topic Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One in My Router

How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 16:09:13 GMT

I am trying to limit the supply of internet connection for certain devices that are connected to my Plusnet Hub One.

The idea is that I can slow down people on my home network who hog the internet by streaming YouTube and television, when I need to get on with my work and need optimum internet speed, prioritised over them. I only want to enforce this at certain times of day and relax it at other times, but if need be, I am prepared to enact rules per device permanently.

I do not want to totally restrict their access to the internet, nor to certain services/sites... I just want them to be slower.

And crucially, they cannot know I've done this, so I need to keep the same router (cannot replace it) with the same passwords/keys to access Wifi (nobody else accesses the router settings, so I can mess with the router settings freely).

This is why the parental controls that are built in are not appropriate. It would blatantly say they have been restricted and speak to the administrator.

So to summarise - just need a way to slow the internet over wifi for selected devices (using their MAC or IP address) at selected times.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

bill888 — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 17:01:07 GMT

I'm afraid that what you are asking for simply can't be done with the Hub One, or any other ISP supplied router.

What download and upload speeds do you get when you run a speedtest?

If you have Fibre Unlimited, could it be the 'upto' 2mbps upstream link being saturated that is more likely to be causing you problems?

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 19:27:45 GMT

Thanks for your reply. According to the router's own details... My download speed is at 15mbps and upload almost 2mbps.

I'm unsure what you mean by the limitation of upstream being the root of my problem, but I think that what I'm trying to achieve is to optimise internet speed for me as well as change the behaviour in my house (forceably) when people leave apps and streams running all day unneccesarily.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

bill888 — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 19:57:13 GMT

Your downstream line speed of 15.4 mbps is low for a fibre line and so I concur with you it is more likely to be the cause of your issues. You must live quite some distance from the local fibre cabinet. I presume circa 13 mbps was the estimate which Plusnet provided when you signed up to FTTC fibre services.

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 20:21:52 GMT

Again, thanks for your support on this. I've run a test but unsure how to interpret the results; I attach a screenshot.

Is there anything I can do to the router to get better options - any customer firmware/OS I can install? I read from sources around the internet that QoS is what I need, but the router doesn't offer this. I was thinking of finding an easy way to hard code this into the router's firmware/software. But I'm no programmer myself, I'm a technical amateur so need a simple solution I can do/implement myself.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

ITWorks — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 21:22:45 GMT

What you can do , is restrict Internet access to certain devices for periods of time.

See here in your hub for Plusnet Access Control (login required)

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 21:26:11 GMT

Thanks for this Mike. No unfortunately this won't work. I don't want to block them out completely. I also cannot let them know that I am actively manipulating their network access. I want them to continue using the web, unrestricted: just at a slower pace so that they can continue to work, do research, job applications, facebook, bla bla bla... I just don't want them watching YouTube in bed for 18 hours in the day. In fact, I think one of my siblings keeps the TV Player app operational for 24 hours! Rather than pick a fight, I just want to slow it down from the source.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

bill888 — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 05:42:41 GMT

Looking at the VDSL range A and B figures alone, your currently reported 15.4 mbps is at the bottom of what BT wholesale estimate your line is capable of achieving. If you can double the speed to 30 mbps, it may solve your problems?

There may be a line/speed fault.

What type of telephone master socket do you have in your property, and is the Hub One connected directly to it?

Are you using microfilters?

Types of phone sockets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMP0BOwSHKI

If you have a NTE5 socket, can I suggest connecting Hub One to the hidden engineer's test socket, and check the speed for any improvement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br8Q3S-fOl4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VQNJGhUNHM&t=3s

Also while connected to the test socket, log into the Hub One and go to Troubleshooting -> Help Desk page. Report what you see for 'Noise Margin' and 'Line Attenuation' figures etc.

Regarding QoS, LEDE is available for Hub One. It is not supported by Plusnet and will invalidate the guarantee on the hub.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/bt/homehub_v5a

But it is beyond the ability of most readers as it requires delicate soldering.

Also, the QoS may not achieve what you desire

https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/packet.scheduler/packet.scheduler

https://lede-project.org/docs/user-guide/traffic_shaping

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

markhawkin — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 21:36:03 GMT

@Rehanster

Very tricky problem.

A different router would do what you want but that is a fairly obvious change.

I agree with @bill888 that the most likely problem is upstream speed but there is nothing you can do on the Hub One to prioritise this.

Accepting this I would concentrate on the apparent line speed problem, I recommend using the router at the master socket and fitting an interstitial plate

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/13095-british-telecom-adsl-d048-vdsl/

(can generally be found on ebay).

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 19:16:37 GMT

Thanks for everyone's help on this. I have not paid much attention to the technical solution given that I know I have a problem with my line. Unfortunately, I cannot locate my BT master socket.

The socket to which my phone and router are connected is in my living room. I always presumed this to be the master socket, but I know for a fact this is not the master socket and is actually an extension. Tracking the wire that comes out of this socket, I follow it to a small box which is actually covered by the side of my sofa. This looks like a master socket to me... a very old one but I'm 99.9% sure this is the master socket to which my landline is actually connected and from which I receive internet. The wire that comes out of my telephone socket and goes to this master socket wraps around a door frame and goes under my laminate floor and then resurfaces under some beading and eventually into the master socket. This wire is a bloody mess! It is broken in several places and has been manually repaired and sellotaped back together! I am now also 99.9% sure that herein lies the reason for such deficient broadband. It is my old wiring and infrastructure. I am certain of it. I attach a photo which has been entitled 'Sofa' , but just in case the title doesn't appear on the upload, it is the picture which has a square like ratio.

I am 99.9% sure I am correct. Which means I am 0.01% unsure I am correct. This ambiguity comes from the fact that I have another master socket in the house. This master socket is in a location which makes a lot of sense... right in the hallway of the house... right near the front door. Somewhere BT came and put a line over 60 years ago (I'm presuming) and just dumped it in the property. This seems logical... more logical than on a side wall (which happens to now be covered by a sofa that extends from the wall to the door frame of this room), which is actually somewhere in the middle of the property. So far making sense right? This other socket must be the master right? When I go outside my house and look at the BT pole which connects the houses on my row to ... well British Telecommunications... (and I know it is BT's pole from a BT engineer visit to my house a million years ago), there is only one wire going from that pole to my house. That wire can be clearly tracked to the side of my house... it goes into some ventilation griddle which is extremely close to the opposite side of this other master socket in my hallway. I have called this socket 'boiler' (because it is near my boiler), but again if the title doesn't appear in the attachment, the ratio of this picture is more rectangular/oblong. Clearly a BT master socket right? And logically this is THE master socket right?

The reason I'm still more sold on the idea that the sofa socket is where I am getting my landline and internet from is because the wiring for the boiler socket cannot be traced to the telephone socket. You can make some guesses as to where it is going, but it really is not easy to trace it (without ripping my my floorboards and going through the door frame).

So anyway... all this means I really need to fix this problem before I can progress to the next stage of throttling internet speeds.

I've already called Plusnet who have said they think there is a problem with the line (after having run some diagnostic tests whilst calling the callcentre) and they are sending an engineer to fix it. But they also said if there is any problem on my side of the property, I am liable for the charges.

I have a fear that the problem is twofold - 1) the thing they said they detected on the line and they will now look into - and 2) the [-Censored-] wiring in my own house.

Is there any advice you can give me on fixing the wiring? What do I do with this ancient old socket? I can probably procure a new wire and wrap it around the doorframe but as to connecting it back to the Master and the regular socket... I'm at a loss. This is all assuming that I am right... that my master socket is actually the sofa one. Should I just wait for the engineer to do his business? Is it better to let him/her do their business and pay them rather than cowboy the job myself? What do you recommend? I would just hate to cough up £200 for a job that can be done with 0 technical knowledge.

Regarding the actual reason for this post... you know... throttling the internet on certain devices... I was thinking.... is it not possible to set up a virtual router? I.e. the actual router's job is just to route data to a virtual router. Then on the virtual router, I can mess around with functional settings which would be limitless? Or is my imagination running too wild as a result of all the talking I've done about BT Master sockets?!

Thank you @bill888 for all your help and support on this issue too... your reading materials and guidance are very helpful.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

bill888 — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 20:53:48 GMT

fwiw, some info about the 'junction boxes' you have discovered in the hall and behind the sofa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq_1T5ZxGbo

My understanding is Openreach are supposed to be responsible for all wiring up to and including the master socket. As you don't appear to have a master socket, I'm not sure where Openreach's responsibility ends. Perhaps at the first junction box in the hall where the drop wire coming from the telephone pole is terminated?

I don't know whether Openreach would agree to install a brand new NTE5C master socket in the hall for you free of charge.

If you want the Openreach engineer to resolve any internal wiring. eg. lay new internal cable and install socket(s) in another room, that's where you will be charged.

If you did have a new NTE5C master socket in the hall, this video shows how to install an extension socket if you are good at DIY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE42ijT25l4

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 13:48:08 GMT

Thanks @bill888. Apologies for my late responses to this thread but I am appreciating all the help and support.

OK, internal problem re line/master-socket fixed (or 99% of it anyway). I called Plusnet who informed me that I had a genuine fault on the line. They sent a BT engineer who replaced the entire line... it was actually a very big job as he ended up coming and going in three separate stages and called another engineer out to get to the top of the street pole (a guy in a special van that air lifts him... was pretty cool). Anyway, I now have a brand spanking new master socket which is getting 40Mbps down-speed and 2Mbps up-speed. The router is still getting 30 Mbps and not 40, but that's because I have an RJ11 connected to a microfilter connected to a telephone extension wire connected to the master. I have ordered a 15 meter RJ11 to connect directly to the master socket and so in a few days I should be at optimum speed.

Back to the original issue... an easy way of throttling internet speeds for certain devices at certain times...

So I've done some reading on LEDE... an open source firmware on Linux. This looks too technical a challenge for me to undertake. As you @bill888 mentioned earlier, this is beyond the capability of most people as it requires opening and delicately soldering the hardware of the router. But even getting past this hurdle, it looks like I have to really understand Linux language/syntax to be able to programme it to do what I want. I agree there is lots of community support on the web, but I'm not willing to invest this much effort into this.

Is there an easier solution? Any other known firmware that gives more advanced settings that I can very easily install onto the router? Or how about setting up a VPN and then controlling the traffic out of that? Any tips?

Thanks for all your help thus far.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

bill888 — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 16:24:19 GMT

I'm afraid there is simply no alternative firmware for 'HomeHub5/HubOne' hardware other than OpenWRT/LEDE. LEDE is only option, and it still has a few rough edges to be ironed out.

Your only other option is to look at a different router which has better support.

eg. Netgear R7000, Asus RT-AC68u or others, hooked up to an Openreach VDSL modem. Alternative 'easier to install' firmwares are readily available for these which may have the features you require. The kitz forum may be best place to ask.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

markhawkin — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 18:42:42 GMT

Personally, on a heavily used connection I would pay the extra for the uncapped upstream connection with the more expensive Plusnet fibre package. Upstream congestion will slow the downstream traffic as acknowledgements get delayed or lost.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

bill888 — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 19:40:18 GMT

@Rehanster, I forgot to ask earlier, but has doubling the download speed made any difference to the original problem?

@markhawkin, I have to agree with what you are saying about the 2mb upstream. But perhaps best to rule out all other simple options before recontracting for Fibre Extra for additional cost. I think there is also a minimum downstream speed requirement for accepting an order for 80/20 Fibre Extra.

Plusnet may also eventually upgrade all 40/2 customers to 40/10 for free in the light of TalkTalk completing free upgrades from 40/2 to 40/10 recently, ahead of Openreach's proposal to regulate 40/10 fibre price from 1st April 2018.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 20:37:59 GMT

@bill888 Thanks for all your help and support on this issue. I guess if there is no simple solution other than changing the router, for now I will live with the gripe that others have equal access to the internet (even-though they don't use it efficiently). In reference to my original problem... the improved speed hasn't enriched my life all that much. I basically want good internet access when I'm working. As I am not an internet data intensive user, when others were hogging the internet, my work was largely unaffected. However, if I were streaming CNN through the internet, I would get poor quality when we are all using the internet. If I were to compare my streaming experience before and after the speed improvements... I'd say they are largely the same and I can barely tell the difference.

I look forward to the day I get an updated internet service... for free!

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

bill888 — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 02:49:49 GMT

Just a thought, but using CNN streaming as an example, is this over a wired or wireless connection ?

Wired is always more reliable than wireless.

Re: How do I limit connected devices' speeds on Plusnet Hub One

Rehanster — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 10:52:06 GMT

I stream CNN on a TV Player app on the Amazon Firestick. I stream wirelessly. Also, I do not connect directly to the router. Unfortunately, my bedroom must have been built as a bunker and there must be some kind of metal lining in the walls.... it's the only room in the house where WiFi signal is basically non-existent. So I use a WiFi extender positioned just outside my bedroom, in the upstairs landing/hall; which, when I take two steps out of my bedroom and go into, my phone has 'Excellent' signal: but as soon as I take two steps back and close the door to my bedroom, it drops between poor and searching for an entirely new WAP.

All this leads me to predict that you think the wireless upon wireless connectivity may be the reason I experience slower internet. Agreed this is theoretically true, however, I genuinely don't believe it is the root cause in my case because steaming on the TV Player app at optimum speed probably only gives a video of about 480p (if that). But when my sister, next door, is watching ShowBox, it drops to about 10.3p! However, I can normally still close CNN and go onto YouTube and stream a 720p video with barely any lag at all. I think this is mostly to do with the fact that YouTube pumps out its data like the biggest monster on the web, whereas the TV Player app is cheap and cheerful and doesn't host as good a service.

So what I'm trying to say is that I don't really have an internet problem at all... I just want to be in control of the internet and make it dis-pleasurable to my fellow cohabitors to spend 14 hours a day in bed, watching american soaps.