What's going on with PN?

[#1]

I thought everyone ought to know the following saga.
I was happy with the speeds I had until Last Saturday (12/03) when upload speed dropped drastically and now from last Sunday (13/03) the upload speeds have been gradually dropping.  My IP profile used to be 1750 (with download speed achieved to be 1600).  Currently the IP profile has dropped to 1500.  The actual download speed today (using speedtester.bt.com it has dropped down to 993kbps. 
I had raised a ticket # 40717652 on 12/03.  I was told that the support team after carrying out some test will report back to me within 48 hours.  48 hours are up, but no update from the support team except that they have escalated the issue.
So, I am wondering what's going on with PN as far as download/upload speeds are concerned.  I thought I was going to have stable speeds of around 1600 kbps and I was quite happy with that.  Now I am really UNHAPPY  >:(.  Can someone at PN please enlighten me, please.
No wonder people are gatting cheesed off.

[#2]

Hi Chandu,
I've got a member of our faults team looking at t his now for you so expect a reply ASAP.
I'm sorry you've been waiting a couple of days but that is a reflection of our average response times at the moment.

[#3]

Thanks Adam.
I just had a disconnection a couple minutes ago.  Is it to do with the tests being carried out?
Regards.

[#4]

Hi chandu,
It might have been the tests but by the same token it could have been a dropping connection that's causing the slow speed. I can see we've booked an engineer for you for Friday afternoon, hopefully that'll get things sorted for you.

[#5]

Hi Matt,
Thanks and I am looking forward to the engineer's visit, so that it is sorted for good.

[#6]

Hi Chandu,
Without wanting to sound negative it's worth bearing in mind that the engineer visit might not be the final step and may not fix it for good. Such visits are usually excersises in fault finding and information gathering. However if the engineer does find the cause and can fix the issue there and then they should be doing that.

[#7]

As mentioned elsewhere on the forums I had a BT engineer visit last Tuesday.  He was with me about an hour.  he found the problem was water in the cabling outside which he repaired and everything is now fine.

[#8]

Good, that just goes to show that sometimes SFI engineers are able to resolve a fault on the first visit.
I'm basically setting an expectation this sometimes is the case, but not always.

[#9]

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_

Without wanting to sound negative it's worth bearing in mind that the engineer visit might not be the final step and may not fix it for good.

Thanks Adam.  I will bear that in mind; and hope that he can sort it on his first visit.

[#10]

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_

Hi Chandu, I'm sorry you've been waiting a couple of days but that is a reflection of our average response times at the moment.

So rather than reducing as was promised, the response times are actually getting longer

[#11]

No, some days they are increased, some days they are shorter. We never claimed to fix that overnight but it is a situation we're throwing all we can at.

[#12]

I actually think there are major problems at Plusnet at the moment. My speed has dropped from 7mb to dial up speeds at times, but typically 0.5mb this week. When I call the helpdesk I am on hold for ages despite the call stats stating I was next in the queue. I am currently on hold for 20 minutes yet the call stats page has not been updated since 5.45pm. I have, after 5 1/2 years decided to go the the truly unlimited broadband usage that Sky is offering for a mere £7.50 per month. Sorry to go as only ever had broadband with plusnet, but I really should have done it sooner as their customer service and support have always been on a level with Orange mobile customer services, and if anyone has ever had to call them, you know exactly what I mean!
Do yourselves a favour guys and get out of this one man support desk and pay for a service which is truly worth it.

[#13]

@ Adam,
Hello,
Yes, the BT Openreach Engineer has been this afternoon.  The Tech guys at PN have already been informed via the ticket.
1) Line test from Master socket to Exchange, okay but he was not happy with line-noise.  Did the Speed Test with his Gadget.  Result Bismal.  Also, he had attached 20dB attenuator between master socket and his speed gadget (effectively increasing the line length) - NO Sync.  He also established through his gadget that the physical length of line from exchange to my master socket is about 4.6 Km.
2) Changed the BT face Plate with current Openreach Face plate and removed Ring Wires and then carried out Speed Test.  Result much better speeds and  slight drop in Line-noise. Speeds constant at 3.5M/0.36M (down/up).
3) Checked speeds at the router connected to BT installed extension, with his speed gadget.  Result no loss in speed as compared with one achieved at master socket.  His comment - Very Good Quality of Cabling.  My response was: it ought to be as it was installed by BT at a hefty price.
4) After the Engineer left and while I was writing to inform the PN Tec guys, I had temporarily lost the sync.  Would be very interested to know why this happened.
5) Just done a speed check using speedtest.net.  No improvement in speed.
So, now where does it take us from here?
Will appreciate your feedback.

[#14]

Quote from: chandu

5) Just done a speed check using speedtest.net.  No improvement in speed. So, now where does it take us from here? Will appreciate your feedback.

Didn't you know all BT engineers carry a "magic box" which in essence is a box with a pair of wires and crocodile clips attached.
Prior to every fault call they nip to the cabinet attach the croc clips to your pair in the cabinet, turn up at your place and hey presto 20m download speeds even at 4.6 km from the exchange and no fault found.
They then disappear back to the cabinet spend 3/4 of an hour filling in the paperwork just to make you think you've got a result, quickly remove the said "magic box" and disappear at 100mph.................................hey presto line speeds back to 0.35m download.

Although Tic n Tac's engineers have obviously lost even this basic "tool of the trade"

[#15]

I was surprised just how much info the BT engineer got from his little box when he called. See post #6. Since his visit I have regularly been getting 6.3Mb download.