BT HomeHub and (total lack of) QoS

Audigex

Audigex

Audigex

Associate
Joined
3 Feb 2009
Posts
2,245
Hey guys

I've got a network at my uni room which is doing my nut in. When nobody is online (ie right now) I get rock solid consistency in download/upload speeds. They're pretty unimpressive at 1.96/0.69 Mbps (speedtest.net), but they're consistent to within 0.02Mbps and usable, if hardly lightning.

When a couple of housemates are using youtube or general internet it degrades a little, to about 1.3/1.4Mbps, which is still usable - by which I mean I can stream iPlayer without interfering with their download speeds too much.

However, as soon as my third (bit of a ********, so unwilling to compromise) starts streaming, bandwidth on the rest of the network plummets: I get 0.21 and 0.06Mbps through to my laptop, and if streaming on my xbox I just get constant buffering (we're talking 1999 Realplayer, here)... while she gets absolutely no problems. I've not been able to run a speed test, but her streaming works fine and she's able to browse at the same time.

It's not as if I want all the bandwidth, just enough to allow 2 streams (mine and hers) over 2Mbps (more than enough) and still be able to download lecture notes. 0.21Mbps means I take about 5 minutes to download a single PDF, and really isn't good enough. My laptop isn't causing any problems, as when I go to uni I get 25Mbps on the wireless, and 96Mbps off the LAN - so between 4MBps and 12MBps actual download speeds.

However, we've got BT (nothing I can do about it, as it was contracted before I moved in) with a stupid BT HomeHub3 - it was a 2 until Monday, when a tech (ha) came around, poked around, declared he couldn't do anything about it other than give us a new router and leave it a few days to see if that helps.

So yeah, I'm pretty fed up - it's getting to the stage where I'm having to drive to campus every time I want to do anything, as it's working out faster to drive there, download any material and drive back.

I've got a wireless access point lying around, if that helps (all the above devices are wired in), but no router. Could I turn this on with it's QoS settings, keep the SSID and password the same as the BTHH3 and tell my housemates it's the same network? (Or rather, would that help my speed issue? I'll deal with the moral issue of lying to my housemates)

I'm thinking it's worth a go, before getting hold of a router and messing about with that.
 
This question constantly comes up on this forum. You have to compromise or cut the net.

Personally if other student house mates were ignoring requests I would go find somewhere else to work.

The first rule in student accommodation is to compromise.
 
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you just use a cable service such as Virgin, whilst using an ADSL service such as BT? It would be expensive (depending on your financial position) if only you paid towards Virgin, but it'd be a lot better than sharing a 1.96Mbps connection between 3 people.
 
Tingle - I'd be only too delighted to pay for Virgin, but we're in an area which isn't financially worth upgrading past 2Mbps broadband, the cable companies aren't even vaguely interested. BT is going to add Infinity to the area sometime this/next year, but I'm not holding my breath to it extending out to us.

The atmosphere with this particular housemate isn't good, so asking her to stop streaming is useless. Short of physically kicking her off, there's not a lot I can do there.

Is it out of the question to use my Access Point to enforce QoS, though? If I turn off the HomeHub's WiFi and route all wireless traffic through the Wireless Access Point, wouldn't the AP's QoS override the HH's misguided efforts?
 
Audigex said:
Is it out of the question to use my Access Point to enforce QoS, though? If I turn off the HomeHub's WiFi and route all wireless traffic through the Wireless Access Point, wouldn't the AP's QoS override the HH's misguided efforts?
Click to expand...

It should work. Give everyone 512Kb/s each. :p
 
Nothing to do with the homehub, it's your lack of bandwidth that's the problem, and if your not willing to upgrade then you'll have to live with it.
 
The bandwidth IS SUFFICIENT, it's just not being shared out properly. 2Mbps isn't a lot, but it's enough to stream a couple of TV shows while still allowing normal web browsing to work.

As for not being willing to upgrade - if you read the thread you'll note that I'm both contracted in (not my choice) and have no option to upgrade. This is the fastest it's possible to get here.
 
Access Point seems to be solving the problem :-) looks like it's just the HomeHub being a pile of &#!£. I've set the AP to the same SSID and WPA PSK as the BTHH was so that everything could swap straight over and changed the BTHH's channel and name.

Perfect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom