Constant High Latency Spikes; Frequent Dropped Connection

[#1]

@danielw  on the DSL checker, there is also an address option, use this until you speak to PN and get your line details.

Given the low speeds though, I would call sooner than later.

[#2]

The UPRN can be retrieved from here https://www.findmyaddress.co.uk/search 

For plusnet to test your connection I would suggest using the Hub Two as a Modem/Router. 

[#3]

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@danielw wrote:

BT Wholesale checker:
This needs phone number - don't have one, got a broadband-only contract
Or "Access Line ID" or "UPRN" - where do I get these? I haven't been able to find these in Plusnet account details.

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@danielw  to get your UPRN -

• Visit  iDNET Home Broadband
• Enter your postcode, and hit <Check Availability>
• the resulting page will show all the UPRN numbers in your postcode area

Annoyingly the BTW Broadband Availability Checker forces you to type the UPRN and won't accept a text paste !

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[#4]

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@danielw wrote:

Thanks @Anunnaki and @Mustrum 

Phone wiring:

• If you unscrew the Master Socket faceplate, is there any attached internal phone extension wiring ? What would I be looking for here? The faceplate pulls off and as a "phone plug" on it that plugs into the rest of the master socket. What would "internal phone extension wiring" look like? Do you mean where something branches off the cable to the master socket?

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If there was any extension wiring, wires would be attached to the faceplate when it is pulled away from the wall box.

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[#5]

Ah I hadn't seen the address option, here are the results requested:

Clicking around other addresses on my road (it's a 'country' lane with only a handful of houses spread along it) 
Nearest properties have similar speeds, maybe a tiny bit better
Some properties towards the end of the road have significantly better speeds (40+ down 8 up)

[#6]

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@Anunnaki wrote:

Annoyingly the BTW Broadband Availability Checker forces you to type the UPRN and won't accept a text paste !

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@Anunnaki 

Oh yes it will, at least using Windows and Chrome!

Have you heard of Ctrl-V for pasting?

[#7]

@danielw  just to keep the terminology correct and avoid confusion (and not a criticism), several times you've mis-stated that you're on ADSL, but your modem stats show that you're on VDSL2, (although admittedly at typical ADSL2+ speeds)

So your modem is using VDSL2 signalling on your SoGEA copper wire connection to the FTTC cabinet.

If it was ADSL then you'd be connected by copper phone line all the way back to your nearest telephone exchange.

If you were ever minded to find your FTTC cabinet, you could check the cabinet number shown at the top of the BTW Broadband Availability Checker result, and compare it with the number painted on the cabinet.

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[#8]

Hi @Anunnaki yes appreciate the need for correct terminology. (and really surprised at the slow speeds given that it's FTTC!)

@Mustrum I have now done the bufferbloast tests and tried Smart Queue
(the unifi UI can't set to kbps so i left it has mbps with decimal point)
Got it from Grade F to Grade C

See BQM - significant change from 7:30pm onwards but still spikey. No overnight maxing ou out of the connection.

 
I also dove into Unif's network usage and found that a Chromecast weas downloadiung 240mb of slideshow photos per day (even when we were away) so I've set this to "Low bandwidth mode" now.

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Edit: forgot to include the bufferbloat test results:

No Smart Queue
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=35161a4e-4440-4ecd-8063-4c40ccf74315

Grade F

Unloaded
66 ms

Download Active
+213 ms

Upload Active
+551 ms

With 100% Smart Queue (13.8mbps and 1.2 mbps)
Grade C
LATENCY
Unloaded
103 ms

Download Active
+122 ms

Upload Active
+162 ms

https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=fd2d747c-2890-4865-81e4-235e87885767

With 85% Smart Queue (11.7mbps and 1.0 mbps)
Grade C
LATENCY
Unloaded
130 ms

Download Active
+128 ms

Upload Active
+189 ms
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=51adc1a3-cf55-40b1-8357-e16c19c58371

With Smart Queue set to speedtest.net results (7 mbps and 1.0 mbps)

LATENCY
Unloaded
84 ms

Download Active
+58 ms

Upload Active
+153 ms

https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=6f27bef8-1104-4924-9423-eaddc49f7fdd

With Smart Queue set even lower (6 mbps and 0.8 mbps)
Grade C

LATENCY
Unloaded
82 ms

Download Active
+22 ms

Upload Active
+137 ms

https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=5f3422d2-6d37-40b6-8bdc-20fd6ddfde47

[#9]

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@Anunnaki wrote:

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@Champnet wrote:

As @Mustrum commented :  "The congestion is either on your home LAN, or on the equipment in the exchange"

The router not only moves traffic internal to external, and external to internal, but also internal to internal.

... where are you seeing a LAN 'congestion' bottleneck occurring in that setup ?

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@Anunnaki  See above post, there may be more to come........................

[#10]

What do you mean?

[#11]

@danielw   Your BQM does look a llot healthier now, there is still some reqular traffic overnight, but it is a lot less. It is not unreasonable to see it even further reduced when you are all asleep, but will depend on the devices you leave on 24 hours a day.

The other results have given you more consistent latency, if increased in places, you can fine tune that to get what feels best for you. I don't game so is less of a concern for me.

Which leads to your speeds! Have you spoken to PN to get an engineer out to help you get to the expected speeds? I am guessing you don't have a phone on the line, but they can be one of the best tools to get the best speeds - even when you have no voice service, listening for snaps and crackles and noise all of which will slow your data speeds down. 

[#12]

@danielw  can we try and have a closer look at your modem's VDSL stats.

Can you work out how to get a 'Telnet' prompt on your computer - unfortunately every PC operating system is different !.

Next can you attempt to get Telnet to communicate with your Vigor 167 modem.

On Linux, I open a command console and type "telnet" and the LAN IP address of my modem, like this -

telnet 192.168.167.1

... obviously use your modem's IP address !

If Telnet can see your modem, then you should see a prompt for the "Username" you'd use on the modem's web GUI,

being a DrayTek this will almost certainly be 'admin', and press <Enter>,  mine displays something like this -

Account:admin

If that works, it should prompt you for the "Password" you'd use on the modem's web GUI,

Password: **********

Once logged in, you should see a prompt like this -

Type ? for command help

Vigor>

At the prompt, enter the following to see your basic VDSL stats -

vdsl status

Can you use your web browser to highlight and copy all of that status text from the telnet window.

Coming back to reply in this forum,if you straight pasted that it would come up a mess, instead it needs to be in a fixed font to look right.

In the forum reply editor look at the text formatting symbols (above the edit window) and find for the icon "</>" that has a pop-up saying "Insert/Edit code sample", click on that, a window will pop-up, and paste your modem's stats text in to that, and press OK.

I hope that makes sense.

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[#13]

@danielw  it would also be useful to have visibility of what BT Openreach thinks your up and down "IP Profile" numbers are.

First find the BBEU number for your connection, it should be displayed in your Plusnet 'Member Centre' > "Manage Account"

Go to - BT Wholesale Broadband Performance Test , and hit the "GO" button

when the test completes, hit the <Additional Diagnostic>

click on <Broadband Service ID (BBEU)>

enter your BBEU number in the box below

then hit <Run Diagnostic> and wait ... .... ...... ........

IF that completes successfully (for some people it doesn't) ,  can you post a screenshot of the results.

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[#14]

Hi @Anunnaki - if i telnet or ssh into the Vigor 167, there is no "vdsl status" command - typing "help" to get a list of commands does not show it. So i'm at a loss there as to how to access that info.

Additionally, I have pretty much given up on using the Vigor 167 because it's actually even worse performance than the Plusnet Hub 2........ are there any hypotheses as to how that can be!?

And results of the BT additional diagnostics:

(possibly the reduced download speed is due to the Smart Queue params)

BUT i note that the IP profile download speed is set to 10mbps.... this seems wrong? I don't think I could expect 10mbps upload speed even if everything was working fine. Could that be having an impact ?

[#15]

there is no "vdsl status" command - typing "help" to get a list of commands does not show it. So i'm at a loss there as to how to access that info.

@danielw try "show adsl" , that's the normal Draytek cli command to show dsl stats. Not sure whether it works for vdsl as I've never used a Draytek on vdsl