FTTP Line Check

[#1]

Hey folks,

Had FTTP upgraded to the 300 package a little while ago, and while at first it dipped, it did end up reaching close to 300 speed according to a wired speedtest in the first week.

Since then it seems to fluctuate quite a bit, and I realize the small print says "at least 100" so over the past few weeks I've seen it hit only 100 quite regularly, and figured this was just part and parcel but today it's only showing 96 on the BT Wholesale speedtest site.

Wondering if any of the kind folks at PlusNet wouldn't mind checking out the line on my account - we have no landline to run through the SMS help service, this is purely on FTTP. It's just that I've not seen it hit 300 too often since the package was upgraded. Thanks!

N.B. I am connecting through a NETGEAR Nighthawk R700P - AC2300 but did order the Plusnet hub as a backup. If there is some legitimate reason to suggest the Netgear isn't up to scratch, I can switch it out (albeit painfully :D)

[#2]

@simonporter007  Presumably you are testing ober an Ethernet, not wireless connection?

You don't need a landlinne to report the fault. Any mobile will work using the bot https://www.plus.net/help/report-a-problem/broadband/#broadband

[#3]

Aye, wired ethernet test. Upgraded the firmware on the router to check, still topping out at 90 or so. Looks like the bot wants to put me through to an advisor to talk to. I guess I'll do that if no can take a quick scan of the account and line!

Thanks.

[#4]

Does the Ookla ( speedtest.net ) report any different speeds ?

TBH a number of us with high speed FTTP connections have noticed that the BTw test is very erratic. The Ookla one is more consistent

[#5]

NETGEAR Nighthawk R700P

I'm assuming that's a typo and its really a 7000P ?

Have you got QoS enabled ? if so disable it and retry speedtests

Also, have you got a Cat5e or above cable connecting the router to the ONT ?

[#6]

Aye, sorry, R7000P. QoS is turned off, should be cat 5e yup, and then 5e running through the house to the machine running the speedtest too.

Ookla seems to match at the moment, 94ish and I double checked the kids aren't streaming anything right now just in case.

[#7]

All seems OK to me. I'd be inclined to try a speediest using the Plusnet hub just to eliminate the 7000p but from what you've said I wouldn't expect any change. Assuming it stays the same then go through the fault reporting procedure

[#8]

@simonporter007 

I might wonder if something is making an interface work at 100Mb/s rather than 1Gb/s on either the test PC or the router.

The first thing I would try is a different and relatively short cable between device and router.

Also I assume you are using the supplied cable between ONT and router and the router WAN port is working at 1Gb/s.

Does anything on WiFi (very close to the router) manage over 100Mb/s?

I would also (as a test) swap out the router for the Plusnet supplied unit (leave everything else the same) and see if anything changes.

[#9]

Hey @simonporter007,

I'm very sorry to hear that you've been experiencing issues with the speeds. I've attempted to run some tests on the line, but haven't found any underlying faults. I know you've mentioned that you're using another router at the moment - please could you try setting up the Plusnet Home Hub 2 and let us know once you've done so? If it doesn't inspire any improvement to the speeds, please leave it plugged in for a time, because we can run some further testing with the Hub 2 set up, that might be able to help us determine the cause of the issue

[#10]

Hey @TheMightyAJ , sorry for the delay. I've switched out the netgear for the home hub 2 router, literally just plugged it in and connected. I can access the admin page and such, and so ran an ookla speedtest, and it's still the same speeds reported with the netgear. It's showing 93mb this morning and this time, as I unplugged the netgear, this is the only machine that's connected to the home hub, no wireless devices either.

(I've since had to plug in some other devices as I need them for work).

I've reconfigured the home hub just enough to carry on with work for today, but have left it plugged in in case you can see anything else.

Cheers!

[#11]

Just to update, still 93 this evening. I've had to connect the other devices as the families back now mind.

[#12]

@simonporter007 

Just to check the topology, I take it that the router (Plusnet or Netgear) is close to the Openreach ONT and both used the same patch lead.

Are results the same with a different patch lead between router and ONT?

With the Netgear is there any indication of port speeds? If so, are they both gigabit rather than 100Mb/s? 

If everyting is Gigabit it is starting to look like an external factor.

[#13]

Aye, I was using the same patch lead, I've just swapped it out between Hub 2 and ONT with the Hub 2 supplied cat 5e instead. They're both right next to each other, with the ONT and router wall mounted in the cupboard. Less than a foot apart. Netgear should be all gigabit ports, and the PC upstairs is registering it as gigabit too.

Ran the speedtest again after patch switch and it's still hovering around the 90 mark. It's strange that in the first week after migrating from the old FTTP trial to full FTTP 300, I did get the 300 speeds for a few days and so stopped checking. The last couple of weeks it's felt sluggish so checked again, and sure enough it's remaining at 90 now.

Shame because I'm paying an extra tenner a month for at most 20mb increase which doesn't quite seem value for money at the moment.

[#14]

Any luck @TheMightyAJ ? The wifi on the hub 2 doesn't seem as stable as the netgear, so I'd like to switch back if you've had chance to run some extra tests. 91 again this morning, so it seems stuck on this speed at the moment.