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Broadband speed up & down

ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Broadband speed up & down

My broadband speed is changing all the time. This afternoon is was 4Mbs. At 7pm it was 7Mbs. At 11pm it was 7.14Mbs. Just tested via the BT checker and it was 2.09 Mbs. This has gone on for abuot 4 weeks and I am about ready to chuck my laptop through the window. According to Uswitch, my connection is the worst in my area. Anyone else having problems like this ?
48 REPLIES 48
ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Detail of router
Link Information

Uptime: 42 days, 16:22:49
DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.5
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 444 / 11.445
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [GB/GB]: 1,91 / 1,99
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12,8 / 0,0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 20,5 / 35,5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 27,4 / 2,5
System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ----
Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): -
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 8.825 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 471.175.513
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 161 / 38.129
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 64 / 362.952
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,918
Thanks: 9,535
Fixes: 156
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Hi Bob,
There are a number of considerations here - some speed tests are inconsistent - speed tests performed over wifi are as well.  If your exchange is suffering congestion, that too can give rise to variable speed test results.
The two speed tests which can be considered dependable are the TBB speed test and the BT Wholesale speed test.
First thing to do is to check that you have the best possible synch speed for your line - which is totally governed by BTOR.  Can you please obtain and post the information identified in the speed issues thread at the top of this forum?
Edit - can you add the results of a BT Wholesale speed test and the current speed from the PN portal.
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.

Townman
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Line stats look fairly good.  Long DSL connection, so the line must be stable.  Synch speed is about right for the reported attenuation.
You are clearly not a heavy user - hardly 2GB in 42 days.
You might benefit from having the US uncapped.
The BT Speed test IP profile and the PN current speed should be around 10Mbps.

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.

ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Just tested via BT :-
Download speedachieved during the test was - 0.23 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4 Mbps-21 Mbps.
IP Profile for your line is - 10.1 Mbps
Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.12Mbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.45 Mbps
Townman
Superuser
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Re: Broadband speed up & down

Hi Bob,
Was that speed test over wifi or Ethernet?
What is the PN portal current speed please?
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.

ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Just tested on my desktop upstairs.
Download    9.2 Mbs
Up                  0.38 Mbs
My desktop is running Windows XP. My laptop has recently up=graded to Windows 8.1. I`m thinking about reverting to factory settings on my laptop. What do you think ?
I`m not very good with this stuff and I`m 70 yrs old !!
Townman
Superuser
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Re: Broadband speed up & down

Bob,
You are doing absolutely fine - indeed very good!  The test from the desktop is excellent - 9.2Mbps is near enough for a 10Mbps IP profile.
Briefly and simply your usable speed is determined by...
Synch speed (the speed at which the line can send ones and zeros) - this is governed by the line length (attenuation) and noise margin (SNRM) - 35dB gives 11.7Mbps / 36dB gives 11.1Mbps @6dB SNRM
You have 35.5dB giving 11.4Mbps @2.5dB - looking at the 'spot' figure this is a little low for the SNRM figure.  Though there might be room for improvement here, it will take a bit of effort, but we can help you though that.

IP Profile (the maximum speed at which useful data can be sent over the line) - 88.2% of the synch speed - this allows for error correction bits inserted into the data and line management traffic.
Your 11.4Mbps gives you a profile of 10.09449Mbps which BT reports as 10.1Mbps  the PlusNET profile (see https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed - you will need to login) should be the same.
The above gets data to your router - it then has to get to your device.
Ethernet (wired) - Typically runs at 100Mbps has a low error rate and has virtually no impact on performance.
WiFi - highly variable speed performance can be sensitive to environment, especially the presence of other wifi stations, which can cause transmission errors.
Effective data speed - the net end to end transfer rate after error corrections / error retransmissions have been dealt with.  In some circumstances higher synch rates can lead to lower effective data transfer rates due to the proportion of error retransmissions.
The desktop test suggests there is nothing too much wrong with the ADSL service.
Is the laptop wifi connected?
Was it wifi connected before when on WinXP?  Do you recall what the speeds were like then?
My experience of Win8/8.1 is limited (I don't like it!) but I have not seen anything to give me concerns about wifi performance.  How old is the laptop?
If you are game, there are a few things worth exploring before doing a factory rest.
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.

ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Thanks for all that Kevin, some of which I understood. My laptop is just under a year old and on WiFi. I`m sure my broadband speed was fine running under Windows 8. I think my best bet is to restore factory settings as I don`t have much on it. By running the test on my desktop it has proved that my service is ok.
Jaggies
Aspiring Pro
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Re: Broadband speed up & down

@ ossettbob
You should ask to have your upstream uncapped as well. You should see a notable uplift in performance.
Townman
Superuser
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Re: Broadband speed up & down

Bob,
Might I suggest you holding off the rebuild a while?
Can you do a search for the free version (V3) of inSSIDer.
It is a software tool for looking at wifi networks.  We might be able to fix your issue just by changing the wifi channel on your router.
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.

ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
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Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Hi kevin,
It`s running. What does it tell me ?
Bob
Townman
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Re: Broadband speed up & down

Hi Bob,
That was quick!  Cheesy
Upper left it lists all of the wifi stations your laptop can see.  The one you are connected to will gave a typical wifi icon on it.  If you cluck that line, on the right you will see the details...
Signal strength, channel, no co-channel stations, no. over-lapping channels.
At the bottom you see a plot of all channels.

Ideally you need to get on a channel of your own and not overlapping with any other.
Next best is to be the strongest on your channel and not overlapping.
There after be the strongest on where you can.
Look at all the information and see if there is a better channel for you than where you are.  If there is, then note that number.  Aim for one of 1, 6 or 11.  See http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/wireless_broadband/wireless_signal.shtml for more info.
Log into the router and go to the wifi setup and change the current channel (or auto) to the identified number.  Cluck save.
There will be a short break in the laptop connection whilst the channels change. You will see this on the plots.
Note when you change your channel other stations might shift too - this might cause the 'spectrum' to tidy up a bit.

If you don't understand anything please ask.
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.

ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Hi Kevin,
Just running programme now. Not much oif a clue what it means.

Signal -69db
Channel 1
Link Score 56
Co-Channel 3
No overlapping
Bob
ossettbob
Grafter
Posts: 96
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎30-10-2012

Re: Broadband speed up & down

Just done another
Signal -81db
Channel 1
Link Score 40
Co-Channel 0
No overlapping