Bad internet connection with BT

GodAtum · 20 Sep 2012 at 19:21

My internet keeps dropping out and is very slow. It should be around 7Mbps but sometimes goes down to < 1Mbps. My thinkbroadband test just now gave me a download of 0.42 Mbps.

I'm paying £26/month for BT Option 3 so I'm not happy :mad:

An engineer did come out and could not find any issues :confused:

Some tech details:

Code:

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    84 ms    99 ms    99 ms  api.home [192.168.1.254]
  2    54 ms    62 ms    38 ms  217.32.146.167
  3    23 ms    22 ms    67 ms  217.32.146.206
  4    35 ms    65 ms    75 ms  213.120.156.34
  5    22 ms    72 ms    57 ms  217.41.168.225
  6    41 ms    36 ms    79 ms  217.41.168.109
  7    21 ms    51 ms    22 ms  109.159.249.240
  8    36 ms    66 ms    34 ms  core2-te0-15-0-7.faraday.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.
249.167]
  9    67 ms    74 ms    77 ms  peer2-xe8-0-1.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.2
54.179]
 10    42 ms    59 ms    71 ms  194.74.65.42
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12    86 ms    61 ms    63 ms  ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.46]
 13    55 ms    62 ms    66 ms  132.185.255.60
 14    76 ms    36 ms    57 ms  212.58.241.131

Code:

Uptime:	1 day, 17:11:05
Modulation:	G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:	448 / 7,840
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [GB/GB]:	1.05 / 4.31
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:	12.0 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:	24.5 / 41.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:	20.0 / 6.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):	1 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):	0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):	5 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 4,071,982
CRC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 973
HEC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 865
Line Profile:	Interleaved

GodAtum · 21 Sep 2012 at 10:09

The engineer found no problems, I think he did do a test on the test socket.

GodAtum · 22 Sep 2012 at 11:57

My connection improved in the early ours of this morning but it does still cut out during the week

Code:

traceroute to bbc.co.uk (212.58.241.131), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  api.home (192.168.1.254)  71.056 ms  70.469 ms  69.785 ms
 2  217.32.146.167 (217.32.146.167)  20.992 ms  28.519 ms  30.688 ms
 3  217.32.146.206 (217.32.146.206)  32.822 ms  33.738 ms  37.097 ms
 4  213.120.177.50 (213.120.177.50)  39.180 ms  41.230 ms  43.289 ms
 5  217.41.168.217 (217.41.168.217)  44.316 ms  46.343 ms  47.515 ms
 6  217.41.168.109 (217.41.168.109)  50.996 ms  31.070 ms  26.242 ms
 7  acc2-10GigE-0-2-0-5.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.249.227)  24.979 ms acc2-10GigE-0-0-0-4.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.249.194)  25.457 ms 109.159.249.238 (109.159.249.238)  27.305 ms
 8  core-te0-7-0-6.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.147)  30.817 ms core1-te0-7-0-17.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.141)  39.958 ms core2-te0-15-0-7.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.167)  35.320 ms
 9  host213-121-193-111.ukcore.bt.net (213.121.193.111)  23.625 ms  33.001 ms host213-121-193-99.ukcore.bt.net (213.121.193.99)  31.792 ms
10  194.74.65.42 (194.74.65.42)  32.315 ms  29.550 ms  29.550 ms
11  * * *
12  ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk (132.185.254.46)  54.335 ms  50.064 ms  48.310 ms
13  132.185.255.60 (132.185.255.60)  36.367 ms  37.356 ms  21.913 ms
14  212.58.241.131 (212.58.241.131)  31.510 ms  33.826 ms  35.704 ms

Just to confirm this was done through a laptop directly connected to my BT Home Hub via ethernet.

GodAtum · 22 Sep 2012 at 15:38

CKOZUK said:
That response time from your router is still too high, I get a 9ms response time from mine using wireless with a poor signal. Is anyone else connected to your network?

Leave yourself connected via ethernet, disable wireless on the router and then run the traceroute, if its the same response time then reboot the router and retry. If it is not then turn the wireless on and identify what wireless devices connect, see if someone is using your connection when they shouldn't be, did you opt out of BT Openzone? When you enable wireless do you then see an Openzone connection that wasn't there before? It doesn't use much bandwidth but still still.

If no one else is on your network then try an alternative router and see what happens, you will need to setup the alternative router with your PPP details.

I've tried all your suggestions but still high response times. I have not got an alternate router but will buy the Acer n66 when I have enough money. I have quite an old BT Hub (the white one). Would that be the cause?

Whats odd is that one trace shows:

Code:

traceroute to bbc.co.uk (212.58.241.131), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  api.home (192.168.1.254)  28.556 ms  27.978 ms  27.337 ms
 2  217.32.146.167 (217.32.146.167)  29.929 ms  30.684 ms  34.023 ms
 3  217.32.146.206 (217.32.146.206)  34.908 ms  36.332 ms  37.445 ms
 4  213.120.177.58 (213.120.177.58)  40.445 ms  43.043 ms  44.183 ms
 5  217.41.168.225 (217.41.168.225)  46.240 ms  47.659 ms  49.624 ms
 6  217.41.168.109 (217.41.168.109)  51.767 ms  26.455 ms  27.554 ms
 7  109.159.249.250 (109.159.249.250)  21.018 ms acc2-10GigE-0-2-0-6.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.249.229)  223.026 ms acc2-10GigE-0-7-0-4.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.249.202)  225.222 ms
 8  core1-te0-15-0-16.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.157)  229.957 ms core2-te0-15-0-4.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.153)  231.669 ms core1-te0-15-0-15.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.149)  238.298 ms
 9  host213-121-193-99.ukcore.bt.net (213.121.193.99)  233.547 ms  24.163 ms host213-121-193-111.ukcore.bt.net (213.121.193.111)  26.269 ms
10  194.74.65.42 (194.74.65.42)  28.409 ms  29.951 ms  31.943 ms
11  * * *
12  ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk (132.185.254.46)  39.143 ms  139.386 ms  33.246 ms
13  132.185.255.60 (132.185.255.60)  35.825 ms  37.270 ms  46.219 ms
14  212.58.241.131 (212.58.241.131)  45.234 ms  47.564 ms  24.055 ms

A trace a few seconds later shows:

Code:

traceroute to bbc.co.uk (212.58.241.131), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  api.home (192.168.1.254)  97.867 ms  97.336 ms  96.697 ms
 2  217.32.146.167 (217.32.146.167)  19.911 ms  28.529 ms  30.581 ms
 3  217.32.146.206 (217.32.146.206)  32.547 ms  34.728 ms  36.745 ms
 4  213.120.177.58 (213.120.177.58)  38.719 ms  40.842 ms  42.837 ms
 5  217.41.168.225 (217.41.168.225)  47.057 ms  47.807 ms  48.670 ms
 6  217.41.168.109 (217.41.168.109)  51.919 ms  33.077 ms  27.125 ms
 7  109.159.249.236 (109.159.249.236)  25.927 ms acc2-10GigE-0-1-0-6.l-far.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.249.222)  24.827 ms 109.159.249.240 (109.159.249.240)  25.174 ms
 8  core1-te0-0-0-14.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.169)  32.417 ms core1-te0-15-0-16.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.157)  27.755 ms core2-te0-15-0-4.faraday.ukcore.bt.net (109.159.249.153)  27.419 ms
 9  host213-121-193-99.ukcore.bt.net (213.121.193.99)  24.463 ms  22.789 ms  26.618 ms
10  194.74.65.42 (194.74.65.42)  26.515 ms  24.183 ms  24.226 ms
11  * * *
12  ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk (132.185.254.46)  24.980 ms  25.125 ms  26.820 ms
13  132.185.255.60 (132.185.255.60)  34.915 ms  34.853 ms  35.623 ms
14  212.58.241.131 (212.58.241.131)  30.218 ms  31.161 ms  31.012 ms

GodAtum · 22 Sep 2012 at 21:15

How would i need to setp up a 2nd router and turn my home hub into just a modem?