why won't my broadband work in the evenings and weekends?

apprentice_tycoon

A few days ago I asked for help here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=174858

and lots was given, As you can see by my last post the problem just disappeared only to reappear with a vengance later that evening and over the weekend, in fact the weekend was an absolute nightmare
We've ruled out the computer being overheated because when there is a good connection we have it working really hard and it just keeps zipping along without any problems so I really don't think that it's the computer at fault, it must be the connection.
Over the weekend it was so slow and erratic that we phoned BT, they checked the phone line online and said that it was all OK but the connection still wasn't there last night. I switched on at 7am today and it has worked all day again without the slightest problem till around 5 pm and now it's absolutely dreadful (I'm writing this offline so I can do a quick copy and paste and if it fails I've still got the text to re-submit).
So it seems that the probelm is only during evenings and weekends...why?,,,it's not like the gas pressure going down when everyone is using the cooker on Christmas day is it?

Can someone point me in the direction to put this right?

Thanks again in advance

ManAtHome

You're not on e7even are you? I am and the connection is sporadic (as I'm being polite..). Was off all day Sunday, but my old dial-up account (another ISP) was working ok - could bring up the e7 status page which showed everything was fine (as usual..). Is BT your BB supplier as well as phone line?

For some reason I get much faster speeds when downloading files than I get with normal surfing and emails. I think most non-business BBs are shared between 50 users (contention rate) - would guess mine would slow down dramatically if I was sharing with 49 DVD-downloaders...

apprentice_tycoon

We're with BT for the broadband - contention ratio? if that's the problem are all of us in the neighbourhood having the same problem and how does it get sorted out?

albertross_2

It may not be the problem, but is something to be aware of.

I think everyone on BT lines has the same contention ratio, so there is little you can do about it until BT change the policy.

what is the max speed of your service, and what speed do you get from the adslguide speed test?

Are you using wireless?

apprentice_tycoon

Direction

Actual Speed

True Speed (estimated)

Downstream1301 Kbps (162.6 KB/sec)1405 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream193 Kbps (24.1 KB/sec)208 Kbps (inc. overheads)


this was the result - sorry, what does it say in laymans (woman, actually) terms

albertross_2

That is quite fast, are you on a 2Mb service? Are you having problems now? Wireless? Are you using any filesharing clients , kazaa etc.. (upstream is a bit low)

mike_paterson

It is likely to be contention - complain to your isp or move to another that cares !

apprentice_tycoon

albertross wrote:

That is quite fast, are you on a 2Mb service? Are you having problems now? Wireless? Are you using any filesharing clients , kazaa etc.. (upstream is a bit low)

Its 2Mb and no kazaa etc, I try and keep it all clean!

The thing is the speed comes and goes in 2 or 3 minute waves of good minutes and 2 or 3 bad minutes where it runs like sludge - I refresh the pages etc but it will still shwo 'no page to display' etc. So in some respects the fast results are misleading because they are only for a few minutes at a time

albertross_2

That could be contention, network traffic etc, congestion to the website you are going to etc.. they will come and go.

Are you using wireless? - 3rd time I've asked!

have you ruled out viruses, spyware, rootkits, is your PC patched https://www.windowsupdate.com?

apprentice_tycoon

Sorry albertross (ooops!) - no wireless being used, norton 2005 is fully updated and with a new subscription paid for, don't know about spyware really - rootkits? patched sorry don't know what they are.

If it is any of those why did I work all day from 7 till 5 pm with no probs?, it really zips along at speed.

BigAl94

I had an identical problem 2 years ago, it nearly drove me nuts! My ISP (Nildram) kept at BT until it was sorted, they visited several times and all engineers said everything was fine until I got a femal engineer who admitted there was a problem with my line quality. She worked at it for hours swopping "pairs" in two local BT roadside boxes until she improved the line quality to her satisfaction and its been fine ever since. In fact I'm getting speeds up to around 4 megabyte (on 8 meg trial) even though I'm a long way from the exchange and according to BT, should only get 1 meg max!!

Keep at BT until they sort it!

Have a read at my posting and replies at the time on another forum
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=134603&forumid=1