Very slow download speeds

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
160,211
Hi guys,

I'm with Plusnet and I've just tried to download a few files and nothing will come down faster than about 12kb/s. Even downloading from the Microsoft website yields 11kb/s.

I usually download at 100-130ish and my line is synced at 1.5mbit. I've rebooted the router to no avail, have never had this problem before and web browsing 'seems' fine?

Any ideas?
 
This honestly has to be the first time I've had a sarcastic response in the tech forums on account of posting style in Motors in nearly 10 years on OcUK :D

I'm suprised it took so long if I'm honest!
 
Reserved Bandwidth (kbit/s) up/down = 448 / 1600

Properties
Output Power (dBm) up/down = 11.5 / 16.0
Attenuation (dB) up/down = 31.5 / 63.0
Noise Margin (dB) up/down = 15.0 / 10.0


Statistics
Loss of signal (local/remote) = 0 / 0
Loss of power (local/remote) = 0 / 0
Loss of framing (local/remote) = 0 / 0
Errored Seconds (local/remote) = 653 / 0
Loss of link (remote) = 0

Any use?

At lunchtime I downloaded fine at 100kb/s. But now I'm back to 12kb/s again.
 
Clown said:
Are you sure it isn't the host server being crap?
Click to expand...

Nope - affects all downloads from any hosts.

Rroff said:
Run this http://speedtester.bt.com/ it should work on plusnet - so we can see the IP Profile...
Click to expand...

Download speedachieved during the test was - 1078 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 400-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :1664 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 1250 Kbps
 
I cant see why they would be throttling me - after all, its never happened before and its happened after I've been away (and not using the connection!) for 3 days. Plus I'm on a pretty ancient plan with very generous offpeak times with a decent allowance so I never exceed my allocated bandwidth.
 
I dont get why they would only now have suddenly started throttling me. I've never, ever had this before?

Just did a test download from the Microsoft site - 130kb/s. Wonder what it'll be like this evening..
 
Hmm seems they might be limiting me - I am apparently on 'Level 2' for exceeding my allowance. I've used 17gb of peak data this month. I'm having trouble finding a decent explanation of what 'Level 2' means. I suspect this is because I commmited the heniuous crime of accidently downloading a game I bought from the EA Store :(

Trouble is my billing date is 15th Jan, so thats potentially another 2 weeks of this.

Important Notice - you have used 17GB of your allowance.
You have nearly exceeded your peak-time usage allowance for the month. Please take steps to reduce your usage or consider upgrading to a more suitable account with a larger allowance.

Action: Level 2 Management will apply to your peak-time usage until the end of the billing month. Please avoid exceeding your 20GB allowance or further restrictions will be applied.
Click to expand...
 
I am on Plusnet Premier Option 1 - an ancient account at £22 a month which I kept because it had generous offpeak times and what I thought was none of this traffic shaping rubbish. I've never had this problem before but reading deeper into the Plusnet website has revealed they are indeed limiting me.

I appreciate people downloading HD Donkey Porn at 7pm takes the mick but not being able to download a COD patch at 50mb in less than an hour is just unacceptable.

My exchange is Be enabled but my line is quite long and Be refuse to serve me. ADSL24, however, DO offer me the C&W LLU package which looks very good - no traffic shaping, no hassle and no crap.

However reviews seem to paint a bad picture of network performance at ADSL24. Does this affect the C&W LLU Product?
 
Will my Speedtouch 580i handle ADSL2+ without issues? I've tried to update the firmware without any luck - latest version is dated 2006 and the auto update process decides half way through it can no longer see the router and gives up.
 
esK` said:
According to a few websites that router is capable of ADSL2+ via an upgrade, But personally I'd replace the router with something like a Netgear DG834G or DG834GT and put DGTeam's custom firmware on it.
Click to expand...

Sounds good, what benefits will replacing it give me?

The Thomson site is worse than useless - I cannot find any firmware upgrades newer than 2006 on there. The one that is there doesn't work.
 
Last time I did the check on ADSL24 I'm sure I didn't get this:

The telephone number blah currently has an open broadband order in progress.

You will not be able to sign up with us until this order has completed. Please contact us for more information.
Click to expand...

Last time it simply said I had an active broadband account and would need a MAC. What has changed?
 
I've not done anything at all but PN are apparently 'moving' me to 21CN in 'the next 5 weeks'.

Does this mean I am forced to stay with an ISP who, once I've downloaded a further 1gb in the next 14 days, will ban me from downloading ANYTHING in peak times until the 15th?!
 
I've now reached Level 3 of the really bad nasty customer scale for downloading a whole 20gb this month.

Apparently this means Peer to Peer, Usenet and downloads are now blocked until the end of the billing cycle.

However it also seems to have stopped me being able to connect to game servers as well.

Before this issue I was umming and aaahing over moving away from Plusnet. Now its a case of where to rather than if..
 
I just called O2.

The systems they have indicate my download speed with their service would be 0.2mbit due to line length. I explained I was currently on 1.5mbit with Plusnet and she said ADSL2+, which they use, can reduce speeds over longer lines. I told her Plusnet were currently moving me to ADSL2+ anyway and suprisingly she then said they can do a manual order for me and order the service anyway - and if it doesnt work very well, I've got 30 days to cancel it.

Interesting. Are 02 supposed to be good? What are the benefits over say ADSL24? Any traffic shaping etc? The Pro package has a free router. Is it any good? It's a Thomson TG585n.
 
Last edited:
Plusnet take the biscuit, really they do.

I've called support several times about this issue - it says quite clearly in my terms and conditions that if I exceed my allowance my web browsing is restricted 512kbps.

This is fine. 512kbps is perfectly usable.

My issue is more than this - web pages take an age to load. After a 10 minute conversation with the guy on the phone where I tried to convince him I was not moaning about the restrictions but felt I had a genuine issue he agreed to test my line. He connected to my account and then called me back and told me it was 'fine' and that he had managed to load the Plusnet homepage in 'about a minute'.

I asked how 'about a minute' was anything near 512kbps and he just kept saying 'up to 512kbps'. I said I could probably load it under a minute on a dialup modem and obviously the customer service response here was... to argue that I probably couldn't.

So here ends 10 years of obviously not at all valued custom. Of course the problem is that migration takes time and I am pretty much stuck with virtually useless internet until my next billing date whatever I chose to do.

****'s.
 
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