BT Speed - Slower than previous ISP

Hello everybody Lets get right to it shall we.

ADSL Line Status
Connection Information
Line state: Connected
Connection time: 0 days, 00:12:14
Downstream: 1.875 Mbps
Upstream: 448 Kbps
ADSL Settings
VPI/VCI: 0/38
Type: PPPoA
Modulation: G.992.1 Annex A
Latency type: Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up): 12.7 dB / 17.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up): 60.4 dB / 31.5 dB
Output power (Down/Up): 17.2 dBm / 11.9 dBm
FEC Events (Down/Up): 1 / 0
CRC Events (Down/Up): 1 / 5
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
HEC Events (Down/Up): 0 / 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 1 / 1

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1689620736.png

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/bimages/80146...

MY BT Exchange:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SWLJ

According to Google maps I am 2.8 miles away but not sure on the distance when the crows flies.

BT Speed Tester Results:
Download speedachieved during the test was - 1413 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 400-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :1920 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 1500 Kbps

So after having Plusnet for a few years and bad teething problems for most of it I decided to move to BT and have the unlimited package with the home hub 3. Plusnet provided me with speeds between 1.8Mbps - 1.9Mbps using their Thompson Router, on a D-link Router the speeds were the same.

I know that BT owns Plusnet but I thought why not cut out the middle man and go straight to the main supplier, considering others in my street have speeds of 2.3Mbps and over with the likes of Sky, Talk Talk and Supanet, it seemed like a no brainer to go with BT.

My IP Profile with BT is a max 1.5Mbps and the fastest I can have is 1.44Mbps which seems strange considering I had more with plusnet? I complained to BT, the recommended way was to chat online via their chat app which to me seemed a better option. So after my first online chat I was advised that my speed was very low but to wait for 10 days for the line to stabilize from install.

12 days later the speed hits 0.8Mbps which more than warranted my second online chat. They advised me to run the usual checks, the only thing different from my setup was the change in router switching the Plusnet out for the BT Home Hub 3. So we checked everything, Filters, Ethernet Cables, Master Socket and so on....done this so many times with Plusnet and past providers but thought it best to do it all again for the sake of the BT Customer Support.

They decide that it's a network fault and the Noise Margin was to high, a few tweaks on their end and my speed should increase in a day or two. The next day my speed was 2.1Mbps and hooray I could now play Xbox 360 online whilst others used the computers, something I could not do without lag when the speed was 0.8 and 1.4Mbps.

The very next day it was back down to 1.44Mbps and for the third time I had another online chat with BT. They suggested an engineer visit my property for which he did and changed out some internal wiring as he found some errors with my line. After he done his bits and bobs my speed decreased to 1.1Mbps, but he said he had to visit the cab outside to alter some things and then notify the exchange and my speed would increase dramatically in the next 48 hours.

The next day the speed was 1.8Mbps slowly dropping through out the day back to 1.2Mbps and stayed like that until I contacted BT for a 4th time. They ran a few tests and my speed increased but only to 1.44Mbps and this I was told was the best they could do. They advised my not to contact them again in regards to the line speed as this was the fastest I would ever get and they could no longer raise a fault with my line.

So here I am stuck with a measly 1.44Mbps wishing I was back with Plusnet, If I attempt to play online with any Xbox 360 game it is fine until someone in the house uses a computer, even to check their emails, the lag is terrible, my wife and kids are complaining about the internet speed, I have tweaked the computers for the fastest connection possible. Even when I don't go online with the Xbox 360, we still have slow connection when two people are using the computers at the same time.

I have the Xbox update with new dashboard and I also have the Lovefilm, 5OD, 4OD and youtube apps, works great when not using anything else, in fact love film states you can stream movies to 3 devices the same time, but this slow connection basically ties the whole of my family to use one device at a time, a shame really when we all like to do different things sometimes.

Really Annoyed that I am stuck with BT for 18 months and that they give me slower speeds than 3rd party providers. We have switched the Wifi off on the router as what is the point when it cannot be used when others are using a different device?

On another note, there are two people with the same BT Broadband package but live 50 miles apart. One person is promised up to 10Mbps and actually gets around 8Mbps and the other is promised up to 10Mbps but gets 1.4Mbps.....why is it that the person with the slowest speed is made to pay the same amount per month as the one with the faster speed?

I would love to hear what BT Customer Care has to say about this one.

Edited by deleted (Fri 06-Jan-12 07:47:37)

why is it that the person with the slowest speed is made to pay the same amount per month as the one with the faster speed?

It generally costs more to support a low speed line than a high speed line. That is because the line is longer and therefore there is more physical cable that could go wrong. The data costs are the same by volume. So, a 1Mb line transferring 10GB of data costs more than an 8Mb line transferring 5GB of data (and that is just the data transit without considering the additional costs of supporting a long line).

ADSL economics do not scale by line speed and therefore charging by line speed (ie less for lower speeds) is false economy.

(Afraid I only read the first and last paragraphs of the post as it is a massive wall of text)

Hi,
First off you have not cut out the middle man, we all buy from BT Wholesale even BT retail buy from them, so you have just moved from one retailer to another (regardless of who owns the company)
Looking at your stats, shows a long line, have you been through the basics IE have you plugged your router into the test socket and checked your stats from there (speed will not change, it's the stats we are after)
The test socket is found when removing (carefully) the front face plate from the master socket and plugging your filter/modem into that.
If it's an internal wiring issue, this can normally be resolved, and then you could see about getting the margin lowered from 12 to 9 to see what change this has on your connection speed.

OK so I get the cost issue and I guess I should be grateful for them paying more just for me to get at least some broadband and a telephone line. One of the tech support guys did mention that they are due to complete work on the exchange by the end of January 2011 and that I should expect a faster speed, if I can get 2Mbps when this is completed then I will be more than happy.

In regards to the massive wall of text, I thought it best to throw in all the information regarding Speed tests, Router Stats, Exchange data and my problem to save others asking for it and dragging out the post.

Yes we have been through the channels of testing the master socket and so on, the engineer who visited checked the internal wiring, my router and so forth and installed some new wiring just to be safe, he reckons there are now no errors on my end and that it's to do with the network department to pump up the speed.

When I state "cut out the middle man", I was referring to what the BT Customer Sales advised me, I mean when my neighbours line goes down he has to contact Supanet and then they have to contact BT to sort it out, but being with BT one would have assumed that BT would be the first point of contact?

In regards to lowering the margins, the BT Tech Support have bluntly told me not to bother asking for any more assistance regarding my line speed unless it is completely down lol

The funny thing is, Plusnet warned me not to go with BT and stay with them?

In reply to a post by btzzzzz:

The funny thing is, Plusnet warned me not to go with BT and stay with them?

Plusnet = Bt Sheffield (joke term), purchased by Bt sometime back although operate as separate business, Openreach treat all ISPs equally or as equal as they want to be treated!

You mention Tech support is this through the BT forum?

* edit I've read your first post now, plusnet bt etc.

Edited by NilSatisOptimum (Fri 06-Jan-12 16:58:53)

No, BT Retail still have to speak to BT Openreach same as everyone else.
Think the BT engineer was telling porkies, as there is no dep that can "Pump up" speed
If the line now has no errors something is keeping the snr up, have you been re-booting your router? If so then this will be seen by the system as a possible unstable line and change the stats to accommodate it (uses a system called DLM)
If you have left the router alone for a while do you know if the sync is still dropping out?
If not, then after say 5 days of it being completely stable you could contact support, see if you can find someone with half a clue and ask them to do a line reset, this will reset the line stats back to default and in effect start again, but any problems or issues in the first 10 days of this happening may be an issue as it will put the line back into "training"

@btzzzz I really would go through the forum its a lot less painful. http://community.bt.com/t5/BB-Speed-Connection-Issue...

If the connection is stable for 3 days and there is no reduction snr, they will do the reset then. I always put the request some time in after the first day of a new connection as it can take 3 days for them to pick the request up, they always say it will take 24hrs in my experience its almost instant!

As for DLM its a strange beast and certainly does not work for me in the way its noted for,

It looks like you are going to get no joy with BT ADSL whoever actually retails it to you. Cable may be your solution. With your busy house you need more.

Check with BT to see if you can get Infinity. This is their fibre to the cabinet service giving up to 40Mb or even 100Mb. HERE Just type in your phone or address details.

Failing that go to Virgin Media just in case you are in their cable area. They offer packages from 10Mb to 100Mb with TV and telephone if you want. HERE Just type in your post code.

Good luck.

Edited by deleted (Fri 06-Jan-12 23:38:23)

Mate honestly, If I could get Virgin Media in my area then I would like a shot. I used to have NTL Broadband about 5 - 6 years ago when living in a cabled area, I can remember when they first introduced the 512kbps back in 2002.

I actually worked for them for 4 years on Tech Support and know how some advisers can shrug you off as they have Service Analysts breathing down their necks trying to end the call within 3 minutes just so they can get good stats and earn a bonus or maybe some £50 Argos voucher lol

They had just upped it to 10Mbps before I moved away and that was very fast and served all my needs, as you can imagine, most websites back then were fairly static and light compared to today's bloated sites.

If I could move back to where I used to live then I would but unfortunately we have children and would hate to have them change schools. I think it's called biting the bullet lol