FTTC now available, want to move from SKY, few questions....

[Rik]

 

They'd be quite insulted at the suggestion.

[pctech]

Oh well, that's me banned from tbb then 

[Rik]

 

[shorn]

How have things panned out Shorn? Has the rate recovered any?

Well its settled out at about 20mb. Sometimes a tad more, sometimes a bit less. Still very up and down.

[shorn]

Ok, well having just read Jemmm's thread HERE

I thought I would try wiring my connection. (been using the wireless connection from the Airport on the iMac to the Airport extreme.)

Connected a run of Cat 5e and got the following result...



This is actually a LOT better than I've been getting lately. iMac is being moved upstairs soon, So I will definitely be investing in a run of network cable!

Still, it is a tad annoying when the Openreach engineer connected it up and said that his equipment was showing 39mb down and the full 10 up. even 27 is quite a drop from that.

[Anton]

This is actually a LOT better than I've been getting lately. iMac is being moved upstairs soon, So I will definitely be investing in a run of network cable!

Still, it is a tad annoying when the Openreach engineer connected it up and said that his equipment was showing 39mb down and the full 10 up. even 27 is quite a drop from that.

Are you sure your iMac is connected over the N protocol? Shift your N network into the 5Ghz range and have it running alongside the g/b connection. I run 2 SSIDs (FELIX and FELIX_N) and therefore two WLANs independent of each other.

I'm running my _N WLAN in the 5GHz band and my speedtest over airport Extreme N maxes out at circa 38mbps. It also has the advantage that it'll much less crowded up at the higher frequencies - you do lose a little range at the margins, but as both WLANs are available you can easily reselect to the lower frequency one if you want to surf in your garden shed for any reason. ;-)

[Steve]

You beat me to it Anton

[shorn]

Yep, pretty sure its on the 5Ghz range. Under the Airport Utility>Wireless, I have it set to 802.11a/n - 802.11b/g with Radio Channel Selection set to Automatic.

[Bill]

Not 100% sure of this because I haven't tried it, but I think the way to be certain is to click "Wireless Network Options", check the "5GHz Network Name" box and enter a different name.

Then connect computers to that SSID, and you can be sure they're using 5GHz and not picking up something else "automatically".

[shorn]

Actually, it looks like it wasn't! Just found the additional wireless setting it configure 5Ghz range! So I have done that now and I get the following results....



I mean, does that seem acceptable and right to people? It just seems like its on the low side of a 40mb service.

[Bill]

Looks a bit low for this time of night, but you can never be sure with BT... try again tomorrow morning.

[shorn]

I've been getting these kinds of speeds, if not lower for the last week or so now. I was hoping I would have had something steady over 30, but maybe I'm expecting too much.

[Bill]

Have you tried using the separate SSID for 5GHz as I mentioned above (and Anton mentioned earlier)? We posted almost simultaneously so you may have missed it.

[shorn]

Yes, I have now found out that I did not originally have it running a 5Ghz band, but I have now reconfigured the Airport Extreme so I have both. Connected my iMac into the 5Ghz band, and then ran the test and got the last result I posted above.

[Bill]

Looks like there's something cock-eyed somewhere then- I've just done a BT speedtest and got 30315 down and 7944 up, on a 33598 profile.

But I'm on wired Ethernet to the router... Don't know what to suggest

[shorn]

hmmm, is it worth putting in a call or email to support?

Had the engineer not told me that he connected in at 39down 10up, and that hadn't connected anyone in lower than 31down, I probably wouldn't have minded as much.

And i also wouldn't mind if it was some cheap broadband from somewhere, but I am paying a premium. My mate gets a nice solid 10mb down with Sky through normal adsl, and pays £7.50 a month, no limits.

Im paying nearly five times that for just over double the speed.

If I had over 30 i'd be satisfied, but I've not seen over 30mb since the morning it was installed.

[Bill]

You've got a profile of 38717 which means you're sync'ing at max, and my gut feeling is that the problem is at your end.

I don't think it's worth calling support unless you get the same (lack of) speed on a wired connection... there must be some way you could do that, even on a temporary lash-up?

I'm pretty sure it's the first thing support will ask you to do.

[shorn]

The thing is I don't seem to be getting that much better speed when connecting via Ethernet. The screenshot above the last was my result via Ethernet and that was 27 down.

[Bill]

Ah, sorry, I thought it was wireless (need to read more closely!)... in that case I'm out of ideas and a call to support seems the best option to me.

[shorn]

Yea, think I'm going to have to. I'll get three speedtest results over wired connection and then submit them. See what they have to suggest.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

[sof2er]

Yea, think I'm going to have to. I'll get three speedtest results over wired connection and then submit them. See what they have to suggest.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

To completely eliminate the router interfering connect your PC's RJ45 directly to the modem by plugging it in the LAN1 BT FTTC Modem (or whatever the port is called).

Establish a PPPoE connection (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Create-a-PPPoE-connection-to-the-Internet for Windows 7)

Fill in your username and password, most likely it's your phonenumber@idnet.gw6 or something similiar and your PW (you can find these in your IDNet Control Panel).

It will automatically connect over PPPoE when you "dial" it up, now do some speedtests on mybroadbandspeed.co.uk, speedtest, speedtester.bt.com.

If these ones come out as 28 Mbps then you've eliminated I'd say pretty much all things that could interfere, perhaps a different CAT 5 Cable or time of the day will net you more speed

[Bill]

Establish a PPPoE connection (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Create-a-PPPoE-connection-to-the-Internet for Windows 7)

Shorn uses an iMac

TBH I'd be very surprised if the AEBS is causing a problem, it's a fast router.

But fair point, it's worth checking.

[Anton]

TBH I'd be very surprised if the AEBS is causing a problem, it's a fast router.

We checked Shorn's router before he signed up - he's using the same model as mine and it's the current one.

The WAN port on his model and the WLAN can both handle 60mbps without their pulses ever going above 70 ;-)

The CAT5 has out scoped Wireless as the issue, so for my money it's a WAN problem - I certainly think it's worth involving support.

From what I've seen round here, BT have planned the FTTC cab roll outs not to suit the existing infrastructure but to suit maximum speed, but in the end it may just be that Shorn's unlucky and further than average from his CAB and as Shorn is still on the max IP profile, so throughput does look low. I wonder what the backhaul is like into his Exchange?

[Bill]

I use an AEBS as well, latest model and firmware, so I know what it's capable of

[Anton]

I use an AEBS as well, latest model and firmware, so I know what it's capable of

You mean Zoooooooooooooooom!?