I have a bad fluctuation & speed issue

Hi all,

Guidance please,

For months I have had a bad fluctuation & speed issue. My question is, if I move from SKY to another LLU Broadband supplier, COULD that stabilise my broadband service?

�SERVICE� I live 1500 meters from the exchange and years I have been downloading at 6.9Mbps, Uploading at 0.9Mbps with a ping of 40ms. For the last 6 months this has fluctuated badly with the odd good day. This morning at 08.00 my readings were download 144Mbps, uploading 0.37 and a ping of 561ms.

�ROUTER STATS� As I write this my router stats are:  


Upstream 1117(kbps)
Downstream 8292 (kbps)

Max Rate(Kbps)
1181
9224
SNR Margin(dB)
8.6
7.2
Line Attenuation(dB)
18.3
33
Errors(pkts)
101
55


�GOOGLE PING�
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=0 ttl=60 time=271.986 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=60 time=272.832 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=60 time=285.479 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=60 time=280.843 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=60 time=269.642 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=60 time=256.414 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=60 time=281.907 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7 ttl=60 time=230.997 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=8 ttl=60 time=239.350 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=9 ttl=60 time=271.278 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=10 ttl=60 time=199.647 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=11 ttl=60 time=270.488 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=12 ttl=60 time=240.993 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=13 ttl=60 time=203.148 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=14 ttl=60 time=224.761 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=15 ttl=60 time=200.621 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=16 ttl=60 time=222.708 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=17 ttl=60 time=266.046 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=18 ttl=60 time=246.816 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19 ttl=60 time=241.334 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=20 ttl=60 time=235.001 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=21 ttl=60 time=214.488 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=22 ttl=60 time=224.862 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=23 ttl=60 time=225.719 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=24 ttl=60 time=188.650 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=25 ttl=60 time=216.917 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=26 ttl=60 time=232.451 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=27 ttl=60 time=238.927 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=28 ttl=60 time=215.383 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=29 ttl=60 time=226.151 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=30 ttl=60 time=240.154 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=31 ttl=60 time=269.202 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=32 ttl=60 time=284.375 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=33 ttl=60 time=286.198 ms

�ISP RESPONCE� The usual, It's bandwidth, it could be your wifi channel, reset your router, try another router and so on. I have requested a visit from the engineer with an offer to pay for it. As [censored] broadband is not worth having.


�MY TEST CONDITIONS� The above readings where taken with router wifi switched off, router connected to the fall back socket on the BT box via a filter. Nothing else connected, including the phone. Computer connected via cable. Replacement cables, routers and filters have been tried with no improvement.

�THE QUESTION� Would it be worth taking the risk and signing a contract with a new ADSL LLU provider?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and for your thoughts.

If the issue is your phone line or your own use of the connection then switching may mean no change.

if the issue is contention in the Sky network then switching will possibly help.

Can you post a link to a speed test from https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest the two download tests can tell us a lot about the connection as can a look at the latency during the idle, download and upload stages

If really 1.5 km from the exchange then a sync of 8292 Kbps is low and this is supported by the attenuation
http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/calc/index.php?param=RG...
Suggests for your line length a connection in the area of 18 Mbps is more in line.

This suggests maybe extension wiring in the home is impacting your service, and therefore you need to test at the test socket to see if the connection speeds improve, let us know the router stats once you've done that (https://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq/ordering-and-installation-of-broadband#239 picture of test socket)

Maybe, if you are getting no joy from your current supplier.

Is the telephone line noise free when listened to ?

Doesn�t the OP state that they are testing in the test socket already ?

Ah they do at the bottom, seeing the difference between normal socket and test socket though is still informative.

It may be test is better than normal which tells us something

True enough.

I agree that the sync rate looks pants for the attenuation.

Post deleted by Brixmis7

Yes, out of fall back socket. face plate is off. Connected via ADSL filter.

telephone line is a clear line for speech. No crackling.

Speed Test as requested.

The stats were taken from the fall back socket. The only connection was to the sky router, which in turn was cabled to a macbook pro. Wifi was switched off.

Not a good speed test, the speeds take ages to reach the top speeds, i.e. graph is 8 seconds wide and on a connection you'd expect to reach max speed within a second.

Looking at the other data that was available via the analysis button of your test can see that your idle latency is almost no different to the latency when we have saturated the download and while this might suggest QoS is in use, based on the other factors I don't think it is and believe that you may have something running which is downloading or uploading over the connection and you don't know it.

Latency during short idle period at start of test was 189ms and when downloading was 162ms, latency when the upload was running was higher at 309 ms

So check that the mac has not a large background download going on e.g. OSX update, or a sync for photos from/to iCloud etc

An example of what you expect to see from the test is http://tbb.st/1521183402386799855 that test is actually from another Sky ADSL2+ on the same exchange

Just a guess, but with the faceplate off, is there still dial tone present on any extension sockets ?

Hi, I don't have any extensions. The only socket in the house is the BT main box.

A second speed test

so 19:55 hours and nothing has changed here. But look at this test!!

Still have not changed a think and this test is even better This is cracking me up. You can see why im wondering if a change of ISP will sort it!

And better still...

Edited by deleted (Thu 22-Mar-18 22:54:37)

yes changing isp may well work,
using different equipment at the exchange
different back-haul
and a new modem

With the exception of this test, the others have absolutely horrific latency. this one is 366ms. Last week in the south of France, routing over a VPN to a UK speedtest site, and from an ADSL connection that only syncs at 11Mbps, I only got a latency of 68ms..

Summat's very wrong. What estimated speed does the BT ADSL checker give for your address? I would have thought that only 1500m from the exchange your line should be capable of a far higher sync rate.

Contracts on ADSL are often only a month so I'd say it's worth a punt going to a different supplier.

I'm informed that it that I should be getting about 6-7Mbps. the 1500 meters is as the crow flies. thanks for your comment. the 1 month contract as a tester is a good idea. Thanks.

No changes to my system and down goes the speed again!

Post a trace route to www.thinkbroadband.com so that we can see where the high latency is coming from

Hope this helps. I do appreciate the help.

Ist Run:

Last login: Sat Mar 24 06:20:09 on console
Rays-MacBook-Air:~ ray$ traceroute www.thinkbroadband.com
traceroute: Warning: www.thinkbroadband.com has multiple addresses; using 104.25.243.35
traceroute to www.thinkbroadband.com.cdn.cloudflare.net (104.25.243.35), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 1.397 ms 1.109 ms 1.037 ms
2 * * *
3 be438.pr2.enlba.isp.sky.com (89.200.131.105) 141.777 ms 174.867 ms 181.207 ms
4 027ff189.bb.sky.com (2.127.241.137) 132.756 ms 138.698 ms 160.480 ms
5 104.25.243.35 (104.25.243.35) 163.062 ms 162.695 ms 159.369 ms
Rays-MacBook-Air:~ ray$

2nd Run:

Last login: Sat Mar 24 14:26:11 on ttys000
Rays-MacBook-Air:~ ray$ traceroute www.thinkbroadband.com
traceroute: Warning: www.thinkbroadband.com has multiple addresses; using 104.25.243.35
traceroute to www.thinkbroadband.com.cdn.cloudflare.net (104.25.243.35), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 2.283 ms 1.027 ms 1.010 ms
2 * * *
3 be438.pr2.enlba.isp.sky.com (89.200.131.105) 131.961 ms 176.604 ms 164.895 ms
4 027ff189.bb.sky.com (2.127.241.137) 140.483 ms 118.128 ms 130.838 ms
5 104.25.243.35 (104.25.243.35) 130.125 ms 140.314 ms 141.278 ms
Rays-MacBook-Air:~ ray$

And you are sure that nothing was downloading and uploading at that time?

The high latency if that remains the same across a 24 hour period would suggest a problem with the ADSL2+ line, if the latency is better in the 2am to 9am period it suggests that congestion is the issue.

An ADSL2+ issue might continue to be the same if you move ISP. Time to find a friend on the same exchange and with Sky to see if they have identical issues - if they do then its Sky and moving is a safe bet.

Thank you so much for your time. A couple of sky users in the street have said there speed is slow. I will record my speed again then do a test on there connection straight away. Thanks again. I will let you know how it goes. Regards....

It seams like I am doing well.

The 2 houses opposite are on Sky and are on the same cabinet are getting1.9Mbps downstream. So it looks safe to try Plusnet I think!

At least I will get a static IP Address.