Download speed only 0.3Mbps!

I've already contacted tech support via Zen's web site for this, but someone on another forum pointed me in the direction of this forum, I hope someone here can help. For the past few weeks our broadband has been really slow, we've been getting a download speed of 0.3Mbps. I've just done another speedtest today and got this:


We tried changing the filter, connected the router on its own, checked the bell wire wasn't connected, did a quiet line test with an old corded phone etc. I asked for help on another forum and that's where I discovered about IP/BRAS profiles and adaptive line speed management. I didn't realise that we were supposed to leave the router switched on all the time, we were regularly turning it off without any problems until now. I'm now wondering if that has caused the problem, as according to BT's speed tester we have an IP Profile of 350Kbps and according to Zen's customer portal our BRAS profile has been adsl350 since 26th August.

We even bought a new router on Friday (Netgear DGN2200) as our old one was a few years old. We have had it switched on over the weekend but the speed hasn't improved. Current router stats are:

Connection speed: 575kbps (downstream) 798kbps (upstream)
Line attenuation: 43.0db (downstream) 21.6db (upstream)
Noise margin: 26.5db (downstream) 5.5db (upstream)

Please could someone help sort out this problem? As you can probably tell, I'm not as technically minded as most of the people on here so if you need any more info please let me know!

do all your phone sockets have filters, and have you tried unplugging all phones /sky boxes / faxes etc (or anything else connected to the phone system) then rebooting the router.

Also are you plugged into the master socket.

Zen can run line tests, but beware if BT come out and there not a fault (or the fault in the customers wiring) there is a charge of £75 or £165, sorry can't remember which one

Also does the speed chnage with the weather ?

Edited by deleted (Sun 26-Sep-10 19:44:06)

In reply to a post by AndrewW:

do all your phone sockets have filters, and have you tried unplugging all phones /sky boxes / faxes etc (or anything else connected to the phone system) then rebooting the router.

Also are you plugged into the master socket.

Zen can run line tests, but beware if BT come out and there not a fault (or the fault in the customers wiring) there is a charge of £75 or £165, sorry can't remember which one

Also does the speed chnage with the weather ?

Yes, I think we have the correct set up - we've been with Zen for 4 years and have been getting higher speeds previously, usually around 4Mbps. We were changed onto the "upto 20Mbps" service by Zen in May but our speed didn't increase then.

I thought it might be the filter/cable/router causing the problem so we have replaced all of them. Have tried plugging the router in on its own but it didn't help. We have the phone and router plugged into the master socket which is filtered, we don't have any other sockets in the house. We don't have an NTE5 faceplate so don't have a test socket.

I don't know if the speed changes with the weather, I haven't done speed tests that often in the past as we were happy with it until recently. Occasionally we do get some crackling on the phone line when it rains, but it doesn't always happen.

This comments is concerning,

" Occasionally we do get some crackling on the phone line when it rains, but it doesn't always happen. "

Crackling on the line will impact the adsl signals. Let Zen know this they will ask further questions.

1) Does the connection speed ever vary?
2) What speeds does the old modem give?

Inference may well be the the WBC systems have locked you to a 0.5Meg connection.

In theory you should be able to get around 5 to 6Meg from the line.

Turning off a router, say overnight when in bed should cause no problems. What is a problem is turning it on to access a webpage, then turning it off, and doing this 10 to 15 times a day.

At your attenuation, going from ADSL to ADSL2+ would have made marginal improvements to downstream sync speeds.

Morning Minerva69,

What was the original modem on the line? And was the line intermittent before becoming slow?

If you could let me know asap I'll help get the speed increased. From the speedtest I can see the noise jumped and this has caused the low sync.

What I would suggest is testing the voice line to make sure its clear.

Kindest Regards,

In reply to a post by Azzaka:

Morning Minerva69,

What was the original modem on the line? And was the line intermittent before becoming slow?

If you could let me know asap I'll help get the speed increased. From the speedtest I can see the noise jumped and this has caused the low sync.

What I would suggest is testing the voice line to make sure its clear.

Kindest Regards,

The modem we used before was a BT Voyager 2110, we were getting similar speeds to what we are getting now with the new one. We've only very occasionally had dropped connections before it became slow. I did a quiet line test with a corded phone on Thursday last week and it was fine - would you like me to do another one?

I've had an email from Josh at Zen customer support this morning, which says:

After looking at your problem it looks as if you are correct regarding your BRAS profile, it seems that BT's systems have limited your connection speed thinking that you have had intermittency problems. We will need to raise this as a fault to BT so that the profile can be removed. After we have done so you should see an increase in your speed in around a day's time. We have also noticed you have had a couple of dropped connections around 2-3 in the afternoon.

Josh wanted me to plug the router directly into the BT master test socket, but as we haven't got an NTE5 faceplate we don't have a test socket. He also asked us to keep the modem plugged in and switched on, which we are now doing. The dropped connections around 2-3 in the afternoon that he mentioned may have been me switching the old router off before I went on the school run!

I have to go out now but should be back after 4pm if you need any more info. Thanks very much for everyone's help!

Minerva,

I can see that you have had the email. The banded profile has been removed but can take upto 2hrs to show. I would request that you monitor the line as there has been some intermitency since the modem has been swapped out.

Kindest Regards,

Thanks for your help Azzaka and everyone on here, got home to find I can now get a speed of

which is the fastest download speed we've ever had Should the upload speed be faster than 0.7 though?

I've done a BT speed test which is now:
Download speedachieved during the test was - 5434 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 400-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :13784 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 1104 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 1250 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 16.73:22.16:61.11 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 651 Kbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 1104 Kbps

and the Zen customer portal says our BRAS profile is now adsl6000 I'll make sure we leave the router switched on!

Edited by deleted (Mon 27-Sep-10 16:18:21)

The upload speed will always be close to full however sometimes it can show about a 100-200 kbs difference. The upstream may go higher, but it should alwasys sit about the same.