Slow speeds, please help

[Scubbie]

Sky has definitely not introduced any traffic shaping for torrents if you are on the Sky BB Unlimited product.

[HighFlyer185]

I am losing my temper, since after a few days of good speeds, they dropped down again, and now I've been sat here for 3 hours trying to fix the speeds. Is it just for me that Sky is literally very awfully slow and bad?

I tried everything I could through the wireless, download speeds won't get higher than 0.20mb/s. I was in fact seeding a torrent earlier on this afternoon, and since then, my speeds we're affected until now, there is still no fix. I closed uTorrent at about 2pm, when I noticed my speeds began to drop. Quite weirdly, uTorrent was limited to upload 30mb/s, and no more, and it did the job well. No speed drops the day before or overnight, and the problems started again in the afternoon. I did about 15 10-second odd resets of the router, multiple reboots (forgot how much, so many), the channels seem to be unresponsive (only Auto Scan works, otherwise my router ends up losing all of connections and the only way to put it on is via pin reset).

So yeah, has anyone got any ideas how to sort out this truely frustrating issue? I didn't managed to call Sky yet, but I think I'll be left with no choice neartime soon, maybe something's faulty :/

10 hours later and my YouTube can't load a video, Google takes ages to open, what am I even paying for...

P.S - It's so slow it took me about 3 full minutes to open this website and sub-links. This reply took me ages to submit as well. Crazy :/

[Scubbie]

Could you post your current stats again please (include the up & down speeds, attenuation & noise margin).

Also could you run the speed test tool found on this site please?

Can you do this in your normal Windows environment & reboot your PC into Safe mode with Networking and repeat the test. Again post all the figures.

Sky User - Broadband Speed Tester

P.S. Please do the speed tests using the wired & WiFi connections

[HighFlyer185]

Thanks for a quick reply.
These figures tell me nothing, but there you go, hope it helps:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 5608 kbps 798 kbps
Line Attenuation 52.0db 31.6db
Noise Margin 6.8db 12.3db

And the test:

Test taken
(up to) Download
Speed (Kbps) Upload
Speed (Kbps)
17 July, 2011 00:33:27 152 Kbps 423 Kbps

Taken from a Windows 7 Ultimate X64 PC in Safe Mode like you asked.

[Scubbie]

The issue is with your throughput, not the raw connection speed. I trust these figures were from a wired connection, not wireless?

If this is the case, then I realise this is what you have seen all along, but you have now successfully ruled out it being caused by your computer or your connection.

You could pop around to a friend or neighbour's home and redo the test. This would confirm that it isn't your computer at fault. if you can't take your computer to them, then perhaps run the test on their laptop at their home & redo it at your home.

You now need to call Sky and see if they can spot any CRC or other errors on your line. If there is a large number of errors, then this will explain why you are experiencing such a poor speed.

When you get through to the first line of support, it is likely that you will get someone who will need to go through the 'Sky Answers' script. Be understanding in that they must do this or face disciplinary action. Quickly confirm what is required and move on to what needs to be done.

From your figures I can see that you are not on ADSL. In turn this should confirm that you have not been placed on Sky BB Connect by mistake. You may wish to ask whether you have been placed on the Sky LLU equipment in your telephone exchange.

If they can't help you, then point out that what has been ruled out and ask to speak to someone who can help you.

Recent posts by other members indicates that CST has now cleared up the worst of the backlog, so I would suggest that they should be able to speak with you today, not call you back in 72 hours.

Please let us know how you get on.

[HighFlyer185]

Right, I'll call round since I'll get time, the speeds have popped up to 1 Meg this morning, however still remain under what I should be getting anyway.

From your figures I can see that you are not on ADSL. In turn this should confirm that you have not been placed on Sky BB Connect by mistake. You may wish to ask whether you have been placed on the Sky LLU equipment in your telephone exchange.

Again, I must defend myself with the lack of networking knowledge, however I found out in the router about some "ADSL Link Up" or something, so not entirely sure. Interpreting your words, I should ask whether I haven't been placed on Connect by mistake? Also, I remember when I got the Unlimited package back in February, they said my Unlimited broadband can max at 5 Mb. It's weird, since some people say it gets up to 20, but I guess that's the guaranteed speed in my area.

And yeah, these figures must be from wired, since wireless is slow as hell, and bounces up only after several hours. Even the exchange of routers turned out to be quite useless, ironically my old D-Link works better than a Sagem.

[Scubbie]

Again, I must defend myself with the lack of networking knowledge, however I found out in the router about some "ADSL Link Up" or something, so not entirely sure. Interpreting your words, I should ask whether I haven't been placed on Connect by mistake?

Occasionally the equipment that Sky installs in local telephone exchanges runs out of spare sockets for new customers. When this happens new customers are placed on BT Wholesale equipment.

Normally your speeds are set to ADSL (up to 8Mb d/l) but rarely they are set to ADSL2+ speeds (up to 20Mb).

There is a way to quickly identify Sky BB Connect users. This is from the upload speed showing as 448kbps. ADSL speeds are divisible by 32. Yours are not either of these.

Many Sky BB connect users constantly experience the speeds you have been getting.

So yes, I would be inclined to double check that you are not on any BT Wholesale equipment, just in case this is the problem. In fairness I believe it is unlikely and that there is a line fault instead.

I trust you can see my logic now.

[Isitme]

Just one small point, you mention that you are the PC expert in your house and the 'others' don't have a clue. Exactly how many 'others' are there and are any connected to the net when you are doing tests? If any at all are using the net, have them disconnect and make sure that only one machine is connected when you do the test.

[HighFlyer185]

Just one small point, you mention that you are the PC expert in your house and the 'others' don't have a clue. Exactly how many 'others' are there and are any connected to the net when you are doing tests? If any at all are using the net, have them disconnect and make sure that only one machine is connected when you do the test.

There's only two machines connected at the same time, my phone and a laptop downstairs which is currently out of order for a week or two anyway (hardware repair). I tested the speed on my phone, speeds appear normal there, however on my computer, they're as slow as usual. I have tried disconnecting all machines too, and testing on the computer itself, speeds do not increase.

What seems to increase speeds is multiple router resets, and by multiple, I mean not just 5 or 10 resets, but sadly more than that. It appears to be the torrent client, but the trouble is I can't even use it :/ Even a short usage will cause massive speed drops, it rarely happened before.

I couldn't get through to Sky yet but I'll give them a ring soon. Thanks for the advice!

P.S - And not exactly an "expert", just when it comes to fixing networks, they ask me cause they have no clue. I have barely got any clue myself sometimes... *Sigh*