New FTTC issues

[#1]

Changed over to plusnet 2 weeks ago from Vodafone. I am right next to the exchange and connect about as high as you can get on an 80/20 FTTC.

But every so often I get dropouts, most noticeable when gaming or doing VoIP calls/team meetings.

I had the exact same thing when I first joined Vodafone 2 years ago, they sent an openreach engineer out who found no fault, but did change pretty much everything he could - didn't resolve anything.

Then they made a change at the Vodafone end, and it was fine - but can't remember what.

Any ideas? I've logged with plusnet but they're just sending an openreach engineer again.

I've tried changing DNS to cloudflare or Google, I am still using the provided router, but with a unifi AP (but it's not an isolated WiFi issue). I could try a draytek I have, but don't really want to use that as it's getting on a bit and that's not what fixed it last time.

[#2]

Forgot to mention ping and jitter is pretty high, especially on upload.

[#3]

Hey @adamrf, I can see that the engineer came out and mentioned it could be the router causing the issue. I can see the new router is on its way. You would have been sent an email about the order and this will have the link on to track the delivery.

[#4]

I would be surprised if a new router makes any difference.  "It's the router" is a standard BTOR reply when they have not found a fault elsewhere.  Not finding a fault, is not the same as there being no fault to find.

@adamrf - have you checked the quality of the line, especially at the times you encounter dropouts?  Note VoIP is not a high bandwidth application.

Broadband is not going to work well if the "phone" line is not working properly.

Please perform a quiet line test - dial 17070 select option 2 using a phone plugged into the test socket behind the face plate of the master socket (ideally this should be a corded phone). The line should be silent. A noisy phone line (or no dial tone) will have a marked adverse impact on the performance of broadband.

If the line is noisy or there is no dial tone, then a PHONE LINE fault needs to be raised with your phone provider. If this is PlusNet, you can report a fault on line using the button below. NB: You need to put your LANDLINE NUMBER after "PHONE" [missing instruction].

• Phone Faults

[#5]

Yeah, I am pretty certain it's not the router - the BT engineer actually said it wasn't, but must have put something else in the notes - I can try the draytek if needbe to rule that out. I think he wanted a qube engineer to follow, but again, I don't think they'll be any use.

Just going through the motions at the moment - I used to run the support team of a telephony company, and work in IT - mainly annoyed it's ruined my xboxing! Haha.

[#6]

Oh!! XBOX!!  Interesting!!

WiFi connected or ethernet connected?

There were a couple of reports of an XBOX NIC not sustaining a 1Gbps ethernet connection to the Plusnet Hub 2 ... but the indications were not conclusive.  That manifested itself as the XBOX losing its network connection.  Router logs showed the LAN port flip-flopping between 10mbps and 100mbps ... never reporting a 1Gbps connection.

[#7]

New router arrived, swapped out, and still the same.

The jitter is through the roof on the up and not great on the down. Ping is also pretty big.

Wish I'd never left Vodafone.

[#8]

It's even worse now, getting speeds of 4mb, used to get 65 on Vodafone. It's pretty much unusable.

[#9]

Vodafone / Plusnet it’s the same connection between the house and the exchange.

Can you please post the router’s stats.

[#10]

Of course it is, but completely different data centres. Which is why it could never have been something openreach could fix.

However, I just configured my old Draytek, on the floor of the room in the dark as our baby was asleep in that room! And it's good, jitter back to normal levels, ping too. Let's see how this goes then.

I read another post that had the same issues, and it was the router.

[#11]

So is it the router or the data centre?

The bulk of traffic does not go though the data centre these days.

There is some possibility of one router chipset behaving better with the cabinet chipset. Details of which would need input from others more in the know on that area. @bobpullen

[#12]

Must be the routers, but not sure why, and why on only my connection.

Just played some Xbox, and first time it's been solid since I switched to plusnet.

And the tests are all like prior to the switch too.

To be honest getting a new router out of changing was part of the attraction as this 2860 is getting on, and a new Draytek is not cheap nowadays.