Fast downstream, but really slow download speeds

Hello there,
I've been reading the board for a while, and I've found it extremely helpful for problems I've experienced in the past. However, I've got a new problem, and I was wondering if anyone could help me out with it?

For the past couple of days I have been experiencing a lot of broadband dropout, losing my ADSL connection every couple of minutes - I tracked the problem down to a buildup of greenish oxidation on one of the copper contacts on one of my microfilter plugs. I replaced the microfilter and cleaned the contacts in the phone socket thoroughly. This solved the issue of the intermittent broadband dropout.

Since replacing the microfilter I've been experiencing abysmal download speeds

Edited by BigBadBen (Wed 31-Oct-07 11:20:21)

result from speedtester.bt.com ?

you probably got a low profile during the instability, which should come up in a day or two.

it is prob as you have had lots of disconnects that the profile has dropped to the floor. Run the BT speedtest (can sometimes take a while to get working) and post the results back here. if the profile has dropped, once it sees a constant sync of higher value, then the profile will raise back up

Wow! Thanks Yarwell and Vivaciti for super-speedy responses!

I'm currently at work (which is how I'm able to post!), but I'll run the BT speedchecker when I get home tonight - I tried to run it last night, but it kept timing out - I figured this was because my internet connection was so slow.

So is it just a case of "wait and see", and once the exchange(?) sees that my connection is consistent, it'll unthrottle my bandwidth (apologies for stupidity if this is totally inaccurate)?

I left my modem on all night, and it's on at home at the moment (usually it's switched off overnight and during the day - I only turn it on when I'm using my computer), as I'd read "somewhere" that a continuous connection can help improve speeds (thanks for supporting that notion, I wasn't sure if I'd just made it up!).

Thanks again for your help!

BBB

the BT speedtester often works better in the morning.

Hi Vivaciti and Yarwell,

Here are the results of the BT speedcheck:

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:
IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 7200 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 116 kbps

Does this suggest that my profile has been lowered?

Thanks again!

BBB

Your profile has been lowered to 135 kbps. It should rise to the appropriate level for your recent syncs within 5 days.

See towards the end of http://www.dslzoneuk.net/adslmax_explained.php

Suggest - nay it tells us your profile has been lowered.

How long since a resync event under 576Kbps?

Again, thanks very much for the very prompt replies, Mr Saffron and John 2007!

The last resync under 576kbps would have been on Monday, so fingers crossed that broadband will return to full speed by the weekend...

Thanks for the link, John2007, that makes things much clearer. Just one more newbie question I'm afraid: Do I need to manually resync every so often for three days (i.e. turn my modem off and then on again), or will the modem resync automatically if I leave it on? Or does it just need to maintain a constant downstream without necessarily having to REsync? (Apologies, that's two questions!)

Thanks!

Ooops, forgot to sign in. Thanks again, John2007 and MrSaffron!