FTTP - I expected better

So I had an FTTP line installed by Kelly Comms around 25th August and since been feeling a bit meh about the service.

The service I'm subscribed to is 160/30 via IDnet and terminating using a Tenda AC8 wireless router.

My issue that I can show is My Broadband Ping

Was expecting a very stable connection but seems to be very jittery.

My setup is very low usage, connected to the router is 1x Desktop PC, a Smartphone, an iPad and an Amazon Fire Stick all of which are either not connected or are turned off at most times of the day and night.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/...

Another IDNet connection, its VDSL2 but shows what is possible with IDNet

Does pinging sites reflect the same level of jitter? If not it might be a result of the router not prioritising ICMP responses.

I thought I had some oddities and actually started a similar thread the other day with my connection https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/f/4657634-ex... but compared to yours they're nothing.

My issues were that sometimes while browsing websites occasionally they'd not respond for a short while or need a refresh.

When running a ping from a wired device the ping is generally very good at around 7ms but then sometimes it would be much larger, going anywhere up to about 150ms.

I have a BT FTTP 150/30 connection which you can't monitor with the standard HH6 so I switched out for a Netgear R7800 which when monitored generally showed low latency but with some spikes when there is a light use on the connection but only at certain times.

Broadband latency with light background use

As I'm a bit of a geek and like tinkering I switched out the firmware for the Voxel version and now it's pretty good and the only times I see a problem are if you max out the connection and the QOS takes a couple of seconds to kick in and bring it back down.

Before 3pm on that graph was using the stock R7800 and after 3pm was with the Voxel firmware.

In your case I'd suggest disconnecting all devices, both wired and wireless for a short period of time and then see what the monitor reports.

If you still have packet loss then the next thing to try is a decent router, the model you have is rather cheap and you may find it just doesn't have the processing power needed.

The latency spikes are just when the connection or router are not able to respond quickly.

Alternatively I believe you can connect a PC directly to the ONT although you need to establish a PPPoE connection and give it all of the relevant details. Also bear in mind that your PC will be directly on the internet so should have a firewall.

If you find that the latency goes away then you know that the problem lies with the router, if not the the connection is at fault.

Edited by StuB (Thu 10-Sep-20 12:31:25)

I'd try another test but directly connecting to the openreach ont and creating a pppoe session from your pc, to rule out the tenda router being the cause.

OK so I've now setup PPP session directly with the ONT.

will let the data collect for a bit.

I've noticed its very sensitive to usage too

It's certainly looking better, but something still appears to be using the connection.

A little while ago I had a far worse ping on VM connection, tracked the cause down to a Fire TV box, no idea what was up with it but it was extremely hot and obviously affecting the network.

Well now obviously its just the computer and only usage currently is Apple Music streaming.

Will be heading out in a few minutes so will close everything off and leave it be for a couple hours but never really seen it any better than this and having a Virgin cable connection also can tell you that it looks better at some times.

I don't think you mentioned it in your post, but are you actually noticing a problem or are you just seeing lines on a TBB graph? The firewall on our work leased line causes the TBB graph to be all over the place, but the RIPE Atlas probe installed on site shows a consistently high quality and low latency connection.

Assuming you've gone out then you can see how much better your connection is without your router involved, I'd try a new, decent router.