Slow Speeds since I got the 8meg Max service

[davej99]

I think we have to congratulate Hairy and IDNET for exposing BT's cynical selling of capacity, that by their own written admission, they cannot supply. I suggest this admission is good grounds for a strong complaint about BT. I would certainly share their statements with interested parties.

I note BT say "as and when spare bandwidth becomes available it will be progressed as necessary." This might mean "when more customers move to LLU." Anyway, Hairy, my inclination would be to move broadband to an LLU provider and leave voice where it is if you have to.

[Tacitus]

I think we have to congratulate Hairy and IDNET for exposing BT's cynical selling of capacity, that by their own written admission, they cannot supply.

If you want to be really cynical about BT and trust, try reading this from one Angus Prune.

It sets out the whole BT/Webwise/Phorm stuff in a nutshell, making some very pertinent points in the process.

[Rik]

A very interesting read, Tac, and one that raises the spectre of us all becoming unwitting 'victims' of Phorm if BT Wholesale decided to quietly implement DPI.

[Tacitus]

A very interesting read, Tac, and one that raises the spectre of us all becoming unwitting 'victims' of Phorm if BT Wholesale decided to quietly implement DPI.

And if they did there would be nothing those of us out in the sticks could do about it, since the only LLU alternatives (here at any rate), are Orange and TalkTalk, neither of which I would trust any more than BT.

[Rik]

I know, although hopefully, the ICO would get involved if it were done without consent. Finding out might be the problem for us.

[hairyman]

Not much improvement in speeds as you can see.I will try for a BT speedtest if their site works it wasnt working a while ago.

Looks like BT can get away with providing any speed they feel they wish. Sadly good ISPs have to put up with using a dying dinosaurs infrastructure. I see it is estimated that 25,000 million pounds minimun need spending to replace our copper based comms system. Shame they are wasting 10,000 million on the Olympics and spending 15,000million on two new aircraft carriers which equals what we need? Approx a similar sum is wasted within the NHS every year on poor deals and overpriced supply.

Never mind our society will go on based on corroding copper and 1960s telephone exchanges.

I will see what we can do next. Both LLus on my exchange are (a) of doubtful character Orange and TT/CPW and (b) only do combined voice and bb deals. I am on a BT phone contract.

O2 are rumoured to be activating next year , they are already on nearly all the surrounding exchanges and they do a bb only deal ( well linked to a easy PAYG or contract mobile phone which is OK by me).

I might try a super cheap ISP as we all must seek the best priced service these days, there is no point in having a High Quality ISP like IDnet when serviced by a 19century BT donkey, well maybe an ass. Does anyone know of a cheap donkey type ISP or just a cheap one. Newnet?

Not sure about this Phorm stuff seems illegal under Euro legislation they might get away with it if there is a postive opt in clause, customers could be encourage to opt in with reduced rental charges or more downloads etc. Sadly we must expect everyone we deal with to be spying on our private business as it seems the majority of the population dont care, after all look at how many vote at elections or what type or "news"papers most folk read.

BT certainly are guilty of over selling BB just like airlines over sell seats even now, as they know there are always those who cancel or transfer flights. Rail operators routinely sell more tickets than the number of seats they have at busy times and routes. At least at other times the trains are nearly empty well around here they are.

[hairyman]

Just had a quick peek at the Idnet new phone packages, seem to be well priced ( ie about the same as everyone else) but why don't they offer an Anytime deal surely this is what most families or retired folk go for these days.

Other smaller phone service providers seem to miss out the "anytime" deal as well. 

Carphone Warehouse seem unbeatable on phone and bb combined deals, I guess one could accept some short comings based not only on this but also on coming from where I am now. ie With sub 1 meg speeds and the fact that  I  have had a these speeds for nearly three years now. (when Max happened here).

[Ann]

I'm sorry about the dead end you seem to have come to Hairyman.  For me, they tell me they've upgraded the VP today and they've asked me to test my speed tonight.  It's a bit better but nowhere near enough.  1037 kbps now.  I'll do it again later and send them the results.  I wonder if the next thing they tell me will be the same as they've told you.  Ah well, it's not the end of the world (that's me trying to be adult  ).

[zappaDPJ]

If you want to be really cynical about BT and trust, try reading this from one Angus Prune.

It sets out the whole BT/Webwise/Phorm stuff in a nutshell, making some very pertinent points in the process.

I read that post from Angus Prune and followed some of the links. If someone at the Royal Mail opened a letter from your bank and inserted an advert for a Post Office savings account I think most people would be outraged to put it mildly. Some of what I've read there says to me that is exactly what BT have been doing electronically, or am I wrong? Please tell me I'm wrong?

[Tacitus]

.......am I wrong?

No, basically you're correct.  It was a trial run of the system and they didn't inform their users.  Someone smarter, or more curious than most users, discovered what was going on.  Hence the furore. 

[Rik]

Does anyone know of a cheap donkey type ISP or just a cheap one. Newnet?

Newnet can be cheaper, but they're not cheap and would be on my shortlist, with Zen, if I ever left IDNet. I would have thought an Enta reseller might be good for you, eg ADSL24.

[hairyman]

    


Hi All
An amazing thing happened tonight , well two actually, one I managed to log into BTspeedtest site and two it gave a fast result. Well flipping fast for me. Last night all I saw was 700kbps. So I guess there must be something good on TV keeping the broadband neighbours off their PCs.
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
    Your DSL connection rate: 7552 kbps(DOWN-STREAM),  448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
    IP profile for your line is - 6500 kbps
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 3778 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.

Speedtester test done right after!!!






And Thinkbroadband test done next.

Speed Test Results
Date    13/11/08 20:01:17
Speed Down    4237.03 Kbps ( 4.1 Mbps )
Speed Up    367.90 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )
Port    8095
Server    speedtest1.adslguide.org.uk


Call me a cynic but maybe they have put me on the high priority service with Lower contention that several ISps can provide with BT IPstream.

Maybe its just a fluke?

I will do a test later tonight to see if it reports fast then.

Yesterday I had 8 disconnects reported by the router, this is unusual as normally when its its wet ( and its been wet for a week now, the Severn Vale is nearly a boating lake again) the line is fine. Maybe work was being done at the exchange? Other line data on the router looks the same as normal.


Hairyone

[hairyman]

#     Host                                                       Sent   Recvd    Best   Avg   Worst
1    thinkbroadband-gw2.core-rs2.thdo.ncuk.net      15    15    0ms    0ms    0ms
2    gi0-1-10-star1.bdr-rt1.rbsov.ncuk.net                15   15   0ms   0ms   0ms
3    idnet-gw-b.lonap.net                                   15    15    0ms    16ms    211ms
4    telehouse-gw3-g0-2-331.idnet.net                  15   15   0ms   2ms   28ms
5    telehouse-gw2-g0-2-400.idnet.net                  15   15   0ms   59ms   515ms

Just did this traceroute on the Thinkbroadband site looks like I am on two connections/jumps/hosts at Idnets telehouse provider. This is not usual, normally there is one only. Excuse the misaligned text the forum software seems to do a bit of reformatting for me.

Is getting 65% of your Profile in an evening good, I got 1900k when on 2272k fixed rate service.

[Lance]

Hi Hairy, good to see that things are starting to improve for you!

65% on a contended exchange is good. Because of overheads, you would normally get a maximum of around 90% of profile.

With your unusual disconnects, it does sound like bt kicking something!

[hairyman]

Hi Lance

BT now say ( email just picked up tonight) that they have found a less congested VP for my temporary use until the old ones congestion is sorted .

Not sure what that means maybe they have a posh persons VP and a one for ordinary folk and maybe the later will get less congested when people migrate to CPW or Orange ( both recently newish at my exchange) and free up capacity on BT. Maybe Ive been connected via GCHQs circuit!! Spooky? Maybe they have used a can of switch cleaner on the old stepper relays at the exchange!

Lets hope it maintains this speed , thanks all, will report back.



Hairy

[Inactive]

Looking good Hairy,  it continues.

[Lance]

It is possible that you have been put on a vp normally used by business customers, or it could just be that they have found another domestic vp. Either way, at least there has been some progress!

[hairyman]

Hi All

Evening rates still seem to be around 3.5 to 4meg actual throughput's. So being on the posh persons VP seems good. I wonder what they have really done. Sync at 7500k and profile at 6500k when I looked last. Will do a BT speedtest later or tommorrow.

I did find out something today as I ran into an old colleague for the first time in maybe ten years ( we worked together over 20 yrs ago) he left to become a Telephone engineer for BT. He still plays with copper cables and when I asked about BB locally he said it is generally true that BT make provision of just 8megabits of capacity for every 40 connections. ie only 200kbps each if we all went on a download spree. It does vary from region to region my countys speeds  are  somewhat lower than normal with some bottlenecks as it is a large fairly rural county with minimal cable connections available and low LLU roll out to reduce the load on BT.

So I guess BT hopes most of its customers don't go on line and or expects congestion and hopes big downloaders will clear off to a LLU based isp?

Hope you are all well, wonder when they will chuck me back into the movie/BBCi/p*rn VP pool.

[Lance]

Glad to hear that the speeds are still improved. Lets hope they never move you back to the old vp!

[Sebby]

It's good that things are looking at least a bit better.

[Rik]

It's an interesting confirmation of what we have long believed about BT and congestion. Thanks, Hairy.

[hairyman]

Date 26/11/08 21:51:57
Speed Down 1993.69 Kbps ( 1.9 Mbps )
Speed Up 361.75 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )
Port 8095
Server speedtest1.adslguide.org.uk

Hi All

Speeds seem to be dropping down to their old levels here I think they must have put me back on the poor mans VP again!  I still sync at 7600k and although I cannot get a BT speedtest I guess the IPprofile is 6500k or higher as I have not had any disconnects ( at all )

I got several tests at sub one meg kbps last night. Maybe its the BBCi effect?

The BT speedtest site wont let me past the logon page I assume its overworked like most of the ridiculous BT system.

I feel a phonecall to IDnet and BT Wholesale manager coming on?

I have been off climbing in N.Wales so I haven't had a lot off time to enjoy the fast connection while it lasted.

How are others doing with their speeds at the moment?

LLu seems the way to go in the long term even BT seems to want its customers to go elsewhere.

[Lance]

I just wonder if they have had to move other users to your vp as well. I wouldn't really expect you to be moved back to where you were. So frustrating!

[hairyman]

Got a bit bored so did a few speedtests from different servers around the northern globe.

[hairyman]

Hi Lance

Yes you are probably right they are transferring or balancing up the VPs. Maybe I was transfered onto the higher priority, lower contention networks that some ISPs are advertising at higher rates. I think they claim contention of only 10 customers per 8mbps of provision as opposed to 40 per 8mbps for the standard service these are at the exchange level not at the ISPs rented servers end.

I think I will pop over to the O2 site and register an interest in their service if and when they add it to my exchange , they are already present on all three surrounding exchanges.

All a bit frustrating as you say. Thanks for the reply and yr presence.