Recurrence of problem with Plusnet broadband unlimited

[#1]

I had a major problem with broadband in September 2022 (https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/Plusnet-broadband-unlimited-keeps-dropping-out-this-afternoo... ) and it was fixed when an engineer switched my connection at the exchange onto another terminal.

Since then the connection has been pretty good until the last couple of days. Last night the connection was dropping almost continuously over about half an hour, and the downstream noise margin is much worse than it was last month. See attached screenshots, one from RouterStatsHub and the other from the Hub One diagnostics screen:

I have changed absolutely nothing in my setup at home, so I feel sure the problem is not mine. Is this enough to raise a ticket with plusnet?

[#2]

@simonc2 

First thing to check: Is your phoneline clear? Dial 17070 (preferably from a corded phone), select option 2. Once your phone number is confirmed, there should be silence on the line except for the regular 'Quiet Line Test' message - any other noise, report a PHONE problem via: https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/phone/

If the phone test passes, report a broadband problem via: https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/broadband/

Let us know the result - if the tests come back as clear but you still have a problem, we need to investigate further.

What did the RS plots look like between those dates - if they were relatively stable, this could just be a 'blip'.

[#3]

Hi jab1

I've done the Quiet Line test, and there's no noise there.

I don't have Router Stats running routinely, so unfortunately I don't have any data for the period between 9 Jan and yesterday.

The problem is ongoing, as about 20 mins ago I was in the middle of a Teams call and the connection went down.

Sounds as if I need to raise a ticket.

[#4]

@simonc2 raise the ticket via the broadband link I provided.

[#5]

Have they changed the system? I was hoping to report the problem by filling in a form online, but the only link I can find on this page is to send a text message.

Update: I've located an online reporting form by logging in to my account and going to https://www.plus.net/apps/kbdfaults/question 

[#6]

The link I provided will do the same as creating a 'ticket' - only quicker, and if a ticket is required, one will be generated off the back of the results.

[#7]

John

My Plusnet ticket for this issue seems to have reached a rather distressing impasse. Plusnet looked at the problem and put a message on the ticket that an engineer's visit to our property was required and fixed a visit for yesterday (13 Feb 2023) between 8am and 1pm. We stayed in all that time and no one turned up. (We did spot an Openreach van in our road, though.)

I put a note on the ticket yesterday lunchtime asking for an explanation but since then there have been no further posts from Plusnet. I don't know if there is someone monitoring the ticket, or it's just been left to a robot, but since this seems to be my only way of communicating with them I'm left very frustrated with no idea what's going on.

One other thing: the Plusnet posts on the ticket all state:

[Email notification sent to: xxxx@xxxxx.plus.com]

but these emails are not arriving (the email address they are using is correct). They are not going into the Junk folder on webmail either, so there may be a problem with the notification system.

Do you have any suggestions for finding out what's happening?

Thanks

Simon

[#8]

Simon, Openreach, unfortunately are a law unto themselves and fail miserably to communicate with their customer - in this case, Plusnet.

Your ticket is monitored by a human, but I suspect the number of staff who do this has been reduced, so response times are a little extended.It is possible, but unlikely, that one of the Help Team may pick this up on here.

If you have no response on the ticket by tomorrow, post back and I will see if there is a way of giving things a kick.

Can't explain the email problem, but you are not unique in this regard.

[#9]

Many thanks, John. Let's hope there's a response before tomorrow.

Simon

[#10]

John

Well, there's been progress! I had an apologetic phone call from someone at Plusnet (don't know if you had any part in that) who said the Openreach engineer had been able to address the problem by doing external work, but he was pretty disgusted that they hadn't informed me or left a card to say that they weren't going to visit. The ticket is on hold for a couple of days just to see if the problem is fixed.

The downstream noise margin is up at around 6.5dB - not as good as it was in January (9dB) but much improved from the 3dB when I started this thread. The connection is much more stable and hasn't dropped once since the engineer's work, so if it stays like that I can consider it fixed.

Many thanks for your advice and support.

[#11]

Hi Simon - nothing to do with me, I was just going to try and get the attention of the Help Team tomorrow if Faults didn't pick the ticket up. BTW, I'm only a Community member, like you, but years of trying to help others has taught me a few tricks.

I don't know if you have posted your stats previously, but which modem/router are you using? Might be interesting to see the figures tomorrow.

A 6.5dB noise margin is better than a 9dB one - less background 'noise', so a better throughput.

[#12]

Whoops, my mistake on the noise margin. I just looked back to my thread started in September and the downstream noise margin was ove 17dB.

The router is a Plusnet Hub One.

I'll post a Router Stats graph in a couple of days.

[#13]

OK. Could you post your Connection details and Helpdesk page from the hub at the same time please? obscure any personal details, though.

[#14]

Everything is looking good so far from what we can see @simonc2 

We've got things lined up to take a look at that again tomorrow but do shout up if there's anything you need in the meantime. 

Adam

[#15]

@adamwalker 

Sorry for not posting this earlier. Happily it's all looking good here. The router is showing more than 7 days of uptime! Noise margins are stable and low, and the speed is good. I attach a couple of diagnostics. The RouterStatsHub plot shows Tuesday 14th and today (20th) and the drop at the right end is where the computer went to sleep.

Thanks for all the help.