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[pharaoh]

I've had nothing but problems since I switched from BT to Plusnet in November 2017. I genuinely believe this is a coincidence and to be fair to Plusnet they are doing everything they can to resolve this but I don't think OR are taking this seriously.

I was hoping someone can have a look at my router stats (username: pharaoh) and make sense of what is going on with my line. The Upload SNRM is all over the place and the difference between Attainable and Actual speeds is very high. I don't know what my options are since the download speed is within the range provided by Plusnet when I signed up but no such assurances were given regarding upload speed. Does that mean they can get away with ridiculously low upload speeds.?

- I am 807 metres from the (Huawei) cabinet.
- No phone extensions in my home, only master socket installed by an OR engineer about five years ago - recently replaced with new faceplate (MK4)
- Previously I was getting a stable connection at: 40-44Mbps DOWN and 8-9Mbps UP
- Now, my speeds are 33Mbps Down/2Mbps Up
- g.Inp currently disabled but I remember it being active on my line when I was with BT.
- I have tried Plusnet One Hub, BT Smart Hub, Huawei HG612 and finally settled for Zyxel VMG1312-B10A with same result

Whilst I could live with 33Mbps download speed my main issue is the upload speed. Currently, it looks like it has been capped (banded) at 2Mbps because of problems on my line which Plusnet have confirmed to be near my home but definitely not inside the house because I have used four different routers all plugged into the test socket and replaced cables and filters many times. There are times when upload speed can go down to 500kbps. This is unacceptable, I am an IT engineer and work from home most days, this involves uploading large amount of data on daily basis. I have reached a point when it is affecting my work.

I've had three engineers over since January, the first one noticed that it was taking my router 4-5 minutes to 'retrain'. He managed to fix this by changing the fibre port in the cabinet. But that didn't fix the problem with my broadband speeds.

The other two times engineer turned up and did nothing apart from resetting the line (DLM reset). In his first visit he told me that he is aware of an issue in the area, OR are dealing with it and everything should be fixed in couple of days.

Two weeks later Plusnet called me with an update and it was them who insisted on sending an engineer over again as the issue has not been fixed yet, they could still see a problem on my line. In his second visit the same engineer turned up and repeated what he said the first time but he assured me that there are few other engineers on my road who are investigating one of my neighbouring property the are suspecting as the source of REIN which is affecting many other users not just me. Again, he said it should be resolved by the following week which of course didn't happen.

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.


pharaoh

[j0hn]

Plusnet can now request a DLM reset without needing to send an engineer.

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,21116.msg366165.html#msg366165

This should remove the banding on the upstream, and help kick G.INP in to returning (it's usually a couple days after a reset.

[burakkucat]

Welcome to the Kitz forum. 

A few years ago, if someone told me that they were regularly attaining 33/2 Mbps DS/US I would strongly suspect that they were provisioned on the Openreach 40/2 product. I wonder if that is what has occurred to your circuit when the migration took place?

Which product were you on with BT Consumer and on which product were you supposed to be provisioned with Plusnet?

[pharaoh]

Plusnet can now request a DLM reset without needing to send an engineer.

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,21116.msg366165.html#msg366165

This should remove the banding on the upstream, and help kick G.INP in to returning (it's usually a couple days after a reset.

I had this done three times already, the line starts in fastpath mode for a day or two then due to high number of ES's the DLM intervenes by applying interleaving and then the same thing happens, upload SNRM becomes erratic (between 6 and 18 for most of the time). There are rare occasions when modem syncs at reasonable upload speed around 8Mbps Up but this only lasts a few minutes as the following resync brings it down again. After a week my upload speeds is capped at around 2Mbps. This appears to be the only level at which the Error seconds can be contained but I know for a fact that the line can sustain much higher speeds.

[pharaoh]

Welcome to the Kitz forum. 

A few years ago, if someone told me that they were regularly attaining 33/2 Mbps DS/US I would strongly suspect that they were provisioned on the Openreach 40/2 product. I wonder if that is what has occurred to your circuit when the migration took place?

Which product were you on with BT Consumer and on which product were you supposed to be provisioned with Plusnet?

BT: Infinity 1 - I think it was 50/10 (but definitely not 2M up)

Plusnet: Unlimited Fibre Extra 76/10

There is definitely something wrong with my line, could be REIN interference like the OR engineer said but how do I confirm what he said. Can I contact OR directly or they only deal with ISPs?

[Black Sheep]

BT: Infinity 1 - I think it was 50/10 (but definitely not 2M up)

Plusnet: Unlimited Fibre Extra 76/10

There is definitely something wrong with my line, could be REIN interference like the OR engineer said but how do I confirm what he said. Can I contact OR directly or they only deal with ISPs?

It can only have been a 40/10 .... or a 55/10. 

You can only deal with your ISP, I'm afraid.

[burakkucat]

BT: Infinity 1 - I think it was 50/10 (but definitely not 2M up)

Plusnet: Unlimited Fibre Extra 76/10

Thank you. From that information, the Openreach products would be 55/10 and 80/20 Mbps DS/US.

There is definitely something wrong with my line, could be REIN interference like the OR engineer said but how do I confirm what he said.

I'll suggest that you take a look at this page on the main site and see if that helps you.

Can I contact OR directly or they only deal with ISPs?

Unless you have been given a contact name / telephone number for a specific purpose, it will be very difficult. Openreach will normally communicate via its customers, the ISPs and CPs.

[pharaoh]

Thank you all for your replies.

I have another question, can modem stats give an indication as to the cause of interference? My modem stats can be found at https://www.mydslwebstats.co.uk/Container.htm under the username pharaoh.

Here is the test result from Plusnet:

[kitz]

A DLM reset isn't really going to solve the issue because although there's only a few days data on MDWS, it looks like the line may frequently exceed the MBTE.

The upstream SNRM variance on that line is absolutely dreadful. Its almost constantly swinging between 18.5dB & 6dB and several times per day dropping to 0dB.

Without doubt there is a fault on that line which needs investigating by Openreach. 

 - QLN is messy in lower frequencies D1.   Upstream bands show some interesting dish shapes with quite steep sides.
 - Hlog is also interesting in U2.   Its like nothing is there after ~tone 2300. The floor is that low, its dropped right off the graph.  Yet ~tone 2800+ looks fine... so its no wonder the upstream speed is so low.
 - SNR/Tone shows U2 as problematic and at 0dB probably indicating that since sync, your modem has marked tones in the whole band as unavailable for use  (hlog at sync time showed 2000-2200 as OK)


QLN and Hlogs are only a snapshot in time taken when the modem syncs whereas SNRM is a continual monitor.  From the stats I can't quite decide if its REIN or some type of HR fault.  SNRM looks like REIN.  Hlog could indicate HR fault.  QLN is showing possible RFI in D1, but that isn't your main issue.

I can't believe that the Openreach engineer has fobbed you off - although saying that what happened at 14.45 this afternoon as its been stable since then.

[burakkucat]

I have taken a look via MDWS and note that your user name, pharaoh, is followed by gV . The lower case g signifies that G.998.4 (G.Inp) has been active on the circuit in the past but is currently not applied. The upper case V is interesting for, if I am remembering correctly, it signifies that G.993.5 (G.Vector) has been configured.

That SNRM plot clearly shows that the circuit is defective. It shows the effect of a poor joint . . . either intermittent contact, semi-conductive or high resistance. Have you performed a Quiet Line Test? (Initiate a call to 17070 and take the relevant option from the menu so offered.) The circuit should be completely quiet -- no clicks, crackles, buzzes, hums, hisses or overhearing of other connections.

The Hlog plot does not indicate any obvious defect other than show that the US2 band is deficient. The QLN plot hints that the circuit may be showing poor AC balance and, as a result, significant RFI is present in the DS1 band. The poor AC balance can be the result of a defective joint.

Finally the KBD, from Plusnet, is quite clear. The first three lines are significant and that is what Plusnet should be urging Openreach to resolve --

Test Outcome                 Fail
Test Outcome Code       GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_1624
Description                     Impairment in copper joint detected most likely close to customer premises.
                                      Please continue to submit a trouble report.

[konrado5]

Could you attach your SNRM, Hlog and QLN?

[burakkucat]

Could you attach your SNRM, Hlog and QLN?

Privately, I have sent you copies of the CRC, FEC, Hlog, QLN & SNRM plots from the relevant time period.

If you have a problem in setting up a MDWS account, to view other people's statistics, please let Tony know. I am sure he will try to help.

[konrado5]

burakkucat: Thank you very much.
I have blank site when I open http://mydslwebstats.co.uk

Best regards
konrado5

[Black Sheep]

The upper case V is interesting for, if I am remembering correctly, it signifies that G.993.5 (G.Vector) has been configured.

That would tie-in with the OP stating it takes a while for the router to train up .................... all vectored circuits take longer than non-vectored circuits to attain synch ...... one Cab on my patch is notoriously slow taking over 5mins to acquire a connection !!!

[pharaoh]

When I was with BT I used to check my modem stats occasionally, out of curiosity rather than necessity and I remember both g.INP and Vectoring being enabled on my line.

No such luck since the switch to Plusnet, unfortunately.  I suspect neither will be activated as long as issues on my line are not resolved.
Anyway, I got a phone call from Plusnet support staff yesterday who in response to the last weeks engineer visit did another test and he could still see a fault on the line just like before, basically nothing was done. No surprise there, I wasn’t expecting a miracle.  The guy was very helpful and understanding, he insisted on another engineer visit before escalating this further with OR. So, an engineer was booked for today.

Two guys turned up at my door, on was a trainee and the other seemed more knowledgeable then the previous ones I had dealings with. He went through the motions, tested the line, all was OK but he told me he just came from another house on my street and that customer was experiencing similar issues as me, if not worse.  Also, other customers all of whom were being served by the same cabinet are having similar issues.  According to him most if not all fibre ports in my cabinet are faulty, OR are well aware and the plan was to replace them eventually. He couldn’t say how long it will take so I didn’t press the issue any further. The last thing he did was to reset DLM which intervened in couple of hours and enabled Interleaving on the download side due to high number of Error Seconds.

To me, faulty fibre port makes more sense (as opposed to REIN excuse) as it coincides with the issue I had initially with the modem taking a long time to retrain after a resync. That was resolved by moving my line to another fibre port. It’s been three months since I first reported the problem and OR seem to be aware of this but why it’s taking them so long to fix this especially since it must be affecting hundreds of customers.

In a couple of days, Plusnet will have no choice but to escalate this with OR. I don’t know what that means in terms of expediting the repairs to the cabinet if indeed that is where the fault is.