Download speeds

[camdave]

I have had a reliable connection with a typical download speed of around 14.5 Mbps (ADSL) for a few years. Since the first lockdown a year ago my download speed has been unusually variable; from a low of 2Mbps to the 14.5 I would normally expect.

There is no pattern to this and to be fair most of the time the speed is OK. Has anyone else experienced this issue. Nothing has changed in terms of kit or siting of computers and neither my wife nor myself are downloading more than before, that is, very little.

Is it possible that more people working from home locally could cause this?

[Simon]

In my totally non-expert opinion, your last sentence possibly hits the nail on the head.  Not only have people been working from home, but schoolchildren have also been home learning online and that obviously also adds to the activity on the networks.

It will be interesting to see if things change when the schools re-open next week.

[nowster]

Have you tested speeds out of hours? For example, last thing at night?

[camdave]

Yes, I have tested speed at various hours of the day and at weekends. To be honest it is not a great problem except if it coincides with a Zoom meeting and even then it is not too disruptive.
It may improve when schools reopen and some people start to go back to work in their offices. If not I will start the laborious process of trying different routers etc. and take it up with IDNet if there is no improvement.