The BT speed test is available again now. I don't think you can blame Zen for BT's shortcomings - it's BT's kit, and they don't allow anyone else to touch it.

If you think that contention is a problem that only affects ADSL, I suggest you wander over to the NTL forums - cable seems to be "the luck of the draw" too. I think you've got more chance of getting your BT contention sorted out than you have with NTL.

You're right. It's back

http://217.32.105.42/cgi-bin/home.page.pl

But only since yesterday. It's been coming and going for weeks....like the smile on a Cheshire cat.

Perhaps BT contention issues are relatively easy to solve but who's to know whether the OP's problem is to do with his RED VP or something completely different? There does not appear to have been any investigation just an easy assumpion that it's congestion at the exchange. I don't relish the prospect of NTL but if I were in his boat I take the risk.

In reply to:

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For several weeks, users have been without the BT tool that enabled them to distinguish between BT and ISP network speed-related issues

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Is there such a thing for MaxDSL users now? If I understand the updated FAQ correctly (which is a big if!) the MaxDSL version doesn't bypass your ISP.

It comes and goes:

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=zen&Number=2892970&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=

In reply to:

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It comes and goes:

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<g> Indeed! The FAQ I was thinking of is this , which is why I haven't tried the separate login yet (as I thought it would not tell me anthing new).

In theory you can try using the IP address, but it is not the documented way of doing things

Given obvious load issues on the testers directing people around the balancing/logging side of things doesn't help

Thanks Andrew. Perhaps I'll give it a go the next time I can't sleep!

I can't sleep lol, so I just did this BT speedtest and I'm back to 'normal' values for me.

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 6452 kbps

My IP Profile was stuck on 6000kbps (sync 8128/448). I rang Zen and they did something to my line because my IP profile began increasing. It is now 7150kbps.

Speeds are still rubbish (1 to 2 megs) during the late afternoon and evening, but there seems to be no way round that. Just too many people using their connection at the same time!

>>Speeds are still rubbish (1 to 2 megs) during the late afternoon and evening, but there seems to be no way round that. Just too many people using their connection at the same time!

I find that too...

same here, 7000k profile @ 7968 sync, BT Speedtester is fine( 6400KBit) , VP is fine / green

but speeds are between 300K-3MBit with Zen

just ran a speedtest here :

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/117120287322798428703.html

awful

ping to www.bbc.co.uk :

Ping statistics for 212.58.224.116:
Packets: Sent = 152, Received = 129, Lost = 23 (15% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 44ms, Maximum = 79ms, Average = 53ms

ping to Google

Ping statistics for 216.239.59.147:
Packets: Sent = 35, Received = 27, Lost = 8 (22% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 56ms, Maximum = 86ms, Average = 70ms

a lot of packet loss, no other downloads/uploads here (23/7 idle LOL), and high pings (ok, interleaved is on, but anyway high)

UNUSABLE for VoIP, gaming and my MS Exchange Server / Windows Mobile 5 push (15% of inbound mails will be rejected due to a connection drop, ok ... they might arrive at a later point)

besides that, Zen seems to have a network configuration problem, my router is hit every ~1h on the WAN port from IP 172.16.1.2, this is a private IP (similar to 192.168.x.x, most likely used by CISCO routers)

FIREWALL icmp check (1 of 1): Protocol: ICMP Src ip: 172.16.1.2

OK, it's only ICMP .. so I don't bother...

Well, maybe it's time for Zen to introduce traffic management or QoS/shaping ...