Was my connection deliberately throttled?

[azkin13]

During the last 4 weeks or so my speed appeared to drop considerably from about 12Mb down to 5Mb even though my router indicated otherwise:

Data Rate(Kbps)     
         15320                      834
Noise margin (dB)    
         2.9                              7.2
Output power (dBm)    
         12.4                      21.1
Attenuation (dB)    
         31.0                      16.7

I have the summary graphs from www.speedtest.net to show this detoriation.

Yesterday I put a complaint in to Idnet and suddenly tonight my speed is back up to 12Mb +
******************************************************************
This is a test I did tonight on BT:
Test 1 at BT 19.00 24/02/2010
Download speed achieved during the test was - 13091 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 16.48:20.93:62.59 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes.
********************************************************************************

I have done further speed checks on www.speedtest.net and these now compare with the BT test.

I feel this is too much of a co-incidence.....have others had this experience ?

I'm not happy about it and am in discussions with Idnet by email.

Any comments or feedback appreciated.

Thanks

Az

[Niall]

Is it just on speed tests that you're seeing this or when you actually download files?

Just wondering as the BT speedtest thing showed me a complete load of rubbish the other week when I'd switched to the new 21cn line. I was getting 11mb downloads and the BT test was also telling me 5mb (approx), which I could clearly see was wrong.

[Steve]

I am not aware of any throttling performed by IDNet,there is supposed to be plenty of capacity on IDNet systems. BT has had local exchange congestion with hot VP's and 21CN congestion issues recently. Obviously from the information supplied everything is now looking ok. Incidentally when your throughput was poor was this mirrored by a reduced router sync?

[kinmel]

I have been with Idnet for 4 years and have never heard anyone else complain of throttling by Idnet.

Are you sure that Idnet did not raise your problem with BT when you complained yesterday and BT have now corrected a problem.

I will be very shocked if your accusation proves to be true, Idnet's business model is based on NO throttling.

[Lance]

Quite simply, IDNet do not throttle. It sounds like there was maybe a stuck profile, noise margin reset or BT did something in the exchange.

[Niall]

Or a borked speedtest site.

[azkin13]

Hi all, I'm not accusing idnet, I just asked the question, as it was such a co-incidence that after complaining about the reduced speed that it suddenly went back, in a few hours, to what I expected and was used to.  It could be they have passed it to BT and it was a problem in the exchange but the reply I got back from idnet did not say anything about that, it just asked me to do a few tests on the BT speed test web site which I'm doing.  I had noticed my browsing over the last 4 weeks was pretty sluggish though even though my router kept saying I had a good connection "15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)".

Thanks for the responses, I will post again when I have heard back from idnet again.

Cheers

Az

[Lance]

We realise that you're not accusing IDNet (hell, you are allowed to anyway!), but I think the responses where trying to make it clear that the problem was not one of IDNet throttling. It will be good to hear back support's response.

[azkin13]

One of the reasons I went with idnet (after Supanet) was because they don't throttle, not that I download much anyway, I prefer to pay more for a reliable and fast service because of work. I have always given 5 stars to idnet on thinkbroadband and speedtest.net...etc  Maybe this was a BT issue in the exchange, dunno until they get back to me.

Thanks

Az

[Simon]

As has been said, it's more likely that it was another problem, which has been revolved following your complaint. 

[Technical Ben]

Hi all, I'm not accusing idnet, I just asked the question, as it was such a co-incidence that after complaining about the reduced speed that it suddenly went back, in a few hours, to what I expected and was used to.  It could be they have passed it to BT and it was a problem in the exchange but the reply I got back from idnet did not say anything about that, it just asked me to do a few tests on the BT speed test web site which I'm doing.  I had noticed my browsing over the last 4 weeks was pretty sluggish though even though my router kept saying I had a good connection "15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)".

Thanks for the responses, I will post again when I have heard back from idnet again.

Cheers

Az

I really cannot believe your response azkin13. Perhaps all those other badly performing Broadband providers have skewed your expectations from IDNet. But what are you complaining about? They fixed your line. Very quickly. You would not get that kind of service anywhere else (except maybe AAisp).
You should be over the moon that they fixed it. It's not uncommon for little faults or changes on a Broadband connection. Even the weather can change things. If IDNet change anything, I am sure they will be 100% honest and up front. Even with throttling, they could keep custoemrs this way. But as they run the service so well, they do not even need throttling. They have the spare bandwidth to serve all their customers. Great job! 

[azkin13]

This is the response I have had back tonight from idnet today:

"The service is rate adaptive, and will fluctuate slightly depending on the line at the time, the system in the exchange is automatic and will vary the speed depending on circuit noise, we do not throttle your connection."

I don't have a problem with that, I know the speed will fluctuate occassionally, but not from 12Mb down to 5Mb and stay there for 6 weeks on the trot.  Not when my router is giving me these figures for the same period: DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM).

They go on to say:

"Results you have got from speedtest.net have been unreliable and inconsistent. Please use the BT speedtest in future, this has continuously shown that your connection is running within the acceptable range of speeds for your connection on each time we have requested demonstration of the problem."

I do have a problem with this paragraph, speedtest.net results have been _consistent_ with speedtester.bt.com and thinkbroadband.com results I did.  In the last sentence  "this has continuously shown that your connection is running within the acceptable range of speeds for your connection on each time we have requested demonstration of the problem (my italics)" I am assuming that when they say that, they have only requested this demonstration since I reported the problem - 2 nights ago.  In which case, as I have said previously, after reporting the problem to idnet the speed suddenly increased back up to 12MB and the four tests I did with speedtester.bt.com and speedtest.net were comparible with this - so yes my connections at those times were correct.

Tonight however I now have a slow connection again:
BT Test:
Download speed achieved during the test was - 5899 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 22.55:28.53:48.92 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Speedtest.net result:

speedtest.net result earlier

and thinkbroadband.com showed my download speed tonight as only 2MB :-)

So I don't know what to make of it all....

Az








Thanks

Az

[Steve]

Az  I think you need to carry on reporting your BT speedtests to Idnet,it's the only information that BT will accept when Idnet discuss your connection with BT. I appreciate the difficulty of accessing this server and ones own frustration when other sites give comparable results.

Have you checked your exchange status @ http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/ although this site is not up to date in real time it can give an indication of exchange congestion?
Are you seeing a pattern to the slow throughput i.e is it slower in the evenings and fine during the day?
What's the error count like on the router stats?

[azkin13]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply, don't get me wrong I think idnet are a great ISP, but lately I've been having these issues.  Anyway I have followed your link to the exchange I'm on and all the green boxes are ticked except for the CGI scripts orange which is not important I don't think and there has been no major outages over the last month.

VP capacity at this exchange is currently showing as Green.
Click here for further details   
Colour: Green   BT have advised that this exchange is enabled for WBC on 21CN

I have a Belkin F5D7633uk4A wireless router, but there is nothing in there about error counts!!!  Currently it shows my connection as:

Data Rate(Kbps)
        Down                            Up     
         15320                      834
Noise margin (dB)    
         2.8                              7.2
Output power (dBm)    
         12.4                      21.1
Attenuation (dB)    
         31.0                      16.7

I have not seen any pattern to this except that from early Jan until 2 days ago my speeds were around 5MB until I reported it to idnet then it suddenly jumped back to 12MB for a day, now I'm back down to less than 5MB!!!!!  During Nov/Dec my download speeds were between 10 and 12 MB no matter what time of day or night, even at peak periods and I was very happy with that.

I will continue to use the BT speed tester and send backthe results to idnet as requested, but I will also continue using comparitor speed test sites for reference.

Thanks...

Az

[azkin13]

Just done another BT test and it is getting beyond a joke:

Download speed achieved during the test was - 939 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 23.22:19.28:57.51 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.


Az

[Steve]

Az That speed test is below the acceptable range so it is perhaps in a bizarre way more useful ammunition for IDNet to give to BT than a 5000kbps one.

Your router stats see http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php note the hidden pages. Lastly I presume these are wired ethernet tests and have you got another router to compare speeds with as some routers perform better on adsl2+ than others.

[azkin13]

Hi Steve,

I tried that link to the hidden pages stuff, very good info, but my router didn't respond to the url for stat errors, I'm on firmware version 1.00.25, don't know if that is a factor.

Yes I am on a wired connection to the router.  I have another router (Netgear DG834G still in it's box) I could try but this Belkin has been so reliable I didn't think it could be the problem.  I will try the other router at the weekend if I have no solution from idnet by then.

Cheers

Az

[Rik]

Hi Az

It looks to me like a BT capacity issue, whereabouts are you.

[Steve]

Thats my impression but not seen much on 21CN congestion on the AAISP site lately, who have incidentally had their own issues with 20CN congestion. They do suggest BT21CN congestion is still occurring with hot VPs and thus traffic priority seems to be a solution albeit at a cost.

[ST Driver]

Hi AZ

I used to have a belkin router it was reliable and showed no signes of being a problem despite having simerler problems on adslmax.
Following advice from members on here I changed the router, no more problems were had and infact I had a better profile.
Hope you get things sorted as I know what its like watching your through put fluctuate so much.


Steve

[azkin13]

@Rik, hi Rik I am on the Cramlington exchange 01670, when I followed Steves link to check the exchange it showed no issues....

Tonight when I got in from work I did a speed test on BT and got this:

Test at 18.30
Download speed achieved during the test was - 13924 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 20.68:21.75:57.57 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Then later I got this:

Test at 22.10
Download speed achieved during the test was - 1971 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 18.92:34.5:46.58 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

I'm not quite sure where the problem is but will swap the router out tomorrow, but I don't think that is the problem.

Cheers

Az

[azkin13]

@ ST Driver, Steve, thanks for your experience, I will change the router over the weekend and see what happens and post back here. Thanks for taking interest.

Regards

Az

[Steve]

To me that looks like exchange or BT network congestion.

[Rik]

I agree, Steve. There's nothing else that would explain that kind of speed range. Unfortunately, BT will argue the service is in spec.

[azkin13]

Hi Rik, Steve,

I've been doing a few speed tests throughout the last couple of days and here are the results (latest test first after setting up the Netgear when the speed started to drop on the Belkin at 2pm today):

Test at 16.53 27/02 (Netgear)
Download speed achieved during the test was - 11427 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15880 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 24.1:22.47:53.43 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Test at 13.57 27/02 (Belkin)
Download speed achieved during the test was - 7981 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 12.63:27.67:59.7 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Test at 10.47 27/02/10 (Belkin)
Download speed achieved during the test was - 13195 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 14.54:22.71:62.75 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Test at 07.10 27/02 (Belkin)
Download speed achieved during the test was - 13634 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 15.22:22.52:62.26 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Test at 02.33 27/02 (Belkin)
Download speed achieved during the test was - 13393 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 14.81:21.85:63.34 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Test at 22.10 26/02 (Belkin)
Download speed achieved during the test was - 1971 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 18.92:34.5:46.58 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Test at 18.30 26/02 (Belkin)
Download speed achieved during the test was - 13924 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1000-99999 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :15320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 832 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 13000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 20.68:21.75:57.57 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

I'll do regular tests with the Netgear and see if the speed drops off at busy times which was what appeared the case with the Belkin.  Incidently I did comparison tests on speedtest.net and the results were consistent with the BT tests.

Cheers

Az