broadband speed variability

[#1]

1. I am having constant broadband speed issues. They never get resolved! I ran 6 BTW speed tests this morning, all within a 5 minute period, and the download speed varied between 1.98 and 3.41 mbs.
I realise these low figures are laughable by todays's standards, but they are limited by the BT lines peed. I dont think BT intend to do anything about it soon.
So my question is: Why? Why such variation in speed. I can live with 3.41, but less than 2mbs is unacceptable.
2. Like many Plusnet users, I also find the TG582 n router unfit for purpose: In order to get wireless on my TV, I have to use a signal booster, but still only manage a signal strength of 2 out of 5 bars. Yet the total distance from router to TV is only 18m (remember I have a signal booster halfway).
I feel strongly that Plusnet, being fully aware of router and speed problems, should do something about them, instead of giving useless advice that cannot overcome poor hardware and service standards. It claims to be fast and reliable and lots of other good things.

[#2]

Hi catescott,
Welcome to the Forums.
I've had a look at your line and you're not experiencing frequent disconnections which could cause the speed to drop. When you're running the speed tests are you connected via Ethernet or are you testing via a wireless connection?
<img src="http://community.plus.net/visualradius/generated/image14087056211273.png"/>
Your connection profile on our end is set to 3.5Mbps which is correct based on your sync speed. Speed is never static so yes, if you test 5 times one after another the results will vary.
I'm sorry if you're struggling with the Wifi on the router, have you tried changing wireless channels? - http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/hardware/technicolor-582n-wireless.shtml
I'm sorry if you're having issues with these things, however, the router that we supply is designed to be suitable for the majority of our customer base. The speeds is something that we're unable to improve if you're receiving your estimate. You are currently on an exchange that only has 20CN available. It's part of BT Openreach work that is being carried out to deliver FTTC to the majority of the UK over the next few years, however, we are unable to speed this process up, I'm afraid.

[#3]

Hi catescott,
Welcome to the forums.
Further to what Linn has said, DATA speed tests can be markedly impacted by the error rate on the transmission, exchange congestion, concurrent activity on your computer / LAN and if run over wifi, the ability of the wifi interface in the receiver to say nothing of the impact of nearby wifi networks.  It is not all down to the router.
Linn has pointed you in the direction of the wifi trouble shooter.  For the TV, you would be better off using a pair of Ethernet over power adaptors - they start around the £20 mark.  Plug one into the mains by the TV the other by the router and connect into them with Ethernet cable.  They will run upwards of 150Mbps which is far faster than you'll get over wifi.  Anyway it is not signal strength that this the issue, it is signal stability and throughput.
Back to the ADSL link - can you please post the full router stats as described under the speed issues thread at the top of this forum.  This will indicate just how good your raw link is performing.

[#4]

Three BTW tests this pm:
1. upload: 0.12 Download 0.00
2. Up: 0.11 down 0.00
3. Up 0.10 down 0.00
Its a wonder I can even post this...

[#5]

Hey catescott,
I've been running some checks on your line and we actually identified an issue with the phone line. It looks like the problem with the phone line has caused the speed profile to drop causing the slow broadband speeds.
I've opened up a ticket on your account to arrange for the fault to be resolved here 
Thanks,
Dan