Wireless connection speeds

I wonder if anyone can give some hints on this one. We have recently changed broadband provider from Merula to Eclipse but after nearly a month cannot get the speeds promised or a reasonable answer from anyone.

The package we are buying is 8mb, however we know the BT line we have can carry only 6mb and since it is a good quality line and we are close to the exchange the estimate is that it will carry up to 5.5mb easily.

The router (netgear) detects a broadband signal of 5.6mb but frequent speed tests over the past month show we are actually enjoying an average of 1.4mb with the service often dropping below 1mb, even as far down as 31kbps.

Our provider merely point out that the router is getting a 5.6mb signal and that speed testers like this one are only an indication, they are not accurate. We can tell that the current service is faster than our old 0.5mb service and is much cheaper but what do others experience and does anyone know a quick solution that might speed things up a bit?

Eclipse have a product portfolio based entirely on traffic management, so if you are on a cheap package you will get poor effective speeds.

What does speedtester.bt.com have to say for itself (perseverance may be required).

Hi, thanks for that.

The speedtester.bt result was interesting.

IP profile is 4.5m, DSL ratio is 448 up and 5.6 down but the actual rate is only 1.541 which coincides with the thinkbroadband results.

Surely they cannot all justify their service by claiming that such speedtesters are only indicators and not necessarily accurate?

I am not unhappy with the performance, fundamentally, its the comparison between what they say they are delivering and what you get, in our case just over 25%. with Merula we were buying 0.5m but the speedtester regularly clocked the actual service as about 470 to 480, over 90% of the service promise.

According to the statistics put forward by users the fast services cannot match that for actual against promise and it appears we are not alone. Its a shame because the potential is there.

My next step is to examine if my firewall and other settings may be affecting the speed but if the merula service hit 90% plus I suspect its not that.

Ian

you should check your RWIN value on a tweak test site, as a small value can limit throughput.

You didn't say which Eclipse package you are on, the cheapest "Evolution" package is only given 2 stars for performance by the people selling it ! http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=fixedmain_res

Hi ianwmptc,
There are different reasons for geting low speed in wireless connections. We never get the advertised speed......! You can read an article on ' Wirless connecting speed - a trouble shooting, in the following link.
http://www.broadbandpackages.org/2007/11/06/wireless-connection-speed-a-trouble-shooting/
I hope the above information is useful.
Wish you all the best.
GS Narayanan