Varying d0wnload rates with ID Net and Eclipse

Hi
I Used Eclipse for 4 years as my broadband provider it was fine until MAX 8meg came along, the 512k service and 2 meg service both gave exactly that on downloads. When the Max came along the rates went from 100k up to 2000k on a good day.

After persevering with Eclipse for a further year on Max I gave up and went to ID net. A very good service but I still get only 2meg average on downloads ( these are all small data transfers use less than 3gig a month) The rate varies from 500k up to 5000k now at least I get a good peak rate now.

Question is this typical of Max services I think IDnet is one of the best providers maybe there is massive contention locally ( Stonehouse Gloster ) the slow speeds seem tottally unrelated to time of day or day of the week.

I have replaced everythinng hardware wise to elimnate local problems. Sync rates are 6000k ish with SNRs on downstream of 15db.

Hairyman

No it is not typical of Max, especially with an ISP as good as IDNet.

Are you connecting wirelessly or wired to your router? Are you talking about download speeds always to the same computer or have you a network?

That SNRM of 15dB is very strange on a sync of 6000ish. Please can you be more precise about the sync ? Also does the sync vary much when you re-sync or switch on? Attenuation and error rates would be useful as well.

Do you switch off the router at night or leave it on 24/7?

I use a wired router via ethernet, all speeds quoted are with just one PC on the system.
The PC is "clean" and the other PC we have (when in use) gives the same range of figures. I am 400mtrs from the exchange as the crow flies and all cables are underground. Neither Eclipse or now IDnet seem to have a fix . The voice line is quiet with no noticeable noise on it.

Router is a Zoom X5V but have tried Sppedtouch and Creative routers as well. Have latest filterd faceplate and all new leads etc.
Router mostly left on 24/7 but occasionally rebooted which seems to make no improvement. No the sync does vary much on reconnect. The Latency is " interleaved". I did get 8128k B4 Xmas but SNRs varied down to 7 or 8 db and the profile seems to have been set to 6000k and over to interleaved rateher than "fast".

Router Stats right now are. Down / Up
SNR 14.4 / 26
Line attn 37.6 / 24
Data rate 6016 / 448

Hairyman

Just found my forum user name so am not anon now.

One way to get an idea of any congestion present is to install NetMeter and, when your connection seems slow, download something large enough to take 30 seconds or so.

Look at the NetMeter trace- the top should be pretty well flat, I'm with IDNet and it usually is. If it looks more like a cross-section through an uncut lawn, you've almost certainly got severe congestion somewhere, and in between it'll be in between.

Unfortunately it doesn't tell you where the congestion is .

(Zen used to have a collection of large files for testing, but I can't find the url... )

You might only be 400m from the exchange but unless your cables take a *very* long route or are in very poor condition you should have attenuation a lot lower than you have. For example I'm about 900m from the exchange (line length approx 1.8km) and have downstream attenuation of 25db and synch at 8128.

Regards,
Steve

Hi,

Our test files (hosted on our News server) can be found here:

http://download.zensupport.co.uk/

They're only really of value if you're on a Zen connection, the idea being that if a Zen user minimises their setup (master test socket, wired connection to router, wireless off, one computer connected and no other downloads running) then downloading one of these test files will show the maximum 'real-world' throughput available (there are zero and non-zero files to aid in diagnosing dial-up problems).

If you download these files on another ISP's connection you're being routed beyond your ISP's core network to our News server, which defeats the object of the exercise. It would be worth asking your ISP if they have similar test files available.

They're the ones, thanks .

I take your point about routing outside outside the ISP's core network, I'll check with my own ISP.

Though sometimes it's handy just to know where there are some decent sized files that haven't been messed around with since the last time they were accessed

No problem

I downloaded NetMeter and I get a great impersonation of a South American Mountain range from the graph. Its all up and down.

Ref the line attenuation yes it is high isnt it BT dont seem interested the actual line length may be 1km max if the line goes via the main roads rather down the shortest back roads, sometimes I get a lot of line noise on the voice line , mostly when it is either very wet or after a long dry spell. This line noise dissappears when I power down the router !! Mostly the lime is quiet though. I have changed filtes and several times and now have a top quality faceplate filter. Have tried two other Routers and a USB modem all behave the same.

My actual downloads as shown by The sppedtest on this site and on a 20meg download of a BBC radio mp3 show rates varying from 50kB/s to 550kB/s this seems unrelated to time of day or the actual day of the week.

IDnet peak rates are much better than Eclipse but I rather feel my line is so poor ( house is approx 22yrs old and all cables are underground to the exchange) that finacially I would be better of with a very cheap supplier . Sadly only BT Ipstream is available here so no very cheap suppliersare available right now ( Talk Talk , Sky etc) .

Any other Ideas of how to progress, one runs the chance of the 140quid charge from BT to check out the line and say its fine ( it does after all support 400kbps which is their min quality service level)

Regards
Hairyman