3/4 weekly speed limiting - full fibre 500

[avidgamer]

Afternoon all,

Posting here in case anyone has had the same experience.

I'm a Full Fibre 500 customer, running my own network setup at home, effectively the TT supplied Eero is only being used as a wifi access point, its far too basic for what I need. The fibre connection itself is plugged into a custom pfSense box, the hardware fully supporting the speed of the link etc.

I've noticed, since I've had this fibre installed, that approximately every 3 - 4 weeks, the download speed on the broadband connection itself drops from 480-500 (usual) to roughly 80/90. This has been tested with fast.com, using wifi, wired etc etc - and I want to iterate this is with my own custom pfSense box. Now, to be clear, for 3 - 4 weeks, it works perfectly, no speed changes at all. Then suddenly, it just goes.

In order to rectify the major speed reduction, I have to disconnect ONLY the fibre connection from the pfSense box (so from wall to pfSense), plug this into the eero box (wall to eero), wait until the red light goes to green, and then plug it back in my pfsense box. IF i only disconnect the wire for the same amount of time, or reboot the wall box as well, and reinsert the wire to the pfsense box, the speed remains the same at 80/90.

So my best guess, is that the Eero is somehow phoning home that its the primary connection giver, and once that authentication/packet is received, service speed is returned to normal, as soon as I reinsert the fibre connection into my pfsense box, all is well with the world and service is returned as normal.

I'd like to know, or preferably, get this turned off on TalkTalk's end. It's getting a bit frustrating having to move furniture etc every few weeks to unplug a cable for a matter of 3 minutes to resolve it. Or, if its something configuration related maybe something specific to pfSense that i've missed, then please let me know - its driving me batty. I've reviewed logs etc since I first got this connection installed, and i've honestly not seen anything standing out on my end. I've also reformatted and reinstalled pfSense a good few times as well now, no changes.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thanks for keeping us updated 🙂

Thanks

[avidgamer · Accepted solution]

This thread can be closed, and I appreciate the replies. It's been tracked down to a potentially faulty switch that I am using. Was preventing the link from negotiating as 1000BaseT, but still stating that it was linked as that. (best that I can tell). This occurred across the board on the switch, having to remove and reinsert every single ethernet cable for it to renegotiate with 1000baseT properly, even though the status lights indicated it was already at that..

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Ok thanks for the update and please let us know if you need any assistance.

Thanks 🙂

[avidgamer]

Hiya,

I'll get back to you both next time it happens, which sadly wont be for a few weeks probably. Im monitoring best I can anyway with daily speed tests. On that front, im not just using fast.com it was an example, others such as speedtest.net, google's own, speedtest-cli on the pfsense box itself.

Config wise on the pfsense, its fairly basic for the actual FTTP connection, and obviously works fine for days on end, so wouldn't expect it to be a configuration setting on that, if it works for that length of time - obviously still open to the idea that it is though lol. I do have other things installed on there, ie Squid proxy etc, but they've all been disabled/bypassed when trying to figure this out.

I havent actually tried a wired speed test with a laptop, with the issue seemingly being fixed with the eero directly plugged in to the ONT then I have assumed it was a speed limiter/phone home situation - Ill check this next time it happens.

Thanks for the responses however, all input helps

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

How does the speed compare if you run a wired speed test directly at the ONT with the eero removed?

Thanks

[mrwrighty]

I don’t believe that any TT hardware phones home as you say, in order to maintain the high speeds. it may fix the issue but something else is going on. In all the years using various ISPs at homes and businesses this has never occurred. I haven’t used a TT router for about 7 years or more and currently use a Unifi UDM on my FTTP service.

Fast.com should not be used in isolation as there are other factors to take in to account.

When the speed drops according to your tests, plug a laptop directly in to the ONT via Ethernet and do a speed test directly to the FTTP service this will confirm if it’s the FTTP service or your pfsense configuration.