connection drops only at night on unlimited

[SN3KY_M3]

hi all for 4 months now i been have a drop out problem been on to sky so many time and they cant finds problem they say exchange needs updating then something else are they even tech pll or just rubbish at their job please help this is my last chance or changing company next week .. right .... i have always had 20meg unlimited and its been fine but in last 10 to 16 weeks every night without fail my connection drops to 4 meg sometimes 2 meg it fluctuates between 0.4 and 4 meg from 7.30 pm till 11 30pm then back to normal plsssssssss help

[Scubbie]

IMHO this sounds very much like an issue related to REIN. Take a read of the article listed below and see if you can pick something up with a portable radio. You will need to take a walk outside to help locate the source.

::. Kitz - REIN .::

Common sources of this issue include street lights, traffic lights & a neighbour's electrical device. With the time factor, I am inclined to suspect street lights or an electrical device in a neighbour's home.

[SN3KY_M3]

hi would sky send someone out as its at night so am i best off just changing provider as i never had this with talktalk or could it be the router as its a sagecom 5204 fast ?

[Scubbie]

If the cause is REIN, then it will be outside the control of any ISP and all will experience an issue.

If the source were a street light, for example, then it is possible that the light has only recently started to fail. If you were to identify the cause, then you could notify the local council or Highways Agency and ask then to get it repaired.

Previously a member described how someone with a faulty TV was causing problems for a whole estate. It took a lot of research but the source of the problem was found.

[SN3KY_M3]

i dont think its street lights as its always every night same time 7 30 pm till like around 11 30 pm its so annoying as i play xbox alot in that time and my ping goes from 30 to like over 200ms aswell

[Isitme]

Just before your speed normally goes down, go to the router settings and open a Statistics page. Stick it up in the corner of your screen and keep your eye on the downstream noise margin. If this drops, then it is outside interference causing noise on your line. This will cause errors and the data will have to be resent dropping the throughput speed. If the noise margin remains stable then the most probably cause is congestion, possibly the line from the exchange to the backbone needs upgraded. Several exchanges have suffered with this in the past.

[SN3KY_M3]

thanks so much i will try that now looking now its at 7.3db so will keepy eye on it as normally starts to drop about now

[SN3KY_M3]

ok been keeping and eye on it and for 3 months every night 7.30 ish till 11pm ish its drops bad from 20meg to inbetween 0.5 meg and 4 meg with ping going between 150ms and 400ms.. 2night it went down at 9.03pm and checked the downstream margin like u said and it stays at 7.3dbit dropped to 7.2 then went back to 7.3 1 min later .. please help

[Scubbie]

I suggested that you use a radio and take a walk to see if you can identify the source. Tuning the radio to 612KHz has been known to find the source of the problems.

Have you tried this?

[SN3KY_M3]

not being funna but walking around outside with a radio putting it to things is unreall specially when lights are high up i cant ask neighbours ,, if i can go in there houses and test equipment etc and at same time u saying 1 thing and isitme saying if noise margin dont drop then wont be outside .. i appeciate ur help but its not down to me to fix its only been happening last 10 weeks or less .. so if cant find problem by friday ill have to change companys thanks for your help tho any other suggestions welcome