Your internet BB speed ?

[Dez]

My mentor at work has been telling me the sorry tale of how he only gets 0.25Mb download. He phoned BT and they said that was about all he could get. I suggested mobile broadband might be a better option for him - true?

There's a trick he can try that may well help. Get him to call 150 from the line concerned and select the automated line test. Doing an automated line test causes the exchange to increase the gain on the line, thereby improving the signal to noise ratio and this may well improve his connection speed even if the line test finds no fault. Of course, if a fault is discovered, then BT have to come and sort that out anyway.

The gain is (or used to be when I worked for an ISP five years ago) left at the higher setting after the test, but may be reduced again at a later date, at which point he can do another line test assuming it helped the first time.

[2_Flat_Erics]

I quite like vispa too, they're nice people when you speak to them. The main frustration is when the network dies over the weekend or at night, as their helpdesk is only available daytimes and half day on saturday (I think - it might be a bit better now)

Vispa used to be a virtual ISP. i.e. they had no infrastructure of their own. They were just resellers for another ISP called Your Communications. When Your Communications was taken over by Thus the bods at Vista took their business elsewhere. I don't know if they are still just a virtual ISP or if they have invested in their own infrastucture. If they are still virtual then you could probably get support out of hours from the company that actually carries the connection.

[Kim]

I say "claimed" because speedtest.net returns a download speed around 1Mb/s lower than what the DSL monitoring stuff in the systray reports.

That's entirely normal - the speed being measured by speedtest.net is that between you and their server. You might get better results from a different speedtest.net server.

The speed being reported in the systray will be the speed at which the ADSL device has synchronised with the exchange.

You also have to allow for the various encapsulation overheads and the rate limiting at the BRAS, which is usually set to an integer number of megabits below whatever your average sync rate was 48 hours ago (or something of that nature).  Your ISP can find out the current BRAS rate from BTs automated systems, but very few of them pass this information on to the customer.  The BRAS rate tweaking algorithm can occasionally get stuck at a stupid value, requiring that the ISP give BT a prod with a metaphorical stout stick.

[Kim]

Of course, as I have noted, the exchange getting another constellation of flickering LEDs may have little effect on me. I won't hold my breath. Not only does it involve upgrading the exchange, but my successful navigation through the Stygian mists of the BT call centre experience, and the confluence of fates that will somehow result in the miraculous appearance of a competent BT engineer on my doorstep.

I'll probably try to brave this in the spring and report back here.
If things get out of hand, we might prevail upon Brent Cyclists OpenReach engineer member, but we try to avoid mixing business with pleasure.

This is where an ISP with a member of staff whose unofficial job title is "BT slayer" comes in.  Seriously.

[Dez]

This is where an ISP with a member of staff whose unofficial job title is "BT slayer" comes in.  Seriously.

I used to do that job occasionally. I was once assigned the task of getting an ADSL line provisioned on a beach for a Radio 1 weekend even - on the Friday. BT had had all week to do it and hadn't.

[Snakehips]

Woe is me ..............



Snake

[Wombat]

Not so woe as earlier in the week. virgin seems to have woken up.  Not far off 10Mbit/sec as claimed

[Rhys W]

I thought things were slow round here and I find that it's been consistently down to 5 MB/s the last few days. Just checked what I pay Virgin for - it's 20MB/s!

 

[YahudaMoon]

Mine says 'Speed :54.0 Mbps' is that good ? Im not very good with computer stuff.

[YahudaMoon]

I think it means 054.0

[liam_whippet]

Have you by any chance got a wireless laptop? 

Cos that sounds like the speed of the wireless between a laptop and the router/modem; rather than the speed of the wire between the router/modem and the phone exchange. 

I think you need to visit the speedtest.net site to check the second one. 

FWIW my wireless claims to run at 130.0Mbps, but the BB is just under 2MB.. 

[Dez]

Mine says 'Speed :54.0 Mbps' is that good ? Im not very good with computer stuff.

Your IP address indicates that you're on PlusNet. As far as I know, they only offer normal ADSL services - up to 8Mbit. As suggested above, I think you're just seeing the speed at which your computer is connected to your wireless access point. Your ADSL router's web interface (at http://192.168.0.1 or http://10.0.0.138 perhaps?) will tell you at what speed it has synchronised with the DSLAM at your local BT exchange and speedtest.net will give you an idea of the real-world speeds you're likely to achieve.

[YahudaMoon]

@ Dez & liam_whippet . What !!! Do you both work for the secret police ? Talk about big brother ! yes I'm on a wireless unit and yes Im with plusnet. Amazing. I will try and find out my real speed without breakin this thing. Thanks.

[tonycollinet]

Mine says 'Speed :54.0 Mbps' is that good ? Im not very good with computer stuff.

Your IP address indicates that you're on PlusNet. As far as I know, they only offer normal ADSL services - up to 8Mbit. As suggested above, I think you're just seeing the speed at which your computer is connected to your wireless access point. Your ADSL router's web interface (at http://192.168.0.1 or http://10.0.0.138 perhaps?) will tell you at what speed it has synchronised with the DSLAM at your local BT exchange and speedtest.net will give you an idea of the real-world speeds you're likely to achieve.

They also give adsl2+ up to 20mb/s, and I think are trialing fttc.

[hellymedic]

Well, having called every supplier listed as being LLU or somesuch in my telephone exchange, I can safely say none of this fabulous technology will make any difference to me, since the I am doomed until the very end of time to having BT deliver their precious cargo of telephony electrons by horse and cart.

Will your area get Infinity soonish?

Here is tonight's gem. You've got to admit my speed is rock steady...

It's like déja vu, all over again.

[JohnP]

My BB speed has been up and down for the last couple of days - sometimes it seems to be back to 2400bps dialup speeds.

[geoff]

pah! Read 'em and weep. The wooden spoon is mine!

[geoff]

pah! Read 'em and weep. The wooden spoon is mine!

So I got the nice lady in Bangalore to run me a line test:



 

[hellymedic]

AIUI It's usual to have upload slower than download. Your ping seems reasonably brisk too.
Your upload and ping are OK but your download's rubbish. I'm sure the forum geeks will have explanations and suggestions.

[geoff]

AIUI It's usual to have upload slower than download. Your ping seems reasonably brisk too.
Your upload and ping are OK but your download's rubbish. I'm sure the forum geeks will have explanations and suggestions.

I think it's because the wire is very thin and made of string cheese and all my neighbours want to download movies and we're effectively in da sticks, although only a few miles from the metropolis of Oxenforde. Moan whinge...

High contention ratio, on a little copper cable, in other words?

[Greenbank]

High contention ratio, on a little copper cable, in other words?

There's no contention^* over your own copper wire(s) that go from your house to the DSLAM at the exchange, but it's from there that it gets tricky...

In the old days of 512mbps broadband a 'contention ratio' of 20:1 meant that for every 20 customers with a 512mbps DSL connection to that exchange there was 512mbps of bandwidth out of the exchange. If every single DSL customer was using it to capacity at the same time you'd see shockingly low speeds, but since this is very unlikely everyone saw usually OK speeds. This stopped being relevant ages ago though...

Upgrades to the exchanges (direct(-ish) connections to the Internet, or rather to your ISPs network, rather than traffic first going over BT's own ATM backhaul network) and the way that ADSL works (coupled with LLU) changed the way this all works, so it's not that simple any more. There's still going to be finite bandwidth somewhere along the chain...

* Voice lines can be multiplexed over a single pair of copper, but only one DSL line can run over a single pair of copper.

[Biggsy]

This is what I had with Virgin:


This is after switching to PlusNet, using the same BT line, after more than 14 days (to allow for speed to settle):


The "estimated line speed" before signing up was "9Mbps".

Is it worth complaining and asking them to provide a faster service, at least as fast as what I had before, threating to change ISP?  (I have a "no-contract" deal, so would loose little if I did change again).

[numbnuts]

[Rhys W]

I thought things were slow round here and I find that it's been consistently down to 5 MB/s the last few days. Just checked what I pay Virgin for - it's 20MB/s!

 

Ah, back to 19.1 now. Irate phone call averted.

[border-rider]

We've been down to sub 20 kb/s download at times, recently

I've just given in and ordered satellite broadband.