Poor service for past year

[#1]

Am I the only one who has had to put up with slow broadband for the past year. Average speeds around 0.35, but have on a few occasions had 0.00, yes 0.00. I have often raised a ticket, to be told "Oh, we will have to monitor the line for some days", then I have to get back in touch with them to get an update. Then an engineer gets booked (got to be careful here, any mention of a crackly line as well as slow BB gets you a line engineer) they come, tinker around for a while, go to do something at the exchange, then you do not here from them again. I have had a plethora of resets done, speeds it up for a short while, then back to normal sorry usual low speeds. Then I have to go away again for some weeks, only to return and start the process over again. Oh, there was once where the telephone was out of order, but surprisingly, the BB was still working, slowly mind you. So I raised this on their ticket thingy as I could not ring. Gave them alternative email contact details, as mobiles are useless here, but did not hear from them. Only managed to get something started about the problem when I rang them the next time out and able to get a mobile signal.
I have many dreams of being able to watch a film online, only to wake up in the morning and face reality.
Please let me know if you have had similar problems, I would love to hear if your problem is worse than mine, it might actually cheer me up a bit to hear someone else's misfortune.
PS, is this forum policed by PlusNet, if so, does anyone know of an alternative forum to use.
PPS, I was hoping to sell 2 spare wifi modems (used for double and triple checking the router), and a spare phone, but feel these may be better for ARS by the time the problem is fixed.
Thanks for listening to me have a little moan, look forward to hearing from your misfortune, bad luck or whatever. Anything to make me feel a little better.
Best Regards, look up,
Neil

[#2]

Quote from: treborlien

Then an engineer gets booked (got to be careful here, any mention of a crackly line as well as slow BB gets you a line engineer)

This seems to be part of the problem!  Report the crackly line to you voice service provider, get it sorted and then work on any remaining BB problem(s)

[#3]

I see you have not fully read or understood the post, line engineers have been out, they work to a time slot, and so try to fix the line at the expense of the BB, or so I have been told. BB engineers have been out as well, only to go change a board or something at the exchange. Sometimes they do a line reset, probably to buy them a couple of days of faster speeds, then it soon drops down again. But what I really wanted to hear was someone else's bad luck, misfortune. Something to cheer me up. Even if you make it up, I will not know.
Kind Regards, still hoping,
Neil

[#4]

Hi Neil,
Welcome to the forums, sorry to hear of your issues.  Note that PlusNet staff - Customer Relations Team (CRT) - are not on the forums during the weekend.
Sometimes problems are difficult to locate and fix.  If just one side of the phone line pair breaks, you can still get very slow broadband even though you have no dial tone.  Some lines can be very bad, especially remote (long) rural lines.
Can you please gather and post the data requested in the speed issues thread in the broadband forum here - http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,96155.0.html
If there is ANY noise on the phone line, there is ZERO merit in progressing a broadband fault.  Is there any noise on the line when you dial 17070 option 2.  If yes, this needs to be addressed by your phone provider - do not mention broadband issues.  Check the line at regular intervals - noise is not always constant.
Is the router plugged into the master socket?  What kind of master socket have you got?  If it is a NTE5 then try the router in the test socket (behind the bottom face plate) and post the stats from there.
Hopefully we can help profile the problem and get the right actions to improve matters.
Kevin

[#5]

Thanks for your reply, I have had different routers used, had them plugged into the test socket for up to weeks at a time, had new socket fitted, had the line checked/monitored for line noise, but was within acceptable limits.
Sorry to say this, but this story is just covering old ground again. Have you ever won the lottery but lost the ticket. Something like that might bring a smile to my face.
Cheers
Neil

[#6]

So I guess you have just come here for a moan, and are not interested in receiving any help, what exactly is your problem, slow broadband? Without more information, such as router stats there not much anyone can say. 

[#7]

I guess you may be right, I feel let down by procedures, let down by engineers, let down by PlusNet, and let down by BTOR. Surely it shouldn't take a year or more to sort out a problem. Or are my expectations wrong. Maybe I miss understood this forum page, thought it was somewhere to air disappointment or praise. I certainly wasn't expecting to get it fixed here, I'm saving that hope for the next engineer visit.
Thanks for chipping in,
Kind regards
Neil

[#8]

Hi Neil,
This can be a space within which to vent, but more importantly it is a rich resource of expertise.  There are many users around here who have gone through what you are experiencing.  Sometimes these issues are not simple - if they were they would not drag on so long.
We customers only have access to the information you are able to share with us.  For example with an ADSL service, we can tell from the full stats how well your line is performing compared to standard expectations.
Also through this forum, PlusNet's senior support staff can take a 2nd look at the issue - this should not be required, but sometime the normal support route does not get complex issues ground out.  If there is any possibility that the issue is related to your environment there is a vast amount of expertise around here which can help you assess this or yourself.
The starting point though is sharing the information you have been asked for.
Kevin

[#9]

OK, spat my dummy out and had my rant, now to see what else I could do. Had no time to get on here yesterday, I was out watching some aeromobile things in the Air show at Ayr (easier to write than say). Here is some info I have found so far:
DSL Connection  
Link Information
Uptime: 0 days, 0:00:03
DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.1
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 896
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 1,78 / 25,59

Internet  
Connection Information
Uptime: 0 days, 0:37:32
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 1,36 / 23,44
Username: **********@plusdsl.net
Password: ********
Remember Password: Yes
IP Address: 91.125.200.57
Primary DNS: 212.159.6.9
Secondary DNS: 212.159.6.10
BTW test
1. Best Effort Test:
Download Speed : 0.12 Mbps
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.  
Keep getting the test error message above with the further diagnostics for about past week (time I have been here again).
Upload is 0.31, and ping is 52.5
Hope this makes more sense to you than it does me.
Cheers
Neil
PS the air show was great, escaping Ayr afterwards was a nightmare.

[#10]

Back again, engineer came out a few days ago now. Tried to say at first that the speed is not going to get much better up here than what I was getting, which didn't do anything for my confidence in him. He started doing his checks and things, disappeared a few times, and by the end of the day he had found a fault and changed my wire to a different one. The outcome from this gave us a clearer phone and faster BB up to average 3.5 down, 0.33 up, 155 ping. This lasted for a few days again until I noticed last night it was taking time to load some pages. Did a speed test again to find it down to 0.12 down, 0.31 up, 105 ping.
A couple of points I remember the engineer making were, if I knew of anyone in the area who had an air rifle. Which I did not. He mentioned finding a fault about 800m up the road, and I also hear him mention something about all the spare lines had been used up. And before he left he did not feel so confident about the line he had put me on, and was going to have them monitor it.
Would I be right in concluding from this that a fault had been found, possibly damaged cable up the road. And if all the spares had been used up, had I been put onto the better of a bad bunch that was left?
Still not heard anything from an official PlusNet person on here yet either.
Neil

[#11]

Hi treborlien,
I'm glad to hear that the latest engineer switched the copper pair for you. From the looks of the account it just seems that the latest report from the exchange which tells us what speed you're on hadn't reached us yet but I've tested the line for you and updated this for you now so you should be seeing just north of 3mbps now.
If you don't see this when speed testing, it may just need you to log into the router, hit disconnect and then reconnect and the equipment should then pick up the new speed for you.

[#12]

Thanks for the reply, but the speed is still 0.12 down, 0.30 up, and 78 ping. I think they have tried to give me the best of a poor bunch of previous used pairs.
Cheers
Neil

[#13]

Hi Neil,
It is good to see that some progress has been made.  Sorry I was not around to pick up your stats a few days ago.  Can you please post the full stats found here - http://192.168.1.254/cgi/b/dsl/dt/?be=0&l0=2&l1=0
These will provide more detail about your line than the previous set.  These will indicate what your line should be capable of.
As for current speed, this is governed by the line's profile as described here - http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/broadband_terminology.shtml#ipProfile - you appear to be on an ADSL (1) service.
The profile is set by BT - see the BT Wholesale speed test (further diagnostics) - which is then passed on to PlusNET and recorded here - https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed - as "current speed".  If they are not aligned, you will net get the best results from speed tests.
Thereafter speeds tests can be lower than expectations if there are a large number of errors on the line - the full stats requested above will indicate if this is the case.
You sound like you are in a rural area - d-side wires can be very poor in such locations, often they are aluminium which is less than desirable.  Unfortunately broadband is considered by BT to be an add-on best endeavours service on a VOICE line, therefore if it is adequate for voice, there is limited chance of getting it made better for broadband if that means spending money on installing new cables.  That though is a corner for PlusNET to fight out with BTOR.
Kevin

[#14]

DSL Connection
Link Information
Uptime: 0 days, 0:14:56
DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.1
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 4.576
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 2,50 / 9,53
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12,3 / 19,8
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 27,0 / 50,5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 19,0 / 10,3
System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ----
Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / -
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 4 / -
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / -
Loss of Link (Remote): -
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 234 / -
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 2 / 218.594
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 3 / 412
HEC Errors (Up/Down): - / 412 / 643
Estimated line speed:There's no speed estimate currently held on your account. Current line speed:3.1 Mb
Current BTW BB Performance test
0.13 Download, 0.31 Upload, 64 ping
Further diagnostics gives the following, and has done for the past 2 weeks
1. Best Effort Test:
Download Speed : 0.13 Mbps
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.
Today is my last full day here, so there may be info I cannot obtain from the system for the next 4 weeks
Cheers
Neil
PS I have heard a rumour that they may be running fibre to the exchange or junction box in the next village, which is where our line runs from, but not heard about individual houses being connected to fibre. This may speed some things up, hope the rumour is true.

[#15]

Hi Neil,
Thank you for these stats.
The attenuation suggests that you should see a SYNCH SPEED of 4.6Mbps at a SNRM of 6dB.  You are seeing 4.5Mbps at 10dB - something is not quite right here.
Is the phone line quiet?  Dial 17070 option 2 using a corded phone from the master socket.
Is the router plugged into the master socket?  Have you tried a new filter?
Is the master socket a NTE5 with a removable lower faceplate?  Are there any other phone extensions - do any phones there have filters?
Have you tried the router in the test socket?  Can you please do so and post the stats from there.
Note that there is unlikely to be an update from PlusNet via this forum before Monday.

@CRT,
It looks like this line should be capable of synching faster, the reason for the high SNRM (10dB) is not clear - is this around the target or the consequence of speed banding?
Data speed tests are coming nowhere near the PN speed profile, which in itself is not consistent with the synch speed, irrespective of how it should be calculated (see below).  If the 20CN rules apply, it should be 3.5Mbps (or possibly 3.0Mbps if a recent synch was slower) or 4+Mbps if 21CN rules apply.
Is this line banded?
What is the target SNRM?
The modulation is ADSL(1) however the PN Profile figure (3.1Mbps) does not align with 20CN profile bands; does this indicate that this is a 21CN service configured for ADSL(1) operation?  If yes, is there merit in having this service re-provisioned for ADSL2/2+ ?
NB: Looking here - http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/broadband_terminology.shtml#ipProfile - it is not clear to me if the distinction is actually in respect of 20CN / 21CN or ADSL / ADSL2 ?  To put it another way, if the service is ADSL(1) over 21CN how is the profile calculated?  88.2% or as per the 20CN table?  Can this be clarified on that page please?
Does the failure in the BT Wholesale speed test to obtain the BRAS profile point to a contributory issue?
What is the MTBF - the error counts look a bit high for 15 minutes.
What do you suggest please?
Kevin