Plusnet - ADSL speeds now a fifth of what they were.

elsmandino

I would be really grateful for some broadband advice.

I have ADSL broadband for many years and have always had speeds of around 4-5 Mbps.

I have used various websites that confirm what other speeds are in the area and other users seem to be getting significantly more than this - even so, I have always accepted 4-5 Mbps as acceptable.

I used Plusnet, without any issues, two years ago but changed to Talktalk, following a better deal. I moved back to Plusnet as of 5/7/17 and have noticed that my speeds have gradually declined.

I decided to do a speedcheck, last night and found out that I was getting just 0.85 Mbps.

I have eliminated that the ADSL filter and lead to the router are at fault, as I have tried swapping them with spares.

I have also tried turning the router off for 10 minutes and also resetting it - again not increase in speed.

I tried to use my old Plusnet router to see if that would connect, but I could not get it working at all.

What should I try next?

I tried looking at the BT master socket and the wire that runs out of my house to the overhead lines - it has definitely seen better days and I noticed that a plastic junction box had sprung open.

It was filled with a mass of spider webs, so I cleared that out and clicked it back in place - coincidence???

How can I try and narrow down what/where the issue is?

iniltous

I take it this plastic junction box where the lid had popped open was on the outside of the house ?, it's possible that moisture has got into it and caused a little corrosion on the contacts.
First thing to do is connect your router into the master socket test port to eliminate any internal wiring/sockets as the cause ( assuming your wiring is correct) ...if the speed is less than what your address should obtain, report it to your ISP, if there is an indication of a 'line' fault they should report it to Openreach to investigate

elsmandino

iniltous wrote: »

I take it this plastic junction box where the lid had popped open was on the outside of the house ?

Exactly right - I have no idea how long it has been open and only glad I noticed it before winter kicks in.

It seems to contain a mass of thin wires, connected with some old-looking connectors. I might have a look in there to check each connection and perhaps blow a bit of gentle hear from a hairdryer, just to make sure. Is it possible that my wiring is so old that that might explain that, even when I was getting the original speeds, it was that much lower than many other houses in the area?

I currently have one of these connected to the master socket (bit of faff as one of the pegs on the original face plate snapped off as it was in the way):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SURGE-PROTECTED-BROADBAND-INTERNET-FILTER/dp/B005ERFB12

I will do a bit more testing tonight and will indeed report to the ISP if things still do not improve.

Many thanks for your help.

iniltous

http://www.britishtelephones.com/bterm.htm
It could be a BT66, which can used to connect the cable from the DP (distribution point) to the 'lead in' cable that terminates on the rear of your master socket, they can have screw terminal inserts or sometimes crimped connectors, and can be affected by the water ingress (rain) .
I think a drop cable from the pole to the master socket should really be a single continuous cable, but historically it may have been faulty , but instead of replacing the complete drop wire they cut the faulty section out and use a block terminal to connect the old cable to the new section , or perhaps the master socket was moved .
..you could try dialling 17070 and take the quiet line test option, ( from the test socket) if the line is noisy/ crackly then that could indicate poor connections somewhere..a corded phone ( if you have one) is best when doing a quiet line test as DECT (cordless) phones can mitigate noise problems but whatever is causing the noise ( if there is noise) can also cause poor broadband performance.
if there is noise, it's not just the block on the wall that could be the issue but any point back toward the exchange or even within the exchange itself

teddysmum

OP your speeds are similar to ours, though we got over 6Mbps with Sky.


On joining PlusNet our speeds crashed accompanied by frequent dropouts and sometimes the 'speed' was below 1 and often too slow to allow a speed check to load.


Numerous phone calls followed (including 30 to 45 minute waits). Some staff said there didn't appear to be a problem , while others said they could see the fault and would do an adjustment, which worked for a short time.


There were the usual home tests of rebooting, using the master socket with cover off and cable; even unplugging the cordless phone between agreed times , so they could see if this made any difference (it didn't).


Eventually the dropouts were fixed but the speed was rarely above 4Mbps,so I decided to make do and change at the earliest opportunity (due soon).


However,someone on their forum , was making similar comments to yours and I replied as above.


Next day,one of their staff said he was sorry that I was thinking of leaving ,but had tweaked my setup.....The speed was an amazing (for them) 5.6 Mbps and has stayed above 5 ever since.


I obviously didn't pester enough at the time, as that seems the thing to do once you think the problem is not with your equipment.