internet refugee @ 512Kbps needs some explaining

rjk

rjk

rjk

Caporegime
Joined
8 Aug 2007
Posts
25,380
right then i have a vague understanding about the way adsl works

if it were up to me - my house would have the fastest connection possible

my current isp sucks but it isnt worth changing if my line is limited anyway

im stuck with this


and it seems to get worse. i can barely game without monsterous ping
i cant download anything quickly
i can forget uploading pics/videos

however
i live on a country road in the sticks - with old phone lines...
my house is on the end of the phone line so i guess to upgrade they would need to do the whole road [2 miles long with 4 houses] meaning there wouldnt be enough demand?
with no cable in sight and the max that bt say the line will do is 1MB

is there anything i can do to obtain faster broadband

perhaps speak to BT?
 
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If you have a router see what your actual line connection stats such as SNR are, as it may be down to Tiscali throttling. There may also be stuff you can tweak that would help boost you a bit if you are on an 'upto' line.

Even with a long line, your ping looks out of order there as well so I'd suspect there's something up with your line/equipment. Most ADSL lines, even at low speed connections, will get 50ms or less for this sort of test, 194ms is ridiculous, I rent a TS server in America and the average ping on that is 100-110ms back to me, so go figure.

Speaking to BT unfortunately won't do a huge amount as they license tech to the ISPs, UNLESS you can hear crackling on your line when using the phone; thier contract guarantees a faultless voice line, but nothing to do with internet service. If there is any noise on your line they may be persuadable to check that out though; just dont mention internet to them at all.

If you don't have any hiss/crackle from your phone line I'd suggest speaking with Tiscali. Also, try plugging your router (again if you have one) or modem into the master socket in the house; and preferably into a direct line behind the faceplate if the front panel comes off, as this will discard your internal wiring from affecting your setup.
 
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thanks for your reply

modem is in master socket behind the faceplate
no hiss on the line

how do i find out if pipex/tiscali are throttling?

i am on an 'upto' line - just dont know much about what to ask for if i call them up

most of the bods i speak to at the isp seems to be indian call centers who know very little about the english language - let alone broadband!!!
 
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Explain your pings are exceptionally high and you'd like someone to look into your line. Your modem might be able to give you some figures (via software/ip setup) on the line stats. If thier call centers are that bad try emailing support? Also checkout think broadband as they have a sub forum on Tiscali who might help you.

If you get the line stats and you're connected at 1200/600 etc, but your actual data flow is that bad, then Tiscali are throttling.
I'd still say somethings up just because your raw ping is that bad, I used to be on pipex years ago at the family home, which was about 7 cable miles from the exchange in the country side, and the average ping was about 40 by one of these tests. If I can ping the US faster than you can ping a local speedtest server something is wrong.

Try using windows command prompt and typing 'ping www.jolt.co.uk' and feedback what you get, that tends to be fairly telling, jolt as a domain test tends to be pretty responsive so is good for basic reactions, it used to respond in 17ms back when I was at the families on enta.
 
As Alex said, you need to check the sync speed of your connection, to work out whether the problem is with your line or with the ISP. Go into your router's settings and look for 'downstream sync speed'. If it's not much more than 256kbps then the problem is with your line... if it's over 512kbps then it's Tiscali being rubbish.

I'm going for the latter, because low sync speeds shouldn't affect your ping that much, and Tiscali aren't exactly known for being blazing fast!
 
Router make and model then stats please, dont forget to post sync speeds up and down, also attenuation and SNR margins.

We can give you a much better idea where the issue lies then :)
 
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