I'm only repeating what I've been told. might have miss herd I'll check later (i think he called me on the mobile - call recorder on that)

what would cause speed test download ranges from no connection at all at 9.42 am this morning to 3Mbps about 15mins later then increasing to 41Mbps after a couple of mins, then a further test at full speed of close to on 70 + Mbps. it cant be contention can it because BT are still accepting orders on my exchange.

im flat out at 76Mpbs for most of the day and evenings when i really would expect contention to creep in exept for what would seemingly be spikes that totally disconnect me - they can happen at any random time throughout the day or evening. I'm going to be so [censored] off if it does turn out to be the router because it was the first thing i suggested back in December.

i'll ask the fault manager as soon as he gets back to me - must remember to ask if any other zen customers on this exchange are having the same problems.

Edited by deleted (Tue 11-Feb-14 10:28:33)

In reply to a post by bigbadpirate:

I'm only repeating what I've been told. might have miss herd I'll check later (i think he called me on the mobile - call recorder on that)

I'm just correcting the terminology you were given. Congested VP's is old school.

In reply to a post by bigbadpirate:

what would cause speed test download ranges from no connection at all at 9.42 am this morning to 3Mbps about 15mins later then increasing to 41Mbps after a couple of mins, then a further test at full speed of close to on 70 + Mbps. it cant be contention can it because BT are still accepting orders on my exchange.

im flat out at 76Mpbs for most of the day and evenings when i really would expect contention to creep in exept for what would seemingly be spikes that totally disconnect me - they can happen at any random time throughout the day or evening.

Contention/congestion would not make BT stop accepting orders on an exchange.

What you are experiencing doesn't sound like congestion to me however. You would expect congestion in a residential area to be noticeable between around 18:00-22:00. This is when most people are home using their Internet connection.

I don't suppose you have access to the modems stats do you? If so do they change dramatically when you are experiencing issues? Looking for things like sync speed, SNR and Attenuation.

In reply to a post by bigbadpirate:

I'm going to be so [censored] off if it does turn out to be the router because it was the first thing i suggested back in December.

This can be easily proved by connecting your PC to your modem. You implied you had done that already and the issue remained?

I don't have any stats as i cant get into the bt openreach fibre modem and the 582n doesn't give any stats. I have connected directly to the openreach modem and as far as i can see there are no problems. The fault manager called me back this morning and it is being escalated within BT I'm told - they have admitted to a fault now. tried to escalate the fault into a complaints procedure but got fobbed off a bit. I've just noticed that the fault was closed on wed 29th Jan and not reopened till tue 4th Feb. no wonder this is taking so long, nearly a week where bt were not even looking for a problem yet Zen are telling me they are doing everything they can to get this resolved.

I will escalate this problem to a manager as per your (zen) complaints procedures, I want answers. More importantly I want to get away from you as a company, end my contract i've lost all faith in you. IVE HAD ENOUGH.

Edited by deleted (Tue 11-Feb-14 15:26:43)

The speed test at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

Does two download tests
tbbx1 is impacted by congestion
httpx6 should with its six threads get past most congestion if that is the issue

Given it appears to be fine when doing the connection direct to the PC suggests maybe the router is the issue, maybe try a different router.

We assume you have ensured that its not someone nicking the bandwidth via wireless, i.e. changed the encryption key etc

OK update time.

New router was swapped out at 1pm yesterday but the connection had been behaving since the last drop (i say drop but it wasn't a physical drop in the connection rather than packet loss on BT backhaul i'm told) i noticed on Monday at around 9.42 am when i was here posting. Apparently quite a few people on this exchange were suffering and BT admitted to some kind of fault/congestion on their back haul. Some people on other isps were moved sooner as their lines were dropping out completely. I was left on there as my connection looked to be stable (and it was most of the time until packet loss kicked in and I'd be unable to do anything for 20-30 mins). Jason managed to get someone at BT to move my line over on Tue night before the next block are moved over in two weeks - as a test.

Up till now all seems good and my line has never tested better. My latency is in the sitting in the server room range.

Thank you MrSaffron i have been using the Zen speed tester (powered by you i think) extensively since having this problem. 95% of the time my connection would be ok, the only times i would see congestion is in the first 30 seconds when my router/connection seemed to right itself after one of these packet loss outages that lasted 20-30 mins - my 582n or the openreach modem wasn't dropping sync. like in previous posts it started testing at 1-2 Mbps then crept up on further tests till it was at maximum again over a period on a few mins - Zen could see the packet loss at this point because they are pinging my router and the times i told them this was happening correlated. Everything wifi was removed from the network and key changed weeks ago.

To be fair to Zen this original problem started the end of last year between xmas and new year. Before any engineers were called out it was agreed we (Zen and myself) would test the line further as to not incur any possible BT charges. The fault persisted intermittently then on the 15th jan when there was a BT engineer working in next doors house (small bt openreach van so i assume fibre engineer) my router logs showed my connection dropping and my sync speed dropping from 76Mbps to approx 50Mbps and i could physically hear crackling on the line, at this point i opened a voice line fault but continued to seek help from Zen technical. The voice line fault seemed to clear itself so Zen advised me to close the fault with BT voice and they would open a fibre/broadband fault, this happened on the 18th jan. First engineer came out and blamed the original fibre installer for fitting 2 face plates - still no improvement in sync speed and still intermittent fault so i insisted that Zen reopen the fault with BT when they tried to fob us off with the speed drop. The speed had dropped below a certain threshold within a time period so we were within out rights to refuse the fault being closed - thank you for finding that out Jason. Another engineer came out and tested and fixed the line back to the green fibre box lifting all the underground pavement boxes and checking all the joints, i was moved to the best spare pair he could find and the line synced at 66Mbps (within their % drop threshold from the original speed so as far as BT were concerned fault closed) but still intermittent problem. I'm still left wondering why a line that held solid connection (no drops) from April 2013 until Jan 2014 suddenly became one that dropped constantly at the exact same time an engineer was working next door.

Anyway i lost it a bit that's why i came here and posted (Think angry BT man, search it on youtube if you've not seen it - i warn you there's a lot of swearing). Zen technical have been as good as ever but i was getting to the stage where i knew them on first name basis i was on the phone with them so much. In hindsight and with a clear head knowing what i know now i would have insisted technical open the fault with BT and risked the BT charges back in Dec/early Jan, it would have shortened this process by approx 3 weeks. They shouldn't be held at fault for my penny pinching. Let's hope this is the end of it.

I still hate BT with a vengeance because in this day and age no one company should have the monopoly they enjoy. They have everyone by the short and curlies and while there are many more good people who work there than bad, that's when the wall goes up and ranks close. They are not accountable to anyone outside of the company. They do seem better and more open today than the arrogance I encountered 10-12 years ago with BT openworld so maybe they are improving. Jason at least managed to find someone that would help after the problem was escalated.

Anyone from within BT I'd love to know what the engineer who was working on cab 27 Bangor (NW) exchange at between 10 am and 12am on the 15th Jan did to actually screw my connection further. Not much chance of that though is there? closed ranks. Still in two minds whether to email Gavin Patterson about it as from talking to one of the engineers who visited here I might have been up for an engineer call out charge if he hadn't found anything wrong even though the fault on the 15th was 99% caused by one of their own engineers. I'm really beginning to wonder how many faults their own engineers cause.

Thank you Jason and all the other staff at Zen I've dealt with. I regret coming here now and posting what I did because basically all you were doing was trying to help even though it didn't seem that you were doing your utmost at the time you probably were. It didn't help that more problems were added in my opinion by BT in the process of eliminating the original problem.

Edited by deleted (Thu 13-Feb-14 14:18:56)

Hi,

For information, the BT FTTC network in and around Bangor is currently screwed.

See: https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity-Speed-Connec...
My post on this subject is: https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity-Speed-Connec...

This will affect Zen too as they run on the same hardware. It does not affect LLU Sky.

I think in this case I'd give Zen the benefit of the doubt as BT have also been difficult to deal with. Some of the engineers are aware of the packet loss issues but there is no 'overall' message going out from BT about the problem. It's even been closed as an issue by BT without any fix, then reopened. Plusnet even are having the same fault and you can see on their status page they've had to reopen the issue with BT.

The problem is at the Bangor exchange and affects a huge area, including some other exchanges 'downstream' from here.

I have this issue on my BT Internet FTTC line. I do not have it on my Sky line despite coming down the same cable bundle. My Zen line is not in Bangor so can't compare.

Edited by nOw2 (Sun 23-Feb-14 12:55:13)

I see it affects Plusnet the same. I wonder if TalkTalk is unaffected too?

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

I see it affects Plusnet the same. I wonder if TalkTalk is unaffected too?

If sky and talktalk are not affected, but Plusnet and BT are, then I guess the problem is in the BTwholesale WBC network rather than the Openreach FTTC infrastructure.

sad to say ill be opening this fault with zen again in the morning. packetloss and the speed tests are consistently below the % drop threshold again so sooner it's opened up again the better. last night netflix would only stream at lowest sd setting, i don't spend money on a quality isp hd tvs etc to put up with this [censored].

edit :and it's about time someone from the cynulliad got involved since they paid so much taxpayer money towards getting this part of the country superfast broadband. BT again, this has been ongoing now for over 3 months. They took the money and ran didn't they?

from reading now2 link to bt forums some people are all good now, just like i was until a few days ago. looks like the vp i was moved to a couple of weeks ago is getting congested and the packetloss problem is back at peak times but the connection isn't dropping out like it was, it's far from acceptable though. they are just moving more people onto this path instead of fixing the original problem so fault will be reopened before it goes too long and it becomes an acceptable level of service.

3 months to upgrade the capacity at this exchange and it's still not fixed. 3 MONTHS and how the hell are BT even allowed to over sell to such an extent that these problems occur. Gavin Patterson do something about this.

Edited by deleted (Mon 03-Mar-14 02:36:54)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

I see it affects Plusnet the same. I wonder if TalkTalk is unaffected too?

If sky and talktalk are not affected, but Plusnet and BT are, then I guess the problem is in the BTwholesale WBC network rather than the Openreach FTTC infrastructure.

i dont give a [censored] what the problem is and i don't want to hear any excuses all i know is zen need to get it sorted, it's them i pay money to for a connection that by bts own definition does not come up to scratch.

edit speeds are back to normal now but it is 2am. will check again tomorrow evening.

Edited by deleted (Mon 03-Mar-14 01:52:59)