I'm glad to report one problem solved, only to be replaced by another! The 'fault' appears to be a quirk in the TBB speed test which I have used for years and which still (today) reports 1.6Mb upload when multiple other tests (Google, BTW) give 8.9Mb.

As major faults have priority and my downloads were faultless, the PN team took four weeks to carry out their test procedure which was clearly explained with results sent by email followed by an unhurried phone call to ensure I was happy. I give the PN team full marks but feel rather guilty as many staff were self-isolating at the beginning of lockdown and others are now working from home to resolve the backlog.

This episode reminds me of Fred the railway wheel tapper, who reported many faulty wheels on a train. After changing all the carriage wheels someone found that Fred's hammer was cracked ...

As you seem to be saying the speed test on thinkbroadband is broken I feel I should respond.

If there was a systematic failure in the testing capping Plusnet customer FTTC speeds to just under 2 Mbps it would reveal itself in the monthly stats we publish.

Looking at the speed profile no evidence of a plateau in the upload speeds around the 2 Mbps mark when looking at Plusnet FTTC tests. There is one at the 8 - 9 Mbps mark due to the 40/10 service and of course at the top end near 19 Mbps

Quick sample of tests on what look like similar browsers
http://tbb.st/1590527700459438155
http://tbb.st/1590493561188128655

What was interesting though is that your latency was in the top 5% at 105 ms for the UK Plusnet users and top 20% for your region using Plusnet

Looking at your test history at some point between http://tbb.st/1582221506563856855 and http://tbb.st/1583595540518945955
something changed and since March 7th your latency figure has been 30 to 50 ms higher than before that date.

http://tbb.st/1577032811177282055 which was with an older version of Firefox looks good lower latency too.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Andrew, all I know about broadband (which isn't much) came from your website which I value very highly. I'm curious to know what causes this anomaly so just now I have tried your test using MS Edge rather than Firefox to find upload speed doubled at 3.3Mb MS Edge result
Another electronic mystery? However I'm very happy with my connection and with PN service on this occasion.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

As you seem to be saying the speed test on thinkbroadband is broken I feel I should respond.

To be honest with you Andrew, I've since given up using your test with my Virign connection, it not been able to give me accurate readings for a couple of years now.

Not sure if its the tester or the links with your servers but someting is wrong.

Best Regards.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Not sure if its the tester or the links with your servers but someting is wrong.

That's been explored at length, and discussed before. Its part of the sharing of consumer products, its not a fault with TBB. (Corporate connections show the TBB tester can go fast).

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Andrew, all I know about broadband (which isn't much) came from your website which I value very highly. I'm curious to know what causes this anomaly so just now I have tried your test using MS Edge rather than Firefox to find upload speed doubled at 3.3Mb MS Edge result
Another electronic mystery? However I'm very happy with my connection and with PN service on this occasion.

I had a similar problem many years ago. It turned out to be the adblocker I was using at the time. It sounds unlikely (why would an adblocker interfere with uploads) but the author explained why. Even having TBB on the whitelist didn't solve the problem. Sadly I can't remember the explanation but I do remember (as a computer programmer with several decades of experience) that it made sense. I suppose what I'm saying here is that if there's anything you've installed that matches the times Mr Saffron mentions then don't dismiss it just because it seems unlikely

Edited by Andrue (Wed 27-May-20 19:14:35)

Always worth a try, so I removed ABP, Disconnect and Facebook Container -- the last installed in early March or the time Andrew noticed some changes. Restarted computer, not just Firefox. If anything it's a trifle slower though well inside what I expect. Main thing is my connection works perfectly ... Regards to everyone, stay safe.