Very low download & upload speeds on a new fibre connection

[#1]

Hi,

I've been with Plusnet for about 8 years and, just under 2 weeks ago, I changed from standard broadband

to one of your fibre packages & was quoted the following speeds :

Download: 38 - 40Mb
Upload: 8 - 10Mb
Minimum Guaranteed Speed: 29.2Mb

I quickly noticed that when downloading files, I was only getting a maximum speed of approx 4.4mbps.

This is slower than my old broadband speed (I had about 7.5mbps on that) & roughly an eighth of my minimum guaranteed speed on the new package.

I also tested an upload using WeTransfer.com and estimated the speed to be roughly 1mbps (instead of the 8-10 I should be getting).

At this point, my new router hadn't yet arrived & I was still using my old one. I spoke to one of your staff & he asked me to try a few things, none of which made any difference.

He suggested that my new router would probably sort things out so I waited for it to arrive.

New router arrives, no increase in speed. Spoke to one of your staff again.

He did various tests including have me change from 2.4ghz to 5ghz, had me reset the router etc.

Still no change. He suggested my new router was probably faulty & that he would send me another one.

2nd new router arrived yesterday, no increase in speed. Spoke to one of your staff again.

He tried various thing again but nothing worked. He suggested I use the "Channel Selection" to try different channels.

I've since tried various random channels (and stayed on each one for several hours) but still no speed increase.

A couple of general things :

1) I'm using desktop PC with a wired connection (not wireless), connected only with the cables that

came with my new routers.

2) Various speedtests were done when I spoke to your staff (and I've done a couple myself on different

speedtest websites). The results of these always say that I am getting the high speeds I should be getting,

but that's simply not the case.

3) When testing the download speed, I've been downloading files from various different sources, both directly

from my browser & also using a download manager. The speed always tops-out at roughtly 4.4mbps.

Pretty frustrated at this point, any help appreciated.

[#2]

This 4.4max download speed is being obtained from where? The upload speed of the remote servers will define your max download speed from them, but it is strange a speed test confirms you are within spec and nothing is achieving more than 4.4. I can't explain that, but maybe other Community members with more networking experience can.

I'm on a 40/10 connection (but not with Plusnet), and get various download speeds from 5 to 30Mbps  depending on the site I'm using, and a reasonably constant 8-9Mbps upload, but I don't do a great deal of either.

[#3]

"This 4.4max download speed is being obtained from where?"

When I download anything from my browser or download manager, I can watch the download speed in real-time.

It will either start immediately at about 4.4mbps, or it might take a few seconds to get there, but then it remains at

that speed until the download has finished.

[#4]

Thought that may have been the case, but I don't know enough to explain it. As I said, maybe a Community member with more knowledge will try and help, Plusnet Help team staff will pick this up, but probably not till next week now.

Just for my curiosity, can you post a screenshot of the 'Advanced Diagnostics' page from BTW Performance Tester ?

[#5]

No problem, thanks for the replies.

Just another thing (possibly useful for Plusnet staff) to confirm the 4.4mbps speed.

If I download two files at the same time, I might see that one is coming down at 1.7mbps, while the other is at 2.7mbps.

This will fluctuate during the download but basically, at any one time, the download speeds from multiple downloads

will add up to roughly 4.4mbps.

[#6]

@bixy 

Forgive me if this comes across badly: my Firefox defaults to giving me a download speed in mega bytes per second. That is a roughly 10 time smaller number than the mega bits per second that the line speed is usually measured in. You see why I started with an apology?

What does something like Speedtest.net say?

[#7]

"my Firefox defaults to giving me a download speed in mega bytes per second. That is a roughly 10 time smaller number than the mega bits per second that the line speed is usually measured in."

Oh wow, I'm feeling a bit stupid now. I hadn't heard of mega bits & always assumed line speed was measured in mega bytes per second.

Like you, I use Firefox and it shows the download speed in mega bytes per second (as does my download manager), so I guess 4.4 mega bytes per second is actually about right ?

If that's the case, then it looks like I've actually downgraded by moving from my previous Plusnet non-fibre package.

On that package I was getting download speeds of approx 7.5 mega bytes per second.

I automatically assumed that changing to fibre would be an upgrade, so when i saw "Minimum Guaranteed Speed: 29.2Mb",

I assumed that was mega bytes & therefore a nice upgrade from the 7.5 I was currently getting.

When speaking to Plusnet tech staff over the past week, I've been constantly saying that I'm only getting "4.4 mega bytes" speed, and no-one's picked up on it.

Anyway, if that's all correct then it's a bit dissapointing, and I guess I'll have to ask Plusnet if they'll move me back to

a standard broadband package (and hopefully get my 7.5 mega bytes per second speed back).

Thanks very much for your post BrightonRock.

[#8]

@bixy Think we are getting our wires crossed here. The 7.5 figure on you ADSL connection was most likely the connection speed - don't know, but you would never get ACTUAL download speeds approaching anywhere near that on that technology, you'd be really struggling to get anywhere close to 4.4 on it - it just isn't capable.

Can PLEASE post the 'Additional Diagnostics' from BTW Performance Tester , and it will give us a better clue as to what you should be expecting.

[#9]

"The 7.5 figure on you ADSL connection was most likely the connection speed - don't know, but you would never get ACTUAL download speeds approaching anywhere near that on that technology, you'd be really struggling to get anywhere close to 4.4 on it".

All I can tell you is that, on my previous non-fibre package, a file downloaded in Firefox would show a figure like this during download, worded exactly like this :  "7.5 MB/sec", and now it hovers around "4.4 MB/sec".

Plus I've been downloading files on an almost daily basis for years, and it's obvious that they're taking much longer to download now (and upload), so regardless of anything else, my downloads are definitely slower now than they were before.

Regarding the 'Additional Diagnostics', what do I enter in the "Broadband Service ID" box, or do I need to select one of the other options ? Thanks.

[#10]

I'm confused, but the report I've asked for will hopefully explain things to me. You enter your phone number in the relevant box - IIRC it is the one to the furthest right i.e. you click that box and then enter the phone number in the box below

[#11]

Here are the results :

Summary of Performance Test

Timestamp

Saturday 27 November 2021 | 18:20:34

Ping

37 Ms

Download

36.59 Mbps

Upload

3.66 Mbps

Summary Advanced Test

Your speed test has completed and the results are shown above, however during the test an error occurred while trying to retrieve additional details regarding your service. As a result we are unable to determine if the speed you received during the test is acceptable for your service. Please re-run the test if you require this additional information.

I ran the test again & got roughly the same download speed and same Summary message, but this time the upload speed showed 9.05 Mbps

Don't know if this is helpful, but on my previous package, a 1GB file download showing a fairly consistent "7.5 MB/sec" would take approx 2 minutes to complete, but now at "4.4 MB/sec", a file the same size takes about 3.5 mins.

[#12]

Thanks for that. Pity it couldn't complete the operation, but it is a known glitch with the tester. I apologise for continuously asking for data - as screenshots if possible  - but it is the only way other Community members can help - we do not have access to a lot of data the Plusnet Help Team do.

In light of the fact that the two download test figures are so far apart, could I ask you for two more bits of information? (1) the result of this: BT Broadband - ensuring your phone number does not show, as a screenshot - other formats are unreadable and (2) your Hubs Help Desk page, obscuring personal details.

[#13]

Results of the BT test attached.

Not heard of the Help Desk page, could you let me know where I can find it, thanks.

[#14]

Hmm, I attached two photos but looks like the first one was removed when I added the second.

Here it is.

[#15]

Thanks for that screenshot - unfortunately it is the top half which is of more interest/useful. Thanks for the top half. 😉

Help Desk - enter 192.168.1.254 into your address bar, hit enter and then navigate to a page that looks like this: