The Plusnet curse?

[#1]

Right, ok, and thank you for answering the questions -  Oh wait, you haven't yet 
Ok, so an engineer, and they will be doing what again? 
This has dragged on for long enough, and it really isn't funny any more, I can't even think about being witty  It is proof that Plusnet have actually lost it, and Plusnut are just nothing more than a nicer version of BT, we get a better contact of support, we don't get better support - things are sliding down hill very quickly, proof in the most recent topics in the feedback forum. 
Please at least answer some of the questions I have put down, especially the router related ones! I don't like being blind on the stats!  Thank you for posting the pretty things in ticket support.
If I knew jumping ship would work - without effecting line net and freinds and family we'd have jumped by now - 
Will write something more when I can have a little humour about things, currently feeling angry, discontented, upset, frustrated - I should be mellow, and happy, and thrilled with your answers and advice and empathy - 
grrr!

[#2]

Hi ticntac,
As far as I can see I've answered all the questions in this post, if I've missed something then by all means please point out what it is and I'll answer them for you.
I can see you did put

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Router? Line?

at this stage we are still in the process of narrowing down the cause of the issue so we can't as much as we'd like to, give you a definitive answer.
Hows things going with the D-Link? I ask as that's our route (no pun intended) to rule out/identify the router as a cause of the problem. In my honest opinion I don't believe it is but it's still worth ruling out so we can be more certain about that. Just to answer another question raised on your ticket, yes the connection speeds are slow due to the disconnections you are seeing at the moment.
As noted on your ticket the engineer should be checking the drop cable for you (this is the cable between your premises and the local telegraph, that's if your line has one as not all of them do) . They should also be performing an engineer co-op with the REIN team (team that deals with faults caused by interference)  and finally a lift and shift at the exchange to move your line on to a different port of the line card that it's currently jumpered to.
I'm sorry you're feeling the way you do about this, we'll keep supporting you the best we can through this, if you believe we're not doing that do let us know. Unless you need to get back to us in the meantime I'll check the engineer's notes following the visit we have booked in for tomorrow.
Adam

[#3]

Sorry to jump in, but I thought it was worth raising,
Have these engineers been booked for extended visits, or just the standard 2 hours where there isn't enough time to do anything?
If not, I know what I'd be doing next time the engineers are sent out ...

[#4]

avatastic,
No problem, we can't request an engineer for an 'extended visit' that can only be requested by another engineer. The way things should go is that we request an engineer visit and if like in this case we give them some specific tasks and checks to perform, if they then cannot complete that work within 2 hours they should add to their notes that a further visit would be needed with TRC banding (no time limit) that then allows us to book another engineer without the time restriction.
Hope that explains it.
Adam.

[#5]

That certainly explains a lot Adam. I'd not be surprised if there wasn't a memo that went round BTo saying "conveniently forget to say you can't complete and a TRC banding visit is needed on your reports", I'll duck out now however  

[#6]

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Hows things going with the D-Link?

Wireless side is great with the upgrade, but being blind on stats is annoying, I like to see the figures and stats even if half the time they mean nothing, I still enjoy seeing them, and it makes a nice reference.  We now have 4 hubs - as you could see in the picture, 2 Thomsons, 1 Evil Hub V2, and the D-Link - D-Link is behaving no different to any other hub - so............I guess we can rule out the routers, maybe?  A nice proper one would be nice 

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As noted on your ticket the engineer should be checking the drop cable for you (this is the cable between your premises and the local telegraph, that's if your line has one as not all of them do) .

Please read the my posts, you'll see we go through conduit inside a wall, under a block paved driveway to the BT j/box at the bottom of the drive way, we do have a pole, and a wire, but that was internal BT maintained, useage was classified, and from what I know, the cable is no longer routed underground. 

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They should also be performing an engineer co-op with the REIN team (team that deals with faults caused by interference)  and finally a lift and shift at the exchange to move your line on to a different port of the line card that it's currently jumpered to.

Said that last time, and the time before, we've had lots of rain, but no rein, and we've had two lift and shifts now? Or is that 3? I forget 

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I'm sorry you're feeling the way you do about this, we'll keep supporting you the best we can through this, if you believe we're not doing that do let us know. Unless you need to get back to us in the meantime I'll check the engineer's notes following the visit we have booked in for tomorrow.

You are always sorry, and I'm sure you are sincere with it, maybe not, you too must be infected with BT  but sorry isn't cutting it anymore, this has dragged on and on and on  it sucks, and it makes plusnet suck, (although I notice that domain has already been registered, and is on a plusnet dns server? ::))
I am letting you know  how much more letting you know do I need to do to let you know that I'm letting you know that you know?  only I could spout that out during typing 
I shall see what happens tomorrow, wish I could set up a live webcam and everyone could log in and watch then! 


going to hit the post button

[#7]

Hi TicnTac,
A lift and shift has been mentioned before and recommended by BT engineers in the case of your fault but one has not been done yet this is why I'm sticking by my guns on that point, REIN checks have also been mentioned and really should not be overlooked as we don't want to miss what could be causing this fault.
With regards to routers we can certainly agree that you've done what you can in relation to that, we don't have any other types of hardware we can send you I'm afraid but I would be interested to know when you had the D-link connected up, this is just so I can check your connection logs during those times to see if the patterns or durations of any disconnections differ from your other hardware.
So there's not really anything more we need to do at this stage other than wait for the outcome of tomorrow's visit, I will be waiting with baited breath as I'm sure you will be and I'll make sure we contact you afterwards.

[#8]

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Hi TicnTac,

Hello Adam (came across another Adam Walker, producer of Nina and the Neurons) 

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A lift and shift has been mentioned before and recommended by BT engineers in the case of your fault but one has not been done yet this is why I'm sticking by my guns on that point, REIN checks have also been mentioned and really should not be overlooked as we don't want to miss what could be causing this fault.

But.............. grrrrrrrrrrr...........so why does phone & broadband vanish for a 5min slot normally after an engineer has been? Well let it REIN then, let us not over look anything - oh, by the way, can our profile get set to manual? Okay, so after we've been through this set of faults and engineers! 

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With regards to routers we can certainly agree that you've done what you can in relation to that, we don't have any other types of hardware we can send you I'm afraid

that sucks

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but I would be interested to know when you had the D-link connected up, this is just so I can check your connection logs during those times to see if the patterns or durations of any disconnections differ from your other hardware.

Hang on, I need to open up a new tab so I can check my post for when I told you when it was connected  Right back, « Reply #22 on 03/09/2010, 11:25 » that'll be when it was first plugged in and I first posted the stats, but as I said, the wireless was not stable, an upgrade fixed this, but the Router Stats are, well they aren't!  There has been two reboot / syncs. since. One reason because we were heading into dialup speed, in fact it has been like that this afternoon  Other than that the D-link has not been off, rebooted, or anything, lost connection a few times whilst been online.

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So there's not really anything more we need to do at this stage other than wait for the outcome of tomorrow's visit, I will be waiting with baited breath as I'm sure you will be and I'll make sure we contact you afterwards.

Oh, so nothing we can do..........again..........and another BT visit, and will anything get done? Is this an SFI visit, and what has this BT person been assigned to do this time? Hopefully not just plug and go - which has been the case before 
When will you be contacting us? Try the mobile before the landine first.
'ere we go again........
oh, and still not happy with Plusnet, and you skipped through my posts, otherwise you would have known exactly when your D-Link was connected up, it was even in the picture    Dude, come on, pleeeeeeeeeease!

[#9]

Hi TicnTac,
Sorry if it's annoying but if I'm not sure of something I will ask (re when the D--link was connected) I'd love to be able to memorise every point of every thread I respond to (would be a very useful skill) but I can't I'm afraid.
At the moment its not that we can't do anything to help at the moment, the only appropriate thing to do at the moment is to wait for the outcome of today's engineer visit.
Not sure what you mean by setting the profile to manual, if you are referring to a speed profile then there is no such thing I'm afraid so this will be subject to dynamic line management. Let me know if you have any more specific concerns about that or want me to discuss it in more detail

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But.............. Angry grrrrrrrrrrr...........so why does phone & broadband vanish for a 5min slot normally after an engineer has been?

I can see you're angry but can't understand why you're angry about this in particular, a lift and shift and REIN investigations haven't yet been done and could well resolve your fault. Let's leave no stone unturned. I'm confident that a L&S hasn't yet been done, some work on the tie-pairs has been done at the exchange, that could account for the downtime that you've mentioned.
Re when you had the D-link connected, a connection log of the past 7 days shows no improvement during that time, in fact it seems to have dropped out more so that rules out the chipset issue that Ben wanted to rule out with you:
Here's a spangly multicoloured swapshop style graph for you:
<img src="http://ccgi.psmith12.plus.com/visradius/generated/image12839432164108.png" />
As a follow on from today's visit either me or one of my colleagues on the fault team will give you a call to see how things went and discuss the next course of action that we can take.
PS mildly worried that you're spending time googling my name, that's not me in case you were wondering but you might find something about me by digging deeper.

[#10]

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Hi TicnTac,

Hey Adam

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Sorry if it's annoying but if I'm not sure of something I will ask (re when the D--link was connected) I'd love to be able to memorise every point of every thread I respond to (would be a very useful skill) but I can't I'm afraid.

But it was mentioned and quite important and I asked questions on it too - but fair enough, you can not remember everything I guess  

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At the moment its not that we can't do anything to help at the moment, the only appropriate thing to do at the moment is to wait for the outcome of today's engineer visit.

BT didn't come to visit!   They called to say they were changing the cards in the exchange, they weren't allowed to do it on the previous visits and requests, but this BT engineer has managed to get away with it   They were just "filling time" last time according to the engineer who spoke. We had a call just before 10am and they called at 11am to say things were back on, we had no phone or ADSL, I did knock them off making a call, they were still playing   That was just before 11am - so they didn't spend two hours, and they did not come to visit, this was all exchange work - apparently  

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IP Profile for your line is - 750 Kbps

get that bumped up would you please? Let's head back to the fours!

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Not sure what you mean by setting the profile to manual, if you are referring to a speed profile then there is no such thing I'm afraid so this will be subject to dynamic line management. Let me know if you have any more specific concerns about that or want me to discuss it in more detail

Saw a post in the feeback section about setting the IP Profile to manual instead of Automatic - hey ho not to worry   Havn't time to find and quote a post I'm afraid.

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Re when you had the D-link connected, a connection log of the past 7 days shows no improvement during that time, in fact it seems to have dropped out more so that rules out the chipset issue that Ben wanted to rule out with you:

Going to move back to Thomson #1 then, or might even use the Evil Hub V2 - dunno yet, need to wait for things to settle first I guess? Guess we'll be posting the test routers back at some point then?

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Here's a spangly multicoloured swapshop style graph for you:

Thank you, that looked pretty!  

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As a follow on from today's visit either me or one of my colleagues on the fault team will give you a call to see how things went and discuss the next course of action that we can take.

For heavens sake I hope it is you! Otherwise I will very dissapointed    

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PS mildly worried that you're spending time googling my name, that's not me in case you were wondering Wink but you might find something about me by digging deeper.

It is called having a 2 year old and Cbeebies - saw it in the credits, a name like Adam Walker stands out, especially as we share part of your name within our family!     Have Googled plusnet sucks, and plusnet quite a lot, but haven't been googling your name - although if I get bored it might be something to do, might even get to listen to your band if you've myspaced or youtubes yourselves!  
Will wait and hope for your call
got bored - oh this is an edit by the way

Well the above still sucks  really going to have to choose a statable router - Thomson I guess I can run rs on it.
Still waiting for your phone call 

[#11]

Hey,
I'm on the phone to our suppliers at the moment to get a more detailed breakdown before I give you a more detailed reply on here and call yourself.
Adam.

[#12]

As per when I called, I'm sorry that the engineers did not call you to say that they would not visit. That along with engineers claims that they 'weren't allowed' to do a lift and shift will be fed back to our suppliers as a complaint. Getting to this stage should not have taken as long as it has.
On the upside (which is what we hope at least) its now been done and your line has been up since around 11.20AM which is the point it completed. So we need to monitor the situation and see how things go from here.
With regards to speeds these should creep back up after you've been online for over 72 hours so we need to crack the intermittency issue before getting your line back up to its potential.
As far as the routers go I'm going to send out some postage paid returns bags so please watch out for those coming in the post over the next few days.
Adam

[#13]

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As per when I called, I'm sorry that the engineers did not call you to say that they would not visit. That along with engineers claims that they 'weren't allowed' to do a lift and shift will be fed back to our suppliers as a complaint. Getting to this stage should not have taken as long as it has.

Could have saved a lot of time and effort for everyone  BT at fault again 

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On the upside (which is what we hope at least) its now been done and your line has been up since around 11.20AM which is the point it completed. So we need to monitor the situation and see how things go from here.

Our first upside  that's a first - we'll wait and see, however I am going to change router, still not decided on which one yet, Thomson will give me router stats though, and that's a good thing, however the Evil Hub V2 does have better line attenuation and power, so not too sure yet, when did you say the new Draytech was coming? 

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With regards to speeds these should creep back up after you've been online for over 72 hours so we need to crack the intermittency issue before getting your line back up to its potential.

The golden 72 hours, well it'll be from just before midnight tonight when I change the router, just need to decide which one and get it sorted, I don't really need router stats, as nice as it is, so since the Evil Hub V2 is on top, might as well plug that one in for now? 

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As far as the routers go I'm going to send out some postage paid returns bags so please watch out for those coming in the post over the next few days.

Okay, no worries, they'll be packed up and back at ya, do not forget that the "getting hot Thomson" possible PSU, as it seemed to be ok on ours, must put the test meter on in just to see if it has an irregular output? Either that or the power module is breaking down on the main board inside the Thomson, which I guess would also effect the wireless and explain why that was dropping out, could even be that because it has been getting hot, it could be a dry joint going off, but since I've not delved into it (might google it to see) it is all speculation, and it is yours so you best do that bit not me! 
Thank you for the phone call - not the best of times to call but couldn't be helped!  ;), but it was a phone call and that was good You get a brownie point
Will update shortly..................

[#14]

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(might google it to see) it is all speculation, and it is yours so you best do that bit not me!

Did a google, and well the problamatic part is in the white circle, (the hot spot - also near the wireless side of things). Guess it might be useful for anyone wanting to make up a JTAG plug and solder some wires onto it to flash it and unlock it etc. 
Enjoy the pic!  

[#15]

Adam
Connected now (see logs your end). about 11:24pm - ish - had to walk to one side of the room and turn on netbook, boot up change wireless profile blah blah blah 
However

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Line state Connected Connection time 0 days, 0:03:49 Downstream 3,424 Kbps Upstream 443 Kbps ADSL settings VPI/VCI 0/38 Type PPPoA Modulation ITU-T G.992.3 Latency type Interleaved Noise margin (Down/Up) 6.0 dB / 15.4 dB Line attenuation (Down/Up) 57.5 dB / 35.6 dB Output power (Down/Up) 0.0 dBm / 13.0 dBm Loss of Framing (Local) 0 Loss of Signal (Local) 0 Loss of Power (Local) 0 FEC Errors (Down/Up) 0 / 0 CRC Errors (Down/Up) 33 / 2147480000 HEC Errors (Down/Up) nil / 0 Error Seconds (Local) 2

I can now do this
Although I'm on the Evil Hub V2
This isn't so good though 

In fact, it is pretty dire 
I know it's early days - however, thought I'd pounce now.

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Download Speed 595 Kbps 0 Kbps 7150 Kbps Max Achievable Speed Download speedachieved during the test was - 595 Kbps For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 1000-7150 Kbps. Additional Information: Your DSL Connection Rate :3424 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 443 Kbps(UP-STREAM) IP Profile for your line is - 3000 Kbps The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 28.05:27.11:44.84 (SBE:NBE:PBE) These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic. The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes. This test was not conclusive and further testing is required.This might be useful for your ISP to investigate the fault.

7150 please   
Will leave you to be a good CRT - or TFT, or it would have been so much easier if I just typed Monitor