PN Website no longer showing data usage

The PN user web site stopped showing how much data I was using late last week.
Is this a common problem or unique to my logon id.

I would report it in the PN Community Forums, but the change in layout has caused me to lose the will to live re using the forum.

It is very common and Plusnet have stopped usage monitoring across 10's of thousands of accounts.
Why?
Because tracking usage is causing packet loss. So they had to turn if off across several of their gateways (the server that you log into to get internet access)
The joys of the new network and data centre consolidation.

Mine still shows (at the moment) but another user who I support has been seeing "Sorry, there's nothing to show at the moment." for about a fortnight now. Given that useage is unlimited we haven't bothered to pursue it.

Mine is still showing as well and the figures for each day look plausible. I'm on pcn-bng02 if that makes any difference.

Mine was showing until my last gateway change on Thursday gone. Now zero usage since that day.
Plusnet aren't bothered about getting it to work. They are concentrating on sorting out the packet losses. Mentioned by several senior staff on their forums (Chris, Bob Pullen among others)
Guess they under specified the machines that handle the traffic as they cannot route at the same time as counting.

My usage has always worked fine, indeed my ADSL2+ has been 100% reliable and good value for money. Mind you, I wouldn't change to fibre, I don't need the speed and I certainly don't need the hassle which seems inseparable from any change to a PN package.

mine is showing 0kb per day since Friday

In reply to a post by georgelnx:

It is very common and Plusnet have stopped usage monitoring across 10's of thousands of accounts.
Why?
Because tracking usage is causing packet loss. So they had to turn if off across several of their gateways (the server that you log into to get internet access)
The joys of the new network and data centre consolidation.

Interesting. And sort of funny.

I checked my dad's account - all shows.

I recall customers who had no usage from the time I was there to the time I left - which was 6 years.

It's very common.

From the horse's mouth at https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Usage-...

Apologies. The fact your usage has stopped reporting is a product of the ongoing investigations into reports of packet loss around these parts.

It's a temporary measure, however I'm unable to tell you when it will return to normal just yet.
Bob Pullen
Plusnet Products Team
‎25-11-2016

So nearly a month now since Plusnet acknowledged the issue. When the fix is due is anybody's guess

In reply to a post by georgelnx:

From the horse's mouth at https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Usage-...

Apologies. The fact your usage has stopped reporting is a product of the ongoing investigations into reports of packet loss around these parts.

It's a temporary measure, however I'm unable to tell you when it will return to normal just yet.
Bob Pullen
Plusnet Products Team
‎25-11-2016

So nearly a month now since Plusnet acknowledged the issue. When the fix is due is anybody's guess

Like I said, This problem was causing nut ache back in 2008...

But this time it is deliberately turned off, not just some mess up in the backend like it always has been in the past.

Its a weird one - mine started to work again on 13th/14th then stopped recording -looks like they tried a fix then abandoned it.

My BQM graph went from several years of being typically like this:

[img]http://www.twowheels.force9.co.uk/TEMP/tbb%20bqm%202...[/img]

to this (note the change at ~0030 hours):

[img]http://www.twowheels.force9.co.uk/TEMP/tbb%20bqm%202...[/img]

then after a few days to this (note the change at ~1045 hours):

[img]http://www.twowheels.force9.co.uk/TEMP/tbb%20bqm%202...[/img]

Usage recording apparently also began being very strange around this time and ultimately stopped completely around the time the packet loss did ! No usage has been recorded recently and in fact I now just get an 'error' message when looking on the portal, not even zero figures on the usual table. Also weird was that the last detailed usage data I was actually able to view showed something really stupid like 20GB 'other' data usage for the current month. Far higher than the usually somewhat suspect single GB figure.

This all seems to correspond to finding that I am now forced to use 'bng' gateways after avoiding them like the plague ever since they first appeared due to finding performance and other issues with them. My experience of 'bng' gateways has always been really poor performance and various weird and unexplained issues, hence my routine monitoring and automatically dumping any such connections in an attempt to grab a more reliable alternative. Unfortunately, all of the remaining old style 'ag' gateways have apparently either been decommissioned now or I no longer have any routing to them so it's now 'bng' or nothing

In addition, I also received an email just before all this happened with words to the effect that Ye Olde Legacy Service (which technically requires usage monitoring to be available due to the data transfer limits etc.) is being terminated because "your current broadband service will no longer be available" and I am going to be moved to an 'unlimited' account.

No doubt all of this is only affecting "a very small number of customers" and/or "just pure coincidence" and all that

Really gotta love the most excellent performance on the shiny new 'bng' gateways though:

[img]http://www.twowheels.force9.co.uk/TEMP/poor%20single...[/img]

[img]http://www.twowheels.force9.co.uk/TEMP/poor%20single...[/img]

... or not as the case may be ! I'm sure they must have been configured by someone with dyslexia ... as they quite clearly should have been called 'nbg' gateways :lol:


EDIT: Hmmmm .... not sure what's happened regarding embedding images, I'm kinda sure it used to work :/ Clicky the linkies to view them.

Edited by ambrougham (Wed 21-Dec-16 13:30:51)

In reply to a post by ambrougham:

EDIT: Hmmmm .... not sure what's happened regarding embedding images, I'm kinda sure it used to work :/

Never on thinkbroadband, always have to link to another service. Maybe you're thinking of another forum?

Just shows payment due when I click on data useage, so must be a common fault.

Edited by hk11 (Wed 21-Dec-16 19:53:43)

@ambroughton
My experience of the BNG gateways mirrors yours, so I was very unhappy to loss my connection to them last month.
And since then I have been getting odd happenings, like TBB x1 test running at 1Mbps instead of 75Mbps; random slowdowns; no usage figures.
Nearly 8 years with Plusnet and I'm reaching for the exit door.

Although I said in an earlier post that my useage was still being recorded, I've just checked and it isn't any longer, it shows 0KB for several days past now. I wonder if it is seen as an unnecessary overhead which can be dispensed with, being quietly allowed to fall by the wayside like a number of other things.

@longedge
I refer you to my earlier post http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/t/4522062-p... where Plusnet say it has been turned off for performace reasons until such time as they figure out how to fix said issues.
Don't hold your breath waiting.

Edited by deleted (Wed 21-Dec-16 15:56:31)

In reply to a post by georgelnx:

where Plusnet say it has been turned off for performace reasons until such time as they figure out how to fix said issues.

I wonder if that means users with usage limits are getting free usage.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

I wonder if that means users with usage limits are getting free usage.

I wonder how many customers are on usage limited plans now there are unlimited plans available at similar prices?

BT Infinity had a usage meter when I started, then they got rid of it during my 18month contract. Not having one does make it hard to tell what you use, in these days of tablets, game systems and smart TVs that can easily use GB's a day of streaming.

Edited by jchamier (Wed 21-Dec-16 19:13:41)

You would have to say yes unless Plusnet has rigged the gateways so that they cannot get to the non usage recording ones. Probably a bit like hard work to do correctly.
I'm sure I saw something today on the forums where someone claimed that they have been moved off an old usage based tariff onto an unlimited one at Plusnet's behest.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I wonder how many customers are on usage limited plans now there are unlimited plans available at similar prices?

I know I recommended a few people to the Plusnet 10 GB package (with free overnight usage) which was very cheap at the time. Since it's still less than £9.99 (£8.99 now) and doesn't require a line rental switch they've generally stayed on it.

In reply to a post by hk11:

Just shows payment due when ?i click on data usage, so must be a common fault.

My dad can log in, he does see his payment details as he has no card on file but when he clicks on VMBU again he gets usage stats. His are updated today - no gaps I can see in the past month

I am on FTTP unlimited and have had no breaks in my usage figures, still up to date today.

Doesn't seem to be everyone then

I was able to view my usage last month (Just joined them in November) but this month the usage seems to have disappeared for me. Lucky i'm on unlimited fibre so doesn't matter but would be nice to know

Interestingly mine is now showing some usage for today - earlier today I changed something on router which caused a reconnection so now I am on "pcn-bng01. This is located in Colindale Point of Presence.". I can see a similar reconnection in router logs on 15th (about 15:00) and no data recorded on 16th till yesterday

I tempted fate there. My dad;s VMBU stopped on Friday and just shows from then on lol

Yes this is what's going on now.. :/

https://s24.postimg.org/3rfrkbn45/Screen_Shot_2016_1...

I can guess which day that line had a gateway change.
And wait until the account is reset at the monthly invoice date. You don't get that table anymore. All you will get is

Sorry, there's nothing to show at the moment.

This might be because your account is new, or your usage has been reset for a new billing period.

It can take up to 4 hours for your usage to show up - please try again later.

Been a bit longer than 4 hours since the invoice date

Mine seems to have gone back to normal on the 15th December - seem to have lost it at some point before that. Not that I care really, being unlimited.

Mines been like this for a while, ive not swapped gateways as far as I am aware during this time.

Usage

Edited by Philce (Sat 31-Dec-16 11:18:29)

In reply to a post by georgelnx:

I can guess which day that line had a gateway change.
And wait until the account is reset at the monthly invoice date. You don't get that table anymore. All you will get is

Sorry, there's nothing to show at the moment.

This might be because your account is new, or your usage has been reset for a new billing period.

It can take up to 4 hours for your usage to show up - please try again later.

Been a bit longer than 4 hours since the invoice date

Ah so that's what has caused it? Well it's unlimited and he doesn't seem to get bad speed so I had best leave it - but thanks for clarifying.

I see my image was removed - ha! no idea why :/

My data usage is now showing again

Coincidentally on the same day as my download speed reverted to almost normal.

Edited by DRW (Tue 03-Jan-17 19:18:47)

You've probably changed the gateway you connect to.

I noticed the the usage recording stopped for me when I changed gateway.

Plusnet usage reports used to about match my router statistics.

After moving to the WBMC (or whatever it is called) platform Plusnet reports were about half that of my router statistics.

I don't think they have been at all reliable since the platform change.

My poor dad,

The day his stats return he loses phone and broadband. It's been down for over a day now.

Well while data usage works for some and not for others is waiting to be fixed, Plusnet have added a new wrinkle to the question of how much data have I used.

When you log in to check your usage, you should see this new message

Data usage is no longer fully accurate

We've made some improvements to our network which will improve your connection to some popular high bandwidth services such as YouTube and Netflix. We will no longer be able to track your usage on these services which means the information below will not accurately reflect your usage.

Looks like the solution to the usage figures is just to not bother counting it.

My stats re-appeared around the middle of Jan but have now gone back again to 0Kb. I've not worried about it overmuch but one thing I wonder about is that I have never seen any explanation of the cause of the issue or why, since PlusNet say that useage is still recorded, the figures can't be displayed.

Staff do seem to be saying that in a few posts.
But if they really are counting the traffic per customer there is no reason not to tell the customer. I have grave reservations about their traffic accounting.
Not a big issue to me either but Plusnet do have customers on limited accounts who need to know what is being used and also if this youtube/netflix traffic counts against their allowance too.
It is just another woolly not thought through issue. Plusnet still have not answered the question about the effects of this change on the legacy accounts.