Speeds suddenly dropped

Hi, My speeds have dropped from 75/19 on my 80/20 service, to an average 35/14 using your tester.

BT have tested and say my line is fine. They've put a probe on it.

They suggested I don't use your tester but use BTW instead.

The wonderfully accurate BTW test said 390mbps !!!!!! 11 times higher than yours.

I've made umpteen tests at different times for several days since HH6 updated to 522.

Any advice please?

You need to look at the speeds the Home Hub is connected at, which will be in the admin web interface

To comment on a speed test the figures 35/14 while lower than usual convey a lot less information than can be seen from the graphs so a link to the results would help immensely.

Also have you given the HomeHub a restart and you are sure no-one has plugged anything new into the phone or moved things around?

Hi Mr S, I have the Tech Log in front of me - what am I looking for please?

No nothing has been changed in the system except momentarily I plugged a line phone into the master MK3 socket to test for noise. There was a distinct hum and occasional crackle.

I cannot post a link to results because site is not accepting my login.

I just did a test on broadband.co.uk and it was 34.4

Tests on our site have a share results button that opens a page that will let you post the URL for sharing.

The home hub not in front of one, so cannot 100% say, but looking for figures called connection speed, sync speed.

On the speed test this may be the result from broadband.co.uk (they use our tester service)
http://tbb.st/1517561555139021855
And as you can see the speeds are up and down a lot, suggesting the problem may not be connection per se, since if the line is connected slowly and running well you'd get a different shape to the graph.

Our test at https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest runs an additional test that is useful when diagnosing issues so a link to that would help greatly.

From what I can see, if the telephones when connected using a filter are quiet during calls AND you are connected during speed testing using an Ethernet connection, the inference is that you may have or a large download or upload that is bursting i.e. slows down things every couple of seconds.

Edited by MrSaffron (Fri 02-Feb-18 10:09:08)

In reply to a post by AF1:

There was a distinct hum and occasional crackle.

If that's repeating itself in the test socket, then you need to report a telephony fault to your ISP, as that will not be helping things...

Hi William, I already reported line noise to BT but they tested line and said it OK.

Further testing:
Before update to 522 I was getting an average 75/19 on wifi & Lan on 2 Win 10 PCs
Afterwards I was getting slow speeds on 2 laptops using Wifi & Lan cable.

Yesterday I tested Laptop 2 again on Lan and got 71/18 and on 2.4ghz 24/9
Today I tried Laptop 1 on 5 ghz 38/14, 2.4 ghz 44/18 & Lan 71/18
So Lan performance has recovered.

Laptop 1 is line clear of sight to router at 7m.
Laptop 2 ditto 6m.

Conclusion: since 522 my WiFi performance has plummeted across 2 windows 10 PCs.

Results the same using both Chrome and Edge.

Bizarrely I'm getting 71/17 on Android phone on 5ghz @ 7m

Is there some implementation of WiFi on HH6 V522 which might have caused an issue under Win 10 please?

Hmm, that's strange, the line shouldn't be crackling at all though...

I have 552 on my HH6, and haven't noticed any significant deterioration in WiFi speeds. Could it be that your PC's have received some Windows updates, recently?

if the connection seen on Technical Logs "information tab" is 70Mb/ etc
(Advanced section - left hand side middle) the you are connected correctly still.

(in the center of the information list)
Data rate: 1.14 Mbps / 5.93 Mbps
Then information about how it/the line has connected...
eg this is for an ADSL line
Maximum data rate: 1140 / 6348
Noise margin: 5.7 dB / 5.7 dB
Line attenuation: 25.9 dB / 47.5 dB
Signal attenuation: 25.9 dB / 47.5 dB

PLUS as in your case The LAN Speed recovers - which says there is no Line issue.

FYI: If you look at the technical logs (other tab) and filter for (Select) WAN
it will show the times it has connected and the data rate it connected at
eg
dsl:ADSL link Up: Down Rate=6520Kbps, Up Rate=1140Kbps, SNR Margin Down=6.20dB, SNR Margin Up=6.30dB


2 possible thoughts come to mind
a) You have wifi interference
- the BT 'auto channel' selector is not doing a good job - so go pick a different one (1 3 6 or 11) than it picked for itself on 2G. Same for 5G.
2G is often congested and goes further.
5G is less impacted usually (has more bandwidth anyway, and goes less far)

b) BT enable BT wifi automatically and could be being shared..
The LAN performance however shows this is not possible.
eg should someone logon on to your BT wifi signal, they share your bandwidth. As I understand it, there is (today) no bandwidth limitation on that for the FON/BT-Wifi users. [ in the early days they have a limit as I recall ]


But if that (b) was the case, then the LAN performance would suffer also. - so I suspect Wifi interference (2G) as being the cause and a poor Auto Channel choice.
So go choose a better one
and see if that improves life.

Last big Win 10 security update was just before 522,

Come to think of it, people did say it slowed down machines but I noticed nothing.

Bizarrely my speeds are now back up on Lan, 5 & 2.4 ghz 74/18

I have made no changes to facilitate this!!!!

Lets see if it stays there?

If it were just affecting the WiFi, I would say it's WiFi interference, but seen as it's also affecting the LAN, then maybe it's congestion?!

Thanks William

Yes it is a bit bizarre. Historically when we've had issues its been "Water in the Works" predominantly the junction pod at the top of the pole.

Engineers have cut back corroded wires many times and attempted to reseal the pod.

It has been dry here for several days during which time my speeds have recovered.

If & when it happens again I'll note if its after driving rain!

Would congestion affect speeds at all times of day for weeks?

Would you expect WiFi interference on both 2 & 5 ghz all the time for weeks?

But there might be another contributory factor, a digger scraped and distorted an OR cable coming out of the chamber when clearing a ditch a few weeks ago. The steel sleeve that's there to protect it, has all but disappeared.

Another possible is the fact that from chamber to the pole is aluminium wire not copper.

With poor electrical connections I believe it is quite normal for it to vary considerably so that sometimes it "makes" so the speeds are good and vice versa

Would congestion affect speeds at all times of day for weeks?

Rare, general pattern is better from 1am to 3pm

Would you expect WiFi interference on both 2 & 5 ghz all the time for weeks?
On 2.4GHz potentially yes, but should be less of an issue on 5 GHz due to the number of bands, but someone with a greedy router using widest size bands and multiple ones might cause issues.

Yeah, that's what I thought, but if it's not the line, then what else could it be?

Need more data, or its just a case of throwing random suggestions and hoping one is right

Speeds still good today.

William - This is a small village in a very rural area and few neighbours - does this make 5ghz interference unlikely too?

Don't forget that Lan connection was also affected.

Andrew - what data would you like?

5GHz congestion usually only a problem in flat type scenarios due to shorter reach.

On data Andy88 posted the data you can get from the HomeHub and that would go a long way to helping understand if slow speeds are due to a slow connection.

In terms of speedtest one at peak times and off peak, click the Results Page (blue button) at end of the test and you get a new page with a full link to share your result with e.g. https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15180021747...

One clue to what is going on might be that the BTW speedtest which has been constantly reporting over 300mbps for at least a week on my 80/20 service - currently 315.95mbps.

Andrew - I'll give that information next time it goes awry.

361.57mbps now!!!

And if you are on a VDSL2 service that is patently wrong

As I said - I'm on an 80/20 service.

But more importantly Andrew - have you seen this before and what does it mean is going on please?

Yes it has been seen lots recently. It means the test is broken. Those speeds are not possible with the technology used.
The Think Broadband speed test is much more detailed, reliable and accurate.

Or it means something is interfering with the test on the client - like a virus checker screwing things up.

Or Firefox is broken.

Again.

And why we record the graphs so if people have issues they can link to one of our tests and all can see the pattern and as has been done in the past, defensive programming can sometimes mitigate browser specific quirks.

The BT Wholesale speed test has never been reliable and is only something I recommend for those on ADSL2+ seeking to learn their IP Profile setting.

Update:

Lost dial tone today. Phone Dead. BB still good 73/18

I deduce that there must be a fault between FTTC Cab and Exchange.

Question: Can an intermittent "copper" fault between FTTC Cab and Exchange sometimes cause a Fibre BB fault in the Cab e.g. a short in the copper wires shorts the DLAM or something similar?

PS Its been very wet again!

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15185994727...

BTW - As said previously, in tests I have been using both MS Edge and Chrome browsers to rule out browser specific issues.

Your speed test today shows that there is not broadband fault, you would not be getting 74 Mbps download if there was a fault

So what you have is a voice fault, and time to phone who pay voice line rental to and report that.

Dial tone is back intermittently.

Rang landline from mobile again just now, I could receive the call but there was no ring - wired phone in master, cordless disconnected.

Report the voice fault rather than telling us about it

Andrew - I know I have no BB fault ATM , but was posing the question to try to account for the previous bizarre fault.

Andrew - Fault was reported to BT hours ago. I notice your reluctance in answering my question!

I have no answer to the question, since I'd like to actually do this to test it rather than go by theory of whether the jumper filter will isolate the exchange side issue enough to ensure that the broadband is not affected

If I was to think logically about an answer then yes. If there was a short on the copper before the cab then it could place noise on the line that might interfere with the broadband signal that is added at the cab. I guess it depends on what the DSLAM in the cab can do about removing the noise in the broadband frequencies.

Thanks Ian72 - I'm just looking for answers.

BT Diags update page now says "Exchange Fault"

It'll be interesting to see if the exchange fix delivers a lasting BB solution?