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How can I tell whether there is congestion?

adagio
Grafter
Posts: 196
Registered: ‎03-04-2008

How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Is there any way of finding out whether there is congestion at my cabinet or exchange?
My synch speeds are Up 54Mbps Down 20Mbps. Plusnet Current line speed: 52.2 Mb.
From having very stable TBB results over the past week downstream speeds have been up and down like a yo-yo. Upstream, other than on one occasion fine. Suspiciously one can almost tell the time of day from the result. I have attached a graph of recent results. 'Asked a Question' - unsurprisingly no problem found with my line.

25 REPLIES 25
Andrue
Pro
Posts: 775
Thanks: 90
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Registered: ‎12-01-2015

Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Looks like congestion to me but are these wired or wireless tests?
It would also be handy if you could provide a graph of latency. Perhaps sign up to the TBBQM for a while.
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping
adagio
Grafter
Posts: 196
Registered: ‎03-04-2008

Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

All wired tests. Created TBB BQM about an hour ago.
adagio
Grafter
Posts: 196
Registered: ‎03-04-2008

This is descending into farce.

My FTTC synch speeds are 54Mbps down and 20Mbps up SNR margin 7.6dB uptime 9 days. All my TBB speed tests done with wired connection, Windows 10 and Chrome browser.
Up until 29/09/15 had rock solid download of 50Mbps upload 18Mbps. Happiness since quite some distance from cabinet.  Current Line Speed 52.2Mbps. Can't do BT Further Diagnostics since it doesn't work, never has done. From that date onwards download up and down like a fiddler's elbow i.e. pretty regular can almost tell the time of day from the result. E.g. on 02/10/2015 results
@08.09 32.5
@15.01 21.8
@18.53 7.6
So I asked the support team a question!
First test result could find no problem with line - I not surprised. Uploaded graphs etc. another test done. Not quite sure what this tested. Anyway received the following from Plusnet:-
"Your fault has now been raised with our suppliers for further investigation.
They have advised the estimated time for resolution is 08/10/15 @ 23:59:59
Please note this is only a estimate and the fault could be resolved before this date, however we will continue to monitor for updates from them and if we are able to provide an update sooner than this we will do so.
**internal**
Fault Type:Slow Speeds
Test Results:Dis In Exchange
Fault Ref:TR0000005099507
Estimated Resolution Time: 08/10/15 @ 23:59:59"
Early this afternoon an OR engineer telephoned (my wife answered) to say he was coming to the house. There had been no prior warning that a house visit was even necessary. He claimed I had reported "No dial tone" which I certainly had not. He rang our number from the front door and phone rang. No surprise there.
I got 3 text messages from him one of which stated that he was doing work at the cabinet. Not knowing then that he had come to the house I thought "Well done, problem will be solved". It has most certainly not.

Seems unlikely he did anything on the broadband front since we never lost connection.
Could someone from Plusnet please grab hold of ticket #111712454?

Strat
Community Veteran
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Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Mod Note
Threads merged to maintain continuity
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Andrue
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Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

What does the TBBQM look like, Adagio?
adagio
Grafter
Posts: 196
Registered: ‎03-04-2008

Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Quote from: Andrue
What does the TBBQM look like?

My Broadband Ping

Andrue
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Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Quote from: adagio
My Broadband Ping
I don't see any sign of congestion there.
adagio
Grafter
Posts: 196
Registered: ‎03-04-2008

Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Quote from: Andrue
I don't see any sign of congestion there.

What would be the indicator?
Andrue
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Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Quote from: adagio
What would be the indicator?


From here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq/sections/bqm.html
I would expect a rise in minimum latency or a lot of packet loss. Your graph looks clear with just the regular speed tests temporarily taking priority on your router to ping responses.
adagio
Grafter
Posts: 196
Registered: ‎03-04-2008

Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Quote from: Andrue
Your graph looks clear with just the regular speed tests temporarily taking priority on your router to ping responses.

I did not perform speed tests that frequently during that period only did 2. Those spikes are occurring regularly every 2 hours day and night.
Andrue
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Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Quote from: adagio
I did not perform speed tests that frequently during that period only did 2. Those spikes are occurring regularly every 2 hours day and night.
Well it doesn't look like congestion. Could there be something else that keeps pulling down a chunk of data every two hours? I don't think it has anything to do with the performance drop you are seeing but something appears to be using your connection quite regularly.
jelv
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Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Have you got a SamKnows white box?
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Oldjim
Resting Legend
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Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

The ping blip very 2 and a bit hours appears to be something which happens with fibre occasionally - I have it as well
Andrue
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Re: How can I tell whether there is congestion?

Odd. I used to have a router that gave a comb effect (the TBBQM FAQ gives an example) but it's a little hard to imagine the same scheduling/priority issue causing a regular two hour blip.
dick:quote