Broadband Speed Issue

Pulse · 1 Nov 2008 at 23:06

Just thought that it's a bit odd that recently our connection speed has been all over the place between the hours of 5pm and 1am.

Between these times it will be constantly unstable jumping between 1200kbps and 250kbps, after which it will return to normal at a full 4400kbps. So I'm not being capped as it would be constantly slow all the time, which it isn't, just becomes severly unstable after 5pm. No matter how many computers are connected or even downloading.

Any cause for this?
That many people really checking emails between those times? :rolleyes:

Cambofrog · 1 Nov 2008 at 23:22

Which ISP, package are you on?

tolien · 1 Nov 2008 at 23:42

It's got nothing to do with your ISP, or peak time, or being capped. It's got everything to do with your line, your extension wiring (if you have any), and your modem.

Pulse · 2 Nov 2008 at 10:07

I'm with BT 8MB 'Unlimited' usage. So if it's got nothing to do with my ISP, peak time or being capped. Why would it only happen between them hours?

The modem doesn't move and is on a single dedicated extention cable up to my bedroom, always has been. And if it's my line, how can if be constantly full speed the other 16hours of the day?

After it being unstable last night, it's rock solid this morning downloading at 535kb/s (Max speed for my line). Where as last night it was roughly 60kb/s

Swordfish125 · 2 Nov 2008 at 10:25

Im get this with BT sometimes, I reckon they are doing maintaince on the line during these hours. Also it prob when ppl leave the computer on to DL lots of ummmm things.

tolien · 2 Nov 2008 at 11:40

Pulse said:
I'm with BT 8MB 'Unlimited' usage. So if it's got nothing to do with my ISP, peak time or being capped. Why would it only happen between them hours?

So let's say it isn't your ISP. How are they changing your sync rate/SNR margin - there's no automated system for doing it, and there's a limit for how many target SNR margin changes you can make.
So they must be sending people out with arc welders to sit next to your line and bugger it up.

The modem doesn't move and is on a single dedicated extention cable up to my bedroom, always has been. And if it's my line, how can if be constantly full speed the other 16hours of the day?

It wouldn't be the first time an extension cable's gone bad or started picking up noise from somewhere (bad timer, flickering fluorescent light or something), and SNR margins are very rarely constant over a day...

Pulse · 2 Nov 2008 at 15:07

Who said that my sync rate was changing??

Line state Connected
Connection time 5 days, 6:38:49
Downstream 5,152 Kbps
Upstream 448 Kbps

It's just the actual download speed that is changing.

pennywise · 2 Nov 2008 at 16:07

Tenner says it's faulty wiring/flourescent lighting/some other sort of electrical interference affecting the extension cable. Try eliminating the cable by plugging the router directly into the master (or test, preferably) socket; if you're still having problems, only then contact your ISP since you've removed any problematic equipment from the equation in your house.

Pulse · 2 Nov 2008 at 16:29

Ok, I'll give it a go, I just don't see why it would only affect it certain hours of the day??

We don't have any flourescent lights near it, the cable runs up the wall along the roof to the 2nd floor then under the carpet into my room, has been untouched for well over a year.

The only thing I think it might be is the heating as I've heard stories of that before, but that's on almost all day.

tolien · 2 Nov 2008 at 17:25

Pulse said:
Who said that my sync rate was changing??

Pulse said:
our connection speed has been all over the place between the hours of 5pm and 1am.

Between these times it will be constantly unstable jumping between 1200kbps and 250kbps, after which it will return to normal at a full 4400kbps.

If your sync rate's stable and your throughput changes then first stop should probably be the BT Speedtest to make sure your IP profile isn't changing. After that, it's possible it's the ISP capping.

EvilDreams · 13 Nov 2008 at 19:50

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I've been having the same issue since the middle of September. Full speed 8mb downloading at night, through the morning, then as soon as late afternoon/evening comes along, I can only get about 60k/s until about 1am.

First with my old ISP ADSL4less, and now apparently with o2.

pennywise · 13 Nov 2008 at 20:49

Extension cables/lights/heating.. anything electrical near the modem/router/cable. I see it every day at work. You'd be surprised the amount of things that can interfere with your speeds, and it's always at this time of year that people see the problems "in the evenings"

Pulse · 13 Nov 2008 at 20:59

Mine has something to do with my Noise margin(down), it jumps several 0.1's in a couple of seconds which I've been told it shouldn't do, it's wierd how only my download speed is affected and not my upload.

One second it was 5.9 quick refresh and it was 6.4. When I get a full speed of 4380kbps my Noise margin is around 9.3. So it drops a fair bit during the afternoon.

EvilDreams · 14 Nov 2008 at 13:18

pennywise said:
Extension cables/lights/heating.. anything electrical near the modem/router/cable. I see it every day at work. You'd be surprised the amount of things that can interfere with your speeds, and it's always at this time of year that people see the problems "in the evenings"

Nah, I checked the o2 forums and there's a poll up. Either 92% of o2 customers have gone from fine speeds in the evenings to 512k speeds because of duff wiring and interference, or you're a bit off there

pennywise · 14 Nov 2008 at 13:43

EvilDreams said:
Nah, I checked the o2 forums and there's a poll up. Either 92% of o2 customers have gone from fine speeds in the evenings to 512k speeds because of duff wiring and interference, or you're a bit off there

Aha, fair enough then. It's always worth checking though, before calling up tech support and going through the hassle of having to deal with the potential of foreigns reading a script off a screen