Speed problem

I was moved from a happy LLU to WBC in April. SInce then, I have experienced a lot of LCP Down messages according to my Netgear router and lots of short periods of downtime. Each time I noticed my internet going down, I have phoned Orange TS and reported it and have been told not to worry, it'll come back up. They couldn't give me an answer as to why it keeps happening.

Anyway, all day yesterday I had noticed that when I connected my phone via wifi to do a bit of surfing and noticed that web pages were taking a while to load but didn't really think much about it. At 5.25pm my internet on my PC was on a serious go-slow and after doing a BT speedtest, it showed that my D/L speed was 1937kbps but my U/L speed was unaffected at 899kbps. My internet had gone off and reconnected at about 2am according to my router log. Usually I cruise along at around 13-14meg D/L so this was almost like being back on dial-up! So yet again, I was back onto Orange TS who had no idea what was going on but would get someone from a different team to ring me back. By 6.59pm it had crept up to 3971kbps after a router reboot and by 1.45am this morning it had gone up to 13329kbps which was more acceptable.

This afternoon I received my call back, they did a line test which came back as ok. I thought it would as I was back up to speed-ish. They told me to monitor it, do 3 more BT speed tests and then contact them back if I was still experiencing problems. I asked them why I keep losing my connection with a message saying LCP Down and was told that meant it was a problem with the internet (Duh!) but couldn't tell me how it could be stopped or stabilised.

At 8.15pm tonight, my speed had slowed so another BT Speedtest was done giving a D/L reading of 2947kbps, again, no change to my U/L speed. It then asked me to do a Tap3 test which showed a D/L speed of 13025kbps. The test result indicated that I should contact my ISP.

My IP profile has been a steady 14392kbps throughout and my router stats are:

D/L 16313 kbps
U/L 1170 kbps
Atten 23.3 db 11.5 db
Noise 8.0 db 5.5 db

Question is, could Orange be capping me without telling me? Or could there be a genuine problem somewhere? I've swapped my filters, the only other thing connected is my landline phone (no noises on the line) and it doesn't matter whether my router is directly connected to the BT socket or via an extension cable. Oh and my router is connected to my PC via cable.

I am considering going elsewhere for my broadband as my contract is up tomorrow but am unsure as to whether to jump ship whilst I'm having these problems incase they stay with me wherever I go.

Any thoughts?

Like you I was moved to WBC in April. I had frequent "LCP Down" and discons for the 1st week only but after that it settled down. I had to write to Orange to reduce my Target NM from 12 dB to 6 dB to regain the speed I had on LLU. I am now running at a fairly stable:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 18667 kbps 1227 kbps
Line Attenuation 26.0 db 14.4 db
Noise Margin 3.1 db 6.2 db

When they reduced my NM they also switched me from Interleaved to Fast Path mode, which gave me about 2 Meg more sync.

If your Sync Speed is steady, they won't be capping you, but if your speedtests are all over the place, it sounds like contention at your exchange, particularly if it mostly happens at peak times.

me too getting problems with orange

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/general/f/4048246-s...

Edited by deleted (Thu 29-Sep-11 15:06:54)

I have experienced a speed drop by almost 2 thirds in the last few weeks, possibly to do with Orange no longer using LLU. My exchange is: Wickersley
Exchange code: SLWKZ


My router specs are as follows:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1148 kbps 960 kbps
Line Attenuation 54 db 18.5 db
Noise Margin 19 db 6 db

Interestingly, Work have offered me home working with a BT business line, separate to my home broadband line. BT are having problems arranging the install. All I have been told is that there is a problem with the line, whether that is to with distance to the exchange, approx 5.6 km, or something else they have not said.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

Hi ceolwulf,
Run your IP address through the RIPE database, this should tell you a bit more about who is supplying your connection. It would appear that you are not on IPStream as your upload is above the 448kbps that typically defines that service. Your NM seems a bit high at 19dB. I have a connection speed of
ADSl Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 5152Kbps 448Kbps
Line Attenuation 52.6dB 27.5dB
Noise Margin 5.3dB 21.0dB

I was told I was 4.4KM from the exchange and typically get 4215Kbps Down and 374Kbps Up which was around my Download speeds on LLU, it took 3 months of arguing with Orange and BT but my line that would "Never support more than 2Mb" seems to have come a long way. Now fighting Contention/Capacity Issues and determined to make sure that BT and Orange get away with nothing.
As always I state my advice, DO NOT bother with phone support as it still sucks, instead email the CEO [email protected] and state that you have had enough of the nonsense that is call centre "support" and as a customer you want action and you want it now.

Hi hairybarsteward,

Thanks for your advice. The Ripe database shows that I am on Orange WBC broadband. I`m not sure how long I have been switched over to that but Orange` so called tech Support`say their systems show I am getting 2/3 rds less speed to my line since 26th Sept. They advise, however, that there is no fault on my line after doing 2 line checks. if this is the case then I`ll be saying Asta la vista to them, if I can get out of my contract that is. If I get any trouble regarding obtaining a mac code then I`ll email the CEO as you advise.

Cheers

I`ve just been looking through some other threads and there are suggestions that turning off the router can affect the speed. I have routinely switched off the router at night by just turning the power off for years. In recent weeks I have experienced bad connections with the router and powercycled it several times. Could that fool BT into thinking my connection is bad at higher speeds and get them to turn the speed down?

Edited by deleted (Tue 04-Oct-11 13:53:47)

There is no harm in switching off the router once, or a few, times a day. Just don't do it repeatedly many times a hour.

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I have tried my connection with the siemens router that Orange gave me and it has the same speed issues. Tried a new cable and filter that they sent in post today. Called tech support yet again and, after been asked to do speed tests and them saying another line test would be needed(this would be the 4th) I asked to speak to a manager or tech coach. I go to speak to a team leader and he advised that there seems to be a fault on the line and have, apparently, escalated this to a second level investigation to ascertain what the fault is.I wont hold my breath on getting it sorted very soon though.