Sudden huge jump in line speed, still actual speed slow

Just had something very odd happen in the last couple of days. My connection was syncing at around 62/16mb up to November when suddenly I could get 66/17mb. At some point in the last 2 days my max attainable speed has suddenly shot right up to the max 80mb down and 20mb up. I noticed this yesterday so I reconnected to see if I could actually get that speed since I couldn't believe my eyes (I had been connected for 52 days at 66/17). It did actually connect at 79/19! Which was great. No clue how my line has suddenly jumped up in speed like that literally overnight (I suspect it was some time on Friday or on Friday night but it did so without disconnecting me so I assume it wasn't maintenance or anything like that).

The issue I now have is the same issue I had when I was syncing at 66mb. I can only get a max of about 66mb download (tested on speedtest and thinkbroadband several times). This is oddly similar to the sort of lost speed I was getting all along when I synced at 66mb, I could then only get a max download of about 52mb. Coincidentally both times my actual speed seems to be a full 14mb lower than what I am syncing at. I realise there will be some overhead so I am not likely to get my exact sync speed when downloading, but my god that's a lot of speed lost! No way can there be that much overhead surely, from what I read INP at the fairly low level my line is set to (51) is adding virtually no ping (I get 7ms) and virtually no overhead, so I have no clue where all that speed is going. I am hardwired but get the exact same speed over wifi and when using my phone.

SES errors are low, Error seconds are low (both lower now than they were when I was connecting at 66mb, such is the huge increase in line quality since Friday). So what's going on? Surely syncing at 79mb and consistently only getting 65-66mb in actual download speeds is not normal?

I had this a few months ago, the speed jump to max sync not the missing 14mb. But alas it didnt last I was on 79/19 for a few months then my SNR went down to 1db and eventually the line re-sync'd to the more usual 67/16. Might be a welcome blip.

Yeah thats why I'm watching it closely, it may not last. The bigger issue is even at 66/17 I am only getting 52mb max download so its the same issue either way.

I am on IDNET so I doubt it is a problem with the ISP being too slow and it's not a capacity issue because it was as consistent at 52mb as it is now at 66. I did ask them about it 9 months ago shortly after I moved in here and got connected but never really got anywhere with it and I don't think their support guy had any ideas.

The thinkbroadband test is also showing that the download speed has a very very slow ramp up time (quality) of 2.2 (D) vs an average of 0.44. It wasn't doing that when I was connected at 66mb so that's new.

Right now my max has gone up yet again and it's now saying max attainable is 81750! connected at 79 currently and SNR is at 3.6 still.

Edited by Ewok (Sun 03-Feb-19 11:33:55)

When you say 79, do you mean 79999, which is what the full 80,000 frequently shows? It keeps bothering me because 79Mbps is a very rare sync, particularly given your attainable.

Similarly the 19. Actually 19,999?

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 03-Feb-19 12:50:19)

Hi

I suspect its a cross-talker of your line that's gone away and turned off their modem, in which case when they return your speed will drop down again. If you are lucky it's a customer who has joined Virgin from VDSL (if you have Virgin in your area) so it may last. It's unlikely any maintenance would improve your line unless you had a fault, or had a long length replaced with copper from aluminium, both of which would need your line disconnecting so you would see a resync.

I had similar swings on ADSL, used to get a couple of times a year when things suddenly improved for either a week or two weeks always during the school holidays. I think this is why BT say to keep your modem on all the time, in order to stop complaints of fluctuating speeds.

Regards

Phil

no I am at 79050 and 19168. The attainable rate has gone up another 1-1.5mb since I reconnected it yesterday so it may get 79999 now but I won't be trying that.

The area does have virgin right up to the house next door to my block of flats so we can't get it but everyone else can. So it's possible someone switched. I doub't its someone that has turned off their modem, I have been here 9 months now and never seen anything like this before, and I check it most days.

I am far more interested in why I would be getting 14mb less than my sync speed, even when connected at 66mb. Right now at 79mb that equates to almost a 20% loss of speed from what it's synced at. When I was at 66mb and getting 52 its more than a 20% loss.

Perhaps you have a neighbour using your wi-fi, turn it off and see if speed tests improve.

Is the answer not just that profile hasn�t updated to reflect the new higher sync rate ?

Not when I had the exact same issue when it was synced at 66mb as I said.