Right, engineer has been and left. He said Plusnet has done a sneaky and reported it as a telephone fault rather than a broadband fault to avoid callout fees. Hence he could not (or should I say, would not) give me line stats. However, I did see "9dB" on his diagnostic kit, so I assume that's line noise?

Anyway, let's put it this way - he wasn't happy about the contractor's handy work from the fibre install!

He fixed the bridge tap instantly - it was spurred off form behind the master socket. He was especially pleased when I then told him he could isolate all the extensions

He took a look at the drop wire and was perplexed that it enters the house on an orange pair, and arrives at the master on a blue pair. I did tell him beforehand that the master had been relocated, but he wasn't convinced I was right. But lo and behold when he looks at where the master used to be - a crimp connecting the orange to the blue! He was happy to leave the master where it currently is, as the joint and wire quality were good and the speed lost would be "peanuts" for that distance.

So everything is wired back up. He conducts a line test (QT I think?), which fails on the reverse test citing "crossed legs". No idea what that's all about. I mention that "an engineer" thought the connections to the drop wire were corroded (shoutout to Zarjaz!!!), and indeed, they were. And it turns out that it wasn't necessary to be moved to the second pair of lines after all - when stripped back both pairs worked fine.

He then replaced the grey plastic plating with a BT66. Was very happy with that.

Re-runs the test. Passes on all fronts.

Download is still slow but upload is a couple of meg faster. All to do with IP profile I'm sure. I asked him to reset the IP profile, but as it was not a broadband callout he couldn't - he had already acted beyond his brief.

UPDATE: Line still at 47 mbps. BT Wholesale checker showing IP profile is at 58.08 mbps and Plusnet account settings show "current line speed" as 50.6 mbps. Hopefully the PN setting will match the IP profile soon...

Edited by deleted (Thu 20-Feb-14 12:39:42)

One of the good guys . (Like nearly all of them).

Sounds like that ex-BT guy you got in isn't exactly innocent, yet everyone else is getting the blame!

Did this engineer disconnect your extension wiring then? I don't think this was necessary, but sounds like he was attentive, good stuff.

Will be interesting to see the result once things are reset - have you contacted Plusnet?

Easy, turn wireless off and in a grumpy fashion moan about trying to fix it, run the checks, then turn the wireless back on

Well the ex-BT guy was innocent. I asked him to move the master and he did. It was me not being innocent, knowing that master sockets should only be moved by official Openreach engineers/contractors.

Edit to add: have tried contacting Plusnet but they're clueless. Seem to think that they cannot reset anything as it must be done at the DSLAM. Cannot stand Plusnet tech support. It's not their fault at all but they mostly don't know anything. Think I'll just wait for the line speed to sync with the IP profile by itself.

Edited by deleted (Thu 20-Feb-14 14:46:57)

The reason for this, because your isp Plusnet told BT of a phone line fault rather than broadband fault. That's why the engineer stick to what Plusnet told them.

Glad it's all been sorted.

So everything is wired back up. He conducts a line test (QT I think?), which fails on the reverse test citing "crossed legs". No idea what that's all about. I mention that "an engineer" thought the connections to the drop wire were corroded (shoutout to Zarjaz!!!), and indeed, they were. And it turns out that it wasn't necessary to be moved to the second pair of lines after all - when stripped back both pairs worked fine.

He then replaced the grey plastic plating with a BT66. Was very happy with that.

No idea on the 'reverse test' crossed legs thing was, but it sounds like he cleared an HR as well as sorting out the bridge tap. Nice repair on the BT66.

That should be the end of that.

That should be the end of that, yes, but the connection is still slower then it was before the engineer arrived.

Plusnet are advising to wait for a few days, as the IP profile is still at 58 meg, for the line speed to increase. I asked them to force reset it but they refused as the line has shown instability (hence the engineer visit!).

Ahh well, let's see!

Ring them again and tell them not to be silly. It's an auto-update that frequently fails. Once it misses the first try it will never update again until your IP Profile changes.You've probably spoken to a recent recruit.

I suspected as much. Before I ring back, can I just clarify what I'm actually asking for?

The engineer mentioned a "DSLAM reset", but as soon as you mention 'DSLAM' they'll say they can't do anything, an engineer has to do it.

I mention IP profile and they just keep saying "it's correct". I know it's correct (and its 11 meg faster than my connection!), it's the [insert here] that's incorrect! Haha

The problem is I don't know what the technical term for the [insert here] is!