I just expanded the post to cover the rest of the stuff. It wasn't really aimed at you, but I was sure the OP would read it. Pure laziness by me when I should have made two posts, sorry.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Nowadays, the peak happens at 9pm, and is more from video.

As can be seen (by the others) on these graphs.

Knowing from these Plusnet graphs that this peak occurs around 9 to 10 pm, I tried a TBB speed test yesterday evening at 22:18 which indicates my download speed halved in contrast to the rest of the day: (link).

This morning at 10:22 it is back where it was before:
(link). Is this expected? I realise this might not be the right forum, but if follows on from your post.

(this is a new fibre connection a week ago as noted in a separate thread (link) ).

Ouch! No, it certainly is not expected.

If it was done wirelessly, and occurs again this (or any) evening, please could you do a wired test immediately you discover it? Even if that's a slight nuisance.

If it occurs wired there is something very wrong somewhere and we need to look for an explanation.

Both tests were done on the identical wireless connection, with no other activity running. A similar result occurred a few days ago but did not record it then, as not logged in at the time. Will post if it happens again.

In reply to a post by s_h:

Both tests were done on the identical wireless connection

Did you ask all your neighbours to stop all their wireless activity while you ran the test? Thought not. You need to run the test wired to eliminate the possible affects of increased wireless activity in your area.

You need to run the test wired to eliminate the possible affects of increased wireless activity in your area.

OK will do that. However this would be unexpected as I have lived with wireless broadband for ages in various properties on ADSL Max and 2+ lines, where this sort of drop hasn't occurred to my knowledge among denser populations of users.

The new router is secured/locked. This is a detached house with a fair distance between neighbours (nearest around 40 -50 metres), currently six to eight other networks in the vicinity (as indicated in network preferences).

Edited by s_h (Wed 12-Nov-14 13:55:50)

It could be other RF interference within your own home.............

You still need to do a wired test immediately after a bad wireless one. If the wired is bad as well then we need to find out why.

If the wired is good, it is best to do a second wireless one straight afterwards, to ensure the cause is still there.

We need to eliminate or establish a wireless cause, that's all . It's the first thing Plusnet (or any ISP) would need you to do.

In reply to a post by s_h:

I have lived with wireless broadband for ages
...
where this sort of drop hasn't occurred to my knowledge among denser populations of users.

Usage changes over time.

5 years ago, there was barely a hint of streamed video, apart from you-tube-style sites. iPlayer was just starting. Anyone using WiFi probably did so in bursts of browsing - so interference probably only happened in bursts that you were likely to miss.

Nowadays there are many more prime-time-quality streamable content sources, and a lot more WiFi-based TV's (or STBs) to consume that content.

With the content peak now being 9PM-10PM, and video-oriented, imagine what that means for WiFi: a lot of the 2.4GHz spectrum will be constantly transmitting streamed video. A constant source of interference.

I can see 40+ SSID's in the 2.4GHz spectrum now, and it can be a real pain.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

I can see 40+ SSID's in the 2.4GHz spectrum now, and it can be a real pain.

Thanks, yes you're right things have changed a lot in the past five years and probably this is only the start of it. Does all this activity clearly drop the speed of your own wireless connection pretty dramatically now, during peak viewing hours?

Thanks for all replies so far, I may well be back to considering the wired options (other thread). For the moment even the lower speed is fine for the purpose, so it's not a serious problem and a marked improvement on the ADSL connection, but it's worth understanding the cause of it.

Edited by s_h (Wed 12-Nov-14 14:14:02)