bt/sky rein issue

hi all, though i'd ask for some expert advice on an issue i've been having to see if there was anything i could do to sort it out. I'm with BT and have an fttp line.. my uncle is on sky fttc. he lives a mile from me but we are both experiencing the same issue. He has a sky router so is stuck on 2.4ghz and his speeds have over the past month dropped to 1mb on his 40mb line.. which has been stable for years. I have a BT home hub 5 and after some initial troubles managed to get it sorted at a steady 70mb however over the past month my 2.4ghz connection runs now at 1mb at best... the 5ghz line however still gets 70mb. we have both tried changing the channel for the 2.4ghz line and both sometimes manage to get upto 5-6mb improvement at best. my uncle phoned sky and they say it is a rein issue, a diagnosis echoed by the BT engineers when i phoned.. could someone please explain what exactly this issue is and if there is any likelihood of it being resolved?

I don't think you'll see REIN on FTTP. Maybe wifi interference?

If you phoned BT support they are not engineers. They are scrip-monkeys, often with very little training. In case you didn't tell them you are on FTTP, make sure you do next time you need to call them.

If they don't know the difference then you know the person can't help you.

You talk about 2.4GHz connection and 5GHz line. Those are not "lines", they are your wireless connection to your router.

As the 5GHz one is getting 70Mbps then there is nothing at all wrong between your home hub and the internet. Your problem is between you and the router on 2.4GHz. I doubt if BT support can help about that.

Have you tried a wired connection to the home hub?

so lets say my issue is wireless interference and the bt script-monkey didn't know his [censored] from his elbow. how about my uncle? he has been told 3 times that it's a rein issue and that they can't do anything about it. i assumed rein and wifi interference were the same thing.. i guess not. i almost bought him a dual band router so he could at least connect to a 5ghz channel instead of the terrible 2.4 - but if it's a rein issue then it's something to do with his line to the cabinet/exchange?

Does the same thing happen on a wired connection instead of wireless?

my uncles connection speed varies from 0.1 to 60mb all day long.. generally around 2-3mb though.. wired or wireless. my issue is fine as i connect to 5ghz wireless and get full speed. I just phoned sky for him and they said if the speed doesn't improve by tonight they'll send and engineer round.

First step would be to log into the Sky Hub and see what speeds it is reporting it is connected at and do those vary

Correct Batboy, no REIN issues with an FTTP service.

This said, I wonder if the OP means FTTC not P ?

In reply to a post by mr12345:

my uncles connection speed varies from 0.1 to 60mb all day long.. generally around 2-3mb though.. wired or wireless. my issue is fine as i connect to 5ghz wireless and get full speed. I just phoned sky for him and they said if the speed doesn't improve by tonight they'll send and engineer round.

That's a confusing post.

I think you are talking about throughput, not connection speeds. If on FTTP then your connection speed is fixed, and no REIN as has been pointed out. It is your 2.4GHz wireless that is the problem.

Your uncle's connection and yours have no common ground. If his wired throughput varies in the same way as his wireless then it sounds like ISP congestion. However, you may be making a common mistake, when testing wired. I have done it a few times myself.

That is, that when connected wirelessly, simply plugging an ethernet cable into the router and computer doesn't immediately swap the connection. It is likely to stay using the wireless one for a considerable time. Possibly never switching.

Certainly plenty of time to do a speed test.

It is best to force it to ethernet, the easiest way being to turn off wireless on the computer - that is usually either a physical switch or a Function key. Other ways are through the Network Center on Windows or the router GUI.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 03-Sep-16 15:14:28)

ok to clear up. my issue is most likely wireless interference.. as my speeds are terrible on the 2.4 but full speed over the 5ghz wireless connection.. i did say FTTP to the BT help team but they must've misunderstood.. not the first time either as they tried to reset my connection a few months back to fix speed issues only to phone me back about an hour later saying that i had FTTP.. which i'd already told them. The current problem with my wifi is over the 2.4 bandwidth.. this is a non-issue really as everyone connects using the 5ghz bandwidth and we have a steady speed of 70/80mb

my uncle's connection however is all over the place, wired or wireless.. so as you suggest.. isp congestion is probably his issue although sky have said repeatedly that it is a rein issue. hence the confusion. BT also suggested this to me.. but it seemed to confuse the person i spoke to on the phone that i seperated the 2 wifi connections to allow my sky tv box to get wifi access.. clearly just a bit of misunderstanding on his part.

thanks for your help though i was under the assumption that rein and wifi interference were the same thing after my conversation with BT so thanks for clearing that up.

my uncles router shows varying connection speeds and drops connection often. the sky help team were the ones who suggested rein to which my uncle said the weather had been lovely. however asking my uncle's neighbours to check thier speeds.. (all connected to same cabinet) they all had stable speeds.. one with plusnet and one with sky. but after reading up a little it seems that rein would affect more than just one households connection so it seems that the more likely answer would be isp congestion.

anyway thanks again for the help everyone.

Edited by deleted (Sat 03-Sep-16 19:42:58)