slow internet conection

[RAC/OPS]

Hi, have been having this problem for a few weeks. I have tried FF, Safari and IE with variously my pc and mac. Slow to load pages, and often get "connection was reset" or "unable to contact server", but hitting try again usually brings it up. However, downloading tv progs or movies is usually reasonably fast. Is my router the problem? Using wifi, and the mac is a fair way from the router, but the pc is right next to it. Any suggestions please?

[Milo Minderbinder]

before anyone can say anyrhing useful, we would need to know the up/download speeds reported by your router, and also the results from a speedtest

[RAC/OPS]

Using speedtest.net:

Ping 1178ms, download 0.41mbps, upload 0.41mbps.
Router says 150mbps on the back of the unit, or do I need to analyse it in some way?

Thanks

[Milo Minderbinder]

that speedtest is very slow and barely qualifies as broadband

however you also need to log into the router and see what actual speed it is connecting at. Whats the make / model of the router, and who is your internet company?

[oldbeefer]

Also, how far are you from your telephone exchange? You can use Sam Knows for this - SamKnows - Broadband Availability Mapping (http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_mapping)

[BOAC]

1) He/she will not have 'moved' further away from the exchange! So assuming this is a new speed issue it cannot be that.

2) Before we get too far into esoterics here, the first port of call is your ISP and ask for a line check. They will tell you what speed is being delivered TO your router. That will give you and them a clue if there is a problem.

[oldbeefer]

BOAC - quite right. I didn't read the question properly!

[HuntandFish]

odd to see dowmload and upload speeds the same

[Milo Minderbinder]

"odd to see download and upload speeds the same "

Not if you're used to dealing with Sky Broadband....

[oldbeefer]

I'm 6km from exchange and my small company (Vispa) manage to give me between 5 and 6gig download. If you've suffered a sudden drop, it may be a fault on the line (even though the phone seems to be working OK).

Can be difficult to persuade an ISP to escalate it as (A BT engineer told me)they have to pay BT for any fault finding.

[mixture]

Can be difficult to persuade an ISP to escalate it as (A BT engineer told me)they have to pay BT for any fault finding.

The issue is not so much the fault finding itself, but the fact that the BT monkeys like to take the easy route and just log a no-fault after probing a connection in their right nostril with their index finger for a couple of seconds.

Once they log a no-fault, the BT Billing department automatically raises a charge on the ISPs account. It then takes some persistence to convince BT that (a) the fault really exists and they should look harder, and (b) they should issue a credit note against the incorrect charge. If your ISP isn't that good, then they'll just sit back and take BT's bull and charge you accordingly any costs they incur related to your connection.... a good ISP will have a good go at fighting the BT behemoth into action on your behalf.

LLU operators are in a better position than the pure BT resellers, because they can troubleshoot a lot more in their own control before having to escalate to some BT monkeys. Hence I always encourage people to sign up with a LLU operator and not someone who is just rebranding BT's poor service.

[Mr Optimistic]

Nowhere near enough info for even my wild and speculative attempts to help. Don't see how video downloads can be reasonably fast with those stats. Try bt speedtester to see profile. Do you have a modern bt socket with access to test socket? As suggested a call to the isp would seem reasonable. Any problems when phone used?

[Milo Minderbinder]

Interesting example of how big companies work today.
A customer in darkest rural Cumbria phoned complaining of slow broadband. Its always been slow, around 2mb, but had dropped even more. BT weren't interested

Anyway, I turned up, found the router (a Belkin) synching on download at 450kb/sec. I ran repeated checks with the Thinkbroadband tool and got consistent 130kb/sec.
Checked the internal wiring, found that a Sky TV engineer had paid a visit to install a Sky box - and in the process had removed my ADSL filter and replaced it with a 2 into 1 phone socket doubler. I also found the router had had its ADSL cable replaced with one from a fax machine, and was plugged directly into another phone socket, not a filter.
I resolved all this and the synch speed went up to 2120kb/s. However the speed check stayed at 130kb/s. The router reported noise margin at ~12db, but line attenuation at 51db. Used a 20m extension cable plugged into the test socket to eliminate the internal extensions - no change, so the problem was external
Spoke to customer, who revealed the Sky engineer had tried to get them to switch to Sky broadband and had almost certainly rewired things when they refused (a common thread around here)
Spoke to BT support, who identified that while the line was indeed synching at around 2mb/s, it had been profiled to run at 130kb/s. I'm sure this was because the miswiring had caused errors on the line, so BT reduced the speed to an unacceptable level to avoid the errors! The BT tech reprofiled the line to 1700kb/s and said it would need up to 24 hours to change
Not good, but at least its close to the synch speed.
BUT ........ BT clearly had identified a problem with the line, so why didn't they do something about it rather than reduce the service speed to an unacceptable level?
As as for Sky......removing the ADSL filters, or installing the Skybox cable on the upstream side of the filter is standard practice for their engineers around here
Next to convince BT to do something about the attenuation, though I have little hope

[Mike-Bracknell]

I have a similar customer with a line capable of 5 mbit/s but is synching at 2 mbit/s with a 12dB noise margin. BT had reduced the sync speed due to 'errors' and despite me doing the "replace the entire CPE kit" thing they usually request prior to doing anything, the sync profile was reset and made very little difference. Customer chose BT over us and was reluctant to jump through the BT hoops, so they sit at 2mbit/s.