[NTL] Internet Speed slow

Think yourselves lucky you can get ntl, they have it over the road by me but not here, i would soon drop adsl for 10 meg ntl.
 
Same problem here, I'm in Macclesfield, Cheshire area. I've got 4MB connection and I've definitely noticed slow down. I've done several speed tests during different times of the day and average speed 2.8MB! I don't know how many people in my area share the bandwidth, but 2.8 is ridiculous!
 
This made me laugh... My download is going at a whole 150k/sec upto 215k/sec. So I thought I would do a speed test. What made me laugh was that my upload speed was actually higher than my download speed.

What a load of crap from NTL. Too many customers and not fast enough servers/equipment to handle them. If this keeps up, I will be leaving NTL or I may as well drop to a 2mb connection with them as thats all I am getting :mad:
 
I'm on 4MB NTL and noticed a massive slow down evening last night, I'd left uTorrent going all day came back home and turned it off, and the internet was unusable. :|? Discovered unplugging my router, modem and turning my PC off for 15 minutes seemed to make it acceptable again, but having to do that really is daft.
 
That probably has a fair bit to do with the torrent swarm still trying to hit your IP to upload/download data to your client, was your modem activity light (assuming it's a SB series) and/or firewall hit count going up rather quickly by any chance ?

Also for those of you suffering slow speeds is this p2p useage and if you hit and FTP's does it go quicker ? Have you attempted multiple downloads using different protocols (FTP, HTTP, P2P, SMTP) at the same time while monitoring overall bandwidth usage ? Have you checked spyware/malware/viri infection ? Have you logged it with NTL Tech support ? Have you been on the NTL NG's to see if other users in the area are having this issue (you always get a certain ammount of background 'my connection does xyz) if it was affecting an area you'd have hundreds of posts on the subject ? Have you established if it's a latency issue on the NTL side or one of the US (or wherever) servers you are hitting. How about doing a tracert before and after 6 and perhaps making use of Dan E's comprehensive speed test ? Have you tested uploads to NTL webspace vs off net webspace ?

Saying it's slow and i used a speed test tells me and anyone in technical support nothing, i can use 10 different speed tests and get 10 different and wildly inaccurate results because the server i'm using may be on the far side of pluto if it's not UK based.

I'm not saying this is or isn't happening as i'm now not directly privvy to such information - especially on the NTL side - anymore but i'd be surprised if it were as it wasn't discussed when I was involved.

Ofcourse you don't have to do anything, infact a lot of people don't but if I had the problem you are describing those are the first things i'd be looking to do but that's just me.
 
Last edited:
Avalon:

I have done various speed tests. Checked for spyware/malware/viri infection. Downloaded from webpages/ftp/newsgroups. I have checked my upload and my upload was fine (40k/sec upload rate), faster than my download rate lol.

I have been looking on other forums and have seen people with similar problems but only from about 5pm.

The only thing I haven't done is phone NTL because they have the worst customer service and technical support I have ever used.

It seems like its just NTL throttling the speed during peak times :mad:
 
I tend to prefer www.broadbandspeedtest.net as it gives results for both UK and a number of servers across the world including reference tests for each. I'd be interested to see 5:30 and 6pm tests done on the same day.

I know where you're coming from with NTL support, i've been spoilt with BY for years so it's easy to forget that not every part of the organisation is at the same standard.
 
jake000 said:
Avalon:

I have done various speed tests. Checked for spyware/malware/viri infection. Downloaded from webpages/ftp/newsgroups. I have checked my upload and my upload was fine (40k/sec upload rate), faster than my download rate lol.

I have been looking on other forums and have seen people with similar problems but only from about 5pm.

The only thing I haven't done is phone NTL because they have the worst customer service and technical support I have ever used.

It seems like its just NTL throttling the speed during peak times :mad:


Defo looks like throttling to me. 7.25pm and im at 300k/sec on my 10mb connection. What a joke, at 4pm i was at 1200k/sec.
I spoke to technical support, and sent them two emails, usual reply, check firewall, anti-virus.
I told them its got nothing to do with this as before 5pm download speeds are fine, but its like speaking to a brick wall, about as useless as their download speeds after 5pm.
 
ScoobyDoo said:
Defo looks like throttling to me. 7.25pm and im at 300k/sec on my 10mb connection. What a joke, at 4pm i was at 1200k/sec.
I spoke to technical support, and sent them two emails, usual reply, check firewall, anti-virus.
I told them its got nothing to do with this as before 5pm download speeds are fine, but its like speaking to a brick wall, about as useless as their download speeds after 5pm.


Thanks for the update :)

I will try and do that test tomorrow Avalon, thanks :)
 
Been getting slower speeds at weekends, but its not been considerable, guess it depends on the area and how good the exchange and hardware is in your area, and of course how many people have NTL broadband.

Luckily where i am, i dont think (dont actually know for sure) many people have it, a lot of BT fans around here, so it works out better for me... :D

Generally when i get issues with NTL its either really bad or not at all .... :(
 
Using the broadband speed tester software, I selected 3mb ntl because that was the highest on there. I got the following results at 16:06:


Dan Elwell's Broadband Speed Test (unregistered)
Speed Test Report 06/09/07 16:06 - Full test

Test conducted at: 07/09/2006 16:06:01
Test sequence: Full test

Please note that these results are a snapshot of this particular moment. Run the test a few times to ensure maximum accuracy. Although the test has been constructed to be highly accurate, no guarantees can be made to the level of accuracy experienced in everyday use.

Test 1: Ping times to UK servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 30 ms (lower is better)

swansea.ac.uk: 34 ms
linx.net: 28 ms
worcester.ac.uk: 39.5 ms
meto.gov.uk: 40.3 ms

Your ping times are slightly poorer than expected.

Test 2: Ping times to European servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 50 ms (lower is better)

belnet.be: 59.5 ms
univie.ac.at: 52.8 ms
univie.ac.at: 66.8 ms
free.fr: 46.3 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 3: Ping times to east-coast USA servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 120 ms (lower is better)

ibiblio.org: 114 ms
dc.aleron.net: 113.5 ms
internet2.edu: 140.3 ms
ftp-linux.cc.gatech.edu: This test failed due to a server timeout or other error.

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 4: Ping times to west-coast USA servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 160 ms (lower is better)

berkeley.edu: 171.5 ms
ucsb.edu: 177.5 ms
ucla.edu: 179.8 ms
mirrors.kernel.org: 183 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 5: Ping times to east Asia servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 300 ms (lower is better)

apache.oss.eznetsols.org: 442.3 ms
opensourcecommunity.ph: 385.5 ms
meisei-u.ac.jp: 278.3 ms
zentek-international.com: 360.5 ms

Your ping times are slightly poorer than expected.

Test 6: Ping times to Australian servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 350 ms (lower is better)

bondinet.com: 356.5 ms
planetmirror.com: 378 ms
mirror.pacific.net.au: 325.5 ms
bondinet.com: 324.7 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 7: Ping times to central Asian servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 300 ms (lower is better)

oynasana.com: 115.3 ms
apache.dnepr.net: 91 ms
apache.rinet.ru: 80.5 ms
sai.msu.su: 85 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 8: Download speeds from UK servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 3072 Kb/s (higher is better)

apache.mirror.positive-internet.com: This test failed due to a server timeout or other error.

Too many server errors occurred therefore this test is inconclusive.

Test 9: Download speeds from European servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 3072 Kb/s (higher is better)

cvut.cz: 3015 Kb/s

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 10: Download speeds from east-coast USA servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 3072 Kb/s (higher is better)

apache.reverse.net: 8870 Kb/s

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 11: Upload speeds to the Speed Test Server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 300 Kb/s (higher is better)

Not conducted: You must register this software in order to perform this test.

Please click 'What's This?' for information on registering this software to enable this test.

Test 12: Packet loss en route to a UK server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 0 % (lower is better)

bristol.ac.uk: 0 %
gnu.teleglobe.net: 0 %

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 13: Packet loss en route to a European server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 0 % (lower is better)

lycos.es: 0 %
tux.cprm.net: 0 %

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 14: Packet loss en route to an east-coast USA server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 0 % (lower is better)

mirror.nocservices.com: 4 %
internet2.edu: 0 %

A small amount of packet loss has been detected. This should be investigated.

End of testing.

This report was collated using Dan Elwell's Broadband Speed Test. For more information or to download, please visit www.broadbandspeedtest.net.

Generated 07/09/2006 16:06:01 using test version 3.0.316 - unregistered COPY

So the best I got, was close to 9mb. I will test it again in an hour or so when the speed usually drops.
 
Here is what I got at 17:58:

Dan Elwell's Broadband Speed Test (unregistered)
Speed Test Report 06/09/07 17:58 - Full test

Test conducted at: 07/09/2006 17:58:45
Test sequence: Full test

Please note that these results are a snapshot of this particular moment. Run the test a few times to ensure maximum accuracy. Although the test has been constructed to be highly accurate, no guarantees can be made to the level of accuracy experienced in everyday use.

Test 1: Ping times to UK servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 30 ms (lower is better)

meto.gov.uk: 43 ms
worcester.ac.uk: 24 ms
bbc.co.uk: 22.5 ms
gnu.teleglobe.net: 25.3 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 2: Ping times to European servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 50 ms (lower is better)

sunet.se: 78.3 ms
belnet.be: 61.3 ms
univ-rennes1.fr: 47.5 ms
gmd.de: 59.5 ms

Your ping times are slightly poorer than expected.

Test 3: Ping times to east-coast USA servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 120 ms (lower is better)

cs.columbia.edu: 109 ms
aeneas.mit.edu: 124 ms
helios.dii.utk.edu: 147 ms
mirror.nocservices.com: 113.3 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 4: Ping times to west-coast USA servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 160 ms (lower is better)

mirrors.tds.net: 151.5 ms
ucla.edu: 174.3 ms
berkeley.edu: 188 ms
ucsb.edu: 190 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 5: Ping times to east Asia servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 300 ms (lower is better)

apache-kr.org: 323 ms
meisei-u.ac.jp: 272.5 ms
meisei-u.ac.jp: 272.8 ms
meisei-u.ac.jp: 263.5 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 6: Ping times to Australian servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 350 ms (lower is better)

bondinet.com: 329 ms
apache.inspire.net.nz: 393.7 ms
apache.inspire.net.nz: 386.7 ms
froggy.com.au: 443.7 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 7: Ping times to central Asian servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 300 ms (lower is better)

opensourcecommunity.ph: 397.7 ms
apache.rin.ru: 92.8 ms
apache.officepark.ru: This test failed due to a server timeout or other error.
apache.rinet.ru: 86.5 ms

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 8: Download speeds from UK servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 3072 Kb/s (higher is better)

apache.rmplc.co.uk: 955 Kb/s

This result shows serious problems with your downloads, and should be investigated.


Test 9: Download speeds from European servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 3072 Kb/s (higher is better)

eu.mozilla.org: This test failed due to a server timeout or other error.

Too many server errors occurred therefore this test is inconclusive.

Test 10: Download speeds from east-coast USA servers

Ideally, you should get a result of around 3072 Kb/s (higher is better)

apache.reverse.net: This test failed due to a server timeout or other error.

Too many server errors occurred therefore this test is inconclusive.

Test 11: Upload speeds to the Speed Test Server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 300 Kb/s (higher is better)

Not conducted: You must register this software in order to perform this test.

Please click 'What's This?' for information on registering this software to enable this test.

Test 12: Packet loss en route to a UK server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 0 % (lower is better)

broadbandspeedtest.co.uk: 0 %
meto.gov.uk: 0 %

The results of this test indicate no problems.

Test 13: Packet loss en route to a European server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 0 % (lower is better)

univ-rennes1.fr: 0 %
uvsq.fr: 2 %

A small amount of packet loss has been detected. This should be investigated.

Test 14: Packet loss en route to an east-coast USA server

Ideally, you should get a result of around 0 % (lower is better)

mirror.cc.vt.edu: 0 %
unet.brandeis.edu: This test failed due to a server timeout or other error.

Too many server errors occurred therefore this test is inconclusive.

End of testing.

This report was collated using Dan Elwell's Broadband Speed Test. For more information or to download, please visit www.broadbandspeedtest.net.

Generated 07/09/2006 17:58:45 using test version 3.0.316 - unregistered COPY
 
I'm at my mates house, in Stoke (near the Commercial!) at about 11AM today I could'nt get the BF2 patch to download at more than 8.8kb/s :( ! (on a 6mb package!) thisafternoon, it downloads from the same URL @230kb/s :confused:

Slow downloads but pings still seem reasonable.

Last night, the machine felt like 56k dial up! :mad:
 
Yesterday I found my modem (Terayon TJ210) kept dropping the connection and I called NTL. They said they were having problems connecting to the modem and sent an engineer today. He said their network upgrade has meant all he's been doing for two days is swapping modems for the newer NTL 250's as the older models don't support the new network.

Also as they had a system failure today I only got back online at 10pm tonight :(

Getting a faster download speed now though first one I tried was 1.1mb/s
 
The 5pm hit starts again.

This is my current speed on my 10mb line...



Sat, 09 Sep 2006 16:42:57 GMT

1st 512K took 8110 ms = 63.1 KB/sec, approx 520 Kbps, 0.51 Mbps
2nd 512K took 1390 ms = 368.3 KB/sec, approx 3035 Kbps, 2.96 Mbps
3rd 512K took 1969 ms = 260 KB/sec, approx 2142 Kbps, 2.09 Mbps
4th 512K took 5766 ms = 88.8 KB/sec, approx 732 Kbps, 0.71 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1607 Kbps, 1.57 Mbps



To repeat this test from the source server click here.
 
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