Speed decrease on line

[thebesh]

Hi Guys

A couple of weeks ago I changed my router from a Netgear (non-sky) to an Asus DSL-n55u (non sky) model. Years ago I pulled the info for my sky username and password and so used this to connect new router.

Since then I've noticed my line speed go down from 8MB, to 5MB and yesterday down to 3MB. I called Sky and they ran some tests on my line, etc. The girl was very helpful and asked me to disconnect all phones in house and test just the ADSL line on my master socket - I say master socket, but I've since found this just looks like a plain socket and not the "master socket" I've seen on google images.

Long story short, she got me to remove the front plate on this socket (which is at my front door - so I assume it's the main one) and she ran the test again. She came back and said that it's a fault that BT need to come and fix.

The things that worry me are......

1) Would it be my new router, or just coincidence? (I do seem to recall even getting 10MB on old Netgear router, before it dropped to 8MB)
2) Becuase the main line into my house doesn't look like the official "master socket" from google images does this make a difference.

I just don't want a BT Engineer to come visit and say there is nothing wrong and then I have to pay the price.
Just found this forum last night - otherwise I would have posted here before contacting Sky support

Thanks a lot

[mattan]

Can you plug your old router back in?

[Isitme]

2) Becuase the main line into my house doesn't look like the official "master socket" from google images does this make a difference.

Does it look like this? How to test your ADSL in the Master Test Socket

I would also recommend reconnecting the Sky router.

You might also like to post the stats, from your own router and from the Sky one.
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/view-routerstats.html

[thebesh]

Thanks for the replies guys

I don't have the original Sky Router - or maybe I do have it somewhere, but I've never actually used it since I changed to sky. I might have used it to pull my username and password from - but this was years ago.

I'm in office today, but I can put back in my Netgear Router when I get home - any idea how long it would take to get my speed back up again if the new router was causing the problem?

My Master socket at front door looks the same from the front, but doesn't have the engineer port when the faceplate is removed - which is why I don't think this is my master socket, but this seems to be the first connection into the house - the rest of the sockets are in other rooms in the house.

[Isitme]

The master socket will contain a capacitor, a cylinder about the size of a AAA battery and some other bits and bobs not present in an extension socket. Changing this to an NTE5 would give you a better chance of getting a good conection.
NTE5 BT Openreach Type Socket (NTE5A with bellwire filter)

How long it will take to get your speed back depends on whether the speed has been reduced either by DLM or manually and what caused the reduction in the first place.

Can you post your stats please - How to get your Sky Router statistics

[thebesh]

Right - plugged back in my old Netgear router (non Sky) and it seems to be giving me a 5MB connection. This is better than my 3MB yesterday with ASUS router..

Here's info that I pulled from it.......

System Up Time 00:03:58

Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time WAN PPPoA 1045 912 0 1776 3023 00:03:32 LAN 10M/100M 244 0 0 233 0 00:03:57 WLAN 11M/54M 1505 1576 0 3824 1922 00:03:53

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream Connection Speed 5022 kbps 605 kbps Line Attenuation 39.5 db 38.8 db Noise Margin 14.2 db 6.9 db

I work in IT for a living, but I'm a Server admin and my knowledge on Connectivity isnt' amazing. I grasp the concepts, but not much clue at granular level of protocols, etc

Incidentally I checked the Master Socket at my folks house and it's as expected with the Engineer Port. However my socket box that comes in through the front doesn't have this. Any ideas why this would be?

[itype]

However my socket box that comes in through the front doesn't have this. Any ideas why this would be?

Some master sockets don't have a test socket, mine didn't. It depends on the age of your master socket.

If Sky are saying that there are errors you shouldn't get charged. I had an issue where my speed dropped when I resynced my router. Sky called BTO out and they fitted a new master socket with the BTO filtered extension free of charge. The engineer was quite suprised by my old master socket saying he hasn't seen one for a while.

When BTO fitted the new master scoket, I got him to remove all the house extension by cutting the wire to them (we don't use them) as well which eliminates errors, downstream noise margin improved.

[Scubbie]

Quick note: With a split faceplate of an NTE5 Socket, which has the Test Socket, you can isolate the internal wiring very quickly and easily by fitting a filtered faceplate.

There are currently two types of faceplates. The most common and cheapest replaces the split faceplate on the NTE5 socket and the internal wiring is wired to the back of it (pins 2 & 5) it the use of a crimping tool.

The second type fits between the faceplate, which has any internal extensions connected to, and isolates the internal extensions from the ADSL or VDSL signal. Whilst a little more expensive, this 2nd type is what is used with FTTC connections and works very well with ADSL connections as well.

I am mentioning this in case someone reading the thread thinks that they can't use their internal wiring.

[thebesh]

So this morning I check and my line speed has gone up to 6MB

Port	Status	TxPkts	RxPkts	Collisions	Tx B/s	Rx B/s	Up Time
WAN	PPPoA	72691	67306	0	265	1227	10:41:26
LAN	10M/100M	10872	0	0	30	0	10:41:51
WLAN	11M/54M	80130	92034	0	1278	326	10:41:47

ADSL Link	Downstream	Upstream
Connection Speed	6141 kbps	605 kbps
Line Attenuation	39.0 db	35.0 db
Noise Margin	13.9 db	6.7 db

So, it looks to me like my Asus router could have been the culprit for the slow speeds?
Is this possible and if so what can I change on the Asus router to make it work better - the reason I bought it was for improved Wireless connectivity in my house. The Netgear Router I'm using just now isn't the greatest.

Thanks

[Scubbie]

With age, the Modem part of a router can start to fail. It looks like this is the case for your Asus router.