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FredThePanda · #1 13-07-09, 02:00 PM

Hi,

Since last year my sky broadband speed mid package has been at a pitiful 0.40Mb - 0.50Mb (tested using speedtest.net and speedtester.bt) but it hangs on any dl bigger than a meg whereas before we were getting 3Mb which considering our distance from the exchange we were very happy with.

The attenuation is 46db and the noise margin is 16db and it is syncing at 3200kbps on the download, I cannot remember the upload values off the top of my head (as you can imagine I'm posting this from work).

After doing all the standard checks and plugging it into the test socket Sky agreed to send out a replacement router, a Sagem.

The line was still slow so at our cost we got a BT engineer out who said he couldn't find any fault with our line and still our speed was 0.40 - 0.50

Due to me going back to uni it sort of got left at that except for at Xmas when the sagem died and we went back to the Netgear V2.

This summer I vowed to get it fixed so I initially replaced the filters, rj-11 and ethernet cables but still the speed was worse than 512.

I contacted Sky and after explaining my case to the 1st guy he quickly put my through to the 2nd line (i forget their proper name) who increased the sync to 4meg and decreased our ping but still the dl was stupidly slow. He says he cannot see anything else he can do and suggests its my laptop, I explain that I can use it fine round my friends and can get 12Mb download over the wireless so it's not a virus or misconfiguration. Out of ideas he escalates the case and says sky will get back to us.

After 2 days we had not recieved a call back but our dl was now at 0.08Mb according to speedtest so what ever changes they made have made it worse.

Fed up I ring Sky again and get straight to a 2nd line guy, he explains that he cannot see any errors on his end and as far as he is concerned there is no problem with our line, he then attempts to "explain" to me the wonders of the internet and say downloading from a website is affected by many different things and it could just be that the site is slow or my computer. I said fair enough but explain to me why it would be so much less than the 32000kbps sync on every site, he can't and escalates the call, I'm yet to receive a call back and our dl is still at 0.08.

I'm at my wits end and am not sure what else to do other than ask Sky to actually send someone to the exchange and check that we're cable correctly but the chances of that happening seem very very low.

Also as a side note, all my speed tests were initially performed over ethernet but also wifi just to double check it wasn't a nic issue. I've also checked my router to ensure I have no one leeching my connection via wifi.

Smithy99 · #2 13-07-09, 04:16 PM

Start the PC in safe mode and try again, also post your router stats from the current position and also the test socket.

FredThePanda · #3 13-07-09, 05:30 PM **Threadstarter**

The router is in the test socket, as for safe mode reboot, can I ask why?

The 0.08Mb affects all computers in the house and even friend's laptops that have come round. Does safe mode use a different routing table of some sort?

I'll get the stats when I get home though and post them

IWasNotTheEnemy · #4 13-07-09, 05:43 PM

connection stats help a LOT!!!

FredThePanda · #5 13-07-09, 11:16 PM **Threadstarter**

Right as I said I would here are my stats:

Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4096kbps 416kbps
Line Attenuation 47db 27db
Noise Margin 10db 13db

As far as I know these are all pretty good and wouldn't explain a connection as slow as what we are getting, also as I said above the Sky tech said he couldn't see any errors on the line building up but he did increase our sync from 3200 to what it is now to see if it avleviate the problem but all that has is decraase our noise margin and give us even worse speeds. I've also previously removed the bell wire but as the router is in the test socket I don't think that makes a difference as it only affects the faceplate.

IWasNotTheEnemy · #6 14-07-09, 08:46 AM

the SNR will drop when speed is increased - it's how adsl works!!

there's nothing there to suggest an issue...out of interest what do you get downloading a file from HERE? it'll be in KB/sec but anything around 4-500 is spot on...

FredThePanda · #7 14-07-09, 08:09 PM **Threadstarter**

I selected the small file and it was downloading at between 2.9KB and 3.5KB, it seemed to hang after about 10 mins so after waiting for a bit I closed it.

I reattempted the downloaded and got the same slow speeds, i'm not sure how long it took though as i just started it and went off and did something else for an hour.

IWasNotTheEnemy · #8 15-07-09, 09:54 AM

ok, so definitely an issue!!

try booting into safe mode with networking and try again (using ethernet - unless using Vista wireless won't work in SM in XP)...

Donaldson2121 · #9 15-07-09, 11:47 AM

If all your machines and any friends that come round have the exact same problem then surely it cant be a pc configuration?

Have you had the opportunity to try another router? Or have you made any changes to the existing sky router that a reset might fix?

IWasNotTheEnemy · #10 15-07-09, 11:49 AM

it's purely to rule out ANYTHING pc wise before going onto looking into network-side faults...there was a big issue with some exchange backhauls last year so everything that can be done with a user before going to Ops has to be done...

or the router is knackered...