More very slow speeds

[Dopamine]

My connection has slowed to a sub 500kbps crawl today. Sync is fine at 8128. Re-booted router and new sync was again 8128.

Can't get BT Speedtester to work so can't check IP profile, but it's been 7150 for weeks and apart from today's forced re-sync my connection to the exchange has been solid, although it's very rare for me to get a peak time speed exceeding 5mbps.

The average across a number of different speed test sites over the last few hours has been just a fraction under 500kbps, with a high of 810 and a low of 230.

Before I ring IDNet support, I'm just checking to see whether anyone else has had any problems today, as I'm becoming fed-up with the connection I have here. At least with Pipex, my previous ISP, I knew that without fail I'd get full speed before 5pm and after midnight so could schedule work accordingly. Ever since transferring to IDNet my speed has been up and down like a yoyo.

[Inactive]

No problems at all today ( yesterday ), usual full speed ahead.. 

[MoHux]

Same here;

Results for speedtest    #1206923418
Date of Speed Test: 2008-03-31 01:30:18
Download Speed: 6389 kbps (798.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 381 kbps (47.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

[Lona]

My speed has been terrible this evening. It was fine during the day but has gone down to a crawl just now when you would think it would be faster so late on.

[Cookiemonster]

Speeds are ok for me! recent speed test...

[Rik]

Whereabouts are you, Dopamine. All the reports of speed issues I've seen seem to involve the Edinburgh RAS.

[Sebby]

I've had no speed problems, which is why I can't help but think these problems are down to BT. It might be worth giving IDNet a call, even if it's just to give them a bit more information about these issues to help their case with BT.

[Dopamine]

Whereabouts are you, Dopamine. All the reports of speed issues I've seen seem to involve the Edinburgh RAS.

West Sussex. Southwater exchange.

Speeds are back up to normal again this afternoon, ie; fluctuating wildly but a usable 1.5mbps plus.

It's driving me mad. I don't spend ages checking speeds for the sake of it, only when whilst trying to use my connection I notice a slowdown that affects what I'm  doing. I'm not bothered whose fault it is, be it BT or IDNet or a plain old creaking infrastructure, I just want a connection that works reasonably well.

We all know the old story though, and that is that BT will blame IDNet and IDNet will blame BT. In truth, probably nobody is to blame. The network is being used almost to capacity and won't be seeing any substantial investment and upgrade for a long time. What's sad though is that mud sticks and I now have doubts about both providers.

If I had to apportion "blame" anywhere, it would be at services like BBC iPlayer. A great and popular idea that was designed to be used on an infrastructure that can't really support it.

Bizarrely enough, I sometimes think it would be better if I didn't have such a good line. I would never have experienced or become used to a constant 6mbps+, so my expectations would be lower and my current 1.5mbps would seem ok!

[Rik]

Bang goes my RAS theory.

Have you talked to support. We had one case of slow speeds earlier today that flagged immediately as an exchange fault.

[Dopamine]

I've not talked to support today because my speed was back up to 1.5mbps+, (in fact a tstools test just a minute ago showed a whopping 3.5mbps!). I have though spoken to them previously a few times about my problems, and have always been told that my experiences are typical of a congested BT exchange and that IDNet can do nothing about it.

If my connection had remained sub 1mbps I'd have contacted them. I'll try to ring them again tomorrow just to report the matter.

[Rik]

Keep us posted.

[markiep]

I am also getting very slow speeds tonight -

Between 300 and 600kbs download om tests.

Last test
Download - 331
Upload - 336

This is from the bbmax speedtester

Router stats:

Line Mode    G.DMT         Line State    Show Time    
   Latency Type    Interleave         Line Up Time    02:06:02:59    
   Line Coding    Trellis On         Line Up Count    1    
      
   Statistics    Downstream    Upstream    
   Line Rate    7040 Kbps    448 Kbps    
   Noise Margin    14.1 dB    27.0 dB    
   Line Attenuation    10.0 dB    5.0 dB    
   Output Power    11.8 dBm    11.9 dBm

No disconnects for 2 days and my profile is 5000

These are my Pipex speeds, I was getting 4mb this time in the evening a
couple of days ago.

My exchange is Staplehurst in Kent

Cheers

Mark

[Rik]

Can you get a BT test, Mark?

[markiep]

Last Test 

[markiep]

Did a BT test earlier - That came back faster - It seems my speeds
are over the place, or does it bypass something?

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 5000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  7040 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 2488 kbps

It feels slow (I know about slow!) and my lad was complaining about stuttering on youtube earlier.

Cant get the thinkbroadband one to work it just hangs.

Thanks for your help

Mark

Latest test

[markiep]

Things looking a bit brighter now!



Sorry about hijacking the tread!

Cheers

[Sebby]

I'm glad things have returned to normal. I think it's clear that BT are up to something. After all, if this was a capacity issue at IDNet, we'd expect things to be slow at this time more than others.

[Dopamine]

Just managed to run a BT speedtest. I monitored it using a bandwidth monitor as it ran, and the speed fluctuated considerably during the 15 or 20 seconds it took for the test to complete , from below 500kbps to just over 5mbps. (my estimated time, not actually measured).

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 - 3361 kbps

When I was with Pipex, I could change my router login so that it bypassed Pipex's network and went direct through BT, which meant I had two valid tests carried out back to back which showed whether the fault lay with Pipex or BT (it was always Pipex). It was common to get 6.6mbps through BT, then a minute later logged in through Pipex just 400-500kbps (peak time)

I can't do that any longer with IDNet. When I try to login in to BT's tester with the login speedtest@speedtest_domain which always worked with Pipex, I now get an error telling me to login using my ISP's provided login.

Does anyone know whether this is a recent change to the way the BT tester works, or something unique to IDNet?

[Lance]

i think that was what you had to do for the old bt speedtester, but they changed it so it could be run without having to change the details.

[Dopamine]

Keep us posted.

Spoke to support who ran various tests on my line. Line and equipment appear to be excellent with no faults, but they too saw considerable fluctuations in line speed which they do not understand, so are making further investigations and will contact BT too. Best guess at the moment is contention, but where in the network hasn't yet been discovered.

[Sebby]

It's good to hear that IDNet are looking into it.

[Rik]

Super sleuths to the rescue.

[markiep]

Hi

If you ever find out what is causing it would it be possible to post the results
on the forum as it sounds exactly like my line was last night as well., I am on the
Weald of Kent so I don't know if it is geographical.

Thanks

Maybe it is the last of the Pipex gremlins!!

Anyway things are back to normal now 

[Dopamine]

Hi

If you ever find out what is causing it would it be possible to post the results
on the forum as it sounds exactly like my line was last night as well., I am on the
Weald of Kent so I don't know if it is geographical.

Thanks

Maybe it is the last of the Pipex gremlins!!

Anyway things are back to normal now 

Well, support promised faithfully to call me back today.... but didn't.

My speeds have been a fair bit better today too, for the first time in weeks. Coincidence? I wonder. Maybe the contention just happened to move away from someone who complained, to another who hasn't.

Why is it that people make promises that they don't or can't keep?

[Simon]

Maybe they are still awaiting news from BT?  There wouldn't have been much point calling you with nothing to say.