PlusNet dropping speeds

Every year give or take a month my speed drops from 48/8 to 39/5, then i have to chase around for weeks trying to get it put back to what it was.

Why is this? anyone have an answer or have the same problem?

Had an engineer come out yesterday and have another coming tomorrow.
They can not find a fault and i get the usual non interested person on the phone who really don't want to deal with me.
They even said my router is old and they are sending me one, Its 4yr old and fully updated, and works fine.

this started 1 week ago. i'v done the usual exchange checks, it says max for my exchange is 44, but i run at 48 so whats the deal. its so bad YouTube buffers if your playing a game, and Netflix is doing the same, i have never had it this bad before.

any advise please.

Postcode PE378NA
router DSL-AC88U (2018) Fully updated and was working fine

just to add
A few days ago my speeds were hitting 16megs down from 48

Does your router provide any stats for your line ?

Hi, yes it does.
ATM its sitting at 44557 Down and 5943 up it usually sits around 50/9

I noticed at around 9ish last night things started to slow down yet the speeds were the same.
Also the router was disconnected from the exchange this morning, i had to reset it.

Also here is a curious thing the exchange notes says its only capable of 44meg this is incorrect as i typically run at 48/49

Edited by Robbie219 (Wed 30-Mar-22 09:25:00)

Does it have any error stats as if you are getting youtube buffering at those speeds it suggests the line has a high number of errors on it (which could explain why the speeds have dropped to try and correct for them).

There is nothing at all, Openreach came yesterday and done a 15min test on the line it had very few errors, below what they class as anything to worry about, he went to the cab and replaced the old Blues with new jelly's, then he done a reset as we spoke, i know it takes 10/12 days but my IP profile has not changed and i have not seen any increase at all in speed, (Or loss).

When it starts buffering i do a quick BT-Wholesale test and the speeds are the same, i also check whats running in the background (Win 11), and i also use FAST speed test as a backup.

PlusNet say they have my IP profile set at 80/unlimited.

I just don't feel that's true.

The problem is if the Openreach engineer can't find any issues then their is nothing they can fix sadly, changing the crimps is just so he/she can tell you they have done something but unless you had a high resistance connection at that point its going to make no difference.

I fully understand.
I was onto PlusNet this morning and the guy says he has changed the IP profile to maximum (80) and wait 24hrs.

I'll keep it posted on here if there is any change.

I said i would post back with some info.

So my speeds increased from 39 to 43/8 for half a day

and now its dropped down to 35/7

Still sitting here waiting for the 3rd Openreach guy to come.
Brought a CAT8 cable and a new ADSL cable, made no change.
Disconnected my Modem and used PlusNet's cheapo one they sent, got the same results.

So i'v sat here watched my speed increase and now slowly decrease to lower than it was.
This has to be a fault right?
Am i being unreasonable wanting my speed back to 48/8?

It could be crosstalk as more users move from ADSL to FTTC, this isn't something that can be fixed really.

I'd suggest that all the modem switching and resetting etc is potentially making the DLM systems think your line is less stable and reducing the speeds

Which ADSL cable?

As for Cat8 ... why? A decent Cat5e patch lead would be fine.

In reply to a post by mwarby:

I'd suggest that all the modem switching and resetting etc is potentially making the DLM systems think your line is less stable and reducing the speeds

+1

Doesnt explain the buffering tho. Shouldn't get that with his speeds

Hey guy's, Than you for your answers so far.
Just a quick update.

Openreach came, and ran some tests again, He popped off to the cab and done a Lift and shift
And said wait a week and see what happens.

I agree i probably messed the DLM up with the resets.
Currently I'm sitting at 35/6 at the PC and the IP profile set at 38, well bellow the guaranteed speed, I'm hoping it kick up. Soon!

The buffering has all but stopped, we was able to watch a Netflix + play a game on the PC last night with no prob's, but also watching a YouTube at the same time in 2/4k was a prob, this is something we can usually do, but we can't atm it buffered quite bad.

Fingers crossed, I'll post back soon with any more info.

Okay so looks like prob is fix for now, still only 6.75up but Down is nearly back to normal at 47

When asked about the speed drop there was no explanation, HeyHo.....

Thanks again Y'all.

Hi, first time poster, had not even realised that tinkbroadband had a forum and so glad I've found it!

Just to be the noted grey cloud, here.

What I think is happening here is a kind of 'circuit protection', and I have this issue, and it is intermittent, and ongoing. As far as I know they can't/won't fix it, either ... that's not a big javelin to the ISP or to Openreach who do the engineering, just my view on this.

So this happens at whatever the equivalent (in our situation) of what the exchange now is for fibre to the cabinet, and copper to the premises. Something triggers ... something ... there, which then automatically limits your down speed to protect the circuit for whatever reason.

I've had this confirmed as the reason by two separate site visits by OpenReach engineers, and they say that all that can really be done to mitigate it on an individual basis is to up whatever minimum guard is triggering this.

This might be that DLM thing folks mentioned.

---

For the record, my average speed is around 55-60Mbps ... but with more direct connectivity it's more like 60-66Mbps download.

This drops to the same speeds that you're seeing, with the confirmation that it's not an ISP based injunction in the upload speed being still the full whack (18-20Mbps) according to my plan.

I've experienced the issue with a (2)PlusNet/TP-Link/LinkSys Routers and OpenReach modem, and with an all in one TP-Link modem-router. I'm well aware that TP-Link aren't the fabbest of fab, but I think that my spread is indicative that (unless I'm the unluckiest fellow alive) this isn't failing equipment causing the alerts on the regular.
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Oh, and FWIW, it is (whatever it is) mentioned a few times on PlusNets own forums, but *never* in support tickets with them. Point of fact, I've been hard pushed to get them (despite the engineers literally diagnosing this) to actually say it in conversation.

I'm not really sure what any of this means for anyone reading this, but I thought it should be made known.

I'm posting under my own name here (twitter handle should be about) to indicate that I'm not just pointlessly making up nonsense. Apologies if I've not used perfect technical terms, either.

---
One question I do have for you, @Robie219 is whether or not you use bespoke DNS/Smart DNS or VPN connectivity.

I'll explain ... I *do* use a private DNS server ... and as far as I could ascertain a couple of years back, whenever I switched networks on my LG TV from wired (private DNS) to wireless (public DNS) it would literally cause a disconnect on my service and a drop in allocated speed.

If there is some lazy protection going on here that anyone using different DNS' to the norm is 'bad' ... then ... crikey.

Edited by eliotcole (Wed 13-Apr-22 15:31:57)