Poor broadband performance on a BT Wholesale line

My mother in-law is with Sky broadband on an exchange which is not unbundled (Winterslow, Wiltshire). She has very slow (average 1.5Mbps) broadband speed where as I know others on the same exchange with BT who average 5Mbps. The router is stating a downstream speed of 8Mbps.

The Sky call centre were rather unhelpful and have only suggested replacing the router at her cost and no offer of an engineer visit after undertaking their trouble shooting. They are saying that the downstream speed stated by the router told them they were providing a full capacity service to the router and so the problem must be between the router and the computer, but my understanding was that the downstream number that the router states is simply what is negotiated between the router and the exchange and bears no relation to what is provided. In other words, that sounded like rubbish to me and I was hoping they would send an engineer to look at it.

If I am wrong about Sky's view on the issue, would there be any benefit in switching provider? I assume not, given all providers would be using the same line and exchange hardware? Any other suggestions/thoughts/comments?

All the LLU ISPs at their non-LLU exchanges like yours only resell BTw's ADSL Max which Sky sells as Sky Connect. They tend to not buy enough capacity from BTw. So, altho', as you say, you are using the same line and exchange hardware, their backhaul to their network is limited and therefore is subject to the contention that you are experiencing.

You would probably be better off with BT itself or possibly Plusnet, altho' PN charges a premium at your Market 1 exchange.

Or sign up to FTTP from Gigaclear!

Winterslow is in an area that is at the register interest stage for Gigaclear. The adjacent villages of Pitton, Farley and Firsdown are at the order stage with Gigaclear with about 2/3rds of the target met.

Winterslow (Firsdown is served from that exchange which is 2.5 miles away, so approx 2Mbps speeds) is unlikely to receive FTTC via BDUK as its not 21CN enabled and there are no 21CN exchanges nearby.

Further bad news is this map from Wilts Online which seems to indicate our villages will be stuck with 2Mbps.

http://www.wiltshireonline.org/wiltshire-and-south-g...

Winterslow is the blue region at the top of the bottom RHS block on the map.

If the router is showing 8Mbps then problem is likely to be something wrong with the setup/connection to the pc. Wireless or Ethernet connection?

Edited by sidef (Wed 06-Nov-13 06:03:52)

Also double check the router statistics, as the distance from the exchange expressed as attenuation will show what the line should be capable of and http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/calc will do the estimation for you based on this data.

I don't live in Winterslow.

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Hi sidef,

Yes, I was aware of the Gigaclear option but it's not exactly cheap and I think would be excessive for their usage requirement. I agree that it's unlikely that BT/FTTC will deliver any time soon, so if that were the goal then it would be the only way.

The PC is connected over a wired connection directly to the router. I have tried different cables and a different computer (which functions fine on my home network with a similar (non-Sky) setup) so I'm starting to lean towards a contention ratio issue.

Cheers

Sky Connect is notoriously bad. Investigate BT or Plusnet for a decent service.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Sky Connect is notoriously bad. Investigate BT or Plusnet for a decent service.

Concur, a friend of mine was on Connect for a year, and thought it was normal. Its a horrendous service. Migrate away as fast as you can.

Just to add to your post, here is a link to the local broadband campaign for the Gigaclear option..

It seems the are having a meeting, which you or someone else may want to go along to..

At least you can get some more answers on what maybe provided.

I hope this may help you.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Sky Connect is notoriously bad. Investigate BT or Plusnet for a decent service.

But if you want decent customer support, skip Plusnet.. In my experience they are awful at it.