Enforced Gateway changes

Been with PN FTTC just over a month. During this time I appear to have had a number of enforced gateway changes. Is this usual? I was with Sky ADSL for a number of years and my connection never dropped once.

Speed is good, latency is good so what causes the gateway changes?

Edited by wingco1 (Sat 01-Nov-14 17:55:39)

Looks like they've rebooted pcl-bng01 a couple of times today. That shouldn't have given you more than one change in the last 24 hours. Were you on it?

I think PN may be the only ISP where we get this info. It's not like an ADSLx re-sync.

Were you on it?

To be quite honest Bob I've no idea. I only find out something has happened when my BQM goes red. Three times in a month seems rather excessive though, what do you think?

?
You said you had gateway changes. To say that you must know which you are on. Checker. I've started logging mine.

20/10/14 09:40 ptn-ag01 12ms
19/10/14 13:55 ptw-bng01 14ms
23/09/14 02:20 ptw-ag02 13ms
01/09/14 10.45 pcl-ag04 16ms
30/08/14 18:30 pcl-ag04 19ms
27/08/14 15:30 pcl-ag04 16ms
20/08/14 01:55 ptw-ag02 12ms
14/08/14 00:20 ptn-bng01 13ms
10/07/14 18:08 pcl-ag05 High

I don't find it bothers me much, as I know they are having trouble with the new bng series. Very occasionally it stops me for thirty seconds, so now if I find I'm on one I usually force a shift away. You can see where I do that.

I normally don't know it's happened until I look at my BQM for some other reason and notice a latency change. Then I backtrack and find it for my log. I don't know how you would know whether it happened or not on Sky? I assume you didn't have a BQM.

Whereupon SOD's Law steps in . I went to preview and clicked the checker link and am on (29/10/14) ptn-ag02 12ms.

Have you set your options in member Centre to receive emails like this one?

Service: Broadband
Posted: Mon, Oct 27 2014 at 15:58:40
Subject: Planned BT Network Maintenance - Week commencing 28th October 2014

When's this work happening?
Early hours most days this week.

What does it affect?
Broadband connectivity.

How long will it take?
Up to six hours each time.

What does the work involve?
We've received notifications from our suppliers about maintenance work that is scheduled to take place in the following areas this week. This work typically takes place between midnight and 6am.

30th October
Southampton

31st October
Birmingham

Although these are the areas we have been notified of, due to the nature of the broadband network these outages may affect customers nationwide. There are also a number of smaller exchange works most nights of the week that may cause smaller outages at individual exchanges.

Am I likely to notice the work?
Yes, there's a chance that you may be disconnected from the internet for a period of time during the maintenance window.

Is there anything else I need to know?
Any customers having problems connecting once the maintenance is complete are advised to log into their router interface and click connect.

and

Service: Broadband
Posted: Tue, Oct 07 2014 at 12:41:38
Subject: Emergency Broadband Network Maintenance - Tues 7th October 2.00pm - 3.00pm

When's this work happening?
This afternoon, 7th October.

What does it affect?
Broadband connectivity.

How long will it take?
Expected to take 1 hour.

What does the work involve?
We're making some changes to parts of our broadband network.

Am I likely to notice the work?
Possibly. Some customers will be briefly disconnected from the Internet, any customers disconnected should reconnect automatically.

Interesting ones come out regarding when they add capacity as well.

Service: Broadband
Posted: Wed, Jul 09 2014 at 16:29:51
Subject: Increase in 21CN Broadband Capacity

We will shortly be increasing the capacity of our WBC (21CN) broadband host links by a further 3.23Gbps. It's these host links that we use to deliver bandwidth to the majority of customers on our 21CN and Fibre services.

We're activating this extra capacity in line with the current budget, customers' usage habits and our projected growth in customer numbers.

That was a long time ago - they have been every one or two months literally for years.

I assume a gateway change triggers an IP change. As such the BQM going red suggests to me I've been disconnected. This has happened three times in the last month with PN. Whereas it was a very rare event on Sky ADSL.

Not really a problem, just seems excessive.

?
Haven't you got a static IP address? If you haven't, and your BQM continues to work, then I'm not sure what is going on. Any chance you could put a link to your live BQM in your sig, like mine and many others?

Re disconnections, that depends how we define them. I believe it means a loss of sync, i.e. connection to the MSAN/DSLAM. That for most of us is rare, as you say.

A change of gateway is nothing to do with loss of sync. It is a closing of the PPP session and starting a new one. Yes, that does mean a loss of access to the internet for a short time, but I think the distinction is important.

The BQM depends on the PPP session. I think Plusnet may occasionally be doing a rebalancing between gateways, involving closing some sessions, to keep the overall system running smoothly.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 01-Nov-14 22:58:15)

Haven't you got a static IP address

No.

If you haven't, and your BQM continues to work.......

It doesn't continue to work, which is how I know I've been disconnected. As I say it's not a great problem, just annoying.

One-off £5, through your Member Centre. Takes effect immediately - i.e. as soon as you close your PPP session and open another.