Fibre (FTTC) Speeds

Good Morning,

Just a quick question. If someone is on an 80/20 service, and usually get's around 74-76Mbps on average is 28.15Mbps considered acceptable? I don't consider it to be, but my ISP suggest's that it is acceptable!

Here is the screen shot of today's test: http://tinypic.com/r/2ds2te1/9

Also a previous one with the additional info showing what it can achieve : http://tinypic.com/r/zb06/9

Thanks in advance

Is it a one off slow down? Does it slow down at specific times of the day? Has the sync speed changed?

In reply to a post by ian72:

Is it a one off slow down? Does it slow down at specific times of the day? Has the sync speed changed?

Good Afternoon ian72
1: No it's done it a few times in the last few weeks, the last time I reported it I was told it was due to a network issue, today it's done to "traffic priority"
2: I am usually not in during the day (due to work shifts), but I cannot say for sure it's time of day based.
3: How do I check that? I am using a TP-Link TD-W8968 in router modem with an OR FTTC Modem.

Thanks in advance.

Of the tests you have done that are slower do they tend to fit within particular times of day - ie between 6pm and 12pm? It sounds like congestion so could be they have a network link running at capacity during peak times - is this with Aquiss?

And no, I wouldn't say it is reasonable but it may be within their terms as broadband is a contested service and in olden days it was quoted as 1:50 for residential - if that was still the advertised contention then you would expect anything over 2Mb/s would be "reasonable".

Wired or wireless?

Wired

It's happened at random times, once in the evening after their "business" period.

I have been advised that over 13Mbps is considered as "acceptable"

I of course can't say I am happy with a service that should be getting at most 74Mbps and would be OK at 50Mbps but is struggling to get 30Mbps at this moment....

No, not acceptable if it happens for extended period of time or on a regular basis. A one off, yes it can happen or if there is a major network fault.

You need to run speedtests from this site, which will be preserved. Try a few at various times of te day to see how close you do actually get to the 70+ Mbps. You can then link to those in your posts.

In reply to a post by CJT:

It's happened at random times, once in the evening after their "business" period.

Whose "business period"?

In a residential setting, internet access networks reach peak hour around 9pm, being most busy between 8pm and 10pm.
https://www.linx.net/london/tech-info-help/traffic-s...

Unless a business has bought something to guarantee throughput separately, it is likely to share the same network resources ... so be most prone to congestion at these hours.

If you are suffering from congestion, then you'd normally see latency problems arise too. If you have a static IP address, you might find running one of these helps:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping

In reply to a post by CJT:

I have been advised that over 13Mbps is considered as "acceptable"

An ISP that stuck to that (as opposed to one undertrained member of staff) wouldn't have my custom for very long.

Hi WWWombat,

The ISP advised as follows:

FTTC services have a minimum speed of 12Mbps for consumer products before considered in fault, therefore under a shared service which FTTC products are, the service at 30Mbps would still be within BTs acceptable ranges.

However, as mentioned before, during the daytime business customers are given network priority. Family packages network priority is from 6.00pm until 8.00pm weekdays and all-day weekends.

So far the connection is back to it's near 80Mbps speed, but if it's going to drop to 30Mbps each time their business customer's need priority then I cannot see how that's acceptable!

Is this still Aquiss, on an Entanet product, as per your sig?

I ask, because the second link in your OP clearly shows red for the atrocious download there, but more importantly the text box says "For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 40Mbps - 77.35Mbps".

Whichever non-LLU ISP it is, I suggest when using the BT Test that you always proceed to the Further Diagnostics, allied to a (signed in) thinkbroadband one to show the real-time test graphs at both good and bad times.

What do the VDSL2 estimates give? Both clear and impacted please.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 28-Aug-16 11:55:16)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Is this still Aquiss, on an Entanet product, as per your sig?

I ask, because the second link in your OP clearly shows red for the atrocious download there, but more importantly the text box says "For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 40Mbps - 77.35Mbps".

Whichever non-LLU ISP it is, I suggest when using the BT Test that you always proceed to the Further Diagnostics, allied to a (signed in) thinkbroadband one to show the real-time test graphs at both good and bad times.

What do the VDSL2 estimates give? Both clear and impacted please.

Hello RobertoS

It's Aquiss, but the speed checker seems to link to Entanet who I presume Aquiss use.

Here is the result from the VDSL Checker:

VDSL Range A (Clean) 80 80 20 20
VDSL Range B (Impacted) 80 59.1 20 17.1

http://tinypic.com/r/22db1g/9

I hope this helps.

I think you need to have another chat with Aquiss, particularly if that BT Further Diagnostics test is repeatable. Below 40 is worthy of comment from that, and the red marker is simply not acceptable. As long as you are doing all speed tests wired.

Poor wireless speed tests prove two things only. What your IP Profile is, and whether a wired one is needed to rule out the wireless performance itself.

Good Evening RobertoS

All my speed tests are wired, I learnt that one a good few years ago. I am disappointed with how the ISP appears to be handling this situation. At this rate I won't be going with them again sadly.

and here we go again:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Really not impressed now... have e-mailed the ISP to see what they are going to see..

as I am writing this post I have got this reply:

We feel your frustration and have expressed concerns with our upstream supplier, Entanet. They were rolling out network changes that would have solved this, however, once new network equipment was put some load, they found some major issues not seen during testing, which they have been passed back to their suppliers. An active fix is being attempted from the bi-weekly meetings we have with them. They had to force a rollback, leaving some parts of their network under some stress through the daytime (daytime is Entanet's peak period). Evenings are not Entanet peak periods, so speeds during those times, would be a separate issue (maybe we need to consider that you have 2 issues here).

I have to say Aquiss are very understanding, but even still a sub 15Mbps connection is useless to me, at any time of the day

I will report back any progress.

Good Afternoon,

I am back to having MORE speed issues, not as bad as before but still poor:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

BT Speed Test: http://tinypic.com/r/2qivedh/9

BT Sped Test Additional : http://tinypic.com/r/1424ww1/9

I am e-mailing the ISP now...

The TBB test suggests that the line is fine and the issue is either in your PC/local network or congestion at an Entanet node.

Run the TBB and BT tests followed by a speedtest.net test. When you do it, have task manager (networking) running and then capture the throughput graph which should show all three test. Post links to the three tests, and the image.

That way, it is possible to compare the peak performance at 70+ at the start of the TBB test against the other two to see if they are doing the same.

Good Afternoon MHC,

Thanks for your reply.

With regards to Task Manager (Networking) I am running Win 10 so do you mean this:

http://tinypic.com/r/4v5t0i/9

Thanks in advance.

That's it. With Win10 you need stretch it out and set update speed to normal or high and may need to do one for each.

It should autoscale to show the 70+ Mb but it takes time.

Not much difference to what other ISP state i.e. Zen Not that such a set up would make anybody happy. When I had problems with Plusnet back in January they got an engineer out, even though it was nowhere as bad as what the OP is posting. If I was the OP I'd move! But it does depend on how much the service is costing.

Can you move ISPs by any chance ie are you in a contract. I am sure you pay a lot lot less to someone such as Sky, BT, PlusNet or TalkTalk and most likely get the full speeds.