Sky Unlimited LLU Throughput dropping from 17mbs to 2mbs in evenings for 3 months?

[euphoria4949]

Hi everybody,
I'm really hoping someone on here could give me a bit of help with my ongoing Sky broadband problem please, because it's driving me nuts to the point of giving up all hope!
(Sorry in advance for the massive rank and life story lol)

The problem I'm having is with my throughput speed in the evenings for the last few months, I'm on Sky unlimited and my sync speed is consistently around 17500kb/s (Down) and 1150kb/s (Up) all throughout the day and night, and speed tests during the day average 15mb/s (Down) and 1mb/s (Up) using the SkyUser speed test on here and speedtest.net.
But in the evenings from about 18:30 till 23:30 my throughput speed suddenly drops to an average of 3mb/s (Down) with a 300-500ms ping.It has dropped as low as 1.5mb/s and even disconnected completely a few times. My upload speed drops from 1mb/s to 400/500kb/s as well
I've spoken to Sky 25+ times over the past 3 months and for the first couple of weeks they kept telling me there wasn't a problem, so basically they were saying it was me!

(1st month) - Well after me being persistent I got through to advanced tech support, they called it something like TAC not sure if that right? Anyway I spoke to a guy that for the first time wasn't telling me to just change the filter or turn my router on and off, he seemed to know a lot more and was testing a few things. But the result was he couldn't work out why I had this problem and said he would look into it and someone from that department would call me back in the next 72 hours, great I thought. Long story short....ish, no phone call, and this has happened 2 or 3 more times, I get through to someone at this advanced tech department and they say they have no idea what the problem is and they will call me back, but nothing ever happens!

(2nd month) - I keep calling Sky and most of the time I can't get to speak to this advanced tech department, the customer service guys say there is a huge queue, a couple of times I've said I don't mind I'll wait, so they put me on hold and after 1hour 30mins I get pi**ed off and give up.
FINALLY.... I get to speak to someone is this advanced tech department and he thinks he knows what the problem is, he says it's not congestion or traffic management because I'm on unlimited LLU so I don't get that at all, "It's The Exchange" he says but he doesn't know exactly what at the exchange. He tells me that an engineer will go out in the next couple of weeks to take a look. Result I thought...... wrong!

(3rd month) - I phone back after a couple of weeks asking if there is an update and I'm told, my case has been closed as the problem has been fixed! I said are you kidding me, NO IT'S NOT! It's exactly the same no change. So yet again the case is reopened and I'm told that engineers will visit my exchange to fix or at least try to find a problem.
About a couple of weeks later I phone them to ask for an update and I'm told that there "IS" a problem with the exchange, but they couldn't see if an engineer had actually visited the exchange or not, they just knew there was a problem there, and so they told me it will be fixed by the end of April. YES FANTASTIC! It's gonna be sorted soon ............ WRONG AGAIN!!

So here I am 5th May still not fixed, I have just called Sky again and they have no idea why it hasn't been fixed or when it's likely to be, or even if an engineer has been out to look at it! They just told me that yet again someone would call me back and........ blar blar!
I'm back to square one!

I'm really sorry to anyone that actually made it to the end of my rant and long winded life story LOL

So can anybody help me please, has anyone come across this before or know of a possible cause???
Please let me know if I need to post any info on my line or anything.

Thank you so much to anyone that reads this, I really appreciate it.

[Snipit]

No Idea from Sky support = To many customers on the exchange. I just managed to reduce my ping, by using my old Billion and switching off ADSL2+, slightly slower down Sync though my upload had remained the same.

[Isitme]

There are some exchanges experiencing problems. Put your Post Code in and see if yours is one of them.
Sky Help and Support | Service Status

[User05]

Exchange name Status Resolution date
CLACTON-ON-SEA Exchange affected End of May

Your local exchange is currently affected by this issue. We’re working on fixing this for you as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, a couple of those exchanges that were meant to be fixed by April were pushed to the end of May.

[euphoria4949]

Firstly thank you all for your comments I really appreciate it.

Right ok so it looks like it IS a congestion problem then! That makes sense as I spoke to Sky yet again on Saturday and Monday and the response I got from them was that "there is a problem still with the exchange and some people will be experiencing low speed problems or even disconnections, and the resolve date of the end of last month has been pushed back until the end of this month", but that's all they would say.
So that ties in with that "Service Status" link you posted, that the exchange has an issue and I'm getting a massive drop in speed at peak times because of congestion!
Ok great I think...... it's nice to finally have an explanation for it, but on the other hand this has been going on for 3 months and the fix date has been pushed back by a month already, so I'm worried that it could be a long-long time before I get back to normal service and can actually use my tinternet in the evenings!

Does anyone know if this will be a Sky thing to sort out or will they have to get BT/Openreach to sort it???

Thanks again

[Scubbie]

From your description you have confirmed that the issue is to do with the backhaul.

There will be a contractor to Sky who will be working on this. Any delays will be due to delay in equipment of something like that.

Whether the contractor is BTO or another firm I don't know. As it is Sky's own backhaul, it could well be a different firm.

[Alex20]

I am experiencing the same problems, just like many others are. Fine during the day and early hours but between 7pm and 11pm speeds drop and bounce all over the place. Since I can only get 3mbps anyway it drops to unusable speeds making things like youtube impossible.

My exchanges fix date (Shrewsbury, WNSY) also got pushed back from end of April until the end of May. There has been no improvements at all.

Can anyone think as to why they are taking so long in fixing this and why it got delayed?

Sky broadband is just awful.

@euphoria4949 its funny how we are on opposite sides of the country yet we have the same peak time slowdown issues, whilst some people report that their sky broadband is fine during peak times. It must be one rats nest of a network.

[Isitme]

It must be one rats nest of a network.

Its not exactly the sky network as a whole, it is the connection from individual exchanges to the backbone. This first arose when Anytime+ was introduced, it was claimed this put an extra load on the outlet from some exchanges. Sky have been working for months upgrading exchanges but it seems they just get some fixed and another batch start having problems. There is not much you can do about it, except leave Sky and who knows, you might just be jumping out of the frying pan....

[michelob (flying snowman)]

Its not exactly the sky network as a whole, it is the connection from individual exchanges to the backbone. This first arose when Anytime+ was introduced, it was claimed this put an extra load on the outlet from some exchanges. Sky have been working for months upgrading exchanges but it seems they just get some fixed and another batch start having problems. There is not much you can do about it, except leave Sky and who knows, you might just be jumping out of the frying pan....

I've been getting the same problem as the OP for the last 3 months and it has been driving me insane. I get a constant sync speed on the router on 12.8mbps and at times other than 5pm-midnight speedtest is clearly showing constant throughput readings of between 10 and 11.5mbps.

However EVERY DAY between 5pm and midnight my sped drops to anywhere between 0.3mbps and 3mbps. I've been right up the tiers at sky but they just keep on saying everything is fine and it must be a problem with electrical interference at a nearby properties. I think that's rubbish and they have a congested exchange. However my exchange (Larbert) is not currently listed as having a problem.

I don't know what else I can do here except leave sky. It's a shame because for the most part until now I have not had problems for the 5 years I've been with them I've not had issues. But my broadband speed at the moment is completely unacceptable for my needs when I need to use it and the fact that thing haven't improved for 3 months shows that it isn't going to be fixed anytime soon

[Scubbie]

...However EVERY DAY between 5pm and midnight my sped drops to anywhere between 0.3mbps and 3mbps...

To me this one sentence indicates a potential issue with REIN. Please take a read of the page linked below.

::. Kitz - REIN .::

If there isn't anything in your home that can be causing the, I would be inclined to grab a portable radio and take a little wonder around your local estate.

Check with your neighbours too. If REIN is the cause, then this kind of problem is caused by Sky and you will get it with all ISPs.