Internet disconnecting and now speed halved

[#1]

Hi, my internet has been disconnecting each evening this week, and today we struggled to have two Zoom calls going at once, so I checked the speed - the line is down to 36mb when it has been around 60 since we moved here a year ago. My guaranteed speed is showing as 32 mbps in my plusnet account, but I'm also certain this used to be higher.

Has something happened to my line to halve the speed like this, and is there anything I can do to get it back to how it was? Struggling to work with the current speed (my wife and I both working from home as is the way these days!).

Any help appreciated, thanks!

[#2]

@samdraper Welcome to the forums. Staff support over weekends is patchy, so maybe if you follow the instructions below, other Community members may be able to suggest a course of action:

For Community members to be able to help, information from these two sites, as screenshots:-

BT Broadband(obscuring your phone number) and BTW Performance Tester - Over a wired (ethernet) connection if at all possible, please report the 'ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSTICS', and sight of the broadband connection status from your Hub would be a good starting point.

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

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 phone test is OK then take the front off your telephone master socket, you may need to remove two screws. In behind you will find the test socket. Plug a filter in here and connect that to your hub. If it’s still dropping out then report a fault at https://faults.plus.net.

[#3]

Hi John, thanks for your detailed message. I've attached the results of the BT tests, does anything look amiss? I don't use my Plusnet hub but will try and find it out from wherever I've chucked it in the loft!  I also did the quiet line test and the line seemed fine.

[#4]

@samdraper Looking at the 'Advanced Diagnostics' and the BB checker, am I correct in thinking you are on the 'Fibre Extra' - 80/20 product? If so, your profile looks horribly wrong as it seems to be limited to the 40/10 speed on download, but on the 80/20 for upload.

Which modem/router do you use? If you can get similar detail as the picture below from it, no need to use the Hub - H1 or H2?

[#5]

That's correct, I am on Fibre Extra. I use an Archer VR400, I've attached the similar screen from my router. Thanks

[#6]

Sam, from that last screenshot, I am fairly convinced you have a BT network problem - your DSL uptime suggests you have been having disconnections which should not be happening.

I suggest you report a broadband problem, using the 'report by text' option on this screen:- https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/broadband/

[#7]

Hi @samdraper could you send me a private message with your username please so I can have a look into this for you?

[#8]

Hi @adamwalker I PMd my plusnet username yesterday, any help appreciated!  I did try the text troubleshooter thing @jab1 recommended at the weekend - it didn't fix anything and I didn't get a call after choosing the 'adviser' option. 

[#9 · Accepted solution]

Hi Sam, I'm really sorry for the delay as we've been fairly busy recently. 

I've tested your line and the tests are showing your router's getting 38mbps and seems to have been stable over the last 7 days. Our suppliers estimate you should be able to get between 55mbps to 72mbps though.

From what I can see you've placed an order online to upgrade to full fibre (FTTP) at ~500mbps about half an hour ago, which would be an incredible boost in speed and hopefully a more reliable connection as well.

As this won't be installed for at least another couple of weeks, do you want us to investigate the fault still? If so we'd need to arrange an engineer visit, so let me know when you'll be available and I'll book the appointment.

The engineers are available weekday timeslots (and occasionally Saturday's) of 8am to 1pm, or 1pm to 6pm.

[#10]

Thanks @Gandalf. Yes, I have just placed the FTTP order, I can't wait! I'll muddle through with the reduced speed until then, don't want to risk being disconnected altogether for another visit- I've already had to negotiate the FTTP upgrade with my wife, don't want to push it too far 😅

Thanks for all your help in trying to resolve this anyway, cheers!

[#11]

Haha awesome. No problem and sounds like a plan! 

Let me know how the FTTP order goes. Cheers