ADSL Broadband speed has dropped through floor overnight, no changes to set up

[#1]

Hi been on ADSL/copper broadband 2 months, averaged 11Mbps due to rural location.

Speed dropped through floor yesterday <500kbps.

PlusNet contacted but unable to get it looked at due to BH.

Service status is fine.

Anyone any ideas please?

Router firmware up to date and restarted. Can a PlusNet person help @Gandalf

Thanks

[#2]

@stevejmorris 

Have you checked recently to see if Openreach have done any upgrades? WBC FTTP in the left column would be nice.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Brian

[#3]

@stevejmorris 

Is your phone working? If not report a phone fault. This could indicate that one of the two phone cable cores is disconnected.

[#4]

Thanks @bmc  wasn't aware of that link - seems fine?...

ADSL Products	Downstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range(Mbps)	ADSL Availability Date	Left in Jumper
WBC ADSL 2+	Up to 12	--	10.5 to 13.5	Available	Yes
WBC ADSL2+ Annex M	Up to 12	Up to 1	10.5 to 13.5	Available	Yes
ADSL Max	Up to 7	--	6 to 8	Available	--
WBC Fixed Rate	2	--	--	Available	Yes
Fixed Rate	2	--	--	Available	--

SOADSL Products	Downstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range(Mbps)	WBC SOADSL Availability Date	Left in Jumper
WBC SOADSL 2+	Up to 12	--	10.5 to 13.5	--	Yes
SOADSL Max	Up to 7	--	10.5 to 13.5	--	--
SOADSL Fixed Rate	Up to 2	--	6 to 8	--	Yes

[#5]

@Baldrick1 thanks phone working fine!?!

[#6]

@stevejmorris 

I'm guessing the narrative after the results had something like

Exchange not in Fibre priority area.

I also assume none of the alternative fibre suppliers have come anywhere near you.

Which leaves you with a potential fault. Can't remember the number but you should try a quiet line test on the phone line. If that's clear then run ADSL troubleshooting - see Help pages for both.

In passing the wizard you referenced is not in the office until the 7th.

Brian

[#7]

@stevejmorris 

For info the quiet line test is 17070 then Option 2, but as your phone is working fine I suggest that you report a fault at https://faults.plus.net or to quote from the help page:

For a problem with your broadband,

Text HELP followed by your landline number to 07800008121.
e.g. HELP 01234567891
(charges may apply at your standard rate)

• We’ll run tests on your connection to find out what’s going on
• If you need an engineer, we’ll text you in 15 mins to book a slot
• If you don't need an engineer, our award-winning UK based support team will aim to call you within 30 mins to help sort the problem, though we're really busy at the moment, so this may be a little longer. 
• Service available Mon-Sun: 8am to 8pm 
• Outside of these hours please see our Help and Support guides, and if you’re still having trouble we’ll pick up your message when we’re open

[#8]

Hiya @stevejmorris, thanks for getting in touch. I'm really sorry for the issues that you have been having with the service and for the problems this has caused. 

It looks like you've had an engineer out today, how have things been since? 

[#9]

Hi thanks for follow up - a BT engineer did attend.

He advised I had to use certain channels to ensure performance.

He set the 2.4Ghz band mode to 11n only however I need 11b/11g/11n to allow Sonos speakers to work - I know the values relate to different wireless standards. Can anyone advise why the change to 11n was needed and if changing back to 11b/11g/11n will undo the improvements made by the engineer.

There has been much better bandwidth and consistent but I am seeing fluctuating ping values at the moment which I'm monitoring.

Thanks

Steve

[#10]

The simplified answer is that in mixed b/g/n mode, your entire network will slow down to the data rate of the slowest device.

The different WiFi standards have the following maximum data rates -

        11b = 11 Mbit/s

        11g = 54 Mbit/s

        11n =  600 Mbit/s and has better range than 11b or 11g

So by restricting your WiFi to 11n only, it will still slow down to the data rate of the slowest 11n device, but that is likely to be significantly faster than anything that only has 11b or 11g capability.

In addition, having old 11b and 11g devices probably means that your WiFi isn't using the minimum recommended WPA2 / AES security protocol,  so your WiFi could be vulnerable to hacking.

If you have to have 11b or 11g devices,  it might be worth getting a separate Wireless Access Point on a completely different channel frequency,  so that you have one slow WiFi setup for your speakers, and a much higher performance 11n only WiFi for all of your modern devices.

[#11]

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@stevejmorris wrote:

There has been much better bandwidth and consistent but I am seeing fluctuating ping values at the moment which I'm monitoring.

---

There isn't much you can do (without considerable effort) about fluctuating ping on ADSL, mainly because the upstream bandwidth (typically < 690 Kbps) is inadequate for modern internet services.

If the fluctuations have increased, it is probably because you now have improved bandwidth on your WiFi devices, and that has increased the demand on your ADSL connection capacity, which in turn leads to bursts of increased latency - which translates to greater fluctuations in ping times.

[#12]

Thanks that's really clear and helpful, I'm at my limits of understanding but rather than another AP am I achievng the same by splitting 2.4Ghz (b/g/n) and 5Ghz (n only) on the main router and using the 5.Ghz for the more demanding connections?

Thanks

Steve

[#13]

It would certainly be worth trying to split the WiFi bands as you describe.

If it were me doing that experiment, I would use a different and new SSID for each frequency band (e.g. "My5GHzWiFiSSID" for the 11n and "MySonosWiFiSSID" for 11b/g) and, and ensure each of your wireless devices could ONLY connect to the corresponding intended WiFi signal, because you don't want your 5GHz devices automatically switching over to the 2.4GHz band (if you were to use the same SSID for both bands) when you are furthest away from your router (because at a longer distance 2.4GHz usually has a greater signal strength than a 5GHz transmission from the same source).