"acceptable range of speeds"

on the BT Wholesale Speedtest site, on the 'further diagnostics' section I get a figure of 0.6 to 7.15 for the 'acceptable range of speeds'
I'd say the average speed I get when testing during the day (8am - 12pm) is around 2Mbps so that falls in to the acceptable range but unsure why it should fall so low
I have been with Zen internet for the past week, previously was with BT Broadband on ADSL Max, thought it might have been a BT issue but apparently not. When I had just plain ADSL I used to get 2Mbps constantly.
My sync speeds are 8128 and 448 so unsure why it should fall so low.
this is a copy paste from the test...

Download speedachieved during the test was - 0.73 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 0.6 Mbps-7.15 Mbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :8.13 Mbps(DOWN-STREAM), 0.45 Mbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 7.15 Mbps

is there any problem or am I just hoping for too much?

edit - something I have noticed is when using the Speedtest.net site it shows my nearest server as being London when I live near Edinburgh, it definitely used to get my location far more accurate than that

Edited by deleted (Tue 12-Nov-13 22:07:19)

Is the pc running windows xp? If yes check your rwin is not limiting speeds

windows 8, upgraded directly from xp if that makes a difference ?
getting same results on other wireless devices too...iphone etc

Windows 8 should not give an rwin problem, even upgraded from XP.

Are you running wired or wireless? Very poor wireless connection could be the cause.
Otherwise your speeds should generally be close to the sync speed.

Just noticed you say you are with Zen now so maybe the below is not relevant,
or maybe they do the same.
In any case, judging by their reputation, Zen should be able to sort out your issue.

I think BT routes everything to London internally before going to the wider internet,
so that is why you pick up a London speedtester.
Try 'tracert bbc.co.uk' to a command line and you might get some indication.

(For us, the internal routing goes from Winchester to Sheffield to London,
and connections to Sheffield go Winchester to Sheffield to London to Sheffield.)

Edited by StephenTodd (Wed 13-Nov-13 10:12:28)

does the "Further diagnostics" page of the BT speedtest tell you your IP profile ?

Is it slow 24/7 ?

That would appear to be a yes from the op:

IP Profile for your line is - 7.15 Mbps

this morning my internet has almost stopped and i'm back to using a mobile dongle as it's much faster!
was getting 0.23 Mbps with the BT Speedtest this morning, ran the 3rd test where you use a different account name to log in through your router and it said to contact your provider so have emailed Zen. They said they will be contacing BT to try and see if there's a problem at the exchange. That's the last I heard via email, i assume it will take some time

got a reply from Zen saying they can see the line is dropping quite heavily and the majority of the drops seem to be authentication drops however there are some sync drops
they then ask me what my setup is from the BT Socket to my PC - I have an ADSL faceplate on the master socket to a Belkin router to my PC

they're shut for the day so will contact tomorrow but does the above symptoms ring any bells for anyone ?

You might find this interesting: http://www.zen.co.uk/blog/troubleshooting-dsl-faults... and possibly relevant

First thing I'd be trying was a different router, especially a different brand.

"something I have noticed is when using the Speedtest.net site it shows my nearest server as being London when I live near Edinburgh, it definitely used to get my location far more accurate than that"

This is due to where your IP address block node is located (closes to), I wondered the exact same in the past and that is what I was told. It should have no affect on your service.

i bought the cheapest router I could find from currys/pcworld tonight (On Networks N300R) and can't get it to connect
I need to use PPPoA on my current Belkin router, the only option this new one gives is PPPoE
it was only 20 quid but it's prob 20 quid lost now if I can't use it to connect
wondering if I should just pay whatever the callout charge is for an engineer to elimenate any problems the other side of the line in to my house
at least then I could focus on what to do

OK - please someone ensure me that this is all coincidence........

after having no luck with this new router I plugged the old one back in, same poor speeds.
Then tried another ethernet cable from PC to Router - boom - getting 6-7 Mbps download speed again, Changed the ethernet cable back to the one I've been using for the past x number of years - still getting 6-7Mbps!

I tried testing the speed on my iphone/ipod touch and a laptop through wireless before, and on a ps3 with a wired connection to the same Bellkin router - all really low speeds the past week or so

only in the last 10 mins that I am getting consistently good speeds

is there any way the ethernet cable to the PC could have affected all the connections listed above as that's the only thing that I have changed (even though I've reverted back to the original one now with no problems)

or is it more likely the case that something has been inverstigated when I contacted Zen today and has now been rectified ?

If the Ethernet cable was reporting connecting at 100 Mbps and its traffic lights showed no odd activity then something outside of what you've been doing has been fixed

I was getting 'no internet access' and a little red triangle next to the network icon in the taskbar/tray (win 8) over a week ago before I moved to Zen, but that was cured by updating the network card drivers

hopefully something out my control has been fixed although I've wasted 35 quid today on a mobile 3G top-up and a cheap router now!

actually forgot how fast the landline connection could be

In reply to a post by paradice22:

On Networks N300R

The manual indicates this router has an Ethernet WAN port (as you would use with a cable modem, FTTC modem or FTTP ONT), not a DSL WAN port. It could only be connected to your ADSL line using an ADSL modem or router. This is why you saw no PPPoA option, because you cannot use PPPoA over Ethernet.

achhh, just had a look on the website. I see now, was wondering why it was £19.99 when I went to the checkout

The one I wanted was the N300RM, boxes were right next to each other on the shelf and looked identical

Surely you can take it back for a refund ?

well, I don't need the new router now as everything is working fine
if I take it back they'll just want me to pay the extra tenner for the modem/router I thought I was buying
so maybe better off just cutting my losses

You can return it under the Distance Sellings Regs w/out needing a reason.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

You can return it under the Distance Sellings Regs w/out needing a reason.

Only if the contract was concluded at a distance. The impression given was that the router was bought in a shop, in which case there's no right of return via that route.

However, there would be a right of return under section 14(3) Sale of Goods Act 1979 if the OP had stated when buying the router that it was to plug into his DSL line. The problem with this approach would be proof.

Mistake when entering into a contract does not create a right to rescind the contract.

Yes, I know how the 'Distance' comes into it.

Maybe, but my impression from the 'website' & 'checkout' was online. But looking back, perhaps he only looked online after buying in shop.

In which case it was doubtful he specified 'ADSL' at checkout.

However, many of these chains have an ' n days no-quibble returns' policy, esp. round Xmas..

Edited by XRaySpeX (Thu 14-Nov-13 20:13:08)

it was in a shop, i've returned other stuff to this shop in the past and been given a refund which I wasn't strictly entitled to so for the sake of £20 I'll just put it down to experience!

actually David_w - the cashier did say how cheap it was for what it was
but as you say I can't remember exactly what was said - maybe she said "cheap for a wireless modem router"
maybe not!

Edited by deleted (Thu 14-Nov-13 21:31:55)

I know I should just be happy it's sorted, but it's bugging me...

had a reply from Zen today who said nothing had been raised to BT yesterday and they were unsure why it's started working now. Zen DID say that they can see the line is now stable and there has been no drops in the past 17 hours, the longest ever apparently (since I joined them just over a week ago)

is it possible that when the BT speedtest site let me run the 3rd test (TAP 3 I think it was called, when you log in as bt_test_user@startup_domain) that this has flagged up some issue to BT Wholesale ?

ping and upload speed have never been affected all the time I was getting poor download speeds - surely this means something somewhere has been done and it's nothing to do with anything physical on the line

Actually, thinking about it, the DSR and any no-quibble returns policy will not apply here as they are only applicable when the goods are unopened and unused.

I thought they had to be in "resalable condition". Where clothes are ordered I believe you can open them, try them on, find they don't fit and therefore return under DSR.

In reply to a post by ian72:

I thought they had to be in "resalable condition". Where clothes are ordered I believe you can open them, try them on, find they don't fit and therefore return under DSR.

You're almost right. The duty is to "retain possession of the goods" and "take reasonable care of them" (regulation 17 The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/2334)).

So long as what you have done with the goods is objectively reasonable, your right to return them remains intact. In practice, this gives you a right to open and inspect the goods - the supplier cannot insist on the goods being returned in "as new" condition.

In reply to a post by ian72:

That would appear to be a yes from the op:

IP Profile for your line is - 7.15 Mbps

oh yeah, doh!

download speed became very low again earlier on after a power cut (I wasn't here when the power cut happened so it may have been low before this)
noticed the sync speed has fallen to 7840 - was 8148 before
noise margin has went from 14 to 15
tried restarting the router with no luck, the sync speed actually went down again after a reset
left the router switched off for 15 mins - sync speed is still the same but download speed is back to normal now, about 6-7 Mbps

just checked on the BTWholesale website and my IP Profile has went down from 7.15 to 6.5

does this sound like a router problem ?

edit - actually, was just thinking. if my IP Profile was 7.15 before is it possible that's why I was getting really poor download speeds ? because something happened to power the sync rate so the line was struggling with 7.15 ?

Edited by deleted (Tue 19-Nov-13 21:31:55)

if you IP profile and sync speed are above 6M you should get BT speed test results over 5M at 7am at least. If the speed disappears at 7pm then it's a capacity problem somewhere.

If you work through the diagnostic options on the BT speed test the data is logged and your ISP / BT should be able to progress things.

If a router reboot fixed your speed problem it may not be a router problem - for example a zillion connections from P2P apps can floor a router but clear on a restart, or if the line was synced too high with a lot of errors a resync at a lower speed can give a big increase in throughput.

this is the thing, a reboot actually seems to cause the problem

did a bit of further testing on this.....

if i reboot my router either through the setup menu router/setup.htm or just by switching it off at the plug, then straight back on my download speed falls to almost unusable levels. This would explain the poor download speed after the power cut (power was only off for a minute if that)
If I leave the router unplugged for 10-15 mins the download speed returns to 6-7Mbps as normal

as I say the upload/ping is always fine

I can only assume that there's something wrong with the router