The worst speed's ever....

[maxload]

I have just recently moved from Bethere.co.uk broadband to sky broadband unlimited and I am regreting my decision.
I understand I am a few miles from the exchange , so my speeds are never going to be amazing. However with be.co.uk I would achieve approx 4.50mb/s download and 1.50mb/s upload.
Here are my sky speed results..pretty crap I think you'll agree

[maxload]

I have just recently moved from Bethere.co.uk broadband to sky broadband unlimited and I am regreting my decision.
I understand I am a few miles from the exchange , so my speeds are never going to be amazing. However with be.co.uk I would achieve approx 4.50mb/s download and 1.50mb/s upload.
Here are my sky speed results..pretty crap I think you'll agree

ADSL Link 	Downstream 	Upstream
Connection Speed 	2043 kbps 	525 kbps
Line Attenuation 	54.5 dB 	34.0 dB
Noise Margin 	9.9 dB 	10.0 dB

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

If you post up stats we can give you a better response

[Scubbie]

Your stats indicate that you have a long telephone line and that there is some room for improvement, but I suspect that there is something holding you back.

Could you post your stats from the Test Socket please?

How do you normally connect your router to the telephone line?

Which exchange are you connected to? If you are unsure, please get the exchange code from SamKnows.

Out of interest, do you have a record of what the router stats were for Be? Again Speedtest.net results aren't useful as there are specific details which can be seen in the router stats.

[maxload]

My exchange code is STWLSTN. As for the modem it's conected to the phone socket via a 3 meter lead the same lead my be modem was conected to , so surely at the very least I should get the same speeds as bethere gave me.

[Scubbie]

My exchange code is STWLSTN. As for the modem it's conected to the phone socket via a 3 meter lead the same lead my be modem was conected to , so surely at the very least I should get the same speeds as bethere gave me.

I wanted to know which exchange you were on to see if Be & Sky have there equipment in your telephone exchange. They do.

Telephone extensions are not good for an ADSL2+ connection. With standard ADSL it didn't matter as much. Essentially the quality of the cable is not good for the wider band used for ADSL2+.

Could you please plug the router into the Test Socket and post the connection stats from there? If you don't have a Test Socket, could you ensure that the socket which you are using is the Master Socket. This is most easily identified by a capacitor behind the faceplate which is either blue or yellow and about the size of a AAA battery.

In all cases, just connect a microfilter and the Sky router, using the short grey ADSL lead supplied with the router.

If there is a significant improvement in your connection stats, then there are some specific suggestions we can make from there.

[maxload]

So I plugged the router directly into the test socket , here are the results...



As you can see , no improvment.

[Scubbie]

Forget speedtest.

Please post your router's stats.

[maxload]

Again there is'nt much difference between it plugged into the extension line or conected directly into the phone socket.

ADSL Link 	Downstream 	Upstream
Connection Speed 	2043 kbps 	493 kbps
Line Attenuation 	53.5 dB 	33.3 dB
Noise Margin 	10.3 dB 	12.5 dB

[Scubbie]

Actually there are some important differences.

Firstly the Line Attenuation has dropped from 54 to 53.5 on the downstream connection. The Noise Margins have both risen, meaning that you have room to increase your connection speed and finally the actual sync speeds have increased.

All this confirms that the extension lead has been reducing your potential connection speed.

However, your line length is in the zone where an ADSL connection can actually be faster than ADSL2+.

My suggestion to you is to do the following:

• If you have the split faceplate which allows you to access the Test Socket, then purchase & fit a Filtered Faceplate
• Connect the Sky router to the master socket using the short grey ADSL lead
• Run a longer Ethernet cable from the router to your computer. If you require more than one connection, the please get a 5-Port Ethernet Switch as well

A Filtered Faceplate costs around £11-12 from run-IT-direct. If you have any extensions wired to the back of the faceplate, then you will also require an IDC tool from run-IT-direct as well. These cost either 50p (disposable tool) or £6.12 for the professional IDC tool.

run-IT-direct - Network Cabling Installation - ADSL, Telephone & Network Products - Buy Online

Ethernet cables currently work out about 50p per metre.

A 5-Port Ethernet Switch can cost under £5

Once you have done all this, give Sky a friendly call (annoyingly you may have to call 2 or 3 times as not all of them have access to the required systems) and explain that you have made significant changes to your connection and ask if they can uncap your line speed.

It may be necessary to see if they can get a better connection on ADSL1 (if you ask for it to be placed on 'G.DMT' they may know better what you are asking for).

Once this has all been completed, please post your stats once more so that we can see what has been accomplished. Occasionally people forget to uncap the upstream connection, leaving things crippled.