Sub 1Mb Speed In Lowton (Ashton-in-Makerfield Exchange)

[dave.banks69]

Hi. This my first post on the forum. I'm sat on my couch watch the Gadet Show and like most people in the UK this program is excellent for the average Joe to get the why's and wherefore on the latest tech. Anyway, I was surprised when they announced, this week, that the average speed for broadband in the UK is approx. 6Mb? The reason for my surprise is that I have had Sky broadband for 5 years and never been above 1Mb. According to Sky this is because we are over 14k from the exchange (as the crow flies we are less than 4). For those that know Lowton we are semi rural but I wouldn't class us as remote as we live on a large housing estate.

Can anyone tell me if they have/had a similar problem with speed in the area and if there is something that can be done to put pressure on Sky (or BT) to improve the service.

Thanks.

[Scubbie]

Could you post your router stats please?

How to get your router statistics

This may help members to suggest a few things to improve what you have.

Can you confirm if you are using the master telephone socket, a filtered faceplate or microfilters or have any extensions as well?

Looking at SamKnows and Google maps it is possible to understand what is happening. Essentially the longer your telephone line. the more your connection is going to drop.

SamKnows - Broadband Availability - Ashton In Makerfield (LCAIM) Exchange

Unfortunately FTTC is not yet scheduled for installation in your area. This would have meant that things may improve soon. FTTC & FTTP are being rolled out across the country and will improve speeds considerably when they are available in your area.

In the mean time the only way that you are going to get a faster connection than 1Mb is to use Virgin or consider a 3G dongle. I appreciate that both are not cheap and that Virgin may not serve your particular property or even that you may not get a good 3G signal, but BTO and a few other companies are busy installing faster broadband across the country.

[dave.banks69]

Hi Scubbie, Thanks for your response.

We are connected to the master socket as I was advised to do this last time I spoke to Sky technical.

I've checked my router stats and attached...

System Up Time: 452:06:44
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 11937624 15564152 0 1771 2051 452:06:17
LAN 100M/Full 146726919 2883910 0 1182 1245 452:06:39
WLAN 11M/54M 8804277 6936945 0 325 2575 452:06:26

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1020 kbps 566 kbps

Also, I did consider Virgin but they stop the service literally just across the road and will not consider bringing it to our side.

I'm gutted FTTC is not planned for this area as you say.

My kids use the broadband a lot to watch iPlayer and 4OD and when their on I'm having to wait a week for a screen refresh.

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

You missed the important bit which is under the connection speeds (noise margin and attenuation)

[Isitme]

I doubt very much that you are 14 K from the exchange, at that distance you would probably not get broadband at all. (typical Sky bull dung) This article will give you an idea of the speeds attainable at varying distances. You will see that you would really be struggling at 7K, never mind 14K.
Broadband Speed Checker - ADSL and distance

With regards the average speed, putting aside cable, there are many getting 16-24Mb, that is the reason the average is so high.

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

I remember seeing a guy on a 20km line getting 2Mbps - think there was a repeater somewhere along the line but it definitely showed 20km on the BT system

[dave.banks69]

Sorry I missed the important information:
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1020 kbps 566 kbps
Line Attenuation 71 db 36 db
Noise Margin 7 db 7 db

Hope this helps...

Is there any advice on how to speak to Sky about addressing this problem re: line speed as it really is a bind.

BTW I heard that a friend of mine (on BT Broadband) was so miffed with their speed from Ashton exchange that they managed to get their service redirected from Leigh exchange (is this possible)?

Thanks everyone who has responded so far.

[pau1777]

I think I live very close to you!
I have also been with sky broadband for 5 years and I am getting the same speed as you.
The lowton feed comes from Ashton, there are 2 feeds that come from the exchange and they are both as bad as each other. I get 1280 kbps download in the winter, in the summer this drops to anything from 500-700kbps but only 416 upload. I don’t know why it fluctuates so much.
I have had various tests over the years after poor speeds and was told that we are lucky to get any broadband at all, a BT engineer once came to my house and said he was regularly called out to our estate and each time he said the same thing, we can’t get any faster
I can see the virgin media cabinet from my house yet there is no cable running down our street, my friend who lives less than one minute walk from my house has 50mb speeds from virgin.
The only hope that we have is if virgin decide to put cable in the rest of the estate, (again unlikely) or waiting for BT to upgrade to fibre. Since we are a rural area we are probably one of the last on the list for the upgrade.
It is very frustrating!

[dave.banks69]

Hi Pau1777,

Nice to hear a comment from a neighbour. I live on the other side of the road from the green BT box that teminates Virgin's connection. How *****ed off do I feel! Anyway I heard a rumor that Virgin would consider laying cable in a street if all the residents signed a pertition. Not sure if I'd want to move my TV package tho.

[DIONCOOKE]

Dont worry my faster broadband seeking friends from Lowton... I am from Golborne and suffer from this also. I can confirm Fibre Optic is coming to us on 30th September 2012!!! Hooorrrayyyy!