Repeated disconnects; low connection speed

[#1]

A few days ago I noticed my connection was slow, and discovered my connection had dropped from its usual 70Mbps downstream to around 20Mbps (max attainable and connected). I rebooted and reconnected a few times and it came back to 70. I think my minimum guarantee (Fibre unlimited) is over 50.

Since then there have been at least two more disconnects. I've just looked at the modem when I got home and it has an uptime of only an hour. It is never turned off. Normally my service is absolutely perfect and has been for years (thank you PN).

Please can someone more knowledgable look at the modem figures and see it it means anything to you? It's a Zyxel VMG8924-B10A in bridge mode with a Mikrotik router.

====================================================================================
    VDSL Training Status:   Showtime
                    Mode:   VDSL2 Annex B
            VDSL Profile:   Profile 17a
                G.Vector:   Disable
            Traffic Type:   PTM Mode
             Link Uptime:   0 day: 1 hour: 49 minutes
====================================================================================
       VDSL Port Details       Upstream         Downstream
               Line Rate:     19.999 Mbps       69.452 Mbps
    Actual Net Data Rate:     20.000 Mbps       69.453 Mbps
          Trellis Coding:         ON                ON
              SNR Margin:        6.1 dB            5.9 dB
            Actual Delay:          0 ms              0 ms
          Transmit Power:        7.0 dBm          13.0 dBm
           Receive Power:       -9.5 dBm          -2.7 dBm
              Actual INP:       47.0 symbols      50.0 symbols
       Total Attenuation:        0.0 dB          16.2 dB
Attainable Net Data Rate:     21.525 Mbps       69.377 Mbps
====================================================================================
  VDSL Band Status        U0      U1      U2      U3      U4      D1      D2      D3
  Line Attenuation(dB):	 5.8	 21.2	 32.3	  N/A	  N/A	 11.2	 25.0	 39.6	
Signal Attenuation(dB):	 5.8	 20.7	 31.5	  N/A	  N/A	 12.4	 24.9	 39.6	
        SNR Margin(dB):	 5.7	 6.2	 6.1	  N/A	  N/A	 5.9	 5.9	 5.9	
         TX Power(dBm):	-3.9	-22.0	 6.6	  N/A	  N/A	 9.5	 7.7	 7.0	
====================================================================================

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Post released from Spam Filter.

[#2]

Sorry about the three posts - they never showed up and finally the last attempt was flagged as spam for some reason (thanks for approving it - you can delete the others, lol).

[#3]

@LordFox 

No problem. I released all three but then removed the duplicates.

[#4]

@LordFox Something strange there - your router is still reporting a connection speed of 69.453Mb/s.

But yes, you have suffered/are suffering DSL drops.

[#5]

@jab1 yes, which is the lowest I've seen it in ten years apart from the other day I mentioned in the OP (although only a few Mbps, it's usually 71-72).

More of concern is the (yet another) disconnect it had two hours before I got home. Something is going wrong somewhere. At least this time it didn't come back at 20Mbps down.

I'm going to drop it myself for a moment and try a different microfilter direct into the master test socket. Just to cover the bases.

[#6]

New microfilter on, modem reconnected OK bu while in the master socket I plugged an old fashioned phone into the test socket, and there is a lot of crackling and hissing on the line. I can't tell if it's actually the line, or the socket at fault. If I wiggle the plug a little the crackling changes. I get the same with the 'test' phone plugged into directly the outer master socket, and on the other phones in the house.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

In that case, I would report a phone fault via https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/

I was about to suggest a phone test. 😀

[#8]

Yep - already on it 😀

[#9]

Network fault found - openreach is (will be, at least) on it.

[#10]

Good - lets hope they sort it.

[#11]

Just to finish up... looks like it's been sorted out after a few more disconnects. In fact, my connection speed has gone back to what it was 5+ years ago, before I saw an OR engineer up the pole our wire is on one afternoon, followed by my connection dropping and finally coming back 10Mbps lower than it had been since the day I got the service. It's been stuck around 70-ish since that day.

I'm back to full 80... party time!

       VDSL Port Details       Upstream         Downstream
               Line Rate:     20.063 Mbps       79.999 Mbps
    Actual Net Data Rate:     19.999 Mbps       80.000 Mbps
          Trellis Coding:         ON                ON
              SNR Margin:       15.2 dB            6.6 dB
            Actual Delay:          0 ms              0 ms
          Transmit Power:        6.9 dBm          13.0 dBm
           Receive Power:       -9.3 dBm          -1.7 dBm
              Actual INP:        0.0 symbols      49.0 symbols
       Total Attenuation:        0.0 dB          15.2 dB
Attainable Net Data Rate:     23.661 Mbps       83.719 Mbps

[#12]

Looks good, @LordFox . Hope it stays that way. 😀