PlusNet troubleshooting

What are the things I ought to know specific to a plusnet connection? I have a friend who has been without internet for a week and needs some help. I'm with BT myself, and very familiar with router/line problems. If it's an authentication problem, is there anything obvious to test?

tia,

Sean

There's a couple of test usernames you can try putting into the router to see what connects, I'm not sure if BT use these as I believe they authenticate by phone number rather than username but if you're aware already I'm sorry. Anyway:

bt_test@startup_domain (leave password blank or use test if the router won't allow that)
- this connects to the exchange equipment but won't connect to the internet. If this works connectivity as far as the exchange is fine (if it doesn't then you definitely need to raise a fault at http://faults.plus.net )

If the first one works, please try:

[email protected] (same password details as above) - this should connect to our servers, if this works too then your friend should be able to connect on their own plusnet username. If your friend's username has a different realm (the bit after the @ sign) then substitute the plusdsl.net bit with theirs instead.

Other than that, test with alternative hardware from the master socket with all phones removed to prove the issue is with the line and not any equipment or internal wiring, and that's pretty much all you can do to prove the issue.

Hope that helps,

Many thanks - that should be sufficient for me to at least work out where the problem is.

Hmm... At this stage, I'm not sure if it's one problem or two.
bt_test_user@startup_domain serves a bt default web page
[email protected] connects, but no web page.
<user>@plusdsl.net gives CHAP authentication error, which seems like an ISP config problem. We are fairly sure the password is OK.

However, the noise margin looks lower and less stable than I'd like to see (4-6dB, 6-7.5kbps) so I can't rule out line problems completely. I can try my own router when I can set the target noise margin a bit higher.

The results with those test logins do indeed sound like they're both working, so if username isn't then it's either a problem at his end or ours. Would you be able to PM me a ticket number or account username so I can check that everything's alright from our side please?

The default noise margin at sync time is 6dB.

The running noise margin is expected to vary after sync, and if the connection is made during daylight it will fall during the evening and night. Conversely if the connection was made at night it will rise during the day.

As long as connection is not lost by accepting the default it is pointless to raise it yourself. In particular there is no need whatsoever (on most lines) to keep it above 6dB whilst running.

Each upward margin tweak of 3dB costs 500-750kbps on ADSL, and up to 1200kbps on ADSL2+.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

As long as connection is not lost by accepting the default it is pointless to raise it yourself. In particular there is no need whatsoever (on most lines) to keep it above 6dB whilst running.

Yes, that is where your assumption fails. I prefer to eliminate any possible cause of problem. Once I have a stable connection, I can see if her router is happy with it. Not everyone cares about connection speed!

No assumption at all. Just that I prefer to see if connections are stable at the default margin that nearly every ISP in the country considers adequate. They probably have a reason for 6dB.

Thnaks, all fixed now.