Speed Keeps Dropping - Massively

[#1]

Good spot and thanks, @aesmith - that is where I have seen it before, but I think the OP is seeing DSL changes as well on PPP resumption, although these are not reported in the log. I've never had a PN Hub of any flavour, my last PN supplied modem/router was a TG582N which from memory didn't exhibit those, merely reporting DSL drops.

We shall see what further investigation reveals.

[#2]

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@jab1 wrote:

Good spot and thanks, @aesmith - that is where I have seen it before, but I think the OP is seeing DSL changes as well on PPP resumption, although these are not reported in the log. 

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In that particular fault the underlying issue was bursts of errors which we think screwed up the DSLAM in some way. PPP would normally not reestablish until DSL retrained, but that depended on how the customer equipment reacted to loss of PPP.

Priority in this case as everyone is saying, is to get the copper line checked and squeaky clean. On Plusnet can you initiate a remote test? This doesn't always pick up everything but its another quick check without waiting in a phone queue.

[#3]

Thanks for the further information. I think the OP has requested remote tests, but these all come back as clean, so, yo my mind some deeper investigation is needed.

In any case, as I'm effectively out of ideas, I'm leaving it to others, but will follow this with interest.

[#4]

It has been reported that the (unspecified) test bot is not detecting an error.

That suggests that either there is no detectable error or the act of testing is rectifying a bad (damp) joint.

The absence of a telephone handset removes the possibility of checking the line for audio noise or correlation of sync drops with inbound calls. The latter would point to the possibly of a filter or line card issue.

Plotting the SNRM will illuminate the character and frequency of line sync loss.

Over the last two months I have called support around six times and never waited longer than one minute to be answered. The only disappointment was calling business 24x7 support at 7am only to hear that the office did not open until 8am … suggesting that the business desk has been closed.

[#5]

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@jab1 wrote:

Thanks for the further information. I think the OP has requested remote tests, but these all come back as clean, so, yo my mind some deeper investigation is needed.

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Unfortunately that's often the case, the remote test isn't thorough as onsite, but if the remote test passes the the CP needs to request the call out. 

OP said he was sourcing a basic phone, so hopefully he can do the tests Townman suggested and hopefully with those done Plusnet will send out OR without threat of charges.

[#6]

Aaaaand.......It's back down to 6.85Mbps this morning.

Meant to be working from home today but will have to head into the office as these speeds make remote desktop-ing as painfully slow as walking through treacle.

Thanks for all the help. Hopefully when I get the corded phone I can test the line for noise. In the meantime I will call PN helpdesk and ask them for help and also some reimbursement of my fee due to this massive inconvenience.

[#7]

In the extreme line tests done from either end have their failings. The issue 12+ years ago which honed my understanding of the complexity of fault finding was blighted by engineers repeatedly claiming that no fault found at the premises end meant there was no fault … in the face of the remote test head reporting that there was a fault on the eclipse exit test. There attitudes were “My test equipment detects no faults, if there were a fault this test kit would find it … so the test head must be faulty.”.

That fault took 6 months and 18 engineers to rectify … the last one accepted the “disagreement” between the two perspectives and did tests from the cabinet to the property and found faults NOT detected from the property.

That issue was also blighted by intermittent REIN disconnections … which (thanks to routerstats) I correlated to passing West Coast Main Line trains … but only the really big ones!

Note that there are now no charges for FAULT engineers.

[#8]

Lost sync. What does the graph look like?

If this is what it is starting to feel like - disconnecting and reconnecting the router cable should get you back on full speed.

[#9]

"That fault took 6 months and 18 engineers to rectify … the last one accepted the “disagreement” between the two perspectives and did tests from the cabinet to the property and found faults NOT detected from the property."

When I joined BT as an apprentice over 40 years ago, I spent a couple of weeks out in the Field with the engineers that maintained the lines in people's homes and the cables as far as the cabinet.

One of those engineers taught me something very valuable that I always remembered and have used a few times in the past with stubborn faults - even though I moved on in my later career to transmission and television.

That lesson was this: if you break a faulty circuit and test in both directions, yet can detect no fault, the fault is exactly at the point where you have broken the circuit and are testing.

I even used it outside of work once. After the first Covid lockdowns, when engineers were previously entering homes only if absolutely essential, we had a fault on our line. We are 50 (cable) metres from the cabinet on a new cable in which there are no joints, except for the one in the panel in the front wall of my house. That joint connects the external underground cable to the approx 2 metre long internal wire that goes through the wall into the house and connects to the master socket.

Testing from the cabinet towards my house, the engineer could see the fault, but when he tested both ways from the joint in the front wall he couldn't see it at all.

Now I don't like telling people how to do their jobs, but this poor guy was looking very confused, so I related what I had been taught 40 years ago. He was sceptical, but in the abscence of any better ideas he cut back a few inches of wire on each side and remade the joint.

My broadband has been fine ever since.  😀

[#10]

So, after speaking to an Advisor earlier today that ran some line tests and couldn't detect a fault he has arranged for an OR engineer to come out tomorrow.  We shall see.

I reckon it's the box of wires on top of the pole where the issue lies. It was last time. The engineer found some corrosion of the wires/connectors and he cleaned these up and it was fine for months. Perhaps damp gets in? It serves quite a few houses but none of the neighbours I spoke to noticed issues but they probably wouldn't notice anyway.

Now a measly 5.8 down and 11.6 up

Ignore the drop-out below. The PC went to sleep on me after a while when i was out.

[#11]

Now that I am looking at these on the desktop, I can see that you have not used the settings I requested.  There is nothing like enough granularity here to be of any help.  Also this does not appear to be running 24x7.

Sample interval needs to be 10 seconds and 720 plots per graph. That will result in one graph every two hours.  Only the SNRM graph is of interest, until there is something of interest to look at in detail.  That said, the variable attenuation is a tad unusual.

Can you please change the settings and restart the router.  Given that you appear to have intermittent noise, there is a fair change it will sync at a higher speed ... until the next incident.

Have you identified the source of the massive download?

[#12]

• Also this does not appear to be running 24x7. - Yes, I need to set my PC to Not Sleep
• Sample interval needs to be 10 seconds and 720 plots per graph - Yes, now configured this.
• and restart the router - will do this tonight as daughter is doing homework/revision and will "literally kill me" if it restart it now!

No idea about the massive download. Given the speed I was getting and the short amount of time that accrued (4 hours?) it seems an anomaly?  Current DSL Uptime is 12:53hrs and 7.3GB received. Is this more normal?

Fing Screenshot of currently/typically connected devices. The TP-Link is a router used as an Access Point to cover downstairs/garden area.  That is then connected to a 5-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch to feed a Printer, Smart TV, Streamer Amplifier.  I was keen to have hard-wired connections due to previous speed issues causing buffering that I thought might be caused by wifi issues but now probably the same issues I'm having now.

[#13]

What is "normal" all depends on what you are doing.

Not sure when my router (Hub Two) resets its counters (might find out tonight) but I have only downloaded 36GB in either 5 days (xDSL / PPP uptime) or 220 days (system uptime).

I have a smart TV (Netflix and Watch on Demand / catch-up), Amazon Fire and multiple laptops all connected to the same iCloud services.

I would find 7.3GB in 12 hours VERY excessive.

I could envisage the smart cameras generating a good deal of UPLOAD but not downloads.

[#14]

Typical! Absolutely rock steady since the last restart at 19:45 last night.

Don't know what the engineer will find on his visit now.

[#15]