Stats needed/how to obtain for assistance?

Hi all,

I have concerns about the quality / reliability of my FTTC connection

How do I go about obtaining the stats you require to assess if I actually have a problem or it's all in my head?

Thanks for your time

for starters you could tell us what the BT speed test says is going on, including the additional diagnostics. http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/

If you have a static IP the Broadband quality monitor may help.

Let's see where that gets us. Tell us how far away the cabinet is and what symptoms you're seeing. Who's your ISP

Is your Openreach modem a Huawei HG612 or an ECI model?

Hi,

very sorry for the delay in responding

Latest speed test with diags from BTW:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f174/ncf355/Fibre/...

That answers one of yarwell's questions, but not mine nor which ISP it is . Mine was to do with getting line stats.

That's a pretty poor speed test result though. Was it wired or wireless to the router, and was nothing else using the connection at the time?

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 10-May-13 21:43:32)

Hi Robertos,

That was a wired connection with nothing else running (turned off wireless on the router)

It's Plusnet, Openreach modem is the HG612

Thanks

I've now setup BQM on my I.P

In reply to a post by ncf355:

That was a wired connection with nothing else running (turned off wireless on the router)

It's Plusnet, Openreach modem is the HG612

The HG612 can be unlocked & freely downloadable monitoring programs set up to take snapshot or every minute 24/7 connection data & graph it in a human understandable manner.

It may be advisable to obtain a cheap spare HG612 via ebay for unlocking purposes & thus retaining your existing HG612 in 'as supplied' condition.

Plusnet operate their own throughput profile a.k.a. 'Current Line Speed'.
This is supposed to update to be just below BT's IP Profile each time the connection resyncs.

However, it can occasionally lag by a day or so.
In which case, you can end up with a reasonable sync speed & IP Profile, but Plusnet is still restricting throughput based on when sync speed was lower.

Additionally, if your connection regularly resyncs 'on the fly' (indicating some sort of 'fault'), it often happens too quickly for BT's & Plusnet's systems to notice & the PPP session is maintained.
As a new PPP session is required to update BT's IP Profile, again, you may end up with a reasonably high sync speed restricted by a previous IP Profile & Plusnet Current Line Speed.

Disconnecting/reconnecting via the ROUTER (not the HG612 modem) forces a new PPP session that updates IP Profile without the risk of DLM seeing it as an unstable connection.


Unlocking details can be found here:-

Unlocking & Monitoring Details

along with a link to the Windows monitoring programs download site:-

HG612 Modem Stats 1.0



Do you know your distance from the cabinet as that has a bearing on sync speeds/stability.

Edited by deleted (Sat 11-May-13 07:50:30)

Hi,

Thanks for the info

Engineers estimate was 1150m, which I appreciate is quite high!

In reply to a post by ncf355:

I've now setup BQM on my I.P

Did you get a static IP address first? (One-off £5 from Plusnet). It's a pain for you; thinkbroadband; and later users if you didn't, as you lose the BQM when you reconnect because your IP address changes. tbb continue pinging it and later some other user wonders what is going on.

I assume you also enabled pings on your router? We could do with a link to the "ongoing" BQM, like the one in my sig. (That's the best place to put it).

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Did you get a static IP address first? (One-off £5 from Plusnet). It's a pain for you; thinkbroadband; and later users if you didn't, as you lose the BQM when you reconnect because your IP address changes. tbb continue pinging it and later some other user wonders what is going on.

Or you can set up a Dynamic DNS hostname (whatever vendor the router supports) and use f8lure which supports DDNS hostnames: http://www.fruk.net/index.php?fruk=f8lure

TBB really needs to support hostnames on the BQM, especially as f8lure is now using the same hardware as TBB's BQM (FireBrick).

Hi all,

Yep, setup the Static I.P prior to setting BQM running

Now added live BQM to my signature and would appreciate your comments on it

(The 2 red packet loss stripes are, I assume, from where I was messing with thew router settings)

Thanks

Now you've got it set up you might want to add it this Plus Net thread, you can see everybody else's here, also useful for seeing if it's problems that's affecting everybody.

Quite high latency, but no packet loss. Highly likely to have interleaving & FEC turned on.

Looking now, only 1 stripe is visible. could be you doing things, or could be DLM changing settings - impossible to tell the difference without knowing what you were doing at the time.

No other comments.

In reply to a post by ncf355:

(The 2 red packet loss stripes are, I assume, from where I was messing with thew router settings)

You might want to post a link to the historic graph. The two red stripes and changes in latency disappeared about 10am this morning!

I suggest he should do that just in a post, leaving the sig with the ongoing one .

Hi all,

sorry about that -

Historic with red stripes -



My Broadband Ping

In reply to a post by ncf355:

(The 2 red packet loss stripes are, I assume, from where I was messing with thew router settings)

Was it really disconnected that long each time?

Nevertheless, you've triggered quite a jumpin latency, suggesting that DLM has intervened. Hard to say whether this is permanent or temporary, unless you leave it alonf for anywhere between 2 days and 4 weeks.

Well, last night was providing solid 30DL and 7UL, but latency still very poor

I dont believe I had the BT FTTC modem disconnected that long - if at all come to think of it - believe all I did was mess with the router settings with reboots though I take it these disconnects would cause issues?

P2P DL's are absolutely atrocious, giving in most cases around 50 - 300k total (fluctuating wildly), compared to my backup ADSL giving a solid 560-600 range

If you had the router off, but the modem on then that will cause red spikes, as it is the router responding to the pings.

If you've unlocked the modem (if it is the HG612), then you can telnet into it and get the current line statistics out. We can check on the values.

If P2P isn't going at line speed (30Mbps or 3MBps), and speedtesters do show that kind of speed (with P2P stopped, of course) then the problem is likely with the ISP. The raw FTTC connection has little impact there.

P2P DL's are absolutely atrocious, giving in most cases around 50 - 300k total (fluctuating wildly), compared to my backup ADSL giving a solid 560-600 range

Are both with Plusnet and in the same category for traffic management ?

Are you on Unlimited Fibre or Essentials Fibre?

Was the installing engineer real Openreach or one of the subcontractors such as Quinn's or Kelly's?

Hi all,

ADSL connection is with Xilo


Original install of Fibre (Fibre Unlimited) was by Openreach Engineer, not a sub

Thanks

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

If you've unlocked the modem (if it is the HG612), then you can telnet into it and get the current line statistics out. We can check on the values.

If P2P isn't going at line speed (30Mbps or 3MBps), and speedtesters do show that kind of speed (with P2P stopped, of course) then the problem is likely with the ISP. The raw FTTC connection has little impact there.

Hi,

going to get an Ebay unit to hack

P2P is in the Plusnet bronze priority category, I don't know what that means in practice but if downloading a large file with HTTP gives a different throughput it could be the traffic management.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

P2P is in the Plusnet bronze priority category, I don't know what that means in practice but if downloading a large file with HTTP gives a different throughput it could be the traffic management.

That may well be the answer

I think it's only restricted during peak times 20:00 to 22:00, can't say I've seen any problems, although I don't use P2P often, last time was a month or two back. I'm on Unlimited Fibre.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

P2P is in the Plusnet bronze priority category, I don't know what that means in practice but if downloading a large file with HTTP gives a different throughput it could be the traffic management.

It means gaming, VOIP, browsing and live streaming get priority above it. This is expected normally only to have noticeable effect within the user's connection with multiple activities. It isn't known to have any wild speed swings on the network platform such as the OP reports. I suspect a faulty connection or router, or maybe the router needs a factory reset.

The OP hasn't replied to my question as to which package. Unlimited has no speed throttling as such. Essentials P2P can be throttled to 2Mbps in the evenings.

See my reply just now to yarwell. As I say there, I suggest you try a factory reset of the router if you haven't already done one.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

The OP hasn't replied to my question as to which package. Unlimited has no speed throttling as such. Essentials P2P can be throttled to 2Mbps in the evenings.

Hi,

see post approx 1/2 way down page 2 - did state there its unlimited fibre

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

See my reply just now to yarwell. As I say there, I suggest you try a factory reset of the router if you haven't already done one.

Hi,

have tried this to no avail

seems odd that the OP reports "solid 30DL and 7UL, but latency still very poor" and "P2P DL's are absolutely atrocious, giving in most cases around 50 - 300k total (fluctuating wildly), compared to my backup ADSL giving a solid 560-600 range"

As the router and the ISP are different in each case there's more than one possibility, but the delta between P2P and speedtests does smell of traffic management. 5am looks to be a good time for testing https://www.plus.net/support/service/network_perform...

In reply to a post by yarwell:

seems odd that the OP reports "solid 30DL and 7UL, but latency still very poor" and "P2P DL's are absolutely atrocious, giving in most cases around 50 - 300k total (fluctuating wildly), compared to my backup ADSL giving a solid 560-600 range"

As the router and the ISP are different in each case there's more than one possibility, but the delta between P2P and speedtests does smell of traffic management. 5am looks to be a good time for testing https://www.plus.net/support/service/network_perform...

Thanks for the comments/info

I'm up at 5am for the commute so will try a P2P tomorrow AM

In reply to a post by ncf355:

see post approx 1/2 way down page 2 - did state there its unlimited fibre

Ah yes, sorry I'd missed that.

(By the way, page numbers are meaningless I'm afraid. If you have a look at the settings in My Home, where you found the sig for instance, you'll see there are two modes - Flat and Threaded, with different types of display and numbers of posts per page . I'm on Flat mode, Condensed threads, 99 posts per page and 99 posts per thread page).

Have you joined the Community Forums yet? (To post, you'll need to register on them if you haven't). The Digital Care Team people watch in there a lot of the time and will want to help on this problem. They come over here now and then but don't watch here as closely as there. You should be getting pretty stable P2P speeds unless there is something wrong between the exchange and you.

I've looked back at this from the beginning, and can see a few aspects about the line that haven't yet been dealt with.

First your IP Profile seems to be around 42-43Mbps on those BT Speedtests, while you're only actually getting download speeds of around 30Mbps.

There's something there we should get to the bottom of. Can you repeat the BT speedtest, reporting both the IP Profile values and the speed results. Then can you try the speedtester here on TBB and one or two different servers on www.speedtest.net

As you are using Plusnet, one aspect is that they have their own copy of the IP Profile value, so they can do their traffic prioritisation correctly. Can you tell us what this page on the Plusnet portal says about your "Current Line Speed".

While you're on the Plusnet portal, can you try Their speed tester too.

Cheers all

Will address these this evening

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

As you are using Plusnet, one aspect is that they have their own copy of the IP Profile value, so they can do their traffic prioritisation correctly. Can you tell us what this page on the Plusnet portal says about your "Current Line Speed".

I've had to post on their forums today, as my PN profile wasn't updated after my speed increased, even turning off the router for a few minutes didn't trigger the update, buts it's been updated now.

Hi,

right, BT speedtest screen grab with Diags -

HERE

Speedtest.net:


Bristol (Close to me)

26ms Ping
27MB DL
6.98 UL

Douglas (Not so close!)

42ms Ping
26.6 DL
7.1 UL

Plusnet Speedtest

24016 DL
7157 UL

Plusnet Current Line Speed

43.4 MB

So, all of the above taken into account seems like something is out of whack here?

Yes, something is out of whack. You should be able to do something better than those results on a 42Mbps pipe - even if the other investigations point to a problem there too.

The IP Profile and PN "Current Speed" match OK, so those parts look good. It is just the actual download speeds you encounter.

I'd be close to recommending that you go over to the PN site and raise a ticket there.
However, I'd also recommend that you join their community forum, and post about the problem in there as well - it can be a better experience than just using the ticket system alone.

The only things I'd hold back on are in checking the machine you performed these tests on. 27Mbps is very close to the maximum speed of Wireless G, so those results could look suspicious - verify that you really did turn off WiFi everywhere (disabling it on the PC too).

Also try a different browser if you can. I've encountered problems with individual browsers, and with plugins going awry, in the past (particularly the day I had FTTC installed)

What OS were you using? Something as old as Windows XP can have limitations at the higher speeds.

PS - Speedtest.net does better near London, as that is where PN's traffic hits the internet, no matter where you are in the country. I find the Vodafone server in Newbury to be pretty consistent.

An easy way to see whether he's using wired or wireless is to look on the network tab of task manager (presuming he's using windows) and see which interface shows activity during a speed test.

Hi,

covered the wired/wireless issue

Turned the wireless function off the router off at the weekend, all stats since then based on Wired connection only

P2P is certainly not rate-limited although it does have a lower priority (take a look at the Product Comparison on Plusnet Usertools)

Trying plugging a PC directly into the modem via ethernet, and follow these instructions to setup a PPPoE connection directly. You will need the following details:

Service Name: Plusnet
Username: yourusername@plusdsl.net
Password: Your own password

Generally Windows 7 fails to connect at the end of the wizard. You will need to then go into start -> Control panel -> network and internet -> network and sharing centre -> change adaptor settings. Right-click on the new connection, and click 'connect'

Re-run the speedtest. If it improves, your router is faulty - request a new one from Plusnet. Otherwise, raise a fault via http://faults.plus.net

Edited by deleted (Tue 14-May-13 23:57:19)

I can't quote your signature, but WOW - what a difference between those 2 graphs!

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

I can't quote your signature, but WOW - what a difference between those 2 graphs!

[cough]

In reply to a post by lewisskinner:

I am a Plusnet Employee, but my opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Plusnet Technologies or the wider BT Group plc.

Plusnet FTTC Ping
Virgin Media 100Mbps Ping


Edited by lewisskinner (Tue 14-May-13 23:57:19)

In reply to a post by lewisskinner:

P2P is certainly not rate-limited although it does have a lower priority (take a look at the Product Comparison on Plusnet Usertools)

Trying plugging a PC directly into the modem via ethernet, and follow these instructions to setup a PPPoE connection directly. You will need the following details:

Service Name: Plusnet
Username: yourusername@plusdsl.net
Password: Your own password

Generally Windows 7 fails to connect at the end of the wizard. You will need to then go into start -> Control panel -> network and internet -> network and sharing centre -> change adaptor settings. Right-click on the new connection, and click 'connect'

Re-run the speedtest. If it improves, your router is faulty - request a new one from Plusnet. Otherwise, raise a fault via http://faults.plus.net

HI,

I carried out this test on Saturday with similar results

Router failure has been ruled out as I have attempted connection via the PN supplied and 2 Billion 7800n

Every time, stats are the same