Line Speed - Is Sky Right

Hi everyone,

I�m look for some help with my line speed.

I�m signed for Sky Broadband Mid with up to 8meg speed. Now I�m reasonable and never expected to get 8meg but figured 5-6 would be good 7meg would be great.

Well the other day I had cause to call sky as my speed test was 0.5meg and this was totally unacceptable did a few speed test with different providers and got roughly the same results. I mean the speed can vary and I know this can depend on the number of people on the exchange but to get 0.5 meg is just rubbish.

When I spoke to sky all I could seem to get was some stupid script call.

My main issue is they asked me to look at my router status this is posted below.
Modem

ADSL Firmware Version A2pB023b.d20e
Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 8096 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 384 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38

When I told them the figure shown for the downstream connection they said that my router was synchronised with the exchange server at 8meg and the reason for the reduced speed was something to do with the connection between my computer and the router.

Is this explanation correct? If it is then I should be getting the full 8meg?

I personally can�t believe it. That figure on the router is always there and never changes. I�m reasonably good with computers and just can�t see how its my computer when I connect via WiFi and the connection speed is around 50mbps that�s 5 times the 8 meg line speed so how can it slow it down.

They had me run a Netstat report and because of the number of items in this list said the slowness was because of all the different processes trying accessing the internet. However the number of items listed in Netstat changes all the time but I would imagine it is usually below 10 just did a report and it was 6. I mean I�d have to streaming loads of video or something to reduce 8meg to 0.5 meg. They said I might have a virus or something but I run up to date virus software and scan twice a week and there is nothing coming up.

All that said the speed test I just ran gave me 6.4 which is good and what I exspect.

My main issue is with there explanation as, far as I can tell it is rubbish. If it is true I want to go back to them and get it sorted so I do get a full 8meg all the time.

Any help would be great and sorry to going on for so long
Finally if it helps here are my line stats which are good I think?

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 8096 kbps 384 kbps
Line Attenuation 27.0 db 19.0 db
Noise Margin 8.9 db 14.0 db

Speedtests can vary, it may have been some process downloading an update during the slow speedtest, only you can tell.

If multiple speedtests from different places including file downloads e.g. http://www.thinkbroadband.com/download.html give reasonable speeds then put the 0.5Meg one down to congestion.

Wireless can suffer from interference even if connected at good speeds, so always double check with Ethernet before moaning at a provider.

I can vouch for the Wifi problems. At our previous house our wifi was terrible. Did a check, and found SIXTEEN networks around us.

Gave up on Wifi and moved to ethernet over mains (often known as Homeplug) - never looked back.

So what sky said about the router status figure is correct? In that the router is sync'd with the exchange at 8meg becuased thats whats shown inthe router settings.

Is your connection to the router still wireless, or are you connecting with a cable ?

If it's the former, try connecting to the router with an ethernet cable, and try the tests again.

P.S. Turn the wireless off on the router when you do it - it's not unknown for unscrupulous people to steal other people's wireless connection.

Edited by deleted (Wed 30-Jul-08 12:35:24)

Yes you appear to be sync'd at 8 megs. But just because that is 8 Megs there is no guarantee that beyond the exchange you will always have around 8 Meg available to you.