Slow Broadband speed differs from indicated.

[#1]

HI guys.

I am having a problem with the download speed being at the most 1.9mbps despite this line being able in theory to deliver higher speeds.

Results of speed tests show details of what I could expect to get.

I live in a block of flats and am wondering if the speed I am getting might be because of the wiring from the phone pole to the building and the connections on my level?

I have had this problem before and it seemed to get a bit faster for a while, but then dropped back to what I get now. Previously a BT engineer found no problems with my connections in the home, but I cannot see why it is so slow. My PC is connected to a TPLink router, ( 300Mbps Wireless N Gigabit ADSL2+ Modem Router ) through a cable not Wi-Fi. The only Wireless connection being to a printer.

Router stats.

My account states that I am on a Plusnet Unlimited (Contracted) Dual Play contract.

If I cant get any faster speeds I will have to look for an alternative somewhere.

Thanks

[#2]

Hello there. Is a speedtester showing you the 1.9mbps or is that what you see when you're trying to download a file?

Edit:
If it's the latter, that's the rate of data transfer you're seeing (measured in megabytes). There's 1 megabyte to 8 megabits.

I've done some calculating and 1.9MB is 15.2Mb, so it looks about right.

If however your speed test result is fluctuating greatly, the low SNR of 2.9db could be the cause. I could take a look at it this weekend.

2nd edit:

After reading your post one more time, I missed this part the first time round:

...of what I could expect to get.

I'll take a look at your account this afternoon.

[#3]

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@loklok wrote:
I am having a problem with the download speed being at the most 1.9mbps despite this line being able in theory to deliver higher speeds.

Where exactly are you seeing this particular speed? If it's from another speedtester, was it repeatable? Never rely on a single speedtest result from any tester.

The results from the BT speedtest show that your throughput speeds are pretty much what would be expected for the IP Profile (19.68Mbps) which is perfectly consistent with the downstream sync speed shown in your stats 22312kbps (22.312Mbps).
The stats themselves show that there is absolutely nothing wrong with your connection speed to the exchange and so nothing wrong with the wiring from the phone pole. The fastest sync speed you could possibly get on an ADSL2+ connection is 24Mbps and you'd have to be virtually next door to the exchange!

If the figure of 1.9 that you mention was when down loading a file, then maybe Anoush's suggestion might be the case where the speed was actually quoted in MB/s. However remember that the speed you get at anytime will be determined by the slowest speed anywhere in the path but may also be limited by the server that you are connected to at the destination and they of course might suffer congestion problems as well.

[#4]

Hi thanks for checking guys. The speed tests were from the site that you recomend http://speedtest.btwholesale.com The 1.9 figure is what I see downloading any file or updating windows or a game.

As online gaming becomes more demanding perhaps I need something better?

[#5]

How/where/what are you doing to see the 1.9 figure? Don't forget those download speeds may well be limited by the download server that you are connected to. If you are trying to run a speedtest when the connection is already in use for something, the speedtest result will be erroneous.

[#6]

The 1.9 figure comes from various games or programs that I might be updating or as I said before Windows Updates. With all of these I can look at the download rate in these items themselves as this is always shown. I never see it go above the 2Mbps and mostly the higest is 1.9Mbps. The speedtests were run when nothing else was being downloaded, as I always run them.  The downloads all come from different servers as well so that could show better speeds on some but they don't.

[#7]

Do your downloads say Mbps or MBps?

There is a big difference between the measurements.

[#8]

It says MBps or sometimes just MB.

[#9]

B=Byte, b=bit. 8 bits= 1 Byte.

So as Anoush explained 1.9MBps = 15.2Mbps so for a download speed, that's approaching your line profile. And as has already been mentioned the speed can be limited by the server you are downloading from, how busy they are, and how busy all the networks between them and Plusnet, and Plusnet to you are at any given time.

[#10 · Accepted solution]

And just to put some icing on that cake, if you are getting 1.9MBps DATA transfer, then when you add into the bit count calculation error checking (byte parity and block CRC bits) and allow something for data block wrappers, flow control and error recovery, the actual bit transmission rate is somewhat higher than the simple 1.9 X 8 (15.2Mbps) calculation.

[#11]

Ok well it looks like I AM getting what I should then, thanks for checking and 'townman' I understood eveything you wrote. ? yeh right

[#12]

Hi,

Not sure by that response if you did or did not understand!  ?

The suggestion that (to make the figures simpler) 2MBps data transfer requires only 16mbps (1 byte =8 bits) synch speed is overly simplistic.  X8 bits forgets that there also needs to be error correction, packet formatting, routing, hand shake messages ('can you hear me' and 'did you get the last message OK?') and error recovery (retransmission).

Add all of that over head into the equation and you'll find that to transmit 8 bits of data from a file, you need 10 bits in total over the line.  Therefore 2MBps DATA transfer needs a line synch speed of about 20Mbps.

HTH?

[#13]

Sorry about that townman just being an idiot and read that at the wrong time of the day.

Thanks a lot all understood