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Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

anthonyg
Grafter
Posts: 33
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Registered: ‎03-06-2010

Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

All last year my download speed was around 11mbps. This year (and coinciding with my renewal of the annual contract) it has dropped to about 6800k. But the upload speed has been constant at around 1200. I attach the router diagnostics. Nothing whatsoever has changed on my setup for a very long time. Voice calls are clear. Should I be rebooting the router more often?
13 REPLIES 13
Townman
Superuser
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Hi Anthony,
Something is really not quite right here.  With a reported line attenuation of 20dB, you ought to be seeing around 20Mbps synch speed, which is far more than you have or had.  At the moment your SNRM is much higher than it should be which might account for the current difference from 11Mbps.  The high SNRM inducates that there are issues which the DLM has been trying to manage.  How long gas the router been connected at this speed?  Repeatedly rebooting the router us not good practice, but a single reboot (after doing a manual disconnect through the router GUI if the facility exists) might be useful.
In the first instance though I would look at your internal wiring.  Is the router connected to the master socket?  Are there any phone extensions?  If yes describe how they are connected to the master sicker - type / shape of wire and if accessible the number and colour of connected wires.  What kind of master socket do you have.
See the speed issues thread at the top of this forum for more helpful information.
Kevin

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anthonyg
Grafter
Posts: 33
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Registered: ‎03-06-2010

Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Thanks for your very fast reply.
The router is plugged directly into the master socket via a filter. As I mentioned, my setup has not changed for a long time and was highly satisfactory for nearly all of 2014. So I am at a loss to say what has changed.
There are phone extensions, each with a filter. My description of the wiring will not be helpful as I am not techy enough - would a photo help?
The router is a Netgear DG834, at least 6 years old. Is it time to change it?
Townman
Superuser
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Anthony,
There are a lot of factors which can have the effect you describe, from an iffy joint to REIN and SHINE as described on BBC Radio 4 you and yours on Monday 16th March.  The fact that your line us quiet and noise free points to a need to eliminate other possibilities before calling out BT.
Are the extensions wired from the back of the removable lower face plate?  If yes, how many terminals are connected?  What colour are the wires?
Does the extension wiring go from the master socket to one extension and then to the next (daisy chained) or do they both / all run from the master socket (star)?
For the moment keep a watch on those router stats and see if the SNRM varies a lot.

@CRT,
Can you please post a VR plot?  Thank you.
Kevin

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

anthonyg
Grafter
Posts: 33
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎03-06-2010

Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

I had another look at the phone socket and realised that what I wrote before was rubbish. There are no live extensions - there used to be and the cables are still in place but they are no longer connected; we have a wireless phone. The BT line enters the house into a socket from which one live cable goes to the socket in which both the wireless base station and router are plugged in (via a filter), and a cable also leads off but is not plugged into to a socket.
I understand that noise on the extensions can be the culprit but I don't think this can be the case in this instance.
Townman
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Anthony,
Let us sort this out one step at a time.  I now suspect at least two issues, but one needs to be confirmed before we attempt to fix the other, as that might be futile and inhibit PlusNET doing anything else for 10 days.
Looking at all the guidance in the speed issues thread will be helpful here.  The first socket - which socket type is it?  It is a NTE5A?
If yes, is the extension wired from the back of the lower removable face plate?  If yes, what coloured wires are in use and which terminals are wired - photos might assist.
Similarly on the back of the extension socket how many wires and colours please?
At each end there only needs to be wires on terminals 2&5 the others may be removed.  If the wiring Is to the correct standard, blue/white should be on terminal 2 and white/blue on 5.
When you have finished looking and plugged everything back in, please repost your router stats.
Kevin

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MatthewWheeler
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

The connection seems pretty stable from our end here

For the record as well there is no DLM banding applied to the line either.
I'd recommend going through the steps Townman has posted.
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 Matthew Wheeler
 Plusnet Help Team
anthonyg
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Registered: ‎03-06-2010

Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

I attach four pictures.
1 - the socket from the incoming wire. I tried unscrewing it but could not remove the cover and dare not tamper with a BT product any further. The cable running off to the right goes to an unused socket in a bedroom, and is the residue of when we had a second land line, and is not connected at the other end. The cable going down on the left goes to the main plate.
2 - the plate into which the home phone and the router are plugged
3 - the inside of the plate.
4 - router stats immediately after plugging it back in - this shows a small increase in speed.
Once again, thanks for your interest and fast replies
Townman
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Anthony,
Thank you for all of that and Matthew for the VR graph.  Both of my suspicions appear relevant.
1. For reasons not clear, your target SNRM is 12dB and is the most likely cause of your synch being reduced from the historical 11Mbps.
2. The internal wiring is not tidy!  The socket you show is an old master socket.  The bell wire is connected, there is another extension somewhere.  Personally I would remove the green wires (terminal 3).  Sorting out this might close the gap between what you used to get and the 20Mbps potential.
3. What is that nice clean nte5 socket for?
PlusNET could quickly implement a SNRM reset which ought to restore your 11Mbps synch, however that will inhibit their ability to do anything else (raise fault reports etc) for 10 days.
I would welcome CRT's input on the analysis and what can be done, especially the sizeable gap between your historical synch speed and the expected potential of your line based on the data reported by the router.  The state of the old BT wiring and the absence of a proper test socket makes it impossible for you to isolate your phone installation from the BT network.  You therefore cannot perform the usual boundary tests.  In your shoes I would be seeking a route to having BT bring your installation upto proper standards at no cost to you.
Kevin

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anthonyg
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Registered: ‎03-06-2010

Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Many thanks Townman.
The unused socket was, I think, from when we had a second line and had a fax machine connected.
The broadband speed is fine for day to day use so if Plusnet can do the SNRM reset as you suggest, we can see if this works. If so, I would then put my head back down for another few years.  It sounds as though it is unlikely there is a BT fault.
Your final point on getting the wiring up to standard - is this a normal BT service? It sounds to me like something they would happily charge for (but I have very little knowledge of these matters, as you can easily tell).
Townman
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Do give consideration to pulling the green wires off!  Cheesy

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MatthewWheeler
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

I have no issues with doing a reset however I think the line can do a lot better then what it was before the issues.
If we were to book a engineer to investigate he'd upgrade the master socket to the latest standard.
Personally I think a engineer is the best way forward.
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 Matthew Wheeler
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Townman
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Matthew,
A gracious offer - though what "apparent fault" condition would need to be present and supporting test results to achieve this without the risk of a EU / NFF charge being raised?
Is "not achieving the expected speed for the line's attenuation" along with "no NTE5A to isolate the internal wiring" sufficient?
Kevin

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MatthewWheeler
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Re: Speed drop - would appreciate guidance

Quote from: Townman
Is "not achieving the expected speed for the line's attenuation" along with "no NTE5A to isolate the internal wiring" sufficient?

Pretty much yes. If the line is below the estimates and the internal checks have been done then there's no reason why we can't book a engineer.
I'd expect the engineer to upgrade the master socket and check the line externally too.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Matthew Wheeler
 Plusnet Help Team