In need of help, really bad speed!

[evets_backwards]

Hi everyone hope you can help, take it easy on me as I'm a bit of a noob with the tech stuff.

We are on Sky Broadband and have been told that our line supports up to 2meg.

However these are the stats from the router;

DownStream Connection Speed 160 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 384 kbps
Line Attenuation 53 db 15.5 db
Noise Margin 10 db 13 db

We called SKY technical support and was passed around, eventually this lady in line support department said she had 'opened up our line' and that they had detected a fault on the BT line, something to do with the earth. The router was showing speeds of around 800 downstream at this time. They booked a BT engineer for us and said that we should be able to further increase the speeds.

Anyway, later that day the speed dropped from 800 downstream back down to 160. This morning the BT engineer came and basically didnt do a whole lot. He said the speed in the master test socket was half a meg and using the front plate with the filter on it was 320kps and said he would do some tests at the exchange and call us, but we haven't had this call back anyway.

When I pressed him as to how we could fix this issue, he suggested disconnecting the other telephone points from the master phone socket and using cordless phones instead. However, I told him we need one of the phone points upstairs and another one downstairs to work as we have a SKY+ box plugged into it downstairs and a standard one plugged in upstairs (SKY told me to always keep my standard box upstairs plugged in as they send 'test signals')

So he didnt really give us any clues as to what to do and we didnt get the call back. I heard about changing the front face plate on the Master Socket to a special filtered one in the cable section in this forum, but when I test this the speeds are the same although the noise margin decreases to 7 db and between 7-14db when not plugged directly into the test socket.

So I'm a loss as to what to do? The speeds are terrible, and pages frequently fail to load. We have one main socket downstairs with the router & phone plugged into it via a filter and we also have another point 3 or 4 feet away near the TV with the SKY+ box plugged in via a filter. Upstairs we have two more points. One has a standard sky box plugged into it via a filter and the other is un-used but still has a filter in.

Does this mean we need to rewire the house or something?

Help!

[Isitme]

If you are getting the same speed from the Test socket, behind the master socket faceplate, then it will not matter what you do to your internal wiring, the fault is on your outside line. Re check from the TEST socket and post the results. You are sure the digi boxes are plugged in through filters? The extensions supplied by TV fitters do not include filters, they are merely splitters, but may look like a filter.

If the results do not improve dramatically from the TEST socket, all you can do is phone Sky and tell them BT have not fixed your line.

[evets_backwards]

Thanks isitme;

These are the results from the Test socket behind the master plate;
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 160 kbps 384 kbps
Line Attenuation 54 db 15.5 db
Noise Margin 7 db 13 db

Ran a speed test on Sky User - Unofficial Help and Support for Sky Broadband and everything Sky! - Broadband Packages and am getting between 120-136kps / 266-271 kps as normal and 104-136 / 266-272 in the test socket

The sky boxes definately have proper filters. Guess I'll call SKY and see what they say.

[Isitme]

When you call make sure you are plugged into the Test socket and tell them you are. This will save a few minutes trouble-shooting and maybe even a call back. They may also ask you to reset your router, so it may be as well to do that also. Push a biro into the hole at the back, with the power on and hold it there for about 10 secs, or until the check light flashes on the front.

[evets_backwards]

Thanks, well I called SKY and they confirmed that there was a fault on the BT line, something about a battery at the exchange they didnt seem happy with BT.

Anyway, BT engineer turned up, he tested the line and said it was ok, but said he wasn't a broadband engineer and they would prolly send one of those over to test the speeds, again.

Wait and see...