ThinkBroadband SpeedTest

I have had installed BT 900 FTTP. The speeds are not what I expected. The Openreach engineer tested the fibre junction dB just outside of my house then the dB at the ONT. Good reading of 15dB but he changed the ONT to be sure. He conferred with someone (at the exchange?) English Accent so probably not local. Initially we were using ThinkBroadband SpeedTest this gave a reading of 390 Mbps Down and 58.4 Mbps Up. The English voice said the ThinkBroadband SpeedTest doesn't work with a 1Gb connection! I knew this was wrong as I have seen in the forum users posting their test results using ThinkBroadband SpeedTest. One user had 690 Down.
He was advised to only use Fast.com speedtest. This showed 670Mbps Down It doesn't do Up.(Inverness to Glasgow)
Using OOKla we got 372 Mbps Down and 81 up (Inverness to TNP Ltd Manchester)
All tests done wired short CAT7 cable. and within a few minutes of each test.
I am finding all this confusing. I don't know if I am getting the 900 I paid for. Apparently they (BT) can see my Hub2 getting 930Mbps Down and 110 Up.
I would be grateful for a quick lesson on what is right and what is wrong.
Thank you.

You should test directly using the Ethernet port of the ONT cabled into your PC completely bypassing the BT hub. You will need to setup a PPPoE login with your BT login credentials on the PC to do this though. As this removes the BT hub from the equation when testing, it is the most direct and therefore the most reliable test possible.

It’s entirely possible, indeed quite probable, that there is an issue limiting speeds on your PC/device itself. Therefore if you have another machine with wired network connection, test again with that machine and compare. Also swap the patch lead for good measure. Folk buy Cat7 leads thinking they’re getting the best but in some cases it’s mostly marketing spin. A regular Cat5e, Cat6 or 6a lead will be ample.

If after doing that you are still seeing speeds not up to par, then it’s time to revert to BT to check that there hasn’t been a mistake with an incorrect speed profile that has been applied to your service (at the ONT level, not the SH2). But I think that’s doubtful given you have seen around 670 down and 58 up, albeit on different tests.

For info Fast.com will do upload speed tests as well. Once it shows you the result of the download speed test click "Show more info", it will then show Latency information and start testing upload speed too.

What are your PC specs,
Like CPU, RAM, and usage in tests if you know that as I know i struggle to get 940 on a 8th gen I3 with 8GB ram
as the processor maxes out when using some browsers so i download the speedtest app and it works a little better in that.
Anything lower than what i stated will be very unreliable as the PC i used to test only had the speedtest open so check out what task manager usage is that could hint to where the restriction is. as you have a BT hub samknows's website does state that you can use realspeed to run a speedtest to the hub so i would try that as well.

Thanks for your reply.
I have already tried direct from the ONT, it was actually worse. The login for BT is generic being [email protected] Password BT. Best obtainable was Fast.com 360 down 81 Up.
I only mentioned the CAT 7 to avoid the response that I may be using a poor cable. I have tried several short 2 metre cables all of good quality as did the engineer to eliminate the possibility of the cable being the problem. The Engineer asked for my profile to be checked. It was OK but reset to be sure.
I am coming around to the notion that my devices may be the limiting factor. I have 4 PCs and a laptop all Win 10PRO. All give varying speeds. The one with the best consistent speeds I cannot get to work directly from the ONT following the same procedure as all the others which do work directly from the ONT.

Thanks for your reply
I have several PCs The fastest Speedtestwise is i5 -6500 with 8gB ram..
The slowest by far Speedtestwise is Phenom II x6 (6 cores active) 1055T 3338MHz and 16GB Ram
I think the PCs are the limiting factor. but none of this explains the vast difference in the various speedtests between Fast.com, Thinkbroadband and Ookla. All were consistent when I had FTTC (51Mbps) So it would seem that 1GB connections don't play nicely with some (all?) Speedtesters. My BT Smart Hub2 is not RealSpeed enabled. I have applied for a Whitebox.

Edited by Rytenuff (Fri 09-Apr-21 17:43:26)

Try booting from an Ubuntu Live USB stick and doing a test with that.

Thanks for the heads up.

In reply to a post by Rytenuff:

Thanks for your reply.
I have already tried direct from the ONT, it was actually worse. The login for BT is generic being [email protected] Password BT. Best obtainable was Fast.com 360 down 81 Up.
I only mentioned the CAT 7 to avoid the response that I may be using a poor cable. I have tried several short 2 metre cables all of good quality as did the engineer to eliminate the possibility of the cable being the problem. The Engineer asked for my profile to be checked. It was OK but reset to be sure.
I am coming around to the notion that my devices may be the limiting factor. I have 4 PCs and a laptop all Win 10PRO. All give varying speeds. The one with the best consistent speeds I cannot get to work directly from the ONT following the same procedure as all the others which do work directly from the ONT.

The fact that testing at the ONT results in a worse test result, definitely indicates there is something afoot with the machine / the NIC / or the OS build you are testing with. This is because PPPoE requires a certain amount of CPU processing capability at the end-point device.

In the case where your PC is that acting as that device it is providing that capability. Therefore if the tests are near enough "like-for-like" (the same test app / remote sever etc) but the result is worse rather than better - then it indicates a machine issue. Therefore I'd be more inclined to think the problem is there rather than the network.

See if you can do a test as suggested above using bootable Linux.

I have applied for a Whitebox.

I would recommend trying to email them and explain your situation when i did Samknows sent me one as they only had a few left and because I knew that my area did not have many i mentioned it and showed them speedtest results which made them decide to send me one.

As i say if you don't ask you don't get (or not at least as quickly)

Your I5 should be able to handle it as I have run a test on gigabit connections with a I5 first gen and it worked to the speed I would expect. Can i ask have you tried software like Netstress between two pc's to check if your pc is the bottleneck as I know that's one of the first things I do

If you happen to have a wireless device such as a phone it could be possible to download an app called "HomeDashboard" it could be known as "Telstra Home Dashboard" which lets you check wifi throughput to the router then runs a speedtest which is a good one to check wireless connections without samknows.
I know i use it to check my houses coverage on the WiFi coverage mapper that comes with it.

Edited by RR_The_IT_Guy (Fri 09-Apr-21 18:09:32)

With due respect Ryan, bringing wireless into the mix now is going to add more confusion for the chap. He simply needs to resolve matters to get a basic wired connection behaving at the speeds the service is capable of delivering.

Poster: Pheasant
Subject: Re: ThinkBroadband SpeedTest
With due respect Ryan, bringing wireless into the mix now is going to add more confusion for the chap. He simply needs to resolve matters to get a basic wired connection behaving at the speeds the service is capable of delivering.

I do get what you are saying, the reason i mentioned wireless is because sometimes an IPhone for example can get better speeds wirelessly to wired devices with issues. It was more to see if he was able to get anything quicker even if he runs a speedtest on the speedtest app. It would be a good indication if its quicker and if he tells us the model we could look at the theoretical max and making sure it's next to the Hub2.

I did just read the below which sounds like a similar issue although from what i am reading this seems to be a common occurrence as the forum has a few although we can never know what's a genuine issue or a end device.

The upload as well, is errectic from what i have read here. It could be a bigger issue or just be the router's QOS but as the speed to the ont is variable I could either say its the end device or the link to data centers, not sure which at the moment.

I'm tempted to say try downloading the 1 Gig test file from thinkbroadband site on the same pc or even downloading a few of them at once on the same device to see how task manager's networking graph reacts and if it tops out at 1 Gig but if you have a HDD in the PC it might be inaccurate and be restricted.

BT Community

In reply to a post by Rytenuff:

I think the PCs are the limiting factor. but none of this explains the vast difference in the various speedtests between Fast.com, Thinkbroadband and Ookla. All were consistent when I had FTTC (51Mbps)

Nobody has asked what security product you have installed, if any. Many of these cause chaos with higher speeds as they are forcing everything you do through extra software. In many cases this software is only 1 day old and badly tested. Many major corporates have abandoned third party security software.


Your Phenom II is probably 9 years old, and if running security software may give slow speeds. For example my Core2Duo laptop only just manages my 200 Mbps virgin media connection, but then its 12 years old!!

Speeds faster than 500 Mbps can show problems in network card drivers. Which Windows version are you running, and what is the network card? You should disable any WiFi when doing testing using Ethernet, although normally Windows will prioritise wired.

Your i5-6500 should easily handle the bandwidth, but depends on the network card, is it built in to the motherboard, and which make and driver.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Speeds faster than 500 Mbps can show problems in network card drivers. Which Windows version are you running, and what is the network card? You should disable any WiFi when doing testing using Ethernet, although normally Windows will prioritise wired.

As you say could be any of those issues. Large Send Offload (LSO) on the adapter properties may be a potential issue too.

Candlerb's approach of using Ubuntu on a stick ought to prove the basic hardware performance - which then leaves Windows 10...

Thank you your reply and suggestion.
On my fastest Speedtestwise PC after installing Ubuntu on a USB2 stick the best of several tests was 940 Mbps Down and 98Mbps Up. This on Fast.com
So, it would seem that the limiting factor is my devices. I am obviously getting the 1gb connection I paid for so I am happy.

Win 10PRO on all Pcs (mentioned elsewhere.
AVG (disabled when testing.
No other devices enabled so no WiFi active.
Ubuntu live USB on the i5 PC giving excellent speeds 940 Down 98 Up
Therefore other slower devices are the problem.
Thanks for your reply.

Thank you I will look in to that.

Noted, but nevertheless that app may come in handy in the future.
Thank you.

No, I have not but as I wrote in reply to the suggestion to try Live USB Ubuntu on my i5 machine the speeds are excellent 940D 98U
So my other PCs are too slow
Thank you.

In reply to a post by Rytenuff:

AVG (disabled when testing.

Disable doesn't quite do what you hope then. I suspect it stops on-access scanning of the disk, but doesn't stop checking network connections. Even "disabled" the third party software is changing Microsoft's product, and making a mess of it. The only way to be sure is to uninstall and reboot and then run any wipe tools available to completely remove the product.

It’s good you proved the connection is fine. Did you put the SH2 back in play and test behind it for good measure, or was that with it in?

Goes to show just how much a decently fast internet connection can show up all the other weakest links in the setup and home network.

You’re getting what you paid for 👍

I cannot get the i5 machine to connect directly to the ONT which is a pity as it appears to be the fastest of my PCs. However, I took the advice to test using a Live USB Ubuntu and the results I cannot complain about. The best test with Fast.com was 940 Down and 98Up and ThinkBroadband Speedtest was 908D 94U
The NIC on that machine is Intel I219-LM
The NIC on the slower machines are Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller (not the best)
Bottom line...I am getting what I paid for. Maybe invest in a faster PC once the price of CPUs and chips return to a more normal price. If ever!

Thank you for your help.

You've proved that the hardware is quite up to the job. It's the software that's the problem: Windows network drivers and/or antivirus.

When you're using a wired connection, is this using an ethernet port built-in to the laptop, or an external USB one? Many USB-ethernet adapters are only USB2, which has a peak speed of 480Mbps. But a Thunderbolt2/3 or USB3.0/USB3.1 adapter should be able to saturated a gigabit.

Some built-in ethernet ports come with terrible drivers (I've seen this with Realtek in particular). For a desktop PC, an Intel-based PCIe ethernet adapter may work much better, and can cost as little as £25.

Otherwise, as has already been suggested, strip back your Windows to completely uninstall any third-party anti-virus and other add-ons, and see if that solves the problem.

I mean from what it sounds windows is doing, which happened to me once.
A windows update caused network speeds to drop in a similar way till I updated and did a complete reimage of windows so if your deleting everything you might as well just go to the reimaging options and start fresh in settings. I know that solved my issue it might solve yours, just make sure you know what specialist software you have on your PC and have the license keys, but also any drivers that are for that computer.

In reply to a post by Rytenuff:

The NIC on the slower machines are Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller (not the best)

Interesting comment. I have one of those in my ASUS motherboard for my i7-4790 and I have no problem managing sustained 900 Mbps to my Synology NAS across my switch. Win10 20H2 driver version = 10.34.307.2019 dated = 07/03/2019

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

A windows update caused network speeds to drop in a similar way till I updated and did a complete reimage of windows

That sounds like a sledgehammer to crack a nut! Some of us have to solve problems in corporate environments where wiping 1000 or more computers is not an option. My guess is that you have some other (non Microsoft) software that was conflicting.

This is where Apple & Microsoft diverge in ideas, Apple will update macOS and if it breaks an application that is the application vendors issue. Microsoft spends time updating Windows and ensures older software continues to run. Look at 32bit Visual Basic 6, or Word for Windows 6.0 which are both ancient and still run.

Its not important at home, but in enterprise/corporate settings not having to upgrade some seriously expensive systems (e.g. Oracle, SAP etc) each time Windows is patched is quite important.

Edited by jchamier (Sat 10-Apr-21 11:10:30)

I've never been able to get good speed results at Thinkbroadband.com with my 1Gig connection.

Single threaded tests are around 300M and multi threaded about 600M no matter on the time of day. However using other test sites, for example speedtest.net I get around 900 on multi download tests and about 800 on single tests. Just tried fast.com as mentioned in this thread and 890M. So somewhere there is a bottleneck to Thinkbroadband for me.

Regarding Windows 10 and network performance, I've found if you are using Virtual machines in Windows 10 that usually sets up software switches which can considerably slow things down. Also it is often worth doing a 'Network Reset' to restore default network settings plus also disabling power management on the Ethernet connection which occasionally can case some reduction from the max throughput.

I do understand that for the thinkbroadband site however i meant more across the board generally.

Network Reset

I have done a few of these although they don't seem to work as well as they should, even as you say checking the power management settings did not make any difference in my case.
I did check what software i had running and there was no software that seemed to cause the issue. It literally was networking at 100% in task manager which seemed quite odd.

I have used virtual machines in windows 10 pro however that is on another more powerful machine and that seems to handle everything perfectly fine.

In reply to a post by E300:

So somewhere there is a bottleneck to Thinkbroadband for me.

That will be more common the higher speeds get. Seb, Andrew have shown the Thinkbroadband site and tester can run much faster than 1Gbps, however there are a lot of networks interconnecting between an end user ISP and Thinkbroadband where speed can be lost.

Its usually my ISP, Virgin Media, whom has the problems

Its usually my ISP, Virgin Media, whom has the problems smile

I strongly agree with that statement.
They even have problems remembering their own appointments.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I strongly agree with that statement.
They even have problems remembering their own appointments.

Not around here, the people are very good. We were originally CableTel, in the Guildford head end (Surrey / Hants border) franchise.

Other areas such as Reading/Basingstoke, (Hants/Hampshire) were a different original company, and of course the city of Southampton was Cable & Wireless ConsumerCo.

Each of these has their own separate problems with the quality of the build in the street.

All i wish is that Vm sorted my problem before threatening to cut off my free engineers appointments because they missed three in a row and still count them as attended for ofcom purposes.
Today my area manager called to ask why i had so many and I had to explain whats in this thread
And it was simply idiotic and avoidable.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

And it was simply idiotic and avoidable.

Yes, and not my experience here. An ombudsman is needed to independently research.

Post deleted by RR_The_IT_Guy

Edited by RR_The_IT_Guy (Sat 10-Apr-21 19:17:00)

In reply to a post by E300:

I've never been able to get good speed results at Thinkbroadband.com with my 1Gig connection.

I have the same sort of issue but on my 500/500Mb connection.

Using the TBB speed test, the download test is usually reasonable but the upload constantly throws a wobbly - less than 300Mb. Whereas Ookla usually shows my upload speed well above 400Mb - more often nearer 470Mb. Presumably there is more than one way to do a speed test.

In reply to a post by 69bertie:

Presumably there is more than one way to do a speed test.

Yes, and the interaction of various web browsers, and any security software, plus any plugins you have in the browser.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by 69bertie:

Presumably there is more than one way to do a speed test.

Yes, and the interaction of various web browsers, and any security software, plus any plugins you have in the browser.

Would be interested to understand if the ping times reported by thinkbroadband web-based test is ping under load or just ordinary ping.

London-based servers on Speedtest.net (either app, CLI or bowser) typically report sub 1ms ping. Fast.com (which I think over-inflates actual DL speed) reports unloaded 2ms ping and loaded 36ms ping.

I can ping the thinkbroadband.com forum servers on average around 1.4ms on the Virtual1 connection. Traceroute shows a direct hop from my peer to Cogent transit edge (then another 8 hops internally in Cogent) - however thinkbroadband tests give a 5 to 6ms ping....something afoot there?

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

I can ping the thinkbroadband.com forum servers on average around 1.4ms on the Virtual1 connection. Traceroute shows a direct hop from my peer to Cogent transit edge (then another 8 hops internally in Cogent) - however thinkbroadband tests give a 5 to 6ms ping....something afoot there?

One for Mr Saffron, but I think he said a long time ago that it wasn't using ICMP.

And when you icmp echo (ping) thinkbroadband, its the cloudflare CDN that responds, and I assume the speed test would not go through the CDN.

My virgin media connection gets 13ms to labs.thinkbroadband.com ([80.249.99.73])

and when I ping from my hosted Linux server, I get IPv6 responses from "speedtest8.thinkbroadbnad.com".

Edited by jchamier (Sun 11-Apr-21 13:37:26)

Thanks. Just looking at bufferbloat stats and trying out some sqm strategies on the router.

THANK YOU, to everybody who contributed to this thread, it has been most helpful and educational. Hopefully for others too who are in the same predicament as I was before this.
FTTP has only very recently been available in this area. The engineer who came to check out my complained about speeds confessed it was quite new to him as previously he had only dealt with FTTC and he only learned some things through talking to a colleague on the phone at my premises.
If I met him again I would suggest that he carries a USB Live UBUNTU stick with him so that he can show the customer that they ARE getting what they paid for and that the limiting factor (after all other checks have been shown to be in order) is their device. He certainly did all the checks he could for my installation.
He may be at a loss as to how to get into the bios on various machines if it isn't already set to boot from USB but worth a try.
I found creating a USB Live UBUNTU stick very simple I imagined it would be quite complicated. I did notice that my 8GB drive now only showed 3.88mb which confused me! But, a bit of Googling showed how to recover the drive back to 8GB Fat32 if I wanted. ( I'm writing this for the benefit of any tyro like me who may be daunted by the process, It IS easy. I followed this guide: https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-create-a-bootable-u... )
At 4AM on my fastest PC I got 1GB Down and 110 Up on UBUNTU via Fast.com Only once, but regularly 980Down.110Up
Happy chappy! Just waiting for the price of GPUs to come down in price so I can build another modern PC.
Once again, many thanks.