My FTTC has been slowing down and dropping out after 3 years

My FTTC connection has been stable for 3 years or more. Signed up for the 78 meg service originally. I was getting 60megs+ at the router and around 50megs through my homeplugs around he house. My upload speeds were 11-14 megs.

Nothing has changed here at all … but ...

My speeds now seem to be around 39 megs at the computer via the homeplugs, and my upload has dropped to 4-6 megs. Been going on for 2 months now.

Worse still, my connection is dropping out around 10 times a day. It bounces back quite quickly most times, but sometimes it's off for 15-30 mins or so.

I have put in a fault report. Being looked into but was told they will only guarantee 39 megs, which will mean around 25 megs at the computers (due to about 10% "loss" via the homeplugs).

I am at a loss as this service has bee faultless for years and I have not touched the router hardly at all in those years as well - been great.

I rely on a good upload speed to fire up large audio files to music production and competition sites (my hobby).

I do no have a Virgin Media junction direct to the edge of my property, but for the price, they could not give me decent upload speeds.

I do not have a BB TV package, don't watch sport or movies, so no not need ultrafast download - the 50 megs BT FTTC package was just fine.

Anyone else got anything similar going on? I was concerned that they have ina sense "downgraded" my package.

Rob.

Key to the puzzle is what are the connection speeds reported by the Home Hub.

Also the dropping out, is that the DSL light showing everything resenting or something else? If it is a resync then the dropping speed will be the dynamic line management slowing you down to try and stop these resyncs or at last make them less frequent.

If a resync goes on for more than 1-2 minutes then something is wrong, or a big source of noise is an issue and it might even be the home plugs, so unplugging and testing for a day to see if things are more stable is a good start.

Looking back to my connection.

In 2011 I was getting 64/14 megs at the computer on the end of the Home plug.

IN 2017 I was getting 50.85/10.61 on the same computer on the same home plug configuration

Now I am getting 34/5 megs on the same home plug setup.

Nothing at this end has changed - just got steadily worse.

Raised the fault and now they say it's fixed. Ip profile is 34.8/20 - seems fishy to me on my 80/20 package!

Will continue to log this as a fault.

I want my 50+ megs back ...

Rob.

First step

What are the connection speeds reported in the Plusnet router?

THe HomePlugs which do share some of the same frequencies as FTTC can interfere and a side effect of this is what you have seen, hence why its worth looking at whether the connection speeds improve when the HomePlugs are unplugged from the mains.

I don't have a way to check the speeds. I have beefy desktops in my studio and do not run any wifi devices/laptops or tablets. It's also BT.

BT are sending me a minihub, but I don't see how that can be of any use to me.

2 wired desktops and a SKY box. A small network!

According to the BT person I spoke to today they can see my line is dropping sync 30-40 times a day! Which is why the ipprofile is low ...

But why has the speed dropped over the 8 years???

Rob.

Edited by RobFlet (Tue 27-Aug-19 21:58:27)

But why has the speed dropped over the 8 years???

Quite possibly due to increased cross talk as more users on your cabinet have moved to FTTC from ADSL.

It's only a small cab with128 connections which filled up pretty quickly after November 2011 when it was made operational!

It was running at 54-64 megs until 2 months ago since November 2011! With almost zero disconnects. In the last 3 years I cannot remember ever having a drop out!

Something somewhere is broken.

I have no way to test at the hub though as I only have desktops plumbed into my music studio. No portable devices at all.

The 4g minihub is going to do me a lot of good eh?

Rob.


Rob.

In reply to a post by RobFlet:

I don't have a way to check the speeds. I have beefy desktops in my studio and do not run any wifi devices/laptops or tablets. It's also BT.

BT are sending me a minihub, but I don't see how that can be of any use to me.

2 wired desktops and a SKY box. A small network!

According to the BT person I spoke to today they can see my line is dropping sync 30-40 times a day! Which is why the ipprofile is low ...

But why has the speed dropped over the 8 years???

Rob.

You can access the connection speeds through the BT Hub GUI. From any browser. That's what you need to be finding out.

As for years-old homeplugs, they could well be causing more and more interference as they age. They could well be causing the drop-outs. If those drop-outs are re-sync's then DLM will very quickly intervene and reduce your connection speeds.

Thanks - I forgot about accessing the hub - it's been so many years since I have had need to look (since the days of the homehub 3 - A and B models)!!!

Via the hub connection is 36.5 and 7.2

Uptime 2 mins! So, there's been a disconnect just now!

Basically the hub drops the connection, get flashing orange light while it re-connects.

The BT folk said there is a fault at the exchange which will take a few days to sort - muttered about soldering wires etc! The broadband fault I raised says it's fixed, but they raised another with the title "Cannot make or receive telephone calls" - which is odd as it's a BB fault and phone is OK.

Is this just a way they can escalate the issue???

Rob.

And if the hub is dropping connection a lot the automatic systems respond by slowing you down, since the slower the connection the more immune to noise it should be...which explains the long term drop in speeds

BT support will not know about Openreach having to solder wires (if they even actually do that these days).

Find a way to use connection without the home plugs being plugged in for just a day or two to see if the number of connection drops decrease.