can I have an opinion on speed seems slow ?

[David]

Hi people,

I'm not that up on this as you know but my speeds seem low,its been seven days and my speed seems to be going down,have tried several sites latest ones thinkbroadband,is it me or is this speed low? down 976.42 and up 350.58,I'm just seeking an opinion as I cant trust my judgment .

Thanks

[RA-1972]

If you can you really need to see if you can the the Bt speed test to work it shows more info .

[RA-1972]

I have just done a speed test all ok here i am on idnet.gw5.


   

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 - 6459 kbps

[David]

Thanks for that,I have tried so many times with the BT  one but as my line is with someone else I keep getting the message,I am returning my line to them so hopefully when thats done I will be able to connect up.
Many thanks appreciate your help

[RA-1972]

what speed are you connected at through your modem or router ?

[David]

Thats odd just carried out another and its now reading 3639.62 down 378.30 up,so speed is back,its as Simon has said the settling in period this is the 7th day and I assumed (wrongly) it had settled .oops,I only noticed it when I was browsing Im not a speed watcher as a rule. oh well its back to speed now.

[Simon]

It should be settling by now, David, unless it's still something to do with getting your BT line sorted.  As I said 'next door', most speed testers are notoriously inaccurate, so sometimes it's best not to pay them too much credence, but as soon as you can get the BT Speedtester working, that would give something more reliable to go on.

Come back to us if your problems persist, and I'm sure someone will have some ideas, and certainly by Tuesday, if things haven't improved, a chat with IDNet might be worthwhile. 

[David]

  Have a good weekend Simon

[Sebby]

As Simon says, a lot of "third-party" speed testers are quite inaccurate. I find the Namesco speed test to be the best, but the BT one is going to be the most accurate. Unfortunately, it can require a lot of patience.

The other thing to mention is that it depends at what rate you are sync'd with the exchange at, because speed test results are meaningless without. For example, if you're only sync'd at 1Mb, then your speeds are good. Conversely, if you're sync'd at 8Mb, it's not so good.

All the best.

[Rik]

as my line is with someone else

I thought you'd migrated back to BT, David, or did you go with someone like the Post Office?

The error reports about the data not matching their records are usually down to the BT tester being busy. I'm convinced BT don't like to admit it too often, so they chuck out other excuses to 'prove' they don't need to put more resources into the tester. 

All that said, the variation you're seeing is most likely down to exchange congestion, rather than the training period. Take a look at:

http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

see what it's saying for your exchange.

[Sebby]

Rik is right. The speed tester often throws up that error, but it's usually just a case of it being busy.

[David]

Thanks guys what a neat site,nothing known here though.I'm with the dreaded tiscali with the phone but am awaiting bt to take the line back,after carefully looking at phone companies decided I would rather pay that little more and know who to contact,and have had problems with the phone,but I have to give credit where its due Tiscali have always diverted calls to my mobile within an hour so cant fault them on this,but still change back to bt for simplicity.
I will watch it although the only reason I did take note was the slowing down but its about 2 at the moment.time will see it sorted last week I was getting some really fast times I couldn't really believe them but it was fast

[Rik]

Are Tiscali carrying the calls via a prefix-dialler, David, or is it what's called SMPF (shared metallic path facility), where they have you connected directly to their equipment. If the latter, it might be worth checking with IDNet about the BT tester, as it's possible that BT genuinely don't recognise the number.

[David]

Hi Rik,god knows I have only just learned to use the phone let alone know how the calls get to me,I think the good which has come out of the  migration problems have highlighted a lot of problems which I was unaware of and has highlighted my line so it can only be good,we have had corroded wires at the pole in th e street,some more problems at the exchange,engineers here so if there is a problem I'm sure now it will get sorted and a lot of other issues will have been dealt with. it is now slow right now so once I have actually returned will get on the phone to them,had the welcome back Email so with luck wont be too long and as I rarely use the phone for calls,maybe 2 a month the tariff wont have a great impact on me

[Rik]

If you have engineers working on the line, David, it's often a good idea to disconnect the router until they are finished as, otherwise, their constant interruptions are seen as instability and your profile gets dropped (why they can't throw an 'engineering mode' switch to stop that happening defeats me. )

[Sebby]

Because that would be too sensible, Rik.

[Rik]

True, Sebby.

[David]

They have finished at the moment Rik so I think if there is any more problems they it could only be at the exchange,I'm sure it will settle,I did do something right when they were working I did unplug the router on both occasions so I will pat myself on the back for that one.

[Rik]

  

[Sebby]

Hopefully users will see speeds return to their previous consistent levels.

[David]

keeping my eye on things but come 7pm last night speed slowed but come elevenish picked up again,will monitor got very slow  but the up speed seemed ok,still on the 10 day settling in just seems odd.

[Rik]

That pattern is typical of BT congestion, unfortunately, David. If it were IDNet congestion, we'd see more reports than we do.

[David]

Had a feeling it was but dint know thanks Rik,

[Rik]

I can't be certain, of course, David, but isolated cases usually indicate a BT network issue. If anything happens to IDNet itself, I usually have to give up eating for a few hours to keep up with the forum.

[David]

I didn't think it was an IDNet issue to be honest,I was aware there seemed to be a pattern,its no big deal for me Rik just got so slow I turned it off,not to worry there is nothing to be done its fine now.

[Rik]

You needn't bother to turn the router off, David, just avoid heavy downloads at that time. Things like surfing or the forum shouldn't be too badly affected.

[David]

Thanks Rik,I actually turned the pc off,not the router gave up for a while,got a more pressing question will post it in help section

[Rik]

OK, see you there.