BT - download speeds much lower than "IP Profile"

I'm on BT Business Broadband and used to get around 4.5 - 5Mb/s download speed.

Recently (and I've got a feeling it has been for a few weeks but only just checked), I'm getting pretty appalling speeds. Over the last week I've been getting:

Down speed achieved, DSL Connection down, DSL Connection Up (all in Kbps)
440, 6144, 448
342, 6112, 448
917, 5728, 448
1094, 6240, 448
1180, 6144, 448
371, 6144, 448

(download speeds pretty variable as you can see).

The IP profile has always stayed at exactly 5000Kbps

I've spoken to lots of people at BT but without much joy.

I've been told that my fault threshold is 4556K, so I should expect around that download speed. I've tried different filters and my router (Netgear DG834) is plugged directly into the test socket (the line is purely used for broadband)

My Downstream Line attenuation and Noise margin figures are currently 44db, 3db
My Upstream Line attenuation and Noise margin figures are currently 14.5db, 24db

My router is rebooted every night.

The current suggestion from BT is to change my router, but it would be nice to get a second opinion before spending out on that. Any ideas chaps?

Consider moving to an LLU provider (if one is available). If your IP profile is good, then your lack of throughput must be down to throttling, which BT are well known for.

Cheers.

Unfortunately no chance of LLU any time soon on my little rural exchange.

I wondered if it could be throttling, but if it is, BT certainly aren't admitting it, as the technical help people are saying they can't understand why I'm not getting much better download speeds..... Unfortunately I don't think they are going to do anything more until I can prove it isn't my router, so I guess it is a trip to PC World if I want any more help from them....

Out of interest, if I moved to a non-LLU alternative ISP (I'm very tempted by AAISP), would my line still be effected by any BT throttling - i.e. is any throttling done by BT Wholesale or BT retail?

Edited by deleted (Sat 28-Nov-09 09:17:27)

Well, theoretically you should already have a better contention ratio as a BT Business customer, but I don't trust BT any further than I could throw them !

I suggest that you have a word with Andrews & Arnold..... they are a really friendly bunch, and I've been very impressed with the way they do business. If you move over to them, they will continually monitor your line performance, and if it drops below what's expected, they will fight your corner with BT.

my fault threshold is 4556K Unfortunately, due to the way that BT works, this means that they won't accept a speed related fault unless you can't connect at this rate. You have been connecting at least 5728.

What you need to do is speed tests at say, hourly intervals during the day and keep the results. See if it varies. If it does, then you are probably suffering from congestion at your exchange.

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I'm certainly still considering the AAISP route, but I'm going to push BT a bit more first, especially as the support people I've talked to admit there does seem to be a problem, given the stats above.

I've relented and purchased another router (that was the only way I was going to keep BT working on it). Unsurprisingly it has made no appreciable difference. The tech support guy has logged a new call with the engineers - I'll update this thread if that gets me anywhere....

Interestingly, I tend to get faster speeds reported by speedtest.net than I do BT's own speedtest site. I would have expected it to be the other way around......

May not be throttling but just contention in the BT Retail side of things, or a mixture of the two.

If the higher speeds are after midnight and before 3pm each day then probably congestion.

only the really expensive Network packages on BT Business Broadband are actually business circuits, most are standard 448k upstream home like this one.

There doesn't seem to be an issue with the line but more with contention, small rural exchanges can have quite lean backhaul (eg microwave) and hence more contention than a scalable fibre backhaul.