Plusnet Issue

mysticsniper · 23 Aug 2006 at 12:39

I wouls like some advice as I am sure I have just been given the brush off with a question I have put to Plusnet. The question is asked them was as follows:

Dear sir/ madam,

I have moved home in May this year. I updated my details with you and I was informed the because my package is the Broadband Premier at £21.99 a month, I would be upgrading to an 8Mb connection from 2.2Mb. it has been about 3 months since the testing was completed as I could tell because in the testing period, my line was up to around the 5Mb+ mark. Since then my speed has been around the 3.4Mb and nothing higher, and after 21:00 every night this then drops to 2.5Mb. These speeds are nothing like the 'upto 8Mb' that your comapany said it would deliver, and TBH its not even half way. I was told in an earlier email that if my line could not reach these speeds then my monthly bill would be reduced to compensate the loss of speed connection.

Regards

The is is answer I recieved from Plusnet

Our records show that your current expected Data Transfer Rate is [ 2272 ]

During the life of your product BT will periodically alter your download speed
to what they consider your line to be capable of at the time. This can happen
due to fluctuations in noise and the consequent reductions or improvements to
the quality of your line as a result of this.

From time to time your equipment may report a significantly higher sync rate
than this. This is not necessarily an issue as it can take BT a number of days
to upgrade your download speed after a period of deterioration. In these
instances we suggest you reboot your equipment once a day for a period of 5 days
to allow your connection to retrain.

Customers on ‘Up to 8Mb’ should note that Broadband DSL Max is a rate-adaptive
technology, and that data throughput (BRAS Data Rate) will vary dynamically
according to technical issues affecting your line speed. Customer Support will
not be able to influence this value where the data rate is not a ‘fault’. If
you believe you are experiencing a broadband fault, please use the Fault
self-test tool via the Help Assistant. This will allow you to run some basic
tests and raise a fault if required.

It should also be noted that Maximum Stable Rate (MSR) is a value determined
during the initial 10 day period after Max is provided, and is used as a
benchmark for future fault investigation. This value is NOT a guarantee of
consistent speeds. Please read the ‘Get Ready for High-speed Broadband’ page
for further details.

The speed at which your modem or router connects to your broadband connection is
known as your SYNC Rate. This is independent of the BRAS data transfer rate
(throughput).

Regards,
Chris Parr

Your thoughts please :confused:

tolien · 23 Aug 2006 at 12:42

They are mostly right. You aren't guaranteed 8Mbps, and you're certainly not guaranteed 8Mbps of IP throughput (indeed, it's impossible).
Their expected throughput sounds like they think you're still on home2000 though.

Where are you getting your speed from though? The stats page on a router? Posting the rest of the stats might be a good idea.

mysticsniper · 23 Aug 2006 at 12:56

I wasn't expecting to get the full 8Mb (but it would be nice too) But I do expect to at least get half way to that, and especially when I am paying full whack for it.

RX data rate 3072 Kbps

TX data rate 448 Kbps

PlusNet Speed Test

Your current speed is:

1.81 Mbps

Which means you can download at 231.29 KB/sec. from our servers.

tolien · 23 Aug 2006 at 13:10

Even if you sustain that sync rate till the end of time, you're only going to get ~2.5Mbps.

This (courtesy of AAISP) is a good read.

Got attenuation/SNR margin? What router are you using?

mysticsniper · 23 Aug 2006 at 13:20

But this does mean that I am paying too much money for what I am getting. So it would proberbly better then if I moved to another SP as i know that I cannot get the high speeds, which should cost me less than what I am paying now

All I am using is the BT Voyager 105 that was supplied by Plusnet when I signed up with them.

tolien · 23 Aug 2006 at 15:25

Chuck the USB modem and get a router then. You might see an increase in both throughput and sync speed.

As for paying too much, I'd doubt you'll find an ISP that cares what speed your at rather than how much you're transferring. The wonders of the CBC BT Central pricing scheme.

mysticsniper · 23 Aug 2006 at 15:40

tolien said:
Chuck the USB modem and get a router then. You might see an increase in both throughput and sync speed.

As for paying too much, I'd doubt you'll find an ISP that cares what speed your at rather than how much you're transferring. The wonders of the CBC BT Central pricing scheme.

So what router do you suggest I purchase then. Its been a very long time since I used any routers and they were Cisco ones, which I knew back then were very expensive to buy.

benjo plz. · 23 Aug 2006 at 15:42

Any ADSL router tbh, but I *think* it's Zyxel that people are saying most.

tolien · 23 Aug 2006 at 15:43

I'm still using a Cisco, and there's a few others on this forum doing the same.
I'd suggest searching this forum.

mysticsniper · 23 Aug 2006 at 15:55

tolien said:
I'm still using a Cisco, and there's a few others on this forum doing the same.
I'd suggest searching this forum.

K, am gonna have a look around and see what is the best for me.

I am wondering that because my phone box is downstairs and my computer is setup in the spare bedroom would there be any signal degredation at all, as its about 14ft away in total from each connection point :confused:

tolien · 23 Aug 2006 at 15:59

Ideally, you connect to (and filter at) the master socket and have no extensions connected to the ADSL side other than a (short, good quality) bit of cable to the modem.
If nothing else, it's worth a shot disconnecting all your extensions (if you've got any), and hooking up to the master socket with a short bit of cable.

You'll find instructions for getting stats out of the BT Voyager 105 here (also in the FAQ).

mysticsniper · 23 Aug 2006 at 16:19

tolien said:
Ideally, you connect to (and filter at) the master socket and have no extensions connected to the ADSL side other than a (short, good quality) bit of cable to the modem.
If nothing else, it's worth a shot disconnecting all your extensions (if you've got any), and hooking up to the master socket with a short bit of cable.

You'll find instructions for getting stats out of the BT Voyager 105 here (also in the FAQ).

All I have is the filter and the phone line then the long cable as my system is upstairs. I think that this will be attributing to my connection issue

Even if i put another socket on the wall upstairs this won't help me out much will it :confused: