I think I made a mistake moving. Frying Pan and Fire...

I haven't posted on these forums so please bear with my rant. I had my broadband activated last Thursday switching from Sky to Plusnet.

My line information can be found here

I originally moved over to Sky last March on an 18 month contract
I was getting 65.78/18.76 with a 10ms ping: https://beta.speedtest.net/result/8720262232
Before Sky I was with Vodafone on 62.01/18.04 with a 13ms ping: https://www.speedtest.net/result/7418363105.png

My Exchange (Lowestoft) has Sky LLU so would of been connect up to that, the speeds started to lower and by January it was sitting at 49mb down and 20mb up (minimum guaranteed line speed of 51mb).

I contacted Sky and thought before I move I will get BT OR out to double check as didn't want to move a problem from one supplier to another. They visited about 7 weeks ago determined the original overhead into the property and changed this over and troubleshot everything else (I already was on a filtered faceplate). Engineer left and the speed stayed the same so decided I would leave Sky early they advised that as they couldn't meet the guaranteed line speed I could do this early without charge.

For comparatives sake I performed a speed test with Sky Thursday morning it was at 49/20 and when Plusnet went live I am now getting 30mb/10mb which is 2/3's of the download speed and half the upload I am also seeing double the ping time - game quite frequently and this is important...

I tried calling PN Friday and Saturday both days they weren't taking calls, but by Sunday I got through to someone, had a bit of a moan but understand the current wait due to the Covid issues. I asked their customer support specifically have they put me on the right product. He advised yes you are on the 80/20 product. I don't know why you aren't getting a higher speed (minimum guaranteed speed with PN is 50mb). He raised an issue again with BT OR.

I had an engineer call this morning about 8am, the engineer confirmed I am not on an 80/20 package and it appears I am on a 40/10 package. He did note that call centres in India are currently limited with the current situation and would probably need to raise this with a UK call centre.

Very disappointed that PlusNet tell me I am on the correct package (verbally) and BT OR engineer tells me my line is capped at the lower rate, this is schoolboy stuff...

When I look at my Plusnet portal it is showing something different to what I am getting, with a speed of 78mb!

Look at the stats as of this morning, within 2/3Kbps off 40/10.

UP Speed___Down Speed__SNR Upstream_SNR Downstream
9,997 (Kbps) 39,998 (Kbps) 15 (dB) 5 (dB)

I spoke with the engineer up the pole double checking terminations and the cabling, I asked if he could do what he can to the line to try and get me back up to the speeds I was achieving, since this morning PN have put another note on the system, I tried calling but their lines are again no longer being answered (don't even get an option to wait).

Plusnet have put another note on the system stating :
Modified order on Wholesale to 80/20.
Order completion is by 01/04/2020 00:00:00 at latest.

Is it really that difficult or have they just made a meal out of this whole process. I'm waiting for them to email me saying April Fool but I wouldn't even find that funny at the minute.

With my stats can I still expect to achieve what I have previously, it appears from the downstream SNR I probably aren't going to squeeze much more out of my line if I am reading correctly.

If I do not get up to the 50mb minimum speed can I leave without penalty?

Who would you suggest to go to, back to Sky for their LLU? Was even thinking Zen or Uno.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Edited by deleted (Tue 31-Mar-20 14:37:51)

Until the 40/10 product cap is removed it is hard to know exactly what speeds you get, other than should be similar to before. Though the move may have turned off G.INP which is worth a few meg for some people, but this will usually switch back on if things are left alone - though with current sync speeds you would not see any benefit as at the maximum connection speed.

Presume the old 49 Mbps with Sky was connection speed.

Thanks Mr Saffron,

Yes, the old speed was the connection of the router, I was getting circa 45mb download, link below to the comparison I made on Thursday am on Sky and pm on PN:

https://ibb.co/J3dsv9J

If it did get back to where it should be I wouldn't mind staying, although I must say with all of this saga I am beginning to think I may be best to move if they can't hit that 50mb.

Uno is the likely one I would go with, I was with them when they used to be fast.co.uk and were great on support.

Edited by deleted (Tue 31-Mar-20 14:42:37)

Hi, I have had an update on the notes and this morning it was transferred over to the 80/20 line. I done a speed test when at home earlier on and was getting 32mb down and 18mb up - I understand it may need to settle.

Data from the line what has been placed on the account below, total line length 440m. I should be getting more than I am getting shouldn't I? I had a new overhead line brought into the property and double checked by a second BT engineer yesterday.


GEA Service Test

Radius

Notes on the system.
===QBC Summary Start===Customer Report: End customer informed us their broadband speed is not achieving predicted speed.

Initial xDSL test results: The initial xDSL test performed at extension socket was carried out where the modem / router is connected.The connection is stable with no errors and achieving predicted speed on 31/03/2020.

Additional information: Engineer has proved a working connectivity to end customer Mr Ben Bird.Engineer has completed the handover with Mr Ben Bird.Customer's modem / router is plugged into the NTE master socket.

Advice given to end customer: Call bract CP as he was informed he is on 80/20. Confirmed circuit is 40/10.

Final test results: Final PQT performed at the DP / external NTP.The test passed on 2020-03-31T08:55:59.

Final alternate test results: xDSL test performed at the modem.xDSL test indicated line was OK on 31/03/2020.Final FastTest completed.The test passed on 31/03/2020 09:08:33.===QBC Summary End===



Is my line performing as it should, am I expecting too much?
Why could I in 2018 & 2019 get 65/20 but now it has dropped as much as it has?

I haven't changed anything internally and if anything it should be better with the newer overhead line.

Any advice on the data provided above would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by deleted (Wed 01-Apr-20 10:13:04)

In that GEA test, I reckon the Profile (Name) near the bottom of the first table is the problem. AIUI that is saying it is set to 40/10 maximum speeds. Independent of the actual product, except it cannot be higher than the actual product.

So the product could be 40/10 or 80/20. That profile needs to be reset, and if the reset to show 80M on the downstream fails it would suggest the 40/10 product is on the line.

If it succeeds, then problem fixed.

Edit: And if course the upstream should show 20M in that profile.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 01-Apr-20 11:32:35)

Perhaps to reinforce RobertoS's posting and reading your posts in this thread it may be that you haven't caught up with the difference between what your line will support and what your provider is allowing,

Your line will certainly support better than the speeds you are getting now (as you know from your previous history). However, it looks as if there has been a hiccup in the provisioning by your current supplier. They have applied a cap to your line so that it is on their 40/10 profile and the maximum download you will ever see in a speed test will be in the high thirties. You should be on the 80/20 profile and the BT engineer has indicated that your line will support that profile. That should give you the speeds you have previously seen.

You need to be raising this with your supplier because they have issued an instruction somewhere so that your line has been capped to the 40/10 profile. Even if they are now telling you that you are on the 80/20 profile, you have the evidence from the BTOR engineer's report that this is not the case and it is up to your supplier to sort out their own internal mis-match.

Edited by GonePostal (Wed 01-Apr-20 11:53:22)

Thank you, I have escalated again, PN are saying BT OR are wrong and BT OR are saying PN are wrong. They have arranged a further visit tomorrow morning by BT OR again!

As explained I had a new line installed under 2 months ago and the BT OR engineer checked over the wiring up to and the filtered faceplate so I really do not know what tomorrow is likely to achieve.

I am becoming to really regret the move from Sky, I was on their all inclusive calls package for £27 a month and still had 6 months left but was frustrated that the speed had dropped. Right now I would be grateful for 50/20 again.

As a side note and to be used as a backup I have ordered one of these and have 3sims for network providers to try once I receive. I was getting 70 down & 25 up on my phone with my EE sim card. If this doesn't get sorted I may resort to ditching the landline and going mobile. I have also been on https://www.mastdata.com/ it looks like three or EE are going to be the best, so could be looking at the unlimited Virgin sim £27 for 24 months if that is the case.

Edited by deleted (Wed 01-Apr-20 12:46:22)

The setting on the line is that Profile I pointed at. It is factual. Your engineer would have been looking at that. It is up to Plusnet to get it fixed.

It's worth pointing out that Plusnet CS can only see what they believe was ordered, but there is a completely different team (the Provisioning Team), that places the orders on Openreach and BT Wholesale.

I recall there being a case years back where it turned out that team had ordered the wrong product, so the product ordered from Openreach was not the same as the one showing on the customer's account. Yours may be another case of this.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 01-Apr-20 13:23:15)

As RobertoS has said - profile is still wrong.

A 440m line should give you somewhere from 60 to 75 Mbps sync speed depending on noise, cross talk &c If it is then satble you will see a drop in SNR to 3dB (possibly) and speeds will increase. I have a line of very similar lenghth and at 6 dB SNR see a 70Mbps sync, and currently up at over 78 Mbps. You need to push Plusnet to get teh profile sorted.

Thank you, I got another update today stating that the line is showing as 80/20 in green at the bottom of the sheet.

They are however sending another BT OR engineer tomorrow... I will continue to push.

https://ibb.co/dprxRyh

Edited by deleted (Wed 01-Apr-20 15:07:04)

Power down and disconnect the modem.

Power up and wait say 30 minutes before plugging it back in. Then, run a TBB speedtest and see what the results are.


You need to edit the image to remove the Service ID

Edited by MHC (Wed 01-Apr-20 15:15:12)

In reply to a post by benbird7:

Thank you, I got another update today stating that the line is showing as 80/20 in green at the bottom of the sheet.

They are however sending another BT OR engineer tomorrow... I will continue to push.

https://ibb.co/dprxRyh

That suggests a correction has been made and it now just needs a couple of other things to catch up. If you haven't already, do as MHC advises .

What modem/router are you using please?

Using a Draytek Vigor 2860 with no wifi, linked up to 3 tendas in a wifi mesh network, but as BT OR engineer is visiting in the morning I have disconnect for 45 mins and reconnected just now via the Plusnet One Hub (doubt he will come into the property with everything going on).

These are the stats, you will note no real change other than the upload.

1. Product name: Plusnet Hub
2. Serial number:
3. Firmware version: Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.259 Last updated Unknown
4. Board version: Plusnet Hub One
5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 00:06:42
6. Data rate: 19999 / 35535
7. Maximum data rate: 24327 / 37418
8. Noise margin: 6.1 / 6.1
9. Line attenuation: 16.9 / 15.5
10. Signal attenuation: 16.7 / 13.7
11. Data sent/received: 25.0 MB / 115.1 MB
12. Broadband username:
13. 2.4 GHz Wireless network/SSID:
14. 2.4 GHz Wireless connections: Disabled
15. 2.4 GHz Wireless security: WPA2
16. 2.4 GHz Wireless channel: Automatic (Smart Wireless)
17. 5 GHz Wireless network/SSID: PLUSNET-MWJ5
18. 5 GHz Wireless connections: Disabled
19. 5 GHz Wireless security: WPA2
20. 5 GHz Wireless channel: Automatic (Smart Wireless)
21. Firewall: Default
22. MAC Address:
23. Modulation: G.993.2 Annex B
24. Software variant: AA
25. Boot loader: 1.0.0

This is the TBB speed test I just conducted: https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15857685325...

I need to know what to say to BT OR engineer tomorrow morning when he is here. Is there anything he could do in the cab to switch me onto another pair? The engineer on Tue said they can only do that if there is a known fault on the line...

As a side note I also conducted two tests using the 4g router I got delivered today to test out, one with three and one with EE:

EE - https://www.speedtest.net/result/a/5908150255
Three - https://www.speedtest.net/result/a/5908082691

TY.

Edited by deleted (Wed 01-Apr-20 20:55:19)

The other data suggests you are on 80/20 and the 19999 sync on upstream confirms that.

For a 440m line the 24Mbps upstream is very good.

On the downstream 15.5dB attenuation is again good - the real oddity is that even with a 6.3dB SNR the max is only 37.4Mbps around half of what is to be expected. You can rule out an HR or single leg dis fault - upsstream is fine. Is there a noise source or has the DSLAM port failed?

Fortunately got a very good BT Engineer round this morning (same one who replaced the overhead line two months ago).
He didn't give up, double checked for any faults had a quick look internally and put me on a new line between the pole and cabinet and switched me over to another board? This has now been resolved.

Profile State UP Speed Down Speed SNR Upstream SNR Downstream
17A SHOWTIME 19,999 (Kbps) 61,061 (Kbps) 9 (dB) ________5 (dB)

https://beta.speedtest.net/result/9226886955
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15858499025...

Whilst not as fast as it may of been before it's not far off, happy now

Finally got there!

Thanks All.

Excellent.

AIUI he will have reset the DLM as well, and that automatically defaults to interleaving and no G.INP.

Did you say you were on an ECI cabinet? If so you probably can't have G.INP anyway but interleaving takes several Mbps away and adds 8ms latency.

Give it a few days and with luck you will get an overnight re-sync and higher speed. Upstream may then reduce a little in my experience.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 02-Apr-20 23:23:54)

Hi I don't know if I am, this is the cabinet - https://ibb.co/5K2hNrn

Crazy to think when I moved here back in 2006 I had to tweak my Netgear DG834 SNR to get to the dizzy heights of 1.5mb (from a sub 1mb connection). Thank goodness for FTTC, running much better now, as you say it may squeeze a little more out of the line. Glad to be back at the speed I was at.

Keen aviation enthusiast with with my Rift S VR headset on Xplane 11 quite a lot recently sitting in a 737, very immersive. Got that all installed on a 2tb m.2 drive. But looking to try out the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 this year, but due to the two petabytes of data from the cloud on demand used for real imagery to stream. Connection is going to be a factor, depending on the speed available, it will determine the quality of scenery it can load.

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-Apr-20 00:10:00)

That's a Huawei. So G.INP available .

Top notch

Just as an update this is now resolved and case closed.

Happy now connection is back where it once was, although it took a bit longer than I would of hoped given the current situation and everything going on I think both have done a good job.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/_assets/speedtest/but...

Edited by deleted (Sat 04-Apr-20 14:49:11)

Just a FYI...

The profile name listed on EVERY single OpenReach GEA test shows the profile from 13 days ago.

After switching ISP it often shows the profile that was used pre migration.

As such the GEA test profile name is useless when checking if a recent product change has been executed.

Edited by j0hn83 (Sat 04-Apr-20 15:27:22)

Settled down now, much better! Really happy it has been sorted.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/_assets/speedtest/but...

.

So, it was probably a fault DSLAM port/board.

Results are better looking than mine ... s similar 440 m line and 16.4dB attenuation but upstream is up and down!: https://www.thinkbroadband.com/_assets/speedtest/but...