Advice on what do next

adam2008 · 17 Jan 2010 at 19:25

Hi,

So i haven't really had the time to ask anybody about this issue that has been ongoing for about a year. I have stupidly slow internet speeds with BT it usually hovers around 0.4 Mbps once in a blue moon jumping to a whopping 1Mbps. I use the BT homehub 2.0 and the ethernet is connected straight to the back of my PC and Xbox 360. I have tried ringing BT many times and they fob me off with BS about unplugging the router every single time, so ive decided to ask you lot about what you would do?

bigredshark · 17 Jan 2010 at 19:49

Well in the best case tell them to get lost and move to a decent provider. If that's not possible then refuse to be fobbed off and ask to have your call escalated/speak to a manager?

adam2008 · 17 Jan 2010 at 20:07

I would move to a different ISP but last time i switched from BT (about 6 years ago) it took well over a week for them to release my line to my new ISP. A week without internet for work and so on would be difficult, could moving to a different ISP actually make any noticeable difference? I wouldnt even mind to much if i could just get 1-1.5 Mbps, and i know my line can do this but only at around 12 at night.

tolien · 17 Jan 2010 at 21:39

It's hard to know whether it would make any difference without knowing what speed the HomeHub is connected at but there's a good chance you'd get some improvement.
The maximum downtime you'd have with a migration would be a few minutes.

adam2008 · 18 Jan 2010 at 17:59

I looked at that samsknows website and it said that BT was the only LLU and also the line speed estimator said around 2.5Mbps. This is all the info off my router, thought I'd just see if it meant anything to anyone.

ADSL settings:

VPI/VCI 0/38
Type PPPoA
Modulation ITU-T G.992.1
Latency type Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up) 18.4 dB / 22.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 47.0 dB / 31.0 dB
Output power (Down/Up) 15.4 dBm / 11.9 dBm
Loss of Framing (Local) 0
Loss of Signal (Local) 0
Loss of Power (Local) 0
FEC Errors (Down/Up) 514129 / 407
CRC Errors (Down/Up) 1767 / 2147480000
HEC Errors (Down/Up) nil / 287
Error Seconds (Local) 3451

tolien · 18 Jan 2010 at 18:36

There's no sync rate there, i.e. the speed your modem's connected at.

adam2008 · 18 Jan 2010 at 18:39

I assume its this bit:

Connection information

Line state Connected
Connection time 6 days, 1:54:49
Downstream 832 Kbps
Upstream 448 Kbps

adam2008 · 19 Jan 2010 at 12:00

Should i be getting better speeds for those stats or is it impossible to tell just from that?

tolien · 19 Jan 2010 at 12:56

Yes, you'd expect a lot more with the SNR margin that high.

InQ · 19 Jan 2010 at 13:23

To clarify, your on ADSLMax and not LLU (G992.1 would indicate ADSLMax).
What does a manual resync of your connection give you, similar speeds to whats posted?
If you have phone line extensions from the master socket try removing the lower faceplate off your NTE5 and plug direct into the test socket behind it and see what the sync is. Report back!

See http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm if your unsure.

adam2008 · 19 Jan 2010 at 16:14

Interesting, I just removed the ring wire from the NTE5 faceplate and now this is what the connection stats are:

Connection information

Line state Connected
Connection time 0 days, 0:09:17
Downstream 2,688 Kbps
Upstream 448 Kbps

ADSL settings

VPI/VCI 0/38
Type PPPoA
Modulation ITU-T G.992.1
Latency type Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up) 11.8 dB / 22.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 48.0 dB / 31.0 dB
Output power (Down/Up) 18.4 dBm / 11.9 dBm

Yet the speedchecker still says my broadband is at 450kbps. Is sync speed therefore nothing to do with your actual speed?

tolien · 19 Jan 2010 at 18:13

With BT Wholesale, it's a factor. The other part is your IP profile which varies with your sync rate but with a delay.
If you run the BT Speedtester, you'll likely find it says you're on a 500kbps profile. That should change within a few days to 2000kbps, provided you stay connected at or above 2272kbps.

adam2008 · 19 Jan 2010 at 18:38

So what your saying is that if i leave the router plugged in, over the next few days it should re-adjust to a faster speed (sync speed)? Also could removing the ringwire from the socket actually of increased the speed from my previous sync speed of 800 to almost 3000?

tolien · 19 Jan 2010 at 18:46

Your connection was capable of more than 800kbps from the start. What made it increase was probably disconnecting and reconnecting - which was, essentially, what BT were "fobbing [you] off" with.
Your throughput will increase provided you stay connected at the speed (i.e. sync rate) you're at, or at least above 2272kbps, to ~240kB/s.

adam2008 · 19 Jan 2010 at 19:15

To be fair though i have tried many times over the past 12 months or so disconnecting and reconnecting so i can't see that making any differnce. Anyway thanks for your help all your help, i guess i will wait for a few days and see if theres any improvement. Thanks again.

tolien · 19 Jan 2010 at 19:57

If you reconnected it definitely shouldn't have been with an 18dB downstream SNR margin. You could probably squeeze onto the 2500kbps profile if you got them to reset you back to the 6dB target.

adam2008 · 19 Jan 2010 at 22:06

Sorry I didn't really understand a word of that, in laymans terms?

GSDog · 19 Jan 2010 at 22:13

adam2008 said:
To be fair though i have tried many times over the past 12 months or so disconnecting and reconnecting so i can't see that making any differnce. Anyway thanks for your help all your help, i guess i will wait for a few days and see if theres any improvement. Thanks again.

I expect removing the ring wire probably did make a difference. If I remember correctly you usually only need terminals 2 and 5 connected. Click here for more info.
Have you removed it from all the phone sockets in your house?

Also have you got ADSL filters on all of your phone sockets that are in use?

I think your line is probably capable of around 3.5MB as your SNR (noise margin) is still at 12db. The lower the SNR the higher the sync rate (connection speed), so if you can get the SNR reduced to the normal 6db it should increase your sync rate.
The SNR should hopefully reduce automatically over the next few weeks.
Alternatively if your connection is reliable over the next 7 days with no disconnects, etc. you could try contacting your ISP and asking them to reset your SNR.
I had a similar problem just a few days ago when my SNR was stuck at 12db with a sync rate of 6.5MB. I contacted my ISP (Plusnet) and they reset the SNR which fixed the problem. I'm now syncing at 8128 Kbps @ 6db.

adam2008 · 19 Jan 2010 at 22:26

I have filters on all phones and I just removed the ring wire from the master socket should i do the other sockets too? Should i wait a few days to see what happens to my connection or ask them to reset the SNR tommorow? This is all very new to me

GSDog · 19 Jan 2010 at 22:47

adam2008 said:
I have filters on all phones and I just removed the ring wire from the master socket should i do the other sockets too?

It probably won't be necessary but if you don't need the ring wire then you might as well. It looks like removing it from the master socket has already done the job.

adam2008 said:
Should i wait a few days to see what happens to my connection or ask them to reset the SNR tommorow? This is all very new to me

I'd wait a week or so first to make sure your line is now stable.
Your IP profile should increase over the next few days now that your sync rate has increased from 832 Kbps to 2,688 Kbps and when that happens your throughput will increase, meaning you'll actually see a difference when browsing/downloading/gaming, etc.
Keep an eye on your sync rate and make sure it strays around or above 2,688 Kbps.
When you're sure that your connection is stable, then contact your ISP and see if they'll reset your SNR; when/if they do that your sync rate should increase even further.