Constant intermittent drops and massive latency

[#1]

Prior Plusnet I was with Zen for 2 years in this address without any such issues and now I've been with Plusnet since August. Last 3-4 weeks the quality of the connection has been awful. Every few days the connection drops and massive latency props up and especially every Saturday between 4pm and 10pm. It's not fun trying to watch BT Sport event with low quality stream that keeps buffering.

I've used the SMS support and call support, but it's always the same process which ends up in "everything is fine with the connection, I can get full speeds", well the speeds are nothing if the quality is poor and varies. The person I was in phone with didn't know what a bridge mode is on the modem and didn't know there was such a thing. I did a full reset of the Hub 2 and let it run in normal mode but it makes no difference. Eventually the issue

goes away for a bit but the high latency notifications are daily. 

I use Hub 2 in bridge mode and have UDM Pro doing everything else. I have a 4G modem as a failover, but the latency on that one is 30-50ms, which is still better than Plusnet at 1500ms when it's acting up. 

Going through the SMS process always comes up with everything is find even though the latency is 1500ms. 

EDIT: The HUB firmware was updated to the latest version on 17/3/23 and it would coincide with the problems starting the following day. 

Here are some of the logs:

DescriptionDate / Time

Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Today at 17:01
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Today at 16:56
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 31, 2023 16:42
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 31, 2023 16:42
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 30, 2023 16:13
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 30, 2023 13:20
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 29, 2023 13:26
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 29, 2023 8:23
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 28, 2023 11:54
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 28, 2023 0:12
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 27, 2023 10:12
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 26, 2023 23:36
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 26, 2023 9:43
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 25, 2023 14:51
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 25, 2023 8:03
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 24, 2023 11:21
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 24, 2023 7:39
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 23, 2023 10:37
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.	Mar 23, 2023 6:56
Your primary internet temporarily failed over to your secondary internet, but is now restored.	Mar 22, 2023 18:47
Your primary internet temporarily failed over to your secondary internet, but is now restored.	Mar 22, 2023 18:45
Your primary internet temporarily failed over to your secondary internet, but is now restored.	Mar 22, 2023 18:43

traceroute to 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 unifi (192.168.1.1) 3.363 ms 2.727 ms 2.887 ms
2 195.166.130.255 (195.166.130.255) 1408.116 ms 1812.783 ms 2431.675 ms
3 84.93.253.123 (84.93.253.123) 3416.079 ms * 3568.875 ms
4 195.99.125.138 (195.99.125.138) 4519.216 ms *
172.19.70.33 (172.19.70.33) 54.147 ms
5 * * *
6 109.159.253.95 (109.159.253.95) 33.472 ms 38.300 ms
195.99.126.233 (195.99.126.233) 39.820 ms
7 172.71.240.4 (172.71.240.4) 43.695 ms
172.70.94.4 (172.70.94.4) 44.051 ms *
8 one.one.one.one (1.1.1.1) 134.520 ms 136.569 ms 138.486 ms

[#2]

Hi @Huggybear 

For a stable broadband connection your phone line has to be clear of noise. To test for noise connected a wired phone and dial 17070 take option 2. The call should be free of any noise.

A noisy line can cause the broadband signal to drop and latency when the broadband signal become distorted.

A view of the Hub Two status page and a copy of the event log would also help to diagnose the issue.

Navigate from the Home Screen to Advanced Settings > Technical Log > Information.

Hide your personal information e.g username before posting

If you select "Category WAN" for the event log you can see if the line is dropping, look for DSL down messages.

It's easier to retrieve this information with the Hub not being in bridge mode, but I can provide details on how to get them when in bridge mode but this will require a PC with a wired connection available.

Dan.

[#3]

Sorry for the delay in answering. We never had a phone, so I had to order one to do the testing, even though it was never required with Zen and we had a similar problem which turned out to be a failed connector under the eaves about a year ago.

The issues have been on going, but today on my way out, I saw an Openreach van outside the neighbours and went in for a chat. Neighbours had the same problem, so Openreach was up working in the pole outside our houses. I'm hoping this will fix the problem and I'll keep monitoring it before doing anything else.

This doesn't diminish my discontent with Plusnet's support. There's no proper ticketing system. I received a 'question' and replied to that email with lots of information including logs and screenshots and no one got back to me. When I checked the 'question' on the website, it was marked as closed. In cases like this, where the problem is clearly with a line and one has to go through the silly SMS bot only to end up with the comment: Your line is fine (when it isn't) and the problem is probably with your wifi (when it isn't). Why not have a simple Zendesk or other ticketing system, so that users don't have to start the irrelevant troubleshooting steps from scratch every time when reporting the same issue. 

I will move off Plusnet once my contract is up. The savings are not worth the headache in problem situations. I used to work in IT service management and we would've been fired if we had offered this level of support. 

[#4]

@Dan_the_Van Would you please provide the details for retrieving the logs in bridge mode, in case Openreach visit doesn't fix my issue? Thanks. 

[#5]

@Huggybear 

using a wired pc running any operating system.

The Hub Two in bridge more still retains the IP Address of 192.168.1.254 (assuming it's not been changed from the defaut)

1) Turn off the wireless adapter if used.

2) Set the PC to have a static IP address of say 192.168.1.100 mask 255.255.255.0. No default gateway or DNS addresses are needed.

3) Connect the PC network cable to a LAN port not being used by the router connection, do not use the WAN port.

4) Using a browser on the PC http://192.168.1.254

5) You should now be on the Hub Two home page.

The only useful section is; Advanced Settings >Technical log >Information or >Event log

HTH

[#6]

I've been monitoring the internet quality. While it's been better than before the Openreach visit, it's still not solid. We had a big storm 3 weeks ago and that's when the problems started. Our neighbours' phone line was down and Openreach fixed it. I don't know how their internet quality is now. The storm had yanked the connectors off the pole apparently. Openreach tech said that monitor it and if you still have issues, then I need to open a ticket with my ISP. So it's pretty clear that storm also did damage to my line, as the issue is only partially fixed. The latency has dropped from occasional 2000ms to under 100ms, which is better, but realistically it should be pretty constantly under 20ms in a normal connection. Also the speed has dropped from 30mb/s which it was consistently before the storm to about 20mb/s (run inside the router on a wired connection).

Router alerts:

Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Today at 14:56
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Today at 1:27
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 7, 2023 13:44
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 7, 2023 0:54
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 6, 2023 12:13
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 6, 2023 0:18
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 5, 2023 11:52

Also attached the actual latency chart from 24h period.

I keep monitoring over the weekend and run the tests next week when the wife is at work. 

The frustrating bit is when I report this, then SMS bot gives again 'all clear' as it doesn't seem to test the latency, only that the line is up?

[#7]

Phone test. There's an electric hum on the line.

Attached the two requested logs.

Router logs still flag issues. Speed has dropped 35% from before.

High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Today at 10:21
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 11, 2023 23:41
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 11, 2023 10:16
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 10, 2023 22:21
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 10, 2023 10:04
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 9, 2023 22:05
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 9, 2023 7:59
Packet loss detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 8, 2023 14:56
High latency detected. Please restart your modem. If this issue persists, please contact your ISP.
Apr 8, 2023 1:27

[#8]

Hi @Huggybear 

I assume the Hub two is now in bridge mode? as can not see any device connecting wired or wireless. The event date/time starts 01 Oct 00:00

When the Hub last started it reported the connection to be

00:00:43, 01 Oct. DSL Link Up: Down Rate=37721kbps, Up Rate=6922kbps; SNR Margin Down=3.3dB, Up=6.0dB

After nearly 11 days (933171 seconds) of no faults, there has been three DSL Link down events which resulted in ERROR_NO_CARRIER, also a drop in sync spped can be seen.

19:13:26, 11 Oct. WAN connection WAN2_INTERNET_PTM disconnected.[ERROR_NO_CARRIER]

19:15:14, 11 Oct. DSL Link Up: Down Rate=23537kbps, Up Rate=6367kbps; SNR Margin Down=3.4dB, Up=6.0dB

and two more

07:11:18, 18 Oct. WAN connection WAN2_INTERNET_PTM disconnected.[ERROR_NO_CARRIER]

15:20:52, 18 Oct. WAN connection WAN2_INTERNET_PTM disconnected.[ERROR_NO_CARRIER]

15:21:44, 18 Oct. DSL Link Up: Down Rate=24512kbps, Up Rate=6847kbps; SNR Margin Down=3.3dB, Up=6.0dB

The hum on the line would to me indicate a landline phone issue, so you could try reporting a phone fault here

https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/phone/#phone it may or not find a fault.

You could raise a fault using this link https://faults.plus.net this allows for free text or Phone. If you use the fault link, link this thread

HTH

[#9]

Thanks. Yes, the Hub is constantly on Bridge mode and I had to do a full reset the last time I was troubleshooting the issue with Plusnet agent on phone. Since then it's been left alone. 

Fault reported. 

[#10]

I reported the fault on the website with all the details. I had a missed call from Plusnet and then nothing. I tried to call back but was told by automated voice that the wait would be so long that they wouldn't be able to talk to me on the day. Nobody called me back the next day, so when the problems started again, I used the SMS bot to start the process again. This time the system detected a fault and said it would be addressed. A few hours later I received another text saying the fault was fixed, but it wasn't. Actually on that very moment I had no internet at all, so I send a text back to get more help. I soon received a call, to whom I explained the situation and said everything's explained in the ticket. The agent however wasn't able to find the ticket, so I had to explain everything again. He then ran tests and again detected a fault and decided to organise Openreach tech to come and check it out. Luckily it only took two days and the Openreach tech just left. Apparently the master socket was corroded, causing issues and it was replaced. Interestingly the start of all the issues all coincided with the storm that knocked off the neighbour's line. The Openreach tech was very friendly and went above and beyond to sort everything out, so kudos to him. 

As for now, the latency has stayed under 20ms, but then again there has been long periods when the line's been fine and then the issues have started, so now I just have to sit and wait for couple of weeks to see if that fixed everything.

Interestingly, the upload speed as almost doubled after the visit and having run the speed test on the router a few times, but the download speed has dropped a bit. It'll be interesting to see the speeds after the line settles in again. 

Thanks to @Dan_the_Van for help. Let's hope this has solved all the issues. I'm still not happy about the Plusnet troubleshooting and escalation process, but I take my chances as a consumer and will make the relevant choices in the future. 

[#11]

Things did improve but unfortunately haven't been fully resolved. The latency / dropouts are still there, albeit not as bad as before. I need to open another fault report, I guess? UDM logs included. 

[#12]

This is disappointing, if you check the members centre is the question as plusnet call a fault still open, if it is closed then I'd raise another call.

Is the phone line still noisy?

Does the UDM-Pro do some sort ping test of some to check for latency?

[#13]

The phone line still has a low electric hum. Now I haven't used a landline in years, as I've used just mobile or Voip, so it might be normal. 

UDM-Pro pings an IP address for testing the latency. I've set mine to use Cloudflare's DNS 1.1.1.1 

I just got off from a call with support. They're sending me a new Hub to exclude that option. When I get that, I'll also test the cables to and from Hub. 

[#14]

Update.

The problems have continued as before. I received a new HUB 2 which I installed. No change. After dwelling deeper into the issue, some UDMP users have complained about latency issue. UDMP firmware was updated automatically around the time the issues started (alongside with the storm), but didn't realise it at the time. I opened a ticket with Ubiquity and we've been back and forth. I sent them the UDMP logs during a latency 'attack' and also switched the HUB to router mode and did a ping test to 8.8.8.8. 

The ping test was as follows:

PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=0 ttl=117 time=20.322 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=117 time=20.887 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=117 time=19.916 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=117 time=19.961 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=117 time=21.075 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=117 time=20.648 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=117 time=20.944 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7 ttl=117 time=20.231 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=8 ttl=117 time=21.141 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=9 ttl=117 time=20.995 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=10 ttl=117 time=20.939 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=11 ttl=117 time=21.285 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=12 ttl=117 time=21.354 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=13 ttl=117 time=20.906 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=14 ttl=117 time=21.110 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=15 ttl=117 time=20.668 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=16 ttl=117 time=21.602 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=17 ttl=117 time=21.169 ms

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=18 ttl=117 time=20.255 ms

Now as long as I can remember while having had the UDMP display latency stats, I don't remember the ping never been lower than 17ms. AFAIK, that's fine for most use, especially since we're in a rural location. Luckily there's no aluminium cables and not many users. 

Ubiquity support said the latency should be around 1ms, and referred me back to ISP, which I contested in my reply.

I've had internet connections since the 80s and I haven't had 1ms latency even when I had 1Gb connection.

Am I completely off here thinking 20ms is decent for a rural ADSL2?

[#15]

Seems that I have managed to resolve the issue. I had gone back and forth with Ubiquity support without a resolution. 

Then I remembered that I had bought a Draytek Vigor 130 a year ago, but never took it into use, so I thought I'd give that a try. I flashed with the latest BT FW and used the settings as per instructions on Draytek's page. 

Now, since Sunday, the latency issues have minimised and even the latency has dropped from normal 17ms to 15ms. I do get a few latency spikes, but rather than them being 1700ms, they are max 60ms. There still seems to be drops, but they are much less noticeable than before. 

Interestingly the latency is less with Draytek compared to BT's own device.