Slow....slow....slow.....

I've had BT broadband for 3 yrs or so, and was getting good speeds until earlier this year when the download speed dropped from 5Mb or so to less than 2Mb. After an initial refusal to recognise there was a problem, BT eventually admitted there was an issue with the line and the speed went up overnight to over 6 Mb. After a month it's now dropped again to less than 0.3Mb.

Any ideas about how to get BT to respond quickly to a complaint? - last time it took them 8 days even to give an initial reply. And what on earth is going on with the line that the speed is so erratic? - I live within 200m of a city centre exchange.

I'm not happy paying broadband prices for a dial-up service.

can you post your line stats from you router? if you cant let us know the make of your router and well talk you through it

Here's the details


DSL Connection

Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 13:32:16
Modulation: G.992.5 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 446 / 462
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 80.41 / 349.71
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.5 / 1.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 1.5 / 12.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 23.5 / 34.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 30 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 26,582 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 66,964 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 1,842 / 0
Line Profile: Fast

What stats do you get if you connect to the test socket, on the wall at the back in this pic, using just a short ADSL cable and a different filter from normal. No plug-in phone extension cable.

My view so far is one of:-

Faulty filter;
Faulty internal wiring;
New or replaced Sky box;
Fault at the exchange;
BT 21CN playing tricks again.

The first three are quite common. The fourth less common. The fifth unfortunately occurring too often.

The stats I ask for will narrow it down, but the ones you gave make me think of the first three.

Have you got a different router anywhere?

Test socket:

DSL Connection

Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 0:01:59
Modulation: G.992.5 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 462
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [KB/MB]: 375.00 / 1.10
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 1.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 1.5 / 11.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.5 / 34.0
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): 10 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 365 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 604 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 16 / 0
Line Profile: Fast
A BT brand




There's no Sky box & the filters were changed six weeks ago.

BT DLM gone mad.

Look at the noise margin figures. The highest setting is supposed to be 15dB.

See also this Plusnet thread. Very similar problem by the latest posts.

There aren't likely to have a physical line fault or equipment problem, though the attenuation figures are very strange. They imply you are next door to the exchange. Is that so? The upstream is very low for the downstream as well.

You are on ADSL2+ but the upstream connection speed of 448kbps suggests a forced ADSL max profile on the line.

Nothing you can do except keep on at BT.

Yes, just 200m from the exchange.

BT were able to do something a month ago that got the speed up to 6Mb, but it's collapsed overnight. No response, of course, from BT.

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.5 / 34.0

I would say a faulty router if rebooting it doesn't clear the downstream margin to 15 dB or less. If you get the same on another router then faulty line card.

Hi bridgeman21

I have just seen your post and would like to look into this for you to see if we can ascertain what is wrong with your broadband connection. If you would like me to assist with this please check out my profile section were you will find my contact details, if you send me a link to this post, your forum username and your account information I will look into this.

Regards David

My broadband went excessivly slow last week. Best I could get was 200kb/s, compared to my normal 3Mb/s. Contacted BT's twitter team and it was found to be a problem with the DSLAM at the exchange which was replaced. BRAS is also affected, only allowing people connected to the exchange to have 2Mb/s and is having to retain everyone's IP profile who use BT Wholesale. My SNR is 19dB at 2Mb. *sigh* I did force my SNR lower on my router, still only synced at 2Mb/s.

BT should be putting me on to ADSL2+ by the 9th and hopefully that will sort it for me, others will have to wait. Thank goodness!

Exchange supports 22,000 premises. Can't believe BRAS has failed.