really, really slow internet

[arran44]

hiya guys. new to the forum, just thought id say high first of all

my speed test results are in the attached thumbnail bits ..i dont know how to put the picture into the post.

yesterday my Internet became impossible to work with; it wont even buffer a video on youtube.

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 7456 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 18 db 4 db
Noise Margin 13 db 28 db

im not getting anything close to the the DS or US

it has also keep been going up and down, say one minute it would be around 300kbps downstream and next it would be up to 3000+ ... then straight back down again.

any help is much appreciated, this is actually starting to annoy me!!

cheers
Arran

[arran44]

also is there anyway to find out how much of your download limit youve used?

[Isitme]

Try doing a netstat to see if you have any unwelcome programs using your connection. First close down all your browsers and email programs, open a Command Prompt and type netstat -b This will show the connections you have open and which application is using them. It is normal for some to be open, such as anti virus, spyware checkers and is you have Vista -Sidebar. If you have any there that you don't recognise, find out what they are, they may be trojans.

It may also be worthwhile doing an official BT Performance Test. To do this go to BT Performance Tester enter your phone number then your ADSL username. This will do an official BT speed test and show your present profile and test your speed. Your ADSL username is <the LAN MAC number of your router, no colons, followed by> @skydsl You can also obtain this from the router by using one of the utilities available on the forum. This tester is always busy, it could take several attempts to get on.
You should be able to use the results of this test if you have to phone Sky, but it depends on who you get whether they will understand what you are talking about.

It is also worth mentioning that Connect is subject to throttling in peak times and may be further effected by BT exchange contention.

Edit - Download and install Netstumbler from the link below. You need this on all your PCs.

[arran44]

cheers for the reply ok ... i tried the netstat and found nothing out of the ordiary ... im a bit stuck with the username bit by LAN MAC do you mean MAC address?

i installed that program but its not compatible with my PCI card, what is the importance of this program?

cheers again.

[arran44]

never mind i figured it out ... my test results show

Your DSL connection rate: 8000 kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP profile for your line is - 6500 kbps
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 4156 kbps

so what else could be the cause? i mean, normally it would easily render a online video or music radio and now it doesnt even start. although i recently updated my browser to opera 10 alpha. i changed back earily but it has'nt made any difference.

[Isitme]

Sorry, I gave you the wrong name, it should have been Netmeter, not Netstumbler.

Your performance test shows that your profile is a bit low for your connection speed, but this could be down to faults on your line dragging it down. However you actual speed is not too terrible at over 4000kbps, which should allow you to download videos without too much buffering.

I think you may be falling foul of the throttling policy, which can slow a connection down to a crawl. Have you tried another browser like Firefox3 or Chrome? It may be worthwhile installing one of them just as a test. Be careful with Chrome as I have read instances where it has taken over your home page and will not let go. Just use the basic browser and make sure it is not slipping anything in it shouldn't.

Try a speed test on Sky User - Help and Support for Sky and Sky Broadband - Broadband Packages and see what the results are.