Getting a bit cheesed off

[#1]

I wonder if someone at PlusNet can have a look at my call 31648332, basically i'm now on the Pro (ADSL2+) package and getting about the same download throughput as my neighbour on PlusNet's £5.99 package. I have been through the various tests possibly eliminating some issues but still performance is not good. At this point the investigation seems to have stalled ... I, like others here are considering alternative suppliers which is a shame as i've been a mostly happy customer since 2002.
By the way between PlusNet and BT it took almost a month to actually get me on to the ADSL2+ service (started paying Jan 10th and was finally moved Feb 3rd), I will be expecting some compensation for this.

[#2]

Hi 99Chris99,
I've had a look at the speed test result history via a line test and can see that your last result on Sunday morning was approx. 5188kb/s throughput which is about right for your current 6500 profile. Does the line slow down at other times of the day, or were the slowdowns present when you ran that test at all? Do you have any further speed test results we could investigate further from at all?
With regard to your compensation request, the Plusnet Pro account costs the same whether you are on an ADSL1 or ADSL2 service so we won't be able to offer any compensation I'm afraid.

[#3]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for looking ... but with a 7.5Mbps sync on ADSL2, a throughput of between 4 and 5 Mbps is considered good is it? Don’t forget my neighbour gets the same or faster on the £5.99 product (and I think we have established there aren’t any issue my side of the master socket now).
Anyhow – no point in repeating Q&A in the call, I would just like a statement from PN support e.g.
1. Yes there is a problem and what to try next
2. Call in BT as it’s a line fault
3. No there is not a problem that’s the best you are going to get.

Regarding compensation, I was previously on a £15/month contract (Option 2 I think it was called), so I make that £5 PlusNet owes me.

[#4]

Quote

but with a 7.5Mbps sync on ADSL2, a throughput of between 4 and 5 Mbps is considered good is it?

Honestly, yes it is. Your sync rate at present is 7568, which fits the current BT profile of 6500 (as per the page at http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/broadband_terminology.shtml you'd need to be syncing at or over 7968 in order to get a 7000 profile). With that in mind, and taking packet headers into consideration (which take up anywhere between 10 and 20% of the bandwidth) anywhere at around 5Mb and above throughput is about what's expected on a line such as yours.

[#5]

Chris, forget your refund pal ... I'm still waiting for nearly £60 that Plusnet took from my account and they neve even connected me in the first place. It seems to me like they could do with a Bankers Bail-Out ... "last one out turn the lights off please"

[#6]

Are there any options for ignoring idiots on the forum?

[#7]

Hi David, your refund was issued on the 19th and is showing as being processed in our system.

[#8]

Hi Matt,
Strangely enough after weeks of 4-5Mbps my throughput increased to 6Mbps last night (according to speedtest.net, the BT speedchecker wasn’t working) while the sync and other router stats did not change, let’s hope it stays there or improves.
Q Was anything done by PlusNet yesterday?
I just can’t help comparing the performance of my connection to that of my neighbour though – he gets 5Mbps throughput on the PN £5.99 value product. So he must be getting a similar sync to me I guess on DSLMax (is that the right terminology). On my old ADSL Option 2 service I was (from memory) getting a sync of around 5Mbps and throughput of 3Mbps,comparing this to my neighbour – I think there may be some issues with my phone line, is that a reasonable conclusion?
Can you give someone a nudge to update my call as I mentioned previously please?
I notice you didn’t mention the refund for the month delay before my connection was actually reconfigured to ADSL2. Comments?

[#9]

Knew it was too good to be true, couple of good results but download throughput seems all over the place now. Getting 2 to 3Mbps (speedtest.net any English site), router stats unchanged apart from Downstream Margin/SNR low. HELP ....

[#10]

Hi Chris,
Somethings obviously amiss somewhere, I think our faults team updated the ticket today so hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it soon.

[#11]

My ticket is still open and connection speeds still all over the place, my latest post to the ticket ....
We do seem to be going round in circles here ...
I was told weeks ago that your wholesale provider (BT?) was going to do some tests as a result of the data that I recorded and posted to PlusNet in this call, have those tests been completed and what was the result?
[mremoved] left the following message on 23rd March "I have attempted to call you today, and I have left voicemail on your phone number. Your open fault requires your attention. Please contact us on 0845 1400 200 or view the fault at help.plus.net"
I called back later in the day but no one can tell me what actions you would like me to perform - I was guessing there might be something relating to a BT investigation?
Using the DMT tool I was able, without any bother at all, to change the target SNR which resulted in a stable connection for days (as far as I could see and as reported by the routers stats) with downstream sync of 9Mbps / IP profile 8Mbps but download throughput still low at 4.5Mbps
I think i'll just give up!
jim:csa

[#12]

have you disconnected and reconnected the ppp session ( ie the routers connection to plusnet gateway's) you need to do this when there has been a PN ip profile update for the profile to be put live.
try not to reboot your router if youve used DMT as the snr tweak will not keep during a reboot or resync and esp dont try a rsync at this time of night as the sync rate gained will be lower than that can be gained during daylight hours.
hope that info brings your ip profile into life

[#13]

Quote from: 99Chris99

I notice you didn’t mention the refund for the month delay before my connection was actually reconfigured to ADSL2. Comments?

Quote

Plusnet Pro account costs the same whether you are on an ADSL1 or ADSL2 service so we won't be able to offer any compensation I'm afraid."

I suspect you'll just have to put it down to experience, given there's no difference in price and just a speed difference (if possible).
I don't remember whether there was anything offered in compensation when there was the initial launch of DSL Max and people wanted to be moved from 2 Mbps onto the "up to 8 Mbps".  I remember a lot of discussion at the time, especially as some users had been on an account which was promising use of "up to 8" from a year before it was possible.  Ended up with batches of hundreds or thousands being done on an opt-in basis (to be early adopted/ guinea pig).
Anyway, back to right now.... at least the Pro account is due to come down (if you are on a Market 3 exchange).  If you're on Market 1 or Market 2, it is due to go up to 22 quid or so, in 10 days, so another option would be to go to the Premium account (before they replace it with 'Extra').  Premium allows "up to 20 Mbps".  Of course, the other option if your usage is low would be to drop down to a Value account and simply save cash!

[#14]

Hi Donald Duck ...

Quote from: Donald

have you disconnected and reconnected the ppp session ( ie the routers connection to plusnet gateway's) you need to do this when there has been a PN ip profile update for the profile to be put live. try not to reboot your router if youve used DMT as the snr tweak will not keep during a reboot or resync and esp dont try a rsync at this time of night as the sync rate gained will be lower than that can be gained during daylight hours.

That's an interesting comment, let me just check ... so you are suggesting using DMT to tweak the target SNR and when the IP profile is increased I would need to disconnect the phone line to the router and reconnect (no router reboot)?
Also do you know if the IP profile reported by PN is what really limits the throughput or is it the IP profile reported by the BT speedtester app? I usually see the BT version updated quite quickly and the PN version several days later - but still no increase in throughput (i'll try your suggestion too help with this).

[#15]

Hi WebDude,
My previous account was an old option 2 account hence there was a price difference, after mentioning it 3 or 4 times I got I did get a refund ...