Bt speedtester problem

Can anyone use the bt speedtester at the moment ?, I seem to be having a slight problem connecting, I keep getting "Access denied(java.net.socketpermission 217.32.105.XX:XXXXX connect,resolv
I am only trying to get the bt speedtester because on switching on this morning, my speeds have dropped from a usual 6.5 to 7mb down to 800k to 1.5mb. Downstream still at 8,960kbps.
The speedtester downstream speed of 7000kbps on the bit it does show, it gets to 96% of the test then hangs.
Is this the usual signs of a fup throttle ?, I have not gone over the 30gb this month but last month may have been slightly over.

Just got into bt speedtester via bt browser (is there something up with firefox?) and this is what I got -:
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 7000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 8096 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 2016 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.


to me there is something not quite right here..

Edited by deleted (Thu 05-Jun-08 10:54:49)

Okay seeing the 7000Kbps is enough that tells your IP profile has not been dropped.

So suggests a throttle or congestion somewhere, the 2016Kbps suggests perhaps you've got a very very busy exchange today.

Just been onto bt Fair Use Policy team on 0800 707 6044 and they have basically said "I am a good boy" and the most I have ever used per month is 35.6gb and they are not bothered about that.........then his next words were "it's a fault somewhere".
I have not changed a thing since we moved here, so I assume that its a fault between my box and the exchange. So I am not really wanting to phone India, for their "script" does not really help (been through it before, on the phone for 45mins and it got nowhere), so does anybody have any suggestions on how to proceed ?.

If the Home Hub error counters in its web interface are not showing lots of errors then probably not the ADSL line, but somewhere on the 100 km or so of fibre between the exchange and where the BT Speedtest server is located.

Congestion is the thing and with more people online at at time it can have a negative effect. So time to see if speeds vary at all across the time of day.

Hi Andrew, this is what my hub is saying -:
Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 3:01:05
Modulation: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 8,096
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 9.28 / 42.25
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 15.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 6.5 / 16.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 24.0 / 13.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 78
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
Line Profile: Interleaved

I only seem to have FEC errors, which apparently are not worth bothering about but they do seem alot since I have rebooted my hub only 3 hrs ago (first time since Jan 18th).
Will try the bt speedtester every three hours or so and see if it is congestion......which will be a first for my exchange, never had it here before.

78 in three hours is nothing to worry about.

Check your exchange for expected congestion here.

Hi guys, thanks for the link, just tried it and there is no known problems with our exchange, no congestion.
Just tried bt speedtester again and its got worse...-:


Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 7000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 8096 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 452 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.


I'm glad I dont run a business from here, otherwise some poor bt person would be getting an earful. Going to try again in 3 hrs and if it does not improve by tomorrow....guess what....some poor bt person may be getting an earful.....

I would recommend trying a variety of speed testers, it is possible with speedtests being so much in the news that the BT system is being swamped and giving false readings

Hi Andrew, I have tried most of them inc the one here and they are all giving roughly the same speed, I have even tried places like giganews and thundernews and they are extremely slow, what used to take a few minutes, now takes over half an hour.
Just tried to download the bt desktop help software (the one I have is old apparently) and it is only 39mb....but it was going to take me 33minutes to download. Windows updates, total of 69mb was going to take 1hr 11mins....when just last Tuesday I did a 180mb update in a matter of minutes.
Ah well, cant wait till tomorrow, just to make it the big three I have taken on this month...British Gas, Scottishpower and now BT.....