Slow Eircom Broadband

Sepulchrave

Hello,

My next door neighbours purchased a 1MB broadband package from Eircom, and received the Netopia 2247 Router which I setup for them. It is all connected and the internet is connected, however, when I go to the router configuration at 192.168.1.254, it says the download speed is only 480kbps. The upload speed is at the correct value of 128kbps. Now I have Eircom broadband here as well next to them, and I have the 2MB package, and on my configuration page it says my download speed is 2048kbps, which is obviously correct. I have tested my line with the eircom speed test and speedtest.net and I receive 1720kbps which is close enough to the 2MB for the line.

I tested my neigbours line, and they only get 330kbps, which is quite far away from 1MB. I rang eircom about this, and they asked me to run the netstat /a command in the command line window, to view all active connections, there were aboutt 30 of them, about 12 were TCP protocols and 18 were UDP protocols. The support guy said that based on this info, the slow speed was probably because of spyware and adware etc eating up the bandwidth, and said I should remove them, and clean the web browing history, and temporary internet files. All of which I did, and it reduced the number of active connections, but we are still getting the same slow speed, the speed test still shows 330kbps, and the speed line on the router config page still shows 480kpbs. I tried all the recommendations on the eircom support site for slow speeds, resetting router, TCP/IP settings etc, but to no effect. The router has the latest firmware installed. The router is connected to the pc with an ethernet cable, not wireless. Running Windows XP SP2.

So I am left guessing that eircom may not be providing them with the correct speed of broadband. Can anyone give me any advice on resolving this? I would be very grateful for any help.

Thanks in advanced,

Michael.

dub45

How long has your neighbour got bb? Did they ever achieve the correct speed since they got it? They obviously have a problem with spyware etc are you sure that their pc is now clean and properly protected? Is the wireless connection secure? If it is not being used it should be turned off.

Have you checked the line stats to see if there is a fundamental line problem?

Sepulchrave

Hello Dub45, thank you for your reply. They have had broadband since yesterday, that is when I set it up. Their broadband line was activated in February. So since yesterday no they have not had the correct speed. I ran ad aware, windows defender, and a mcafee virus scan, but all ad aware found was tracking cookies which were definetly deleted. Defender found nothing. Mcafee found nothing either, however their sub is out and they have not paid to update it, so they are not getting the latest definitions, which ad aware and defender had. Perhaps i will get rid of mcafee and install avast 4 free and run that with the latest definitions, it would have to be something in the background, they have not noticed any performance problems on the pc apart from the broadband.

Finally how would I check the line stats?

Thanks very much,
Michael.

dub45

MJJOS wrote: »

Hello Dub45, thank you for your reply. They have had broadband since yesterday, that is when I set it up. Their broadband line was activated in February. So since yesterday no they have not had the correct speed. I ran ad aware, windows defender, and a mcafee virus scan, but all ad aware found was tracking cookies which were definetly deleted. Defender found nothing. Mcafee found nothing either, however their sub is out and they have not paid to update it, so they are not getting the latest definitions, which ad aware and defender had. Perhaps i will get rid of mcafee and install avast 4 free and run that with the latest definitions, it would have to be something in the background, they have not noticed any performance problems on the pc apart from the broadband.

Finally how would I check the line stats?

Thanks very much,
Michael.

http://192.168.1.254 Go into Advanced>Statistics>DSL

figures to look for are signal to noise ratio and attenuation.


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/lowSNR.htm


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/linestats.htm


Are you using filters on all phones?

Sepulchrave

Thank you I will take a look at those tomorrow.

There are filters on all but 1 phone. They wanted to start using the broadband and only 2 filters were in the box. I believe they left the unfiltered phone plugged in as it is. I can have them take out. There was nobody on the phone while I was there, would having a filter off 1 phone with nobody using the phone make such a big difference?

Thanks again,
Michael.

dub45

MJJOS wrote: »

Thank you I will take a look at those tomorrow.

There are filters on all but 1 phone. They wanted to start using the broadband and only 2 filters were in the box. I believe they left the unfiltered phone plugged in as it is. I can have them take out. There was nobody on the phone while I was there, would having a filter off 1 phone with nobody using the phone make such a big difference?

Thanks again,
Michael.

Having unfiltered phones plugged in can cause problems. It would be a good idea to try the connection with all phones plugged out. Don't forget Sky boxes etc etc.

kaizersoze

It's normal for Eircom to limit the sync speed initially on long lines and lines that have borderline test results. I've often seen it as low as 160 down. This is done to get the modem to sync and get the connection up and running so an engineer can check the line for faults.
After a week or so when the checks/repairs are done they crank it up to what it should be.
Thats one scenario but as Dub said, it may be Spyware/viruses or it may be that it's all the line is capable of.

dub45

Had they used the pc before on the net via dial up? download avg free edition spybot etc and make sure it is clean:) Get the latest definitions for defender too.

Sepulchrave

Hmm thank you both lol. Well im certainly guessing that it could be spyware not or something similar. Yep they were using dial up for a year before the broadband and commited the ultimate sin and connected with the firewall turned off! So I turned it back on anyway, so there could be a virus or something in there somewhere. Tell me about this engineers check, would eircom be checking this themselves in Dublin or would someone be coming to their house? They have not arranged anything anyway. And of course I forgot about their sky box :P I will get them a filter for that too, although they dont use the phoneline features. I think until we get the filters I might have them disconnect the unfiltered phone and the sky box to see does that help the situation. So I will run further scans for them and sort out the filters. How would we find out if this is all their line is capable of? If my line next door to them can get the full 2mbps then surely they can muster 1mbps? :P

Thanks!
michael.

Sepulchrave

Infact maybe this will help. Like I said I have the 2mbps package. They initially ordered the 2mbps package from eircom as well, but eircom told them they had what they call a "brown line" and could only get 1mbps. They pointed out that I have the 2mbps and they said it did not matter, they were showing up as having the brown line, and they could only get the package, so that is what they orderred. I do not understand what brown line is, or what my line is, but could this have significance?

Thanks again.

dub45

MJJOS wrote: »

Infact maybe this will help. Like I said I have the 2mbps package. They initially ordered the 2mbps package from eircom as well, but eircom told them they had what they call a "brown line" and could only get 1mbps. They pointed out that I have the 2mbps and they said it did not matter, they were showing up as having the brown line, and they could only get the package, so that is what they orderred. I do not understand what brown line is, or what my line is, but could this have significance?

Thanks again.

It sounds like their line may be iffy - on the other hand it may not.:) The best way to find out is to check it with all other phone connections taken out. All phone lines are unique - even if you had the best phone line in Ireland it has no relevance to your neighbours. Each line has a unique path back to the exchange.

When Eircom tested their line originally it may have show up as iffy (this could be the line quality - it could be the sky box etc putting a drain on the line) thus the reference to the 'brown' line. I have given you details above as to how to get the line stats - those figures will tell what speed the line is capable of.

phog

To rule out the PC why not bring it to your house and run the speed test - if it slow on your normally fast line then the PC is a problem. Doesn't rule out the other equipment like the Sky box but it may help.

kaizersoze

MJJOS wrote:

Tell me about this engineers check, would eircom be checking this themselves in Dublin or would someone be coming to their house?

It's a check done locally by an engineer. First in the exchange, where he will test the line from there and then the line itself, depending on the results. He may or may not call to the house.

Sepulchrave

Hello again, thank you all for the input.

First off I have checked the line stats and are as follows:

Line State: Up
Modulation: DMT
Data Path: Interleave

Max Allowed Speed (kbps): Download 448, Upload 128
SN Margin (dB): Download 12.00, Upload 17.00
Line Attenuation (dB): Download 57.50, Upload 31.50
CRC Errors: 1558 Download, 86 Upload.

(Note: They have a high amount of CRC errors considering this is their 3rd day with the broadband, I have had mine for a year now and I only have 1254 download and 20 upload CRC errors, could this be significant? I am not quite sure what CRC errors are.)

IP Gateway 159.134.155.1
Primary DNS Server: 213.94.190.194, dns1.cwn.dublin.eircom.net
Secondary DNS Server: 213.94.190.194 dns2.cra.dublin.eircom.net

The results are extremely similar to my own so I don't think anything appears out of the ordinary, would you agree?

I scanned the PC today for viruses extensively with AVG Anti Virus, with latest definitions, no viruses found.

Well, I will get them ADSL Filters tomorrow to connect to their Sky box and other phone, and see does that help it out. If that does not help I will wait out the week to see does their line sync. I would take their computer except I doubt they would let me do that, good idea though, if the filter's don't work I will put it to them.

Thanks again,
Michael.

kaizersoze

The stats are poor enough but should be good enough to support 1 meg.

Before you buy more filters just disconnect the Sky boxes (and anything else) from the phoneline and reboot the modem, just as a test

bushy...

Since your own setup works well, maybe if you brought your pc + modem to their house you'd have a lot ruled out in one go.

lucernarian

reset the modem on its webpage and then check the line stats when the modem resyncs its connection. Let us know what the new stats are.

Sepulchrave

Hello all again,

Well I connected my laptop which I tested on my connection first and gave the correct speed, to their router, and the speed was still slow at 330kbps, so it looked like it had to be the connection.
We tried disconnecting the remaining phone and Sky box, and that got the speed up to 1024kbps, so, they got filters, attached them to the phone and Sky box, and voila it's all working fine!

So thanks for your help, I am very grateful and my neigbours are thrilled to have broadband!

Michael.

magconn

Hi
I have biz lite 1MB and my speed was between 115 kbps to 135 kbps. Great eh?? But from reading the boards I unplugged my 2 sky boxes and re ran test, he presto up to 856kbps. thats all i did ..well, tried to ring eircom but could not actually get a live voice, just the run around..surprise surprise. Gonna get some ADSL filters for sky boxes..dunno if they can be left unplugged? Does anyone know? I dont use any phone line features...
Thanks