4 Mbps.
IP Profile for your line is - 3.64 Mbps

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.38Mbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

I presume this is Plusnet applying their own profile. Why do they do that and how do I get it changed? BBC iPlayer and Youtube are currently unwatchable.

raise a ticket here https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=wizard&page=22883&wiz...

In reply to a post by Oldjim:

raise a ticket here https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=wizard&page=22883&wiz...

Thanks, I've just done that.

I've had no response to the ticket after 26 hrs and it's still stuck at 1Mbps download. Why do Plusnet apply their own speed restriction?. It's certainly of no benefit to me. BT list my profile setting as 3.6Mbps and I want it!

I did a quick test earlier with a Netgear DG834GT to see if that would sync at a higher rate but that was a fraction slower than the Thomson so I'm back with that one. I left them disconnected for several minutes between testing the Netgear and reconnecting the Thomson.

Hi, sorry to hear that - if you post the ticket ID I'd be happy to jump on there and get it sorted for you if you wish?

Thanks Matthew. the ticket ID is #64014590

Oliver

Update:- Fixed now. iPlayer now working a treat.

Edited by deleted (Fri 04-Jan-13 14:44:42)

Thanks for that, went to change it for you but it had been done already - hope the speeds have improved now.

Hi Matt,
Sent you a message with my IP, maybe you can look into it, because i have a similar problem here. Thanks.

Edited by deleted (Sun 06-Jan-13 12:04:37)

Hi jacktrades,

If you could provide me with your username I'd be more than happy to take a look into that.

Thanks, hope I was able to shed some light on what's happening.

yeah, you did,
thanks again