Plusnet

[Sue]

Has anybody else been having problems recently with Plusnet?

I had always been very happy with it, but over the last few months it seems to be intermittently going down. Only for a short time each time, and not that frequently, but annoyingly.

Am wondering if it's my modem or whether it's a more general issue in the area?

I'm going to phone them, but thought I'd see first if anybody else was finding the same thing.

[Salsaboy]

They are part of BT so use the same network. If BT have problems, so do they.

[Millhaven]

I use them Sue, and haven't had any problem with them. Yet.

[Loz]

Have you tried changing the wireless channel, Sue? One of your neighbours might have a new router that's interfering with your signal.

[Sue]

Oh crumbs, thanks Loz, how do I change the wireless channel?

It was bad enough setting the damn thing up in the first place, even with instructions at the level a two year old could understand :))

[Loz]

For security reasons, I'll take it to PM, Sue.

[nashoi]

If you've got an Android phone try downloading the free "wifi analyzer" from the play store, it will show how strong all the competing signals are and which channel they're all on.

It will also help you position your router for the best coverage.

[Sue]

Thanks Loz and nashoi.

It's too late at night for my poor brain to try all this, but I'll be on it tomorrow.

In theory my router is supposed to give excellent coverage over my whole house, and I didn't have any problems until relatively recently.

[right-clicking]

Hi Sue,

I too have had plusnet connectivity issues of late, It seems to be an issue at their end rather than your router, If you cannot get the internet light to stay green, try restarting the router, unplug it for at least 10 seconds and restart it.

If it's a wi-fi issue do as nashoi suggests or use this tool https://www.acrylicwifi.com/en/wlan-software/wlan-scanner-acrylic-wifi-free/

If you have slow loading of web pages, then this is down to a few easy to resolve fixes, 1st look at your browsers settings, most will allow you to clear the cookie cache everytime you close the browser, and dig a little deeper to create a list of sites to be kept for frequently used sites. (white list).

Lastly all browsers use a directory to fetch the page your are "dialing" Domain Name System, These servers are allocated usually by your ISP (plusnet in your case) there are many providers and some get busy, a simple tool can find the fasted and allow you to change yours, I use google US and it's so much quicker than the one provided, here is a link to a simple tool, it does not install so you have to open the folder and click on the .exe file to run it.

http://www.sordum.org/7952/dns-jumper-v1-0-6/

Once all of this is done you'll get the best possible from your set up, remember a wired connection is always going to be faster than wi-fi.

hope this helps anyone who get frustrated with slow acting pc's!!

Right-Clicking

[Sue]

Thanks right-clicking, yes if the connection issue lasts longer than a minute or so I do always restart the router.

No way am I moving from wi-fi, wires trailing around drive me mad (der) !!

Thanks for the rest of the advice.

[DulwichFox]

I have BT Broadband. I was having terrible problems with loosing my connection 10 or more times a day.

Wireless connections can be affected by cordless phones being too close to the router.

I changed my WAN Connection Type from PPPoA to PPPoE and the problem has ceased.

PPPoA requires a Static IP Address . so every time your IP changes your router needs to be reset.

Your ISP will change your IP Address several times a day.

Foxy

[Sue]

Clear as mud, Foxy :))

And I thought ISPs only changed if you switched off your router? Isn't that how - for example - the people who run this forum could tell if somebody had two separate forum names but were using the same computer?

[DulwichFox]

Basically your IP Address could change every time you connect to the internet.

This is not the IP Address that identifies your PC.

You have 2 IP Addresses Local & External.

Your local IP address is what identifies your computer or device to the local network.

Your external/public IP address is what the rest of the internet sees.

Your Local IP never changes.

The External IP changes all the time and is allocated by your ISP Internet Service Provider.

Static Addresses that do not change are expensive and only available to business customers.

There simply is not enough addresses for everyone to have a static IP so they are shared.

Even though the number of addresses are 256 x 256 x 256 x 256 ... 4,294,967,296

Many of these are reserved leaving 3 billion + available for use.

Hope that helps

Foxy

[Loz]

I think that came under the heading of "too much information", Foxy.

[DulwichFox]

I was explain to Sue how it works.

it was in response to questions.

1. I thought ISPs only changed if you switched off your router?

2. Isn't that how - for example - the people who run this forum could tell if somebody had two

separate forum names but were using the same computer?

Ask a techy question I think Sue will understand.

DulwichFox

[Sue]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> Ask a techy question I think Sue will

> understand.

>

That would be along the lines of

Question: "Where is your router, Sue?"

Answer: "On the top of the bookshelf in the kitchen".

:))

[Loz]

Anyway, Foxy, you weren't quite right.

Your 'local' IP address can change... they are on DHCP lease the same as the ISP allocated 'external' one for the router. In reality, neither usually do change. Your local one won't change because you generally don't have enough devices to for the DHCP server to reallocate and you external one won't usually change as it will keep renewing the ISP DHCP lease providing you don't turn it off for any length of time.

The 'external' address is actually for the router, as it is the only piece of your hardware actually directly visible to the internet. So all devices behind a router will appear to the internet as the same IP address - the one assigned to the router. Your router is also the DHCP server for your home and assigns the internal addresses. Though you can actually use static internal addresses as well, internal addresses don't have to be dynamically assigned - I do this so I know that my NAS, for example, is on x.x.x.100 if I need to use an IP for it.

The router also has an internal address (aka NAT address), normally - but not always - 192.168.0.1. Internal/NAT addresses are always 10.x.x.x, 172.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x, as these addresses are not legal addresses on the wider internet - they are reserved for internal/NAT use.

Definitely too much information...!

[DulwichFox]

I understand what you are saying.

I tried to keep it simple...

You are complicating things more :)

Foxy.

[right-clicking]

Loz! Nice explanation! Do not think think that you are complicating things at all,

Foxy's post left me having to google an answer!! I sort of knew how the IP's worked as I have a blackberry playbook that I can access via the run command/IP address and have it appear in windows/file explorer!

Poor sue! she only wanted to see if there were anyone else experiencing the same issues she had!!

But great to see there are some active techies out there willing to input on this forum!

[DulwichFox]

right-clicking Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>> Poor sue! she only wanted to see if there were

> anyone else experiencing the same issues she

> had!!

I did have the same problem and in my earlier post I said.

I changed my WAN Connection Type from PPPoA to PPPoE and the problem has ceased.

That is a simple thing to check.. and change..

Foxy

[right-clicking]

Foxy! Simple for those who have some idea and are interested enough to fiddle around with the settings, most however never go further than the basics! But I concede it is a simple enough task, once you know how to get to the routers settings, Even this you'll need to know your routers IP address.

Sue! Here are the links and how to's,

http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/hardware/broadband-connection-settings.shtml

http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/hardware/technicolor-582n-advanced.shtml

[Sue]

Everybody has been really really helpful!

I have had info posted on here, PMs and emails as well, thanks everybody!

But have not had a chance to look at it today and probably won't till next week.

But I'll let you all know what I do and what success I have :)

[Sue]

Finally got round to properly looking at this. Thanks again to everybody who helped so far.

Checked all connections, went through various physical checks and changes.

Downloaded WiFi Analyzer (thanks nashoi that was very helpful), found several routers on the same channel as mine and sometimes with a stronger signal, particularly in parts of the house away from my router.

Changed the channel to one which seemed to have the least interference. It seems to have had a bit of an effect, but things are still very slow and still sometimes cutting out completely.

Will see what it's like tomorrow when it's settled down ......

[kristen]

Hi Sue,

I'm not sure if it's the same problem I had with a laptop dropping the connection.

I moved over to BT about a year ago and was complaining to them about the fact the connection kept cutting out and wasn't as fast as talk talk. - They suggested trying the below which seemed to work on my daughter's PC laptop.

So, BT said it could be the network adapter which has a power save option which means it drops the connection when it turns off to save power (the adapter not the computer). To change this you need to find the device manager on your computer and from there the network adaption settings.

Here's links to how to find the device manager on various PC operating systems

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/f/finddevmngr.htm

Once in the device manager you need to find "Network Adapters" and then "wireless network adapter".

Once you're in the "wireless network adapter" menu click on the advanced tab & select "power save mode"

You can then turn this off or change to the lowest setting.

It's set like this to stop the computer overheating but as far as I can make out it isn't a necessity (although you might want to check this for your PC with a quick google)

The default setting with new machines is often to have the "wireless network adapter" on and it can sometimes cause the connection to be dropped.

Anyway this worked for us - good luck!

If doesn't work you can always reset it to how it was before

[Sue]

Thanks Kristen, but it's definitely a problem at the router end, as when the connection goes down the wireless and internet lights start flashing, and my sister (who is staying) has a problem as well.

It's even worse this morning although I changed the channel to the one which seemed to have the least interference from nearby.

Can anybody tell me if this could be caused by a fault in the router?

Also, would any provider be exactly the same?

I'm almost at the point where I'm going to have to phone Plusnet. I'm out of contract since December and wonder whether they may be persuaded to send me a new router anyway .....