Broadband Speed Help

[EastStandBlue]

This is one for the real techy's on here...

I'm paying for 8mb Broadband. Now, living as far from the exchange as I do I'm fully aware that my speed will never be 8mb, but I usually float around 2mb at peak times, a bit faster in the middle of the night.

The last two days, however, I've been lucky if I get higher than 0.5mb speed and my last two speed tests are throwing up 0.35mb which is ridiculously slow. I'm trying to have a tug, but watching a black screen with "buffering" is doing nothing to help me sustain a hard on.

Could this be down to the ridiculously cold weather?

I also know there's a way to fiddle around with the DNS settings or open other ports, anybody clear this up for me?

Green + A pair of OBL's knickers (soiled, for your pleasure) for whoever can give me a hand here.

 

[TrueBlue]

This is one for the real techy's on here...

I'm paying for 8mb Broadband. Now, living as far from the exchange as I do I'm fully aware that my speed will never be 8mb, but I usually float around 2mb at peak times, a bit faster in the middle of the night.

The last two days, however, I've been lucky if I get higher than 0.5mb speed and my last two speed tests are throwing up 0.35mb which is ridiculously slow. I'm trying to have a tug, but watching a black screen with "buffering" is doing nothing to help me sustain a hard on.

Could this be down to the ridiculously cold weather?

I also know there's a way to fiddle around with the DNS settings or open other ports, anybody clear this up for me?

Green + A pair of OBL's knickers (soiled, for your pleasure) for whoever can give me a hand here.

What mite help you is speaking to your provider and changing your package that will give you a better connection ratio......



Contention ratio
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In computer networking, the contention ratio is the ratio of the potential maximum demand to the actual bandwidth. The higher the contention ratio, the greater the number of users that may be trying to use the actual bandwidth at any one time and, therefore, the lower the effective bandwidth offered, especially at peak times.[1]

In the UK, an RADSL (Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line) connection usually has a contention ratio between 20:1 and 50:1 per BT guidelines, meaning that 20 to 50 computers, each assigned or sold a bandwidth of "up to" 1 Mbit/s for instance, may be sharing 1 Mbit/s of uplink bandwidth. A good account of the state of the issue in the UK is found in a 2004 OFCOM report on wireless internet.

In the US and on satellite internet connections, the contention ratio is often higher, and other formulas are used, such as counting only those users who are actually online at a particular time.[citation needed] It is also less often divulged by ISPs than it is in the UK.[citation needed] The connection speed for each user will therefore differ depending on the number of computers using the uplink connection at the same time because the uplink (where all the low bandwidth connections join) will only handle the speed that has been implemented on that line............


So in short you may be better paying slightly more for your connection but getting a better ratio of 1:20 rather then 1:50 which should help with your peak time performance.

Also head over to http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ they will be able to show you how your provider rates and you can find out what company has there own equipment in your exchange thus not having to rely on a reseller of BT for example I am in the Hockley exchange now BT would only give me back in the day upto 8mbit but then O2(Be Broadband) went and put there own equipment into Hockley exchange thus they were able to offer me what THEY wanted not what BT could offer this I got upto 24 mbit and I get about 14mbit maxed download and 3mbit upload roughly.

Want anymore help PM me.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Having read through some various crap, I discovered this...

Every Speedchecker lists my supplier as Talktalk.net. It isn't, it's Utility Warehouse at the moment, but I understand that most suppliers use other networks to provide a service. T-Mobile and Virgin are a prime example.

Anyway, looking at the Rochford Exchange http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EAROC it seems that the TalkTalk CPW was enabled yesterday. Would this cause my connection to slow right down while it starts?

 

[Yer Blues]

Having read through some various crap, I discovered this...

Every Speedchecker lists my supplier as Talktalk.net. It isn't, it's Utility Warehouse at the moment, but I understand that most suppliers use other networks to provide a service. T-Mobile and Virgin are a prime example.

Anyway, looking at the Rochford Exchange http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EAROC it seems that the TalkTalk CPW was enabled yesterday. Would this cause my connection to slow right down while it starts?

nahh it wouldnt make it slow, nor would the cold weather. it may be worth logging a fault with your provider.

 

[pickledseal]

I get about 1Mb max at any time... BT said we wouldn't get any higher in the forseeable future. The merits of living in Colchester I guess ;)

 

[EastStandBlue]

Cheers for the help guys... Very odd because, at the moment, all phones in my house have no dial-tone yet I can still connect to the internet, albeit at a crappy speed. Spoken to my provider and they're getting back to me. Apparently.

 

[pickledseal]

Be ready to take a day off.... Most providers will only send a BT engineer 9-5, Mon-Fri

 

[Yer Blues]

Cheers for the help guys... Very odd because, at the moment, all phones in my house have no dial-tone yet I can still connect to the internet, albeit at a crappy speed. Spoken to my provider and they're getting back to me. Apparently.

it will be worth calling your phone prodvier as well if you havent already. sounds like a bt fault.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Same provider... so it could be their services or a line fault.

 

[Yer Blues]

Same provider... so it could be their services or a line fault.

if the phones are down its a line fault.

 

[EastStandBlue]

if the phones are down its a line fault.

That was my initial thought when I got up this morning, but if it was a line fault surely I wouldn't be able to access the internet at all?

 

[Yer Blues]

That was my initial thought when I got up this morning, but if it was a line fault surely I wouldn't be able to access the internet at all?

that i cant explain, but no phone lines (ie no dial tone) = bt fault.

 

[jstallan]

Sounds like an external fault. Same happened here a while back. No dial tone, but Internet worked (just). BT enginneer identified fault in the box at the bottom of the pole in the street - loose connection. All fixed. He then returned a few days later to deal with a neighbours fault and knocked out my connection in the process!!!

To assist with the BB speed/sync, google 'routerstats' and use that to gather stats for your line. Then head over to http://www.kitz.co.uk/ armed with some info and join the forums.

Silly as it seems, but Xmas Tree lights affect BB speed http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/ne...ree_lights_can_affect_broadband_connections_/

 

[Tommy2holes]

Im with virgin 50mb. Its like **** off a shoval with download speeds averaging 700kb, but even with that i sometimes get buffering on certain sites.

Try downloading then watchin rather than playing it will certainly help

 

[EastStandBlue]

Sounds like an external fault. Same happened here a while back. No dial tone, but Internet worked (just). BT enginneer identified fault in the box at the bottom of the pole in the street - loose connection. All fixed. He then returned a few days later to deal with a neighbours fault and knocked out my connection in the process!!!

To assist with the BB speed/sync, google 'routerstats' and use that to gather stats for your line. Then head over to http://www.kitz.co.uk/ armed with some info and join the forums.

Silly as it seems, but Xmas Tree lights affect BB speed http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/ne...ree_lights_can_affect_broadband_connections_/

It was exactly that problem... Just had BT round and it was a fault between the line up the road which serves this house and a few of our neighbours. All fixed now though and my speed is back up to 3mb.

 

[jstallan]

Have a look at those link I posted. You might be able to increase the speed. I disabled the ring wire and fitted an iPlate to the master phone socket and my sync increased from 11mbps to 12mbps.

Using a netgear router with DGTeam firmware (tweaked) I've managed to get up to 15mbps. My ISP has limited my 'profile' to 13mbps at the moment and with increased periods of stability (no router reboots) if will go higher. If I renewed some of the phone wiring, I'm sure I can get up to 17mbps.

Current download speeds via Web browsers are url=http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk]

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If I use AstraWeb and USENET groups, then it will pull on average at 1200kpbs

 

[jstallan]

Im with virgin 50mb. Its like **** off a shoval with download speeds averaging 700kb, but even with that i sometimes get buffering on certain sites.

Try downloading then watchin rather than playing it will certainly help

700kb sounds low for a 50mb package...

 

[EastStandBlue]

The iPlate I ordered before Christmas came this morning... Speed went up from floating between 3-4mb to a whopping 5.8mb.

 

[Hotman]

The iPlate I ordered before Christmas came this morning... Speed went up from floating between 3-4mb to a whopping 5.8mb.

Should get even faster after a couple of days. However, you can achieve the same result by simply snipping the bell wire at the main point in the house (don't do if you are uncomfortable with electrics or have old fashioned phones!!)

 

[Mr Plow]

Or get yourself one of these ....

XTE-2005 Filtered Master Faceplate