Which is best ISP...

My daughter has ongoing problems with Sky broadband. She has a BT line. Max download is about 300K. Sky say it is BT's fault, BT say the line is OK, don't seem interested in pursuing it further and can only be approached through Sky, who are proving really difficult to communicate with themselves. My assessment is it is most probably the BT line that is noisy or intermittent leading to a very low sync speed, although BT engineers came up and pronounced the line OK (while they were there). There are no audible crackles I can hear on the phone.

Enough is enough, can anyone recommend a good ISP who could go to bat properly with BT to find the cause? Alternatively maybe it is worth switching to BT broadband so they can no longer have anyone else to pass the buck back to? What does anyone suggest as the best course of action? This is good (not so good) old fashioned ADSL.

BT as a provider still has the same number of layers to negotiate

What speed is your modem connecting at and what are the attenuation and noise margin figures?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

BT as a provider still has the same number of layers to negotiate

What speed is your modem connecting at and what are the attenuation and noise margin figures?

Downstream 269kbps LA 59dB NM 7.8dB
Upstream 409kbps LA 35.9dB NM 7.7dB

(Just measured)

At times the connection has been known to reach the dizzy heights of 2 Meg for (very) short periods, but mostly it's at this kind of level.

Thanks.

OK if this is Sky LLU then it may be their DLM system which usually errs towards stability may be limiting you, 59dB attenuation is more in line with 2 to 3 Mbps.

If it is Sky LLU and WBC ADSL2+ is available on the exchange, then a BT Wholesale based provider might give better performance.

What exchange are you on?

If Sky don't provide LLU in the exchange then it is time to change ISP, if cost per month is an issue then have a look at BT retail BB packages or even Plusnet BB packages.

For a 269kbps downstream sync it can't be ADSL Max, and I don't think Sky do BTW ADSL2+ do they? If I'm right about the latter it has to be LLU.

Thanks for the replies. The postcode is DY4 which is Tipton exchange, West Midlands via SamKnows.

Sorry, forgot to say I'm pretty sure it's LLU as during one of the (many) phone calls to Sky, and one of the very few to someone who seemed to know what they were doing, DLM was mentioned. There was a DLM cap which was removed, but the improvement only lasted a short time and then it was as before.

Edited by deleted (Sat 29-Aug-15 08:28:07)

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If it is Sky LLU and WBC ADSL2+ is available on the exchange, then a BT Wholesale based provider might give better performance.

What exchange are you on?

BT telephone exchange Tipton DY47LU

https://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/CMTIP

In reply to a post by packetman:

My daughter has ongoing problems with Sky broadband. She has a BT line. Max download is about 300K. Sky say it is BT's fault, BT say the line is OK, don't seem interested in pursuing it further and can only be approached through Sky, who are proving really difficult to communicate with themselves. My assessment is it is most probably the BT line that is noisy or intermittent leading to a very low sync speed, although BT engineers came up and pronounced the line OK (while they were there). There are no audible crackles I can hear on the phone.

The best guide is what speeds does the BT Broadband Availability Checker indicate the line is capable of?

BT Broadband Availability Checker https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

That's a pretty poor sync speed, even for the relatively high attenuation figure of 59dB.

Has house wiring been eliminated as an issue? The easiest way to test that is, assuming it's a standard master socket, is to use the test socket. Unscrew the faceplate (which should disconnect any extensions) and then plug the modem into the test socket underneath. Then check the sync stats. (This is assuming all the wiring has been done properly).

Note that don't worry if you have to use a temporary set-up with an extension lead to power the modem/router. It's just to baseline the performance.

Of course if there are no extensions, then this won't be necessary. But if their are any (including unused ones), then it will almost certainly degrade performance. If it does, there are some fixes (at least one of which is simple and free).

DY4 7LU is not a current postcode

http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/?postcode=DY4%2... shows what we know is available on the exchange and for specific postcodes

It also has a lot of the altnet providers on it

DY4 7DB

My daughter's postcode is DY4 9FD. Yes, the first thing I did was to unplug the faceplate and plug straight in, un power the DECT cordless phone in case of RFI, re-start the router etc. I did the BT test and it came up at around 1.5Meg to 2 Meg max which is pretty bad, although better than now! I did the tests Friday, I'm back home now so don't have access to the line at present (I live in Hampshire!). This has been ongoing for some time, and Sky identified the DLM set to 300k previously, cleared this, speed went up to around 2 Meg for a few days then back down again!

Edited by deleted (Sun 30-Aug-15 21:44:46)

My daughter's postcode is DY4 9DB. Yes, the first thing I did was to unplug the faceplate and plug straight in, un power the DECT cordless phone in case of RFI, re-start the router etc. I did the BT test and it came up at around 1.5Meg to 2 Meg max which is pretty bad, although better than now! I did the tests Thursday, I'm back home now so don't have access to the line at present (I live in Hampshire!). This has been ongoing for some time, and Sky identified the DLM set to 300k previously, cleared this, speed went up to around 2 Meg for a few days then back down again!

Sorry, I edited my post and for some reason it posted both the incorrect original and the corrected version. Only just noticed. The correct post is the DY4 9FD one, please ignore the other one!

Even stranger, the edited version shows an earlier time stamp?

An update on this one. After a promise for BT Openreach to attend in the mean time, they failed to turn up. The download speed reduced again to 90K.

The visit was re-scheduled again for today. This time the engineer arrived, and followed the pair back to the distribution panel, and then right back to the Tipton exchange. He found that one wire was loose and intermittent at the exchange end, and tightened it up. The speed has gone up to around 2 Meg straight away, he said that due to the line length it is unlikely to be much better than that. My daughter is sticking with Sky for the moment, and asked them to monitor the line stats for a while. Many thanks for all the comments.

Once it settles it might be worth checking the Ring wire.

best isp depends on requirements, there is sadly no such thing as a perfect isp.

so

to deal with BT regarding faults. - AAISP
for cheap prices - one of those providers who doesnt specialise in broadband and as such usually sells it dirt cheap.
for performance - imo, sky in a LLU area, however people will have different opinions. Talktalk business based isp's seem rated highly as well for performance. (not to be confused with talktalk retail).
for best supplied hardware - maybe BT or virgin media.
for best access speed (not to be confused with throughput) - virgin media

It depends what you are looking for, bur given the issues you are having I would recommend Virgin Media if you have it in your area.

Currently they are upgrading their network throughout the country and are ironing out problems caused by over-subscription. They are also rolling out a speed boost so that their lowest tier will be 100Mb and their highest 300Mb. Their planned upload speeds are not km own yet. Could be as high as 25Mb on their 300Mb connections.

VM are also rolling out a WiFi network using people's own Superhub routers to create hotspots. This will use a separate channel, so it doesn't affect the customer's connection. This will work like Bt Fon hotspots but will also extend to street box hotspots, shopping malls, railways and airports.

I have always found that I get more than I pay for. I am on a 152Mb connection, but get 160Mb 24/7.

Edit.........

I should have mentioned that VM are a multi-platform ISP, like Sky. There are a wide range of TV and Phone options available with your broadband package. HERE

I just spotted you daughter's post code. Pity! No VM.

Edited by deleted (Wed 02-Sep-15 10:57:53)

It still seems to be around 2 Meg at the moment, which is lightning fast compared to 90K! No, unfortunately no VM. She lives on a new estate that's still under construction, and there is VM in the main road outside, so maybe at some stage they will cable the estate. Alternatively maybe FTTC will come at some point in the future, but right now they're stuck with last century speeds, unfortunately. Thanks again for the observations.

If the roads have NOT being adopted which is normal for an estate still being built, then unless a deal was struck with the builder, virgin media will not be interested as they have to pay to get access, only once roads are public does their code powers come into play.

Again sounds like a developer building but not considering the utility that consider broadband to be.

Thanks, I'll suggest she asks the developer (Barratt) if there is any agreement for cable in the estate. The roads have only a temporary rough tarmac surface at the moment and are going to be surfaced properly at the end, so presumably any cabling would be done prior to this. Still 2 Meg, by the way.