Cold weather and Infinity?

In the first cold snap since I got Infinity my speeds have dropped to <25Mbps irrespective of the time of day (via Ethernet about 0.5 metre from lappy, not wireless). I was getting >32Mbps consistently last week. Any evidence that temperature can affect broadband speeds in the way Infinity delivers?

Temperature shouldn't make a difference. If it's been wet recently where you are then a wet joint could be causing it. Or if a joint is wet then freezes it would create a gap in the joint which could affect the speed

I can't imagine a mechanism whereby the cold would affect an Infinity connection. I don't know how much heat is dissipated inside the Cabinet (it has fans so there must be some to get rid of), so it should be nice and warm inside. If some of the electronics is on the edge, I suppose it might pose a problem, but it's usually heat and not cold that electronics dislikes (eg, the vdsl Modem problem).

I have noticed some recent variation in speed, mine dropping to around 25Mbps from a usually stable and consistant 32Mbps.

As I use a tool similar to tbbMeter to monitor my instantaneous connection speed, I have noticed that its display gets spikey from time to time. If you do a test involving a large transfer of data (like the BT Speed Test) the spikes get averaged out.

However, it you use a short test and you hit some spikes, then a lower speed gets reported.

This tester is a short one and if you run it several times in quick sucession you may see quite a variation in speeds being reported. http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

Might be something to consider.

Should not make much of a difference ... that said, I have noticed a marginal improvement in te speed of mine - the opposite of yours!

The cabinets will run cooler - but that should not have any adverse effect. If anyone can see a VDSL and standard cabinet in close proximity, is there snow remaining on either?

I have noticed the same thing. My BT Infinity line has gone from a lovely stable 36Mbps to anything form 1.5 to about 28. I have tried thinkbroadband, speedtest.net,bttester and broadband watchdog. All measure the same upload speed but the download speeds are all over the place. It is not just an artifact of the testers. I am experiencing drop outs when trying to watch programmes on BBC iplayer. There is a real problem somewhere.

Hey,

If you look at these pages

http://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity/bd-p/BTInfinity

you'll see loads of people (including me) have had problems with Infinity dropping down to under a meg download, but upload staying solid. Also, routes to BBC and also Thomas Cook seem broken at times. Also people are seeing very high pings.

Seems there are some serious routing problems somewhere on the BT Network, and we as Infinity users seem to be getting the brunt of it.

That said, the problem which seemed to affect me got sorted and I am back to 37.5 megs over ethernet again.

Once the problem had been sorted I had to log into the HomeHub and disconnect the broadband and reconnect. I got a new and very different IP address, and that seemed to sort it. It does seem that how much you are affected depends on which IP range you land in. Currently on 86.168.***.*** and this equates to being in Durham (but I am in York)

Others have found that cycling the Hub to get different IP's sometimes helps get a good speed. [Don't cycle the modem too many times else the exchange will think there's a problem and lower your IP Profile].

Rob

In reply to a post by ad_winkie:

I have noticed the same thing. My BT Infinity line has gone from a lovely stable 36Mbps to anything form 1.5 to about 28. I have tried thinkbroadband, speedtest.net,bttester and broadband watchdog. All measure the same upload speed but the download speeds are all over the place. It is not just an artifact of the testers. I am experiencing drop outs when trying to watch programmes on BBC iplayer. There is a real problem somewhere.

Here we go again. Evening is hear and the temperature has fallen to -2 and the speeds are falling apart again having about 28Mbps all day ( still not good enough since I know my line is good for 36). I am becoming more convinced that there is a temperature effect

Still fine here ... speeds as good as they have been all day and checked using BT, BT Beta, TBB and speedtest.net. Depending on the quirks of the various testers 35500 - 38600 or 35.5 - 38.8 but importantly they are all consistent.

Just tested mine and it's as good as it was this morning, giving me my full speed (on my wireless I get 20 down and 8.8 up, which I know will translate to 37 down on wired - always does!)

Kids are home, so there's many more on the net.

Have you tried stopping and starting the homehub (not the modem), to see if that's any better? Worth a try, if nothing else?

But, I suppose it's possible there's a duff joint somewhere which is responding to the change of temperature. But, finding that is going to be nigh on impossible.

Best log the speed changes over the day (and temps), and remember that BT will only accept WIRED tests to their speedtester as valid speed indication info.

Cheers,

Rob

Edited by deleted (Fri 10-Feb-12 17:53:49)

The cold would make your line faster not slower due to the copper contracting but given the copper involved you probably wouldnt notice a difference. in the "good old days" my winter ADSL sync was just over half a Mbit more than my summer sync but that involved over 3.5km of copper.