Suddenly slow internet - d/l speed only

[Broosta]

Hi, I am experiencing really slow download speeds. I have had sky max for 2 or 3 yrs and had connection of about 15/0.8meg pretty reliably and today I'm getting 0.2/0.8meg.

I noticed it earlier but then it sped up to 10/0.8meg for a while so I thought it was getting better but now its worse again.

I had sky+ hd installed yesterday as an upgrade from sky not plus and not hd. Don't know if this is significant?

Here are my router stats:-

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 10754 kbps 1024 kbps
Line Attenuation 24 db 13 db
Noise Margin 5 db 8 db

The noise margin seems to be jumping about pretty quickly anywhere between 2 and 11.
Really quite annoying but odd as upload is normal, just download limited to dial up speeds.

I did call sky and spoke to a nice lady in India who talked me through deleting stored browsing data and cookies and stuff then said its a virus maybe as I had about 15 open connections showing up in netstat, and advised I run a virus scan.
I have and it was fine.
I'm now d/l'ing ad aware and spybot just in case, but obviously its taking quite a while!

Thanks for reading, can anyone please advise what I should do?

[Exdee]

Make sure that the first thing plugged into your socket is a micro-filter. Everything else including the splitter that goes to the Sky box should be plugged into the micro-filter.

The engineer probably made a blunder here and plugged the splitter before the micro-filter.

[Scubbie]

Whilst it is commendable to install AV & anti-malware software, the stats don;t lie.

These indicate that something has happened to your line.

I would be tempted to call Sky again. Before you do this though, it would be worth doing some checks at your end to identify anything that might cause a problem at your end.

Your line attenuation indicates that you should be getting over 16Mb in the stats.

So what can you look at?

Firstly, can you plug the router in the test socket and take the stats?

Next could you swap the microfilter for another that hasn't ever been used and check in the test socket again please?

Also for reference, I tend to use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware now for checking & removing malware.

I was reading an article yesterday that indicates that there is a really nasty bot out there which the anti-virus & anti-malware software available is having difficulty detecting & removing.

BBC News - Security researchers discover 'indestructible' botnet

[timc]

I found with the Sky+ boxes that a microfilter wasn't always necessary for it's telephone connection but the HD boxes it seems more necessary.

Typically the "engineer" will connect the box to the phone line when doing an install but not connect it via a microfilter.

Worth checking. Also there have been instances where it's been necessary to double filter the HD box phone connection.

[Broosta]

Thanks for your responses guys.

I have run a few scans of Ad Aware and Malwarebytes which threw up a couple of things which were put into the vault. I did speed tests after a nd no change.

I had a look at the microfilter situation and everything that uses a phone line has one on including the sky hd box. I already plug the modem into the master box albeit not the test socket, but its hard to get to due to a cupboard in the way so I decided first to unplug the sky hd line from the microfilter leaving the sky hd box unplugged. I just did a speed test and its all back up to 10meg+!

Router stats:-

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 14331 kbps 1044 kbps
Line Attenuation 24 db 12 db
Noise Margin 13 db 8 db

Do I really need the sky hd box plugged in all the time then? Or do I need to double filter it?
But anyway awesome advice guys, and at least I've located the problem now.

[Isitme]

Do I really need the sky hd box plugged in all the time then? Or do I need to double filter it?

Are you sure it is filtered? The TV installers plug in a splitter which looks like a filter but is not. To make matters worse they usually have a label on them saying ' do not remove'. You would think they would have got their act together by now.

As long as you don't have multi room, Sky do not bother too much if it is plugged in or not. It is really for your convenience. If you don't use the Box office or other interactive services very often, just leave it unplugged. You can always plug it in if you want to order something. Double filtering does help in some cases, but the best thing to do is fit and use a filtered faceplate. These isolate all the rest of the phone circuit, meaning you don't need filters on the other sockets. As a bonus, they have a much better quality filter than the Sky supplied ones.

[Scubbie]

The reason why we ask you to plug your router into the Test socket is to quickly rule in or rule out issues with your internal wiring.

There are some things which can interfere with the signal, even when you are using the filters in all the sockets.

In the longer term a filtered faceplate would probably suit you much better as it filters the ADSL signal at the point of entry and all the extensions are then free from interfering with the signal as well.

Technically your call provider (i.e. whom you pay the line rental to) is responsible for the line between your test socket and the telephone exchange. You are responsible for anything after the test socket.

[boothy_08]

You have room for more speed, phone sky up and get them to reconfigure your line, you should now sync at 16 - 18Mbps.
You do not need to have your sky HD+ box connected, if you want to use any service like to order a film etc you can plug it in, but apart from that you do not need it plugged in, i do not have mine plugged in at all.

[boothy_08]

sorry i have just worked it out, looks like you will sync around 16000Kbps.
16-17Mbps if you have a very good line

[Broosta]

Ok I just plugged the adsl into the test socket and the stats are 100% identical.

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 14331 kbps 1044 kbps
Line Attenuation 24 db 12 db
Noise Margin 13 db 8 db

I just rebooted and now upstream has improved a fraction.

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 14331 kbps 1048 kbps
Line Attenuation 24 db 12 db
Noise Margin 13 db 8 db

Presume this means the internal wiring is not at all faulty.
Would replacing the master socket with a filtered one make any difference in that case?