Line speed consistency?

[Maffrew]

Hey folks,

My stats on Max are as follows:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 15323 kbps 766 kbps
Line Attenuation 21.5 db 12.8 db
Noise Margin 10.9 db 12.0 db

From what i gather, i'm fairly close to the exchange and those are pretty good stats, but i'm finding that the connection is not very consistent.

I've just gotten 1300kb/s from the Speedtest site, but 15 minutes ago i only got 800. It's like this all the time, sometimes it's fast (although it's never maxed), sometimes it's barely 8 or even 6mb.

I understand that a big factor is the server at the other end, be it a website, ftp server or whatever, but i'm just wondering, are other people finding their connections to be inconsistent? Is it just teething problems for a relatively new service?

Also, slightly off topic, but is it possible to set up skybb using a 3rd party router? On UKOnline i used my own ADSL2+ Linksys router, when i got sky i set up using the included router, bu8t i'm disappointed with the wi-fi performance, and would like to go back to my own.

[Saturday]

You have an enviably good set of stats.

Server load is a big factor with speedtest sites (all downloads actually). Probably one of the more reliable is http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

Next time you do a test look at your current stats before and after the test to see if there is a correlation between poor tests and some significant change in the stats. i.e. there is a small possibility that you have an intermittent noise problem which causes a large noise margin drop.

With regard to your last question you'll need to join the Tech forum for the information you're after.

[Maffrew]

Thanks, i'll keep an eye on the noise margins.

I happened to download some drivers from Intel's website, they obviously have great servers, because i was getting 1585kb/s. Nice!

That's by far the fastest i've gotten so far.

[Keiran2K8]

Thats great maffew, Thats like the full 16Mb including overheads!