Poor BB Speed

Qwerty?

Hi, my brother is paying for 3MB eircom BB, but recently he has noticed his BB speed has gone down the toilet. He ran a speedtest last night and got the following :- http://www.speedtest.net/result/505882146.png

His router says "Speed 640/256 (kbps)"

Any ideas/suggestions?
Thanks.

cpu-dude

Qwerty? wrote: »

Hi, my brother is paying for 3MB eircom BB, but recently he has noticed his BB speed has gone down the toilet. He ran a speedtest last night and got the following :- http://www.speedtest.net/result/505882146.png

His router says "Speed 640/256 (kbps)"

Any ideas/suggestions?
Thanks.

Well his results are correct for the sync, it's his internal setup affecting the speeds.

His sync should be 2048 / 256 kbps:

- Where is the router connected in the house?
- Is every device connected with a micro filter (sky, phones, monitored alarms etc.)
- Are you using a telephone extension cable for the Broadband?

lucernarian

If he's paying for a 3 Mbps DSL speed, surely his modem sync should be 3072/384?

cpu-dude

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

If he's paying for a 3 Mbps DSL speed, surely his modem sync should be 3072/384?

Should be, most likely he line hasn't been upgraded yet (Eircom still haven't completed them, some have to be manually requested).

Qwerty?

Thanks for that. I've passed on the comments to him.

The router (eircom netopia) is connected to an upstairs bedroom phone socket via a long (probably 30ft) cable. The socket was installed when the house was built (ie permanent eircom-fitted socket). He's going to bring the router downstairs to the socket there to try it to see if it makes a difference when he gets a chance.

Micro-filter is fitted only on the downstairs line between the socket and the phone. There is a sky connection off a dual splitter which does not have a filter on it. He will unplug the sky box from the phone socket to see if it makes a difference.

The router is connected to the computer via ethernet.

cpu-dude wrote: »

Should be, most likely he line hasn't been upgraded yet (Eircom still haven't completed them, some have to be manually requested).

What do you mean by manual upgrade?

lucernarian

There'll definitely be an improvement when the sky boxes are unplugged or get filters put on them. And 30ft cheap, flat, extension cables are not exactly helpful for speed:p

If you try it in the main socket (more than likely in hall) and plug everything else you can find, out of a phone socket then the modem will get a better speed. You can plug everything back in afterwards, at least you'll have an idea where the problem is.

But please do tell us what the line stats are, with the stuff plugged out, later!

(If the modem is silver with 2 black aerials, Go to expert mode, answer the stupid question which appears, go to statistics and then click DSL)

pjjk

I myself have noticed a huge dip in my BB speeds (I have 3MB), but I have realised it happens during the PM hours (roughly between 1pm and around 12am). Does anyone know what the reason for it would be?

cpu-dude

Qwerty? wrote: »

Thanks for that. I've passed on the comments to him.

The router (eircom netopia) is connected to an upstairs bedroom phone socket via a long (probably 30ft) cable. The socket was installed when the house was built (ie permanent eircom-fitted socket). He's going to bring the router downstairs to the socket there to try it to see if it makes a difference when he gets a chance.

Micro-filter is fitted only on the downstairs line between the socket and the phone. There is a sky connection off a dual splitter which does not have a filter on it. He will unplug the sky box from the phone socket to see if it makes a difference.

The router is connected to the computer via ethernet.

Yes take the Sky off for the time being, it will need to be filtered as well. When connected to the main socket, use the shorter DSL cable that Eircom would have provided (approx. 10ft purple cable).

Qwerty? wrote: »

What do you mean by manual upgrade?

Manual upgrade as in ringing Eircom and asking them to change your profile to 3MB because it's what your paying for, they can do that for you in a few minutes.

lucernarian

Increasing the modem's speed from 2 mbps to 3 mbps can be done after we can get the line to sustain 2mbps in the first place! If it's done beforehand, it will only make it harder to reach a stable speed. So don't call eircom about that just yet.

cpu-dude

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Increasing the modem's speed from 2 mbps to 3 mbps can be done after we can get the line to sustain 2mbps in the first place! If it's done beforehand, it will only make it harder to reach a stable speed. So don't call eircom about that just yet.

I haven't advised him to do that anyway, I just told him the procedure and why it's necessary with some customers line's who haven't been upgraded. Best wait and see what happens when he test's at the MTP.

lucernarian

Ah fair enough. It was to make it clear to Querty? that upgrades can be done in good time.

Qwerty?

Hi guys, my brother just got back to me. He sent me the following:

These are the test I did. Line to the Sky box doesn't seem to make huge difference, but the router seems to come up with a differeing reading every time it is rebooted. I don't turn it off every day, so that's probably not good for it. Even moving the computer and router to the original phone socket (so there is no cable between it and the router) has not made a difference.


This is the original test: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507653248.png

With Sky box unplugged: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507655110.png

With Sky box replugged: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507664187.png
Router now reading 1408/256

With Sky box unplugged: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507667294.png
Router now reading 2048/256

Back to original set up: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507725971.png
Router speed 864/256

Same set up, two days later: http://www.speedtest.net/result/509413057.png
Router at 2048/256

Same set up, five days later: http://www.speedtest.net/result/512758916.png
Router reading 928/256

I remember he did tell me the router is perhaps 2 years old. Would it be the problem?

He is planning on getting a new PC soon as his old one is on its last legs, but I doubt that would make any difference on the Speed, would it?

Thanks Again

Q?

cpu-dude

Qwerty? wrote: »

Hi guys, my brother just got back to me. He sent me the following:

These are the test I did. Line to the Sky box doesn't seem to make huge difference, but the router seems to come up with a differeing reading every time it is rebooted. I don't turn it off every day, so that's probably not good for it. Even moving the computer and router to the original phone socket (so there is no cable between it and the router) has not made a difference.


This is the original test: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507653248.png

With Sky box unplugged: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507655110.png

With Sky box replugged: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507664187.png
Router now reading 1408/256

With Sky box unplugged: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507667294.png
Router now reading 2048/256

Back to original set up: http://www.speedtest.net/result/507725971.png
Router speed 864/256

Same set up, two days later: http://www.speedtest.net/result/509413057.png
Router at 2048/256

Same set up, five days later: http://www.speedtest.net/result/512758916.png
Router reading 928/256

I remember he did tell me the router is perhaps 2 years old. Would it be the problem?

He is planning on getting a new PC soon as his old one is on its last legs, but I doubt that would make any difference on the Speed, would it?

Thanks Again

Q?

He needs to have every device in the house filtered and the Broadband connected to the main telephone point with a DSL filter with no extension cable. What is filtered in the house?

lucernarian

Computers are irrelevant to this. The speedtests are also irrelevant.

What's slowing you down is a problem somewhere between your modem and the exchange. That could be filters, modem, bad wiring inside, broken socket, electrical noise inside home, outside home or an eircom fault. And don't forget the laws of physics:) The line could be too long.

The signal margin and attenuation stats are important to finding this out, as important as the connection speed. These could help rule in or out a lot of things. They're usually found in the statistics section of the router's access page.

The modem could be the problem. But I don't know what modem would work better. I know speedtouch modems have a good reputation for line stability. Some netgear DG834GT modems have a good rep too. Can you not try with a friend's or relation's modem?

And having long extension leads and unfiltered sky boxes will ALWAYS harm a DSL connection. Even if it doesn't seem immediately obvious. Usually modems, when they're turned back on, will sync better than just before they were turned off (if line is underperforming in the first place, duh). Even dialup modems did this. So you guys need to muck around with this more, and basically do as yere told:p

Btw here's some light reading, useful for you guys as you're trying to improve actual connection speed. http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/linestats.htm