Speed dropped from 20Mb to 200kb

[#1]

I'm not going to bother calling customer services (I'm sick of being told to check my equipment), but there's probably a fault somewhere, maybe on my exchange or its pipes (again!)
I'm on the exchange in Bacup, OL13. I've reset my router (a Cisco 1801) etc, and it still tells me I am connecting at around 20Mb/s down, but I can't get over 200kb/s on any protocol. I tried to run a speedtest and gave up because it was taking too long.
Not sure when it started but it was OK early this morning and wasn't when I got home at 3pm.
At the moment the internet is barely usable; I'm not looking forward to my wife getting home later and not being able to watch BBC iplayer!

[#2]

Hi there,
I've checked your profiles and connection history, can't see any drops or changes to the profile (it updated again to 18400 yesterday, which is where it's been for at least a couple of months). It's looking like a fault to be honest, though I'm afraid we'd need BT speed test results (http://speedtest.btwholesale.com) and a fault raising at http://faults.plus.net in order to get this sorted out for you. If you could do those our team will get it investigated and escalated for you.

[#3]

Just got back in again, still slow.
Thanks for the reply. I'll do the necessary tomorrow morning if it's still slow - no time right now.
Taking the misses out for a meal to avoid the lack of internet TV, lol.

[#4]

Well, there's another 1.5 hours of my life spent showing that the fault is not mine.
I bought a 582n from Plusnet just for testing due to the repeated exchange issues and being asked to try another router.
It has not been used until today, but I can't even get it to connect reliably. The broadband light will eventually go steady, and I think, "ah-ha, it's finally got it" then after 20 seconds it will start flashing again. Wahh! (Yes, I followed the instructions which tell me to wait until the bb light is steady, lol, then I tried manually entering my settings with the same (lack of) result).
My connection is even slower this morning. The BT speed test comes in at between 2Mbps and 3.5Mbps but even that's rubbish; I see nothing like that in real-world use on my PC.
When it works it's absolutely great, but when it doesn't...
Oh well, here we go again. Ticket raised. I hate BT.
Oh, and another thing... I tried running the TAP3 test from the BT site, but could not get a network connection (to BT) after changing my username. I guess it's because I have an IP block and wasn't connecting from the IP address assigned to the router. That was another reason I was trying to get the Plusnet router connected.

[#5]

Hi there,
That's sounding like a dropping connection fault rather than a speed fault. I suspect that's why you're not getting the connection - the IP block only comes into effect when connecting to us as it's after the connection is established that you're issued the IP (afaik) - only reason that'd prevent you connecting is if you've set the IP as static in the router, in which case it won't accept any others.
I'd recommend mentioning that on the ticket, here's your connection log from when you changed the router over:
<img src="http://community.plus.net/visualradius/generated/image13899543033798.png"/>
Looks like the router you're using is very good on lines with a lot of noise on them.

[#6]

Looks like it got fixed sometime in the last hour (I was busy cooking). Back up to normal speed; fingers crossed it will stick. It didn't!
Now we can watch Sherlock! No we couldn't, although it tried for a while. thought it just needed time to settle in again.
If 'twas Plusnet that sorted it, thanks, if not, thanks anyway.
Since this is my hundredth post here, I'll finish on a positive:
The only connection issues I have ever had have been BT/Exchange related. PN, despite me really hating having to do the usual tests when BT mess things up, has always been great.

[#7]

I spoke too soon. Speed is back down to almost none-existant. Not fixed yet then.
BT Speedtest now at only 1.5Mb (and nowhere near that real-world), half of what it was yesterday  
Thinkbroadband shows a slightly truer picture with 0.6Mbps down; less than my upload speed which seems unaffected  
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html?id=139000260368446299212
This feels like I'm back on dial-up 

[#8]

i would look at congestion most of +net seems to be under strain atmo

[#9]

Nah - it's too bad for congestion, unless they have lost a big pipe and are using a serial link between a couple of WIC-1Ts as backup; and aren't telling anyone and hoping we don't notice.
I've just reconfigured my router to allow the BT TAP 3 test - 0.3Mbps download      and about 1Mbps upload (that's normal).
Still can't get the technicolour to connect; broadband light goes steady for 20 seconds, then starts flashing away again.
All this just to catch up with the last episode of Sherlock!
10:1 it's BT again, or some moron with a floor saw and a backhoe.

[#10]

Oh oh...
I knew I was pushing my luck calling support. They said something about increasing my S/N ratio margin.
Now I'm syncing a good 3Mbps lower than ever before, and still not much change in my actual download rate.
My connection (apart from exchange issues) has been great without being fiddled with for years. Please can it be put back how it was? Or is it something that will gradually adjust itself back to where it was? It's obviously not the root cause of the issue.
(not that it makes a difference right now though... it's not exactly the limiting factor!)
Oh, and I was impressed by being answered immediately that the message, "the waiting time is over an hour," had finished. Quite caught me off guard that did!

[#11]

Glad you got through quickly, our records are showing you're now connected for over 2 days at a speed just over 17Mb which - if it's the same from your end of things - bodes very well indeed. Hoping that's the case?

[#12]

Yeah thanks, whatever it was seems to have settled down. I was giving it a few days before saying it was OK because every time I've said that before now it's gone bad again. Hope I haven't just jinxed it... lol.