Help with raising minimum speeds

[#1]

Hi all, hope you're well.

We've been with Plusnet for years now and have always experienced superb support from both the company and the community when we've had issues (there have been a few lol).

However, these last two weeks our internet has really taken a tumble.

These are our minimum speeds as stated in our contract:

We've been roughly getting between 40-60mbps for the last year, which is below our guaranteed but not really caused us any problems. About three weeks ago, we had our areas' full fibre cables switched on (they are virgin cables) and since then our internet has just tanked. My wife works from home two days a week usually to try and keep travel costs down and its reached a point this week where she's had to walk to our local library to get a better internet connection to work.

I've just run a speed test on Ookla:

And then a speed test on steam whilst a game updates:

I'm hoping there is a fix to this because I don't want to leave plusnet, but my wife is getting really fed up and I need to find a solution. 

Any help here would be greatly appreciated, please let me know if I need to do anything or provide any more details,

Thanks!

[#2]

@cg1996 It looks like your connection has been affected by something - I doubt it is Virgin, BTW, although it could be related, tangentially.  Ignore the steam test - that depends on the link between their server and you and is not representative.

Hopefully, a member of the Plusnet Community Help Team will spot this topic, but in the meantime:

For Community members to be able to help, information from these sites, as screenshots, posted as pictures within the topic, not as attachments:-

BT Broadband Availability Checker (obscuring your phone number), where a landline phone is no longer supplied or known use the address version BT Broadband Address Availability (obscuring your address)

A speed test from Ookla.

Sight of the broadband connection status from your Hub (with the 'Username' obscured) would also be of help.

For the Hub One -

Navigate from the Home Screen to Troubleshooting > Helpdesk

For the Hub Two -

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

Where the phone line is still active, it may also be a good idea to report the results of a Quiet Line Test - dial 17070 option 2 from a (preferably corded) phone. After the confirmation of your phone number, there should be total silence apart from the regular 'Quiet Line Test' announcement. Any other noise - report a PHONE fault first.

If you are unsure about any of the above, please just ask - I am happy to help.

[#3]

Hey @cg1996,

Yeah, something definitely seems off with those speeds. I ran a line test and found no issues affecting your line currently. The sync speed has been averaging around 80 Mbps/20 Mbps perfectly for the past 30 days. There was one sync drop on March 28th, but that's the only thing I could find.

May I know what tests you have done I.E rebooting/resetting the router if it's a hard-wired device possibly trying another cable

[#4]

Is this the information requested? Thanks.

[#5]

Hello mate,

We last reset the router yesterday (might have been monday, not 100% sure) and I've used several different ethernet cables over the last two weeks.

Should clarify, these tests are being run from a computer with a wired connection. 

Thanks

[#6]

@cg1996 That data is what I was after, but there are a couple of items missing - the Ookla speed test which should be done when no other intensive tasks - like steam downloads - are underway, and the phoneline test - if you still use a landline, that is.

You are obviously sat on top of the VDSL cab, which is good, but I am a little wary of your downstream SNR - with one that low, any transient electrical activity could play havoc - although looking at the DSL uptime, it doesn't appear to be too bad at the moment. That uptime suggests a reset sometime Friday morning last week.

[#7]

@cg1996 Do not ever base your perception of 'speed' over a download server like steam - they are not representative, as that figure is only related to the connection between you and that server.

[#8]

@cg1996 

Are you connecting directly to the Hub One or via powerline plugs, they can significantly impact the download speed

If you are close to the Hub how does a speedtest perform using wifi?

[#9]

@jab1 
Thanks for the help, I believe the Ookla test you wanted was in my original post. Please let me know if I'm done the incorrect one.

We don't have a landline anymore.

@Dan_the_Van 

Hello mate, I am connected via powerplugs yes. But, I'm not sure this is an issue as we're experiencing issues on all of our devices. My wife uses a laptop (via wifi) and she has reported that she hasn't been able to attend zoom meetings today due to the connection issues. Even our ring doorbell is suffering haha.

[#10]

@cg1996 

The evidence provided by the Hub Helpdesk page and the diagnostic test performed by @Marsh suggests your connection is up to speed, however there maybe a local issue which could be impacted the speed.

Powerline adapters suffer from speed drop when pairing across ring mains via RCD in your consumer unit. For me I drop around 20Mbps between two TP-Link TL-PA4010 on the same ring main, they are hardware restricted to 100Mbps.

For an accurate speedtest the testing device needs to be connected directly to the Hub and if possible with everything else disconnected (wireless turned off).

[#11]

Okay, thank you for the information. If I can find the time tomorrow I'll wire a laptop directly into the router and try a speed test.

Thanks again

[#12]

Hi Dan

I ran a test with Ookla with my laptop wired up directly to the router. 

Its an improvement on the results I got from my PC but its still not great.

It says "multi" connections on the Ookla result, but I did disconnect all my devices in the house. I wonder if my ring doorbell was still connected though. 

[#13]

@cg1996 Something is not right, and I must admit to being a little stumped - your Hub is showing you have a fantastic connection, but speed test results are not reflecting that for some reason.

Ignore the 'multi connections' comment on the Ookla result - it just means the test by Ookla is run over multiple connections - nothing to do with your home network.

[#14]

Okay, that's a bit of a nightmare.

What are my next steps? Shall I contact plusnet support directly?

[#15]

@cg1996 

A thought, was the wifi adapter disabled on the laptop when you performed the test?

Do you get the same results using https://fast.com/ 

When you look at the Hub One home page, no other devices are connected?