Line speed V constantly switched on router

Having recently moved home, I�ve had to switch from a cable to ADSL broadband service (now via BT).

On first connection and for a couple of weeks, I was getting download speeds from 7 to 10Mb/s (despite the service being rated at 8Mb/s max, and BT saying my line is capable of up to 7Mb/s max). This has now dropped to a more consistent 1.6Mb/s. I�ve naturally complained to BT, and their response is that I need to leave my router switched on all the time. At the exchange end, the line is constantly monitored to deliver the highest possible line speed and is modified dynamically. By leaving the router switched off, the exchange assumes there is a problem and automatically drops the speed to a much lower speed.

I can�t believe for one moment that is the true case, surely when the switch is first powered on it will negotiate line speed starting with what is the highest possible for the service provided by the technology, and drop the speed dependent on errors received/transmitted, signal attenuation etc. It can�t seriously be the case that you have to keep a device constantly powered up just to maintain your line speed? What about holidays etc. when you�re away for a couple of weeks or whatever and you would prefer to have everything switched off for peace of mind?

Does anyone have a sound technical explanation why a router should always be powered up in order to maintain (a maximum possible) line speed? I�ve never come across this one before.

By leaving the router switched off, the exchange assumes there is a problem and automatically drops the speed to a much lower speed.

Codswallop, nothing wrong with switching it off, and leaving it off for a number of hours. What can cause problems is switching off/on too often, i.e. 10 times in an hour.

Due to Dynamic Line Management, if you switch off/on a lot, then the BT systems see this as instability, and slow your line down.

The solution is to first tell us what modem you have and get the connection speed, attenuation and noise margin figures from the modem, and monitor this yourself.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

By leaving the router switched off, the exchange assumes there is a problem and automatically drops the speed to a much lower speed.

Codswallop, nothing wrong with switching it off, and leaving it off for a number of hours.

Never have my cods been so walloped

It'll be interesting to see the router stats - 7Mb/s down to 1.6Mb/s is a big drop. Curious about the 10Mb/s as well - what product is the OP on? How did they obtain that figure?

If this was BT Total then it may be WBC and a banded profile has been applied,
A rise from 6dB to 15dB target margin is normally not such a large drop in speed.

Getting data from a Home Hub is shown at http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

It will take a little monitoring, but we will be able to explain things, and maybe even get it fixed if BT support fails to do so.

My router (Netgear DGN3500) tells me the following info:-
DownStream Connection Speed :8301 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed : 828 kbps
Line Attenuation Upstream: 29.4 Downstream: 15.3 db
Noise Margin Downstream:13.7 db Upstream:9.3 db

This is borne out by the BT speedtester site which also gives me the same figures for downstream/upstream speed.

The BT speedtester site then goes on to say my downstream speed is 0-2000Kb/s and reports 1750Kb/s downstream and 830Kb/s upstream � more or less what I�m actually getting.

The maximum down/up speed I ever had was 10443/809 Kb/s which lasted 5 days before slowly dropping to 1600 Kb/s I�m now stuck with.

Having reported the problem to BT, and having left the router permanently switched on as requested, there has been no change in speed whatsoever. Guess I�ll need to report it again, where no doubt they�ll threaten me with an engineer on site visit � no problem found you pay scenario, not that worries me.

As others have said you don't need to keep your router on.
Mine goes off each night and back on in the morning.

Can you post the full details from speedtester.bt.com ?
Or say what your IP Profile is reported as?

If you are maintaining that sync then it sounds like you're being capped or similar...