Broadband Speeds and Constant Drops

[#1]

Hi

Once again expereincing an issue with standard broadband.

For the last couple of months I`ve been experiencing constant drops in connection(internet light goes out on router and then connection restarts a few minutes later). This was happening exactly the same time last year in Dec 2021 and Jan 2022 following poor weather.

Once again i replaced the router but still getting the odd drops. However what is annoying is that im now struggling to obtain the speeds i was once getting. Last year when Openreach came to property to test they found nothing wrong, replaced the master socket with a more up to date faceplate filter one and even stated that i was able to achieve 17mbps due to my localtion near the exchange.I got this for a short time. Im now barely getting 1-2mbps....

Im guessing that ever since the regular and random drops, my bandwidth has been drastically throttled due to the "unstable connection"?

Can this be looked into and fixed as i dont want to keep getting less than my guaranteed minimum of 5. Occassionaly I am able to obtain up to 7mbps, but nowhere near consistantly and never near what i was getting last year of around 12-14.

I still believe that this ongoing issues is caused by the ancient phonecables outside attached in a spider web to the sole pole outside. Any bad weather we have at this time of year (which is regular due to my location), the internet drops regularly and then slows down but i still think my bandwidth has been throttled right back.

Again to confirm from last year`s procedure:

Things i`ve tried with no effect:

1. Test socket quiet test - No issues, seems fine?.

2. Replaced RJ cable with new one

3. Replaced router with another brand new ASUS one (still not received my new plusnet router despite being told i would get one even from last year?)

4. Replaced all ethernet cables with new ones to PCs.

Not sure how to remedy this now as it all points to a fault on the outside line that only Plusnet/Openreach can look into.

I can provide screen shots of all the speed tests I`ve done over the last few weeks to show how bad its becoming if required. Sometimes my DL is actually lower than my UL speed(which has always been dire)

[#2]

If your phone is OK, report a BROADBAND fault via: https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/broadband/ , although it will not get picked up until tomorrow, now.

[#3]

Thanks, gave it a try and got the automatic Bot that said "This Is Fine" as i managed to be running at 5mbps at the time (up from a 0.75 mbps when I posted initially - it took five minutes to even get onto Plusnet site for example) and said that my equipment must be at fault - which i dont believe it is as everything is new and had been working correctly prior to the constant drop/reconnect cycles - For example on 29th Dec i had 20 drops and reconnects between 19:15 and 22:15. It was heavy rain that night.

So will need to see if I can speak to an actual person to explain a bit more.

I still think that bad weather related and poor/ageing phone lines caused the drops which in turn caused me to be bandwidth throttled.

[#4]

@Rybenuk What modem/router are you using - it would be interesting to see your stats/error log?

[#5]

H, I was using the generic Plusnet router through the latter half of last year, but swapped across to an Asus RT-AC51U in January to see if it would sort the cobstant drops experienced in Nov and Dec(thinking it was a dying Plusnet router - I've had a number of these and they don't last) .

Early in 2022 when experiencing same issues when Open reach were called out, I was using another Asus router(same model) to see if the issue was caused by the Plusnet router. The Asus one then popped during summer due to lightning strike and had to go back to Plusnet one.

Either way the connection seems to drop constantly over December so bought another brand new Asus router, and while the random drops seem to have reduced, my bandwidth has dropped from average of 12mbps daily in 2022 to never getting higher than 7mbps now, dropping to under 1mbps at times. Its frustrating as its not reliable. Barely getting 2g mobile, we rely on broadband.

[#6]

OK, can you post the stats and error logs, if you can find them - to be honest I am expecting this to be a BT/OR network issue.

[#7]

I'll take a look at my router page and in the network section and post (I assume the dB etc will be useful?). Not seen any error logs on the router though but I'll have another look.

[#8]

So booted up PC tonight and yes back to 2-4mbps - nothing downloading or updating. Thats my speed now straight after booting up. Down from 12-13ish last year and before the massive amounts of connection drops.

Which logs would be beneficial here?

On my Asus router log page ive got:

General Log

Wireless Log

DHCP leases

Routing Table

Port Forwarding

DSL Log

Connections

Access Log

No Error Log as far as I can see?

Router firmware is up to date also but i dont think its this router thats causing the issue as my Plusnet router gave me the same speeds before i swapped it after the drops/reconnects episodes.

Just did a number of speed tests - Ookla, Google, BTWholesale ones and all coming up with below guarateed min - all below 5mbps currently.

This is off my account page(im not getting these speeds currently - I was last year before the drops/reconnect)

• Product:  Unlimited (Contracted)
• Estimated Download Range:  8 - 16Mbps
• Estimated Upload Range:  1Mbps
• Minimum Guaranteed Speed:  5.9Mbps
• Current Line Speed (Download):  17.4Mbps

[#9]

Start with the General log,  connections and the DSL log. I have no Asus experience, from reports I've seen from this brands models in the past, they are not the most helpful for trouble-shooting purposes

[#10]

It would also be useful to know what modem/rouer you are using, you mention an Asus RT something, which needs a modem?

[#11]

Will do, i`ll get them and attach here. I take it its safe to post logs of router?

[#12]

apologies, got it wrong it's an ASUS DSL-N16 N300 modem router.

[#13]

The DSL log isnt actually a log it seems, just a page. Im assuming the max rate of 6752kbps is my DL speed? As that seems to tie in with what im seeing on speed tests when it hits the highest amount:

	Downstream	Upstream
TCM(Trellis Coded Modulation)	On	On
SNR Margin	17.0 dB	7.0 dB
Line Attenuation	8.5 dB	6.5 dB
Path Mode	Interleaved	Interleaved
Interleave Depth	16	4
Data Rate	6464 kbps	704 kbps
Max Rate	6752 kbps	888 kbps
Power	13.5 dbm	12.0 dbm
INP	1.5 symbols	2.0 symbols
INP-SHINE	-	-
INP-REIN	-	-
CRC	0	0

[#14]

@Rybenuk Assuming you are on an ADSL connection - from those figures - there is something seriously wrong somewhere. If they are correct, you are quite close to the exchange, which should give you much higher connection and data rate speeds, and your downstream SNR is horribly high.

If you have a landline telephone, can you perform a Quiet Line Test - dial 17070 and select option 2. There should be no noise on the line at all.

[#15]

Thanks for taking a look. I do remember when Openreach were here last time, they said that due to how close i was to the exchange (under 150m) i could be getting at least 17 which they manged to give me (no idea how) whicjh I thought great, thats makes sense, the cab is probably a stones through away and i did get that once they left. But that only lasted a short time and settled back to around 11-13..

I just tried a quiet test using master socket and even lifting the handset i was getting high pitched constant static on the line which lasted about two minutes (couldnt even hear the dial tone), then suddenly stopped and managed to get a faint dialling tone to do the quiet test. There is something definately wrong with the line, the line has crackles and pops on it, although nothing like the high pitched static just before it. I even thought that it was a faulty phone handset, and tried adjusting the cable etc but its never used so dont think its that.

I even recorded it briefly to make sure i had a note of it.

Im pretty sure the lines are damaged/corroded/water ingress somewhere from my outside wall to the cab. It has to be that surely? There is no way im going from a maxmimum of 17 down to 1-2 under normal conditions?