Sky Broadband - Why so slow?

DazzaMc

We've been with sky for over a year now - we get the basic sky package for £16 and pay £5 extra for the medium broadband package - supposedly up to 8mb. However, it has never seemed to be that fast - and I've just done a speed check on the internet which said our broadband was 1mb!!!! That's ridiculous. Just checked what o2 can offer with their 3 months free deal, and they're offering up to 11mb for our phone line.... Has anyone else had problems with sky broadband? Or is it down to our phone line ? Modem whatever?

I use an eMac , with a wireless card I installed myself from apple store, wireless sky router. Modem is in another room to computer (don't know if any of this is relevant) and phone line is downstairs...

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am sick of having slow internet

penrhyn

Could be a number of reasons why you are having problems, distance from the exchange, noise on the line, poor extension wiring, a poor wireless connection.
The first thing to do is establish what is going on.
plug the router into the test socket that you will find by unscrewing the faceplate from your master phone socket, this will eliminate extension problems.
Connect your PC to the router using an ethernet cable.
Log in to your router http://192.168.0.1/start.htm
User admin, password sky
Scroll down and find show router statistics, and post the results.

DazzaMc

penrhyn wrote: »

Could be a number of reasons why you are having problems, distance from the exchange, noise on the line, poor extension wiring, a poor wireless connection.
The first thing to do is establish what is going on.
plug the router into the test socket that you will find by unscrewing the faceplate from your master phone socket, this will eliminate extension problems.
Connect your PC to the router using an ethernet cable.
Log in to your router http://192.168.0.1/start.htm
User admin, password sky
Scroll down and find show router statistics, and post the results.

I can't seem to find the ethernet cable and I seem to remember that the port on my computer is broken, is there any other way of testing it?

espresso

DazzaMc wrote: »

I can't seem to find the ethernet cable and I seem to remember that the port on my computer is broken, is there any other way of testing it?

You can still log into the router as above over your wireless connection. You should try getting the router stats with the router plugged into the master test socket, as this eliminates any extension wiring in the property.

DazzaMc

Account Name
Firmware Version V1.03.87 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','internet_port')"] ADSL Port [/URL] MAC Address 00:18:4D:65:10:45 IP Address 90.211.50.59 Network Type PPPoA IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.255 Gateway IP Address 195.189.159.252 Domain Name Server 90.207.238.97
90.207.238.99 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','lan_port')"]LAN Port[/URL] MAC Address 00:18:4D:65:10:44 IP Address 192.168.0.1 DHCP On IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','modem')"] Modem [/URL] ADSL Firmware Version A2pB023b.d20e Modem Status Connected DownStream Connection Speed 1120 kbps UpStream Connection Speed 416 kbps VPI 0 VCI 38 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','wireless_port')"] Wireless Port [/URL] Name (SSID) SKY43864 Region Europe Channel 6 Wireless AP Enabled Broadcast Name Enabled

espresso

You seem to be connected at 1120 kbps which may be due to your line to the exchange or could be due to bad extension wiring.

The details you are looking for are:

~ Sync Speed (Connection Speed)
~ Attenuation (atten)
~ SNR Margin (Noise Margin, Margin)
~ Details of any CRC/HEC errors or errored seconds may also be helpful

DatabaseError

DazzaMc wrote: »

....Modem is in another room to computer... and phone line is downstairs...

So.... are you using an extension cable between the master socket and the modem? If you are, that might be the problem. The modem should always be plugged directly into the master socket (via a filter) using the shortest cable available..usually the 1mtr or so cable supplied with the modem.

without the attenuation + snr data (requested by espresso) it's hard to know if you are on a long line..and so fighting a losing battle against the laws of physics

DazzaMc

DatabaseError wrote: »

So.... are you using an extension cable between the master socket and the modem? If you are, that might be the problem. The modem should always be plugged directly into the master socket (via a filter) using the shortest cable available..usually the 1mtr or so cable supplied with the modem.

without the attenuation + snr data (requested by espresso) it's hard to know if you are on a long line..and so fighting a losing battle against the laws of physics

I have no idea what attenuation and snr data are It's a pretty long cable, we've just tried plugging the modem directly into the phone line but didn't realize you needed the filter so we're gonna try the phone line through the filter then a small cable to the modem...

What a way to spend a bank holiday lol. Thanks for all the help guys, keep it going please This is so much better than ringing sky and getting NOWHERE

DazzaMc

Just done it, here are the new readings:

Router Status

Account Name
Firmware Version V1.03.87 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','internet_port')"] ADSL Port [/URL] MAC Address 00:18:4D:65:10:45 IP Address 90.209.89.76 Network Type PPPoA IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.255 Gateway IP Address 195.189.159.252 Domain Name Server 90.207.238.97
90.207.238.99 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','lan_port')"]LAN Port[/URL] MAC Address 00:18:4D:65:10:44 IP Address 192.168.0.1 DHCP On IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','modem')"] Modem [/URL] ADSL Firmware Version A2pB023b.d20e Modem Status Connected DownStream Connection Speed 3776 kbps UpStream Connection Speed 416 kbps VPI 0 VCI 38 [URL="javascript:loadhelp('sstatus_w','wireless_port')"] Wireless Port [/URL] Name (SSID) SKY43864 Region Europe Channel 6 Wireless AP Enabled Broadcast Name Enabled


Up to 3776 kbps yey!

Only problem now is that my xbox is upstairs in my room, is it possible to connect it wirelessly to my modem?

DazzaMc

Sorry for being so thick I've just re-read your post - here are the statistics you asked for:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream Connection Speed 3776 kbps 416 kbps Line Attenuation 48.0 db 30.5 db Noise Margin 17.4 db 14.0 db

penrhyn

You still have not got to the readings we need.
At the bottom of the page you will find tree buttons, the middle one is called 'Show Statistics'
Click on it and post the results.

It should look like this.



Also how is your extension wired?

Check this article:
http://www.dslzoneuk.net/socket.php