Broadband speed issues - just had a support case closed without resolution

[#1]

Hi,

This is probably one for any staff monitoring, but if anyone else can help with any element, please chip in.

We're on standard ADSL, with a minimum guaranteed speed of about 25Mb, until about a month ago, we got around 28, with 4-8 upstream.

At that point, we had a run of periods with repeated reconnects, lasting up to an hour or more. An engineer came out, agreed there were connection issues outside the house and did a lot of checks outside. The usual speed went up to 38/8 (theoretical maximum), but the drops continued, often leaving us below our minimum for an hour or so before resetting.

A second engineer came out about 2 weeks later, did some checks as far as the cabinet, and everything seemed ok for a couple of weeks, then we got periods of up to 8 hours where our speed dropped to around 26M (according to the router) and 300k upstream, before resetting to the usual. I ran a full speedtest, and saw that the actual downstream speed was around 8M.

Spoke to PlusNet support again, and a case was opened, with the analyst promising to monitor the line, and get back to me this coming Monday to discuss how it was looking. I agreed not to raise any new cases until then, but the problem has continued (it makes it difficult to work remotely, as the low upload speed is destablising my work VPN along with most of the software I use).

I just got an email saying the question was closed "Please note this ticket pool is not currently a working pool therefore tickets
left unactioned will be manually closed."

Does this mean that they've shut it down completely, or will I still be getting the call on Monday? Do I need to reopen it?

Thanks, Jon Crew

[#2]

@Astronut - I'd be tempted to call them and ask why your question has been moved to a pool with this comment applied to it: "Please note this ticket pool is not currently a working pool therefore tickets
left unactioned will be manually closed."

I know I shouldn't, but I'll give my interpretation - 'We now work to the rules created by GPO Telephones many years ago when the customer was regarded as a disturbance to our lengthy tea-breaks, so in order to alleviate this disturbance, we'll just shunt it out of the way - hopefully our customer will just go away and leave us in peace.'

[#3]

The agent put the ticket into the wrong pool. Now whether that was deliberate or accidental , who knows...

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt , but only once

[#4]

Your choice, @MisterW , but if they did, should it not be moved to the correct 'pool' - not closed?

[#5]

If someone realised and moved it, yes, but if it was in a non monitored pool then it wouldnt.

[#6]

Let's just hope someone does, then, but I still think the OP needs to give PN a swift kick.😀

[#7]

I'll agree with that

[#8]

"I still think the OP needs to give PN a swift kick."

Given there's no direct line to PN support anymore, how would I go about that?

Open a new case on the bot?

Jon

[#9 · Accepted solution]

@Astronut No - call them in the morning, hope you get an agent who thinks, and  ask them to make sure the ticket is moved to the correct pool - you do have the number?

[#10]

Just found it! Was put off by the fact that it's not presented as a support option.

Will do that.

Thanks for the suggestions, all!

Jon

[#11]

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@Astronut wrote:

We're on standard ADSL, with a minimum guaranteed speed of about 25Mb, until about a month ago, we got around 28, with 4-8 upstream.

Just an aside - your connection is obviously FTTC not ADSL, as ADSL can't go that fast.

[#12]

As a regular end-user, I wasn't aware there was a distinction. Either way it's not full-fibre/fttp which is kind of the point I was making.

In other news, I spoke to the support peeps this morning, and yes it was indeed filed in the wrong place and closed without being checked properly. Apparently the current low speed is due to the ridiculous number of drops we've had over the last few weeks (surprise, surprise). We have another engineer visit due tomorrow morning.

[#13]

@Astronut 

There is a world of difference between the two.

ADSL is supplied direct from the Exchange via the original phone cabinets. It has extremely limited speeds due to distances (Max 24 down if I remember).

FTTC is supplied from a street cabinet linked to the original phone cabinet. The internet is supplied via a fibre optic cable to the cab and then uses the copper line to the premise. This drastically reduced the distance involved (usually) and allowed a max speed of 80 down (I think).

Brian

[#14]

Engineer has been, and has swapped us to another connection from the cabinet, so we'll see what happens next. I can't fault the speed at which they respond when there is a problem (less than 1 bd)! I've also been told it will be escalated if there's another callout in the next 4 weeks.

Thanks again for all your help - I shall stop bothering you now!

Jon