topic 30+ mbps and terrible connection in Broadband

30+ mbps and terrible connection

AndyD2 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:10:05 GMT

I have broadband (not fibre) with PlusNet, who I have been with since about 2008.

My connection is terrible - had a BT router and it wasn't great, that packed up and got PlusNet to send me a new router. The room I work in is at the opposite end to the house to the router and gets about 4mbps, so I bought a cable to connect laptop to router. It's not like the house is a mansion so I'm not sure why it won't reach anyway.

If I plug in the LAN cable from router to laptop, it's tells me I am getting over 30 mbps download and over 10 mbps upload. The quality of video is still really poor - saying that it's due to poor connection and video keeps freezing or cutting out. How can this be if I'm plugged in and says I'm getting that speed?

I'm at work now on WiFi and everything is fine on the laptop - I did wonder if it might be the computer itself, but there's no issue here.

Spoke to PlusNet a few weeks ago and they said that it all looks fine their end. Is there something that they are missing that an engineer could sort out?

It's driving me nuts.

Thanks

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

jab1 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:16:19 GMT

@AndyD2 Welcome to the forum. I am assuming from your comments above that you are on FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet). Do you still have a land-line phone connected?

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

pvmb — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:20:15 GMT

If you have "Broadband (not fibre)" and are getting 30 Mbps download - you are getting truly exceptional service! 😉
Something not quite making sense here...

I think you must have FTTC (fibre) broadband, with possibly a "terrible connection". More details are needed here.

Are you on the 40/10 Mpbs fibre option* (like me)? That should give good live video streaming (with normal quality video).

What are the line stats from the router Status page? S/N ratios etc

* Sounds unlikely with over 10Mbps upload.

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

AndyD2 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:18:23 GMT

Not sure - I have a phone line via PlusNet.

My account says "Unlimited Fibre inc. Line rental".

Thanks

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

jab1 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:21:24 GMT

Ah so you are on a 40/10 FTTC connection. How far away from the Hub are you (roughly) when working at home - this sounds like a Wi-Fi issue to me?

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

AndyD2 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:21:44 GMT

So it says:

Here's all the speed details you need to know. Unlimited Fibre has an average speed of 36Mb download and 9Mb upload.

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

pvmb — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:26:24 GMT

So, with line rental, do you have an operational landline phone? If so you can listen to the line, to check for noise, using the Openreach Quiet Line Test: On 17070, option 2

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

paul_blitz — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:25:04 GMT

Ok, lets start simple:

Which test did you use to measure your speed? You might like to try this one: https://speed.cloudflare.com/ ... takes a bit longer to run, but does some extra tests, that might give some useful info.

What happens if you (as a test) put the laptop adjacent to the router, and (a) use a short cable (eg that comes with the router); (b) use wifi?

Which site you trying to watch videos on? You Tube? BBC? Netflix?

As for "why the wifi doesn't reach"... you only need a brick wall or two, and your wifi signal will be badly attenuated. Also, the position of the router is important. No good having it down on the floor behind the settee, it needs to be high, and away from obstructions.. like on top of a cupboard.

For anything important, a good cable is the way to go.... so your thinking is good!

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

jab1 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:25:24 GMT

@AndyD2 When you are at home, can you do a couple of speed tests via https://www.speedtest.net/ please - one using the Ethernet cable, and one using your WiFi ?

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

jab1 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:33:46 GMT

Also, when you are at home, can you post a screenshot of this page from your router, please.

But obscure your 'username'.

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

paul_blitz — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:09:01 GMT

The cloudflare test is possibly slightly better than the speedtest.net one, as it does "during upload" and "during download" tests too, with some "summary advice".

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

jab1 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:12:50 GMT

@paul_blitz Yes, it does give more info. and thanks for posting it. However, I suspect this is a Wi-Fi issue, so a simple, quick test will confirm or disprove that.

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

AndyD2 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 21:07:49 GMT

Test about 3 metres away on WiFi

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

AndyD2 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 21:13:28 GMT

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

AndyD2 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 21:18:26 GMT

This is with the cable in:

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

AndyD2 — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 21:22:57 GMT

Despite the numbers that are shown, I can have over 30mbps with the cable in and it's still freezing and very slow.

It's Google meeting calls that I use for work and are the biggest problem.

What I can't get is how it can be that bad with the cable in.

The cable is 15m and the distance is probably 10m as there's loads of slack.

Both WiFi and ethernet cable will give terrible, lagging calls that are almost unusable, for long periods of time. It's a mystery.

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

paul_blitz — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 22:28:57 GMT

Thanks for those graphs, they give useful details!

Certainly, without any other traffic, the speeds match the router's connection speed (they will always be something like 10 to 15% lower due to the connections "overheads").

The latency is an indication of "hoe long does it take to get there and back again: when there's no other traffic, your latency is low. It's also low when there's another upload going on, but it is TERRIBLE when there is other traffic is uploading (9.9ms vs 19.5ms vs 347 ms!!!) For comparison, my line gives me 62 meg up, 15.9meg down, with the latency as 12.3 / 26.0 / 117 ms, but my video conferencing is just fine!

Jitter is a measure of how much the latency varies: think of the latency as "how long to go to the shops and back"... of course, it's never a smooth 26mph all the way, is it, it's 20mph up to 30 mph...that variation is effectively your jitter. Foe web browsing, jitter doesn't really matter, but for LIVE voice and video, large jitter can cause issues. Again, with a download in progress, your jitter is TERRIBLE! (and weirdly, apparently worse when on a cabled connection!!)

"But I'm not downloading anything..." Yes you are, you are downloading the videos of the other participants!

Unsurprisingly, the "close-by wifi" and "wired" connections give similar figures, so close to your router, your wifi isn't an issue!

So, what can you do to improve things? The first thing I would do is look for a "video quality" setting in your app, and reduce it, both for your own camera and for what you see: with luck, that might improve things. If it does, then play with the settings. If not, come back and tell us!

And an obvious question we've never asked: who else uses your broadband, and do they do it when you are video conferencing?

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

jab1 — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 06:18:21 GMT

Thanks for the data, @AndyD2 . As @paul_blitz says, your 'jitter is bad, but what he hasn't spotted (or commented on) is your D/S noise margin - although looking at your attenuation figures, I would expect it to be a bit 'high' , but 21.9 looks a little excessive to me.

As Paul says, adjust your video quality settings and see if that improves things - if it does, you are probably sorted, if it doesn't, then we need to look a bit deeper.

@RealAleMadrid - any comments?

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

MisterW — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 06:57:22 GMT

although looking at your attenuation figures, I would expect it to be a bit 'high' , but 21.9 looks a little excessive to me.

That's to be expected because the line is provisioned on a 40/10 profile and is actually capable of much more.

Re: 30+ mbps and terrible connection

jab1 — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 06:58:18 GMT

OK, thanks @MisterW .