Hmmmmmmm ........very inconsistent speeds for me lately !!

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

jeez rik, are we staring at the end of un-restrained idnet ?

James

[Rik]

Hopefully, no, James. The work BT are doing at the moment is to enhance their side of the network and includes new fibre. I'm hoping that, just for once, they are attempting to meet demand, not play catch up.

[Sebby]

No. IDNet's network is fine.

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

.........slotting business head into place..............worzel gummidge style.........

If I were whispering in Simon Davies` ear, id be saying "buy YOUR OWN lines " and 100% control, talk about securing your company in an ISP future where fleet street style car congestion isnt a probability.......its gonna darned well happen whether we like it or not.

James........................taking business head off

[Rik]

You've got to be very big to go down the LLU route, James, which is why only people like Tiscali, CWP and O2/Be have done it. Sadly.

[Sebby]

That means LLU, which is costly. They'd have to change their business model and become a large ISP.

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

makes ya wonder how krap phone warehouse and tiscali make such a horses backside of the whole LLU operation though rik.

James

[Sebby]

It does.

[Rik]

Simple. They don't care about quality, they tie people in with long contracts and then cram them onto too little capacity. The best of the LLUs is Be followed by Sky.

[Steve]

I have never had consistent speeds on maxdsl,low speeds for myself  are predictable at peak times. I was previously with Pipex and moved over to Idnet recently. My hopes were that the very slow D/L speeds that I began to see during the last few months would be eliminated, I think to a greater extent that these have been fulfilled. You can see from the graphs that I still have a wide variation in D/L speeds. Since I migrated on the 22 February my D/L speeds are consistently higher with the troughs not as severe (BT profile 6500K). The causes of this variation I think are purely down to exchange congestion.

[Rik]

Sadly, that's likely to be the case and, unless Ofcom decide to address the issue, we are all - customers and ISPs alike - at the mercy of BT.

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

Speed Test Results
Date 10/03/08 12:27:51
Speed Down 6473.87 Kbps ( 6.3 Mbps )
Speed Up 371.94 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )
Port 8095
Server speedtest1.adslguide.org.uk


and back to a decent speed once more....................

havent had a reply from support yet, hopefully they are taking a look into the situation.

James

[davej99]

I am just coming up to a month with IDNET and I have had no problems. On the other hand I have gone to great lengths to prove my hardware, optimize TCP settings, monitor router stats, especially noise, and set up my house phone wiring and filtration in-line with the received wisdom, much of which is posted here by Rik. I have done my bit.

I am 2.4km street distance from the exchange and enjoy maximum connection and profile speeds with no drop outs. So BT have done their bit.

I have been monitoring download speeds using BT speedtester and occasionally see some slow down from a maximum of 6700 to the 5000's and very occasionally to the 4000's. Statistically I am hard pushed to find a pattern. I cannot say that I have been impacted by the speed variations I have seen and I do not think I have a case for complaint to IDNET.  ADSL max is a contended product and the company says download speeds can vary from below 2 Mbps, during peak times, up to a maximum of 7.15 Mbps. So one has to be reasonable and have real world expectations. I know what ISP congestion is like and I have no evidence of it with IDNET.

Tech support seems to spend most of its time hand-holding user-side problems, diagnosing line faults for BT and pursuing exchange contention problems.

In short I think IDNET do their bit too and it is best not to complain about what they cannot control. Why spoil a good relationship?

[Rik]

Well said, Dave.

[Dopamine]

I can't agree with Dave or Rik. I'm certainly not blaming IDNet, but I pay them for a service, and if BT cause IDNet to be unable to provide me with that service, then I expect IDNet to act as my agent and pass along my complaint, and hopefully put some pressure on BT too.

This "better keep quiet" attitude to perfectly valid complaints is one of the reasons our national broadband system is as poor as it is.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that speeds consistently above 2 or 3mbps cannot be provided across the board. That may be nobody's fault, just a simple fact that will only be rectified by investment in infrastructure. In that case, BT and all other ISPs need to make it very much clearer in their advertising.

[Rik]

From the IDNet website, the 'packages page':

"*Please note:

The maximum broadband speeds that your line can support are determined by the equipment at the exchange within the first 10 days of service.

Broadband speeds are affected by your proximity to your local telephone exchange and the quality of your phone line.

Actual broadband download speeds can vary from below 2 Mbps during peak times, up to a maximum of 7.15 Mbps."

All I think Dave and I are saying is that there are elements of the ADSL supply which are outside the control of IDNet and about which they cannot complain to BT. A more productive channel for complaints might be Ofcom.

[RA-1972]

I think it all depends where you live and how many peeps are connected to the exchange . I have had great speeds with idnet , so where you live must have some thing to do with it ? may be .



Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 6550 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.

If you are experiencing problems with specific applications, servers or websites please contact your ISP for assistance.

Your test has completed please close this window to exit the performance tester.

This was at 18.40 tonight .

[Rik]

You're right, it's all about exchange congestion, and BT cover themselves on that. To be fair, IDNet are one of the few ISPs I have seen to declare the possible speed restraint. For myself, I've never seen a restriction.

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

I received a reply from miriam at support this afternoon. When I got home from work , I speedtested my pc and it was a solid 6.3MB.

I went out to do the shopping with my wife and kids tonight and got back home about 20.20 and ran this test

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1910 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.


What a pile of rubbish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is not the IDNet I know................no way 

James

[Lance]

Hmmm. Middle of peak period and you've a slow speed. Certainly looks like BT congestion at your exchange to me. It's unfortunate that no matter how much IDNet shout and complain, it won't make BT move any quicker.

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

move any quicker to do what Lance ?

James

[Lance]

To expand the capacity and VPs at the exchange, James. 

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

what puzzles me no end lance is that when I joined IDNet in Nov 07 and right up until about the last 10 days , I could have used my pc anytime and bet my shirt on a connection circa 6.5MB

what i am seeing now is as if somebody realised that the congestion switch was turned OFF and now its been switched ON and memories a la talk talk , i.e good speeds when everybody else is in bed and naff to bleedin atrocious for the rest of the day.

i thought joining IDNet had gotten me out of this situation , how could such a marked deterioriation occur within such a short time scale ? Even the solid as a rock BE are experiencing similar carry on to what I am.

James

[Dont mention Talk Talk !!]

Lance says " To expand the capacity and VPs at the exchange, James"

In miriams email she says "The fluctuation will be down to congestion on the BT network but not
necessarily related to your exchange. A contact in BT has confirmed your
VP is currently at 38% utilization so is not yet due for regrade."


38% does not suggest a swamped BT exchange to me Lance.

James

[Lance]

It is possible, James, that BT have had a hardware problem at the exchange or have had issues with their fibre, meaning that they have had to juggle with the users and fit them in a smaller space - causing the problems you have.

Alternatively, they may have added more hardware and, in turn, users, causing more contention accross the existing fibre from the exchange.

It's annoying, I know. Not long after I joined IDNet my exchange became congested and it took BT 4 weeks to do anything about it.