[censored] Plusnet

When are they actually going to fix this stupid plusnet internet speed/ip profile?

It feels like I'm raising a ticket every other week, asking them to turn the speed back up to match the bt ip profile. I'm fedup with the rubbish that their system checks the bt ip profile multiple times a day, and it will automatically update itself.

Utter BS, it goes down and stays down until the next time I raise a ticket and have to wait 2-3 days for someone to respond and put the speed back up.
I've never experienced this stupid speed problem with any other internet company.

There stupid unique systems doesn't work, and they should either fix it or turn the damn thing off !


Angry Rant

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

asking them to turn the speed back up to match the bt ip profile.

They can't! The IP Profile follows the sync speed, not the other way round.

He's talking about the copy IP Profile that Plusnet hold and apply. The updating system, involving BT Wholesale as well as PN has always been ropey, and now for FTTC users Openreach and its kit/DLM are another possible point of failure in that chain.

See my reply to XRaySpeX.

It isn't necessarily Plusnet's fault that the updating fails, but it might be. Other ISPsI know using copy IP Profiles are all Entanet resellers on their Enta packages, AAISP and I think one other that I forget. IIRC it used to fall over frequently on the Entanet ones. I don't know if it still does, or whether they have abandoned it.

There is a possibility worth trying, because of some of the BT technical stuff for ISPs that I have been reading, that turning your router off for a couple of minutes, or the modem if you are on fibre, might result in it updating the next time the linking system checks the BT original.

Being on FTTC, and stable, the trials & tribulations of the "Plusnet copy of BT's IP Profile" systems hasn't affected me. But I can't help think there is something better!

I did see, a while back, that AAISP had chosen to do something different.

Take a look at this AAISP report, indicating that they stopped paying attention to the whole system of BT reporting updates dynamically.

Instead, they just use the profile value that applies when you connect (I assume this is given to them as part of the PPP establishment phase).

Cons:
- When the profile goes up, you do not gain speed automatically. You will have to disconnect & reconnect the PPP session (or, if you can't, just reboot the modem/router)
- When the profile goes down, the core ISP network will be sending too much data, which might be discarded by BT. This can affect things - worst case being that the discarded data counts as part of your allowance.

Pros:
- You get the opportunity to get the new speed just by a new connection/reboot.

NB: The 2nd 'con' might not turn out to be the case in real life. As the BT profile drops as soon as you sync, and (in ADSL anyway), the modem/router will re-connect PPP after the resync. There's a good chance that the new speed will be sent as part of the new PPP session request.

The 1st 'con' would be the same - if BT just updated the profile values upwards with the same speediness.

That all makes sense. Ties in with what I understand about the subject.

I didn't know that AAISP had revised their system - it was only a few months ago I re-checked - but perhaps they had similar issues.

From the scanty documentation in the public realm it does seem to be associated with whether or not the modem completes the resync before the PPP session has dropped. Which was the basis of my suggestion to the OP. In the case of FTTC that is specifically stated by Openreach, and I think it likely the same happens inside the BT Wholesale DLMs for ADSLx.

Do you know if it happened on ADSL Max, or is it just WBC (and FTTC)?

Do you know if it happened on ADSL Max, or is it just WBC (and FTTC)?

I was advised by a member of the PN DC team that it was better to end /disconnect the PPP session before doing a soft reboot for the ADSL Max 20CN connection I use, as it would instigate a new delta report which PN's system was then more likely to react to [cough] [cough]
Make of that what you will, but that/their system has become a PITA over the last six months from my experience of using their managed network for quite a few years.

Mac

Yes. It's so long since I had a router that you could easily disconnect the PPP session that I forgot that step.

I consider the likely failure point is that the PPP session can survive the resync if it completes quite quickly. That method is better than my suggestion of turning off the router. (Which being a lazy blighter I found easier than messing about in the GUI).

The fast resync idea would explain the problem happening a lot to a few users, you being one, but the majority not suffering from it.

I agree it's a PITA, but whether there is a comparable overall service available elsewhere at anything like the price, I doubt. Even including some LLU products.

I can't think why they haven't found a way round it in so many years though . It doesn't seem a hugely difficult task, but may only be realistically achievable with modified firmware in PN-supplied routers. A user's own router would probably be a lot harder.