Bad start for plusnet, but the situation is improving

[scaryjim]

Hmm, not yet - might have a go tomorrow. It did say one working day so I'm not too fussed at the minute.

One thing I'm not overjoyed with, however, is that tonight my download's tanked - it's testing at between 5.5 and 8Mbps. I'm paying extra for the Pro add-on that's meant to prioritise my web browsing traffic so I should be getting line speed. Need to ring plusnet and find out what the score is with that - if standard browsing is managed even when you're on Pro there's not a lot of point in me paying extra for it, tbh...

On the plus side, upload's stable between 1.6 and 1.7, which I guess is probably enough to run some simple websites over - so even if they don't bump everyone to 40/10, or I decide the 80/20 isn't worth keeping, I should be able to bag off my VPS and run myself a little home server. Must order that static IP address

[Biscuit]

i did a check today and im at



Did you ask to be part f the router trial aswell? I got a Zyxel and its pretty good, coverage seems to be better than my D-Link and the features are similar enough for me to be happy.

[scaryjim]

Hmmm, didn't ask about the router trial, but I'd've thought the standard netgear should cope with 80/20, shouldn't it? It's ethernet both sides, after all...

I'm pretty sure that Pro doesn't prioritise standard web browsing any more - my speedtests in the evening are all hitting between 5 and 8mbps, jumping back up to 37mbps after ~ 11pm. Bit frustrating - I'll have to ring them to confirm - but if that is the case then I may as well ditch the add on and save myself a fiver. As to the 80/20 trial, my email on Friday lunchtime said it could take a working day to activate, so I won't start kicking up a fuss unless I'm not getting the new speed on Mondya evening.

[Biscuit]

Indeed it does but the zyxel i have has the full 300Mbps wireless N and gigabit ports aswell as better management options.

I havent noticed any of the throttling you seem to be getting. :/

[scaryjim]

Hmmm, can't see is being a line problem since I'm getting 36ish the rest of the time! Could be contention at the exchange, I suppose, but I thought the whole point of FTTC was to reduce the effect of that.

Thing is it always seems to hit between 4pm and midnight which are the "peak times" that plusnet say they "manage" traffic during. Did you do many evening speedtests before you got bumped onto the trial, or where you pretty much straight on? It could be that triallists don't get managed. But if that's the case then I *definitely* don't need the Pro add on at the minute...

[Biscuit]

i did quite a few tests and never really noticed any significant drop. I think i got a couple of tests dropping as low as 30 but i have never speed tested lower than that i dont think.

Il run some checks tomorrow evening (if i remember) and il see how much it changes.

[scaryjim]

Looks like it's definitely contention to me - just retested now and I'm getting 16mbps to Liverpool and Leeds, only 10mbps to Manchester. Looks like Manchester's hitting saturation for broadband provision I strongly suspect that if I run some more tests after midnight I'll be back up to 37mbps...

EDIT:
Hmmm - my interwebs went down very briefly at midnightish. And now I'm getting this:


So, I'm not on the 80/20 trial yet, but I am getting 40/10? Wonder if this is the general upgrade Bob was hinting at earlier...

RE-EDIT:
Just retested and got 43mbps down! I guess the 80/20 trial's been activated overnight and the speed will just inch up over the next few hours as they test the line stability.

[Krakkenbus]

You lucky guys! I applied for the trial late last week and I'm not lucky enough to have had a response yet. I bet it's not enabled in NI yet. Fingers crossed anyway.

EDIT:
Just got an email from plusnet, trial starting within 1 day, score!

[Biscuit]

Make sure to post up some speed tests!

[Krakkenbus]

Hopefully my speed will increase!

[Biscuit]

try again later tonight but do give it a few days before assuming anything permanent about your . Im pretty stable at:


at the moment... its lovely

[scaryjim]

I've yet to see more than 45 down and 10 up, and tonight I'm stuck on < 20 down. Clearly contention is a serious issue in some areas of the country: I don't think I'm going to see better than those speeds somehow...

[Biscuit]

how far are you from the cabinet? Maybe that just the best your line can handle?

[pp05]

Try speed test sites other than speedtest.

In the past my internet would be very slow, I would go on speedtest and see 8mb download reported. When I tried other sites with speed test tools they reflected more what my internet experience was like.

[scaryjim]

BT speedchecker reckons my line profile downstream is only ~ 46mbps anyway, but the upstream's showing as 20mbps: I'm only getting half of that (very consistently, mind you). The evening slow downs just *have* to be contention, since in non-peak times I'm getting close to line speed and the speed fluctuates significantly. Also during very busy times I can get faster downloads testing against e.g. Liverpool or Leeds as opposed to Manchester...

Broadbandspeedchecker gives me lower results both ways, and their upload test is far too short to get a reasonable picture IMNSHO - it completes in < 1s on my line which means that the latency is going to become an influencing factor.

I'll wait to see what happens with general uploads on plusnet - I'd like the ~ 10mbps up really, but if my line isn't going to get me much more than 45mbps down it's not worth paying for an 80/20 service. Odd thing is I'm only a few hundred yards from the street cabinet - I'd've expected my line to get a higher IP profile than 46....

[Biscuit]

well to put it into perspective, im probably under 100m from my cabinet and the cables go through some questionable cabling up to my 1st floor flat and i drop from maximum of 80 to just under 70 in the best conditions.
On 40mb i was getting around 36-37.