At 22.42 the downstream kbps was 2784 and the upstream 448 kbps
the noise margin was 14.2 db

As there was an active additional computer on the line I'm not sure if the bt speedtester accurately reflects what was going on; the stats were


Test1 comprises of two tests

1. Best Effort Test: -provides background information.

Download Speed
1314 Kbps

0 Kbps 2000 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed

Download speedachieved during the test was - 1314 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 800-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :2784 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 11.48:26.16:62.36 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes.

2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.

Upload Speed
339 Kbps

0 Kbps 448 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed

>Upload speed achieved during the test was - 339 Kbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 448 Kbps

That's quite a small fall in margin, which is encouraging. Lets see what happens over the next couple of days at the times I suggested.

At 7.47 this morning the NR was 14.6db; the upstream and downstream were 2784 and 448 the same as at about 22.30 last night.

With only this forum site running in addition to the BT speedtester, at 7.57, the stats were:

1. Best Effort Test: -provides background information.

Download Speed
1536 Kbps

0 Kbps 2000 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed

Download speedachieved during the test was - 1536 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 800-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :2784 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 10.35:30.88:58.77 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.

Upload Speed
347 Kbps

Max achievable 448 Kbps

I have just had half an hour or so with BT total broadband help desk, including a call back after they ran some tests.

At first the guy from the help desk said he thought 1.5mbs on my exhange for a wireless service was not bad as the exchange would only give up to 2mbs to 2.5mbs max and that a wired connection would probaly get me near to the max.

After a bit of persistence and pointing out the high NR level (he asked how I found out that 15 was a high level) he asked a few more questions and then he asked me to end the phone call while he ran some tests. He phoned back on my mobile to say there might be a fault with the line and that further tests were needed and the BT extended phone desk is now due to phone me back after 2pm after doing the tests (he wanted 4 hours to have the tests done).

I'll see what happens. If I hadn't known about the NR, I think the call would have ended after he said he thought my speed was reasonable for my exchange.

The help from this forum has at least led to checks being made. Thanks.

My confidence is not so high in what the agent was saying

You can slow down on doing the BT Speedtester, the regular speedtests like ours and others will show once your line stats improve.

All you need is the target noise margin lowering. If today's calls with BT Retail get nowhere, then email me [email protected] and will need details of the line, a set of line stats too and will see if BT Wholesale can lower the target noise margin.

Letting the modem sync at say a 9dB target margin, should give you an extra meg or maybe more.

As MrS says, the agent doesn't seem all that knowledgeable - if they were then they wouldn't be even talking about a wireless service - wireless has nothing to do with your problem - you have a wired ADSL connection and it is that that is going slow.

If you mentioned wireless to the agent then it is probably better in future calls not to - it might confuse the poor people who obviously don't have the training to properly understand the technology they are supporting.

Certainly be interesting to see what happens following your call.

The agent asked me how I was connected to the BT HomeHub and seemed to think that using an ethernet cable to the HomeHub would give better speed than using wireless to the HomeHub.

He did suggest he needed to talk to a supervisor when I mentioned the NM but came back to say the supervisor was not there. He then phoned back to say tests had shown there might be a fault. We'll just have to wait and see but I'll take Mr Saffron up on his offer re providing him with details of the line etc if I don't make progress with BT later today.

It can sometimes help, but not always.

For example I can get 6Meg from my line either through wireless or ethernet. It is something to check, but in your case connection method is irrelevant.

The IP Profile is 2Meg, you are getting 1.5Meg'ish from the tester which is OK for that IP profile. What you are querying is the sync speed.

Alas support will be biased torwards making the problem be a user side fault, thus nothing for them to do.

In reply to a post by oldperson:

At first the guy from the help desk said he thought 1.5mbs on my exhange for a wireless service was not bad as the exchange would only give up to 2mbs to 2.5mbs max and that a wired connection would probably get me near to the max.

It's pointless talking about your speedtests, wireless or otherwise, in this case. Your D/S Sync Speed and NM are the crux of your problem. Concentrate on that!

Speedtest results come into their own when they are so much slower than Sync.