another randomly slow line

[casual_moron]

hiya, i guess i get to add myself as a meto to the list of people with random speed issues


for some reason my speed seams to have dropped down to approx 1k download 150 up (according to various speed tests), this has only been happening since last night and everything was fine before that

i've tried unplugging for 15 mins / rebooting the poxy netgear router several times but no luck

the odd thing is i doubt this is a problem coming from the bt exchange as the main farm building (with claranet  idnet)  but is on the same cable (its a dead end private track with me about half way up, and them at the bottom) says they're getting approx 5.6m about the same as normal, so i can only assume the problems with my kit somewhere, or possibly at idnets end

has anyone got a clue what might be causing this / a way to fix it besides taking a sledgehammer to the netgear router?

[Rik]

What are you line stats, have you been able to do a BT speed test?

[casual_moron]

i cant get the bt speedtest to finish im afraid, it crashed about a third of the way through with some access denied error message (i didnt have the brainpower to note it down im afraid, but i'll try again in a minite and see if i can't get it to work)

the stats from the router are

ADSL Link        Downstream       Upstream
Connection Speed  6912 kbps        832 kbps
Line Attenuation    24.0 db    11.5 db
Noise Margin          14.6 db             9.0 db

which seams about the same as always

[Rik]

Any idea when you're scheduled for 21CN? Have there been any dropouts of the voice side? Clearly, your noise margin has been pushed up to 15db for some reason, so you may have a low profile. If you can't get the BT test to complete, contact support on Monday and get them to look at the line for you.

[casual_moron]

will do, thanks for your help rik, it just seamed odd that i'd be having problems but the folks on the same line as me are fine was all that really caught me out

[Rik]

I agree, but the lines could take a different route back to the exchange, or your pair is not as good as theirs. Once you get to the exchange, they could be on a different VP to you, etc. There are so many variables that sometimes we can do no more than guess.

[casual_moron]

hi rik, just thaught i ought to do a follow up post to say that just as randomly as it had started, 6 hours later and everything is back to normal (or at least as far as i can tell... speedtest is saying 5.2m which is good enough for the likes of me)


as i'd nothing better to do, one of the benefits of living in the arse end of nowhere is i can see the exchange out the window, i drove down there to have a look around for an incriminating bt man but there was nothing doing but that dosnt nesscerally mean anything but at the end of the day who knows what was wrong with it in the end, maby it was all just the netgear playing up .... again 

on that note, do you have any suggestions for something less cr*p router wise without breaking the bank, i've had various drayteks before (used to love my 2600 but hated the 2800 when it eventually died)   i currently suffer from the only phone plug being downstairs and the pc is in the spare room, so im doomed to wifi, but im currently looking into either running cat5 between the two, or getting bt to put in another plug upstairs (which would have the upshot of having them fix the wiring while they were here as i joke not my "master socket" is two bits of exposed stripped wire twisted round each other)

[Inactive]

Take a look at the thread titles " So Simple ", it may give an option for your requirements.

[Simon]

You could also consider a 2Wire 2700HGV business router, which were only available through BT, but plenty have now surfaced on eBay.  If you're careful who you buy from, you can pick one up for between £20 and £30.  Technically, they are 'locked' to BT, but there's an easy way round that, and quite a few of us have them on here, so we would be able to help you set one up.  Many have found improved performance when using one, providing you can get a good one.  There's a section on them here, if you want to have a look. 

[Sebby]

These speed problems really are so bizarre, but I'm glad it seems to have sorted itself.

I agree with Simon. Just search eBay for the BT Business Hub router (a rebadged 2Wire 2700HGV). Just make sure it's the version 2 (dual SSID). If the seller doesn't state or doesn't know, avoid them. There should be plenty on there.

[Dangerjunkie]

Hi,

Which browser and Java are you using? I just started another thread because I was getting the same error message using Firefox and Sun Java on Linux. Changing browser to Opera let the test complete for me.

Have you thought about mains networking? http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48539&criteria=devolo&doy=13m4 Something like those should get your network all round your house and outbuildings as long as they share a common power supply. As long as you're not into amateur radio using that shouldn't affect anything else in the house.

Cheers,
Paul.

[casual_moron]

thanks again for more ideas, im useing firefox on vista 64 (i was tempted by 8gigs of ram and then discovered that a coupple of drivers i needed only had x64 versions for vista not xp) but i had the exsact same results with ie

admittedly it was one of the first generation of them and early stuff tends to have its issues but in my experience the homeplug mains networking boxes were great for the odd use, but they tended to overheat then give up altogether with the amount of stuff i put through them

i'll have a look into those bt hubs as while the trendy n wireless seams pritty good, the adsl part of this netgear is driving me up the wall