Speed Keeps Dropping - Massively

[#1]

@NicDB   a simple phone would help you help diagnose the problem quicker and get your speeds back quicker - a cheap one can be got for under £10.

The BTW check shows you had higher speeds a couple of days ago compared to your router stats now. This suggests PN may have reset your DLM, but that noise on the line is reducing your speeds again.

Whilst it is great that OR have been out last year, alas it does not stop faults developing especially on lines that may have been around for 50 or more years.

PN will have no idea, nor will any other ISP, know your speeds have dropped until you report a fault, so no point cursing them.

[#2]

Hi. There seems to be an issue copying and pasting the WAN log. I've posted it twice and twice the post has disappeared. I'm doing it as screen shots now instead.

[#3]

OK, just ordered a corded phone to test the line. Will have it in a few days.

[#4]

Not sure what @jab1 was hoping to see here - all that it confirms is that the line is not sustaining a stable connection.  37 hours for the last one.

What is a tad odd is the significant variation of download speed for a very similar SNRM.  We can readily see what is happening or guess what is happening ... what needs to be done is to look towards (or listen to) what might be causing the issues.

If the broadband fault bot is not detecting an error, then try the phone fault bot ... or pick up the phone and speak to support during office hours.

[#5]

Yep, you are having repeated xDSL drops - although the 'user request' comment is a bit strange to me - maybe someone else may care to enlighten me?

My suggestion is to call and report the issue, rather than relying on the BOT, and reference this topic - IF the agent can access it.

[#6]

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@Townman wrote:

What is a tad odd is the significant variation of download speed for a very similar SNRM.

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Hang on - I am not thinking straight!!  The previously posted router stats actually illuminate clearly what is happening here.

At that point of the connection negotiation, the router will sync at the highest possible speed at the TARGET SNRM over the THEN background noise.  Remember the 6dB metric is a MARGIN not an absolute metric.

• No noise - 6dB SNRM will deliver a high sync speed - see those with 60mbps and above
• Noise present - 6dB SNRM will deliver a low sync speed - see that at 17mbps at 7dB

If at some later point the noise disappears the OBSERVED SNRM as reported in the router stats will be seen to be much higher, for example as in the router stats posted earlier.  Would be good to see the current stats please.

There is a strong indication here of variable intermittent noise on this line.  It might or might not be audible.  It could be dreaded REIN which is highly unlikely to be discovered by remote tests or ordinary engineer visits.  There is though some good news here - this is a Plusnet Hub One which is a BTHH5a in white and pink livery.  There is a special version of router stats (see the link below) for the BTHH5a which will show EXACTLY what is happening on the line.

Set that up to run 24x7 - sample interval 10 seconds and 720 points per graph - run with full capture of SNRM and Sync Speed graphs.  Attenuation is of no relevance.  Hopefully the SNRM graph will be fairly flat ... it is when it is not which will be of interest.

[#7]

In addition to the above comments, the OP is hammering the available bandwidth - 38Gb in 4 hours , what is going on?

[#8]

@Townman 

Thanks - how do I run this monitoring software? I've downloaded the ROUTERSTATS -LITE  version but cannot see my Router listed?

@Mustrum 38GB in 4 hours!!! How? Where/what date/time shows this?  That is a LOT! Need to track down the culprit.

[#9]

@Mustrum 

I rather recall some debate over when the data sent / receive meters are reset - is it on...

• reestablishment of PPP?
• reestablishment of xDSL?
• system restart?

I rather recall on (at least) one of the routers some key meters (counters) were not reset when one might expect them to have done so.

It would be interesting to have this confirmed with new stats (following today's resync).  If there is something hammering the connection the over all experience will not be great.  If the meters are not reset when we think they should be, we might be getting distract by an aberration of the measurement system.

[#10]

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@NicDB wrote:

@Townman 

Thanks - how do I run this monitoring software? I've downloaded the ROUTERSTATS -LITE  version but cannot see my Router listed?

@Mustrum 38GB in 4 hours!!! How? Where/what date/time shows this?  That is a LOT! Need to track down the culprit.

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You want the BTHH5a version - the link is at the top of the landing page - see RouterStatsHub :: RouterStats for the BT Home Hubs 3 & 5 (vwlowen.co.uk)

38GB in 4 hours - see you previous post of the router stats ... and my reply to @Mustrum above.

[#11]

Hi Thanks for the help. Got the RoutersStats running now.  What should I look out for?

It shows the usage has gone up by 1.2Gb over the last 2 hours! Is this usual? Not streaming films at the moment.

[#12]

Hi Thanks for the help. Got the RoutersStats running now.  What should I look out for?

It shows the usage has gone up by 1.2Gb over the last 2 hours! Is this usual? Not streaming films at the moment.

[#13]

Maybe too soon to tell anything useful from this?

[#14]

Restarting the Router has now increased speeds to the usual level. I can't see restarting the router on a regular basis a good thing?

Noise margins have dropped hugely too.

[#15]

That is all to be expected.

No noise at the time of the sync means you’ll get a better speed at the target margin. At the moment we are only interested in the SNRM plot. Expect something to happen which causes the SNRM to hit zero and cause a resync. You might see the SNRM is much higher afterwards with a corresponding lower speed. The shape of the fall (and rise after the recovery) will be interesting. In passing it’s worth nothing that incoming calls (handsets plugged in or not) can disrupt broadband stability.

Did the data down / up counters reset on resync?

1.2GB is a massive volume of unknown data to be getting shifted around. Are you certain that there are no rogue devices attached to your router?

[#16]

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@jab1 wrote:

Yep, you are having repeated xDSL drops - although the 'user request' comment is a bit strange to me - maybe someone else may care to enlighten me?

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I have seen sometimes that in faults where PPP drops while DSL stays in sync. These reported to the ISP as sometimes "(UserRequest)" and sometimes "(LostCarrier)".