BT Broadband Speed..should be 6meg but is in fact 2 Meg

hazeyj

Yes, thats funny as I can upload stuff much quicker than before. I am due to complain to day and see if I can get out of my 12 month contract as they havent provided the service that they promised.

Little_John

I have to defend BT here and they kicked me off their service for using their anytime dialup service 24 hours a day aparently 16 hours or more is excesive. I have since left their BT yahoo because they wanted me to pay extra for the bandwidth I used 184GB then 154GB the next month they wanted £1 per gb over 50GB they allow. yeah right.

Anyway the max dsl that your on offers speeds of UPTO 8mbps
Taken from their site at the bottom

* Up to 8Mb BT Broadband is subject to availability and survey. 'up to 8Mb' refers to maximum download speeds only (upload speeds are slower). If your line won't support 8Mb, we'll offer the best available speed on your line. BT Line or non-cable line required. 12 month minimum rental will apply, starting from the date of your regrade. Minimum computer specification applies. Usage allowances apply. Terms and Conditions apply.

There are so many variables that can reduce the speed you receive
Distance from the exchange your about half a mile, The exchange is about 100 metres from me almost at the top of my street. I dont receive the 8mbps either i get about 6mbps to get the 8mpbs you must have to be inside the exchange? also remember that the cable proberbly run in a direct line to the exchange.
quality of the copper cable from you to the exchange depending on how long it has been in use if its new then it will be better than an old cable.
The exchange has a limited amount of bandwidth available if maxdsl is heavily subscribed at your exchange then it is shared between alot of users suposedly upto 50 on a residential connection
Speed tests vary in their acuracy also you also need to make sure your connection isnt being used by anything such as p2p file sharing downloading anything to get anywhere near an accurate result.
the way they work is by downloading a file usually about 2MB and they work out the average time, unfortuantly as speeds get faster they are still working their way up to maximum when the file finishes you need to download a large file from a fast source to really get an acurate speed.
an example of this
try these speed tests
http://specials.zdnet.co.uk/misc/band-test/speedtest.html
http://adslguide.org/tools/speedtest.asp
http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
so see how they vary check this site out and try a few diferent servers, from the east coast servers it is quicker than the west coast servers

There is an issue that it takes a time to get a stable connection, do you switch your router on and off as and when you need it? leave the thing on so it can settle constantly switching it off will keep resetting it. As for the unreliable wireless connection it could either be the laptop or the router make sure everything is configured correctly and the security is enabled, speed test can be affected by your local connection also, I just did the same test twice once on my wireless laptop and the same teston my wired pc downstairs and received 3.3 on the PC and 1.4 on the wireless, the security stuff does affect the test results infact the results have varied so much while I have been carying out these tests on my systems here that I dont belive them at all.

Changing ISP proberbly wont sort your problem, you will still be half a mile from your exchange
Still have the same wire from home to the exchange
still be sharing your connection with up to 50 other users
Personally I would stick with BT if it is a line problem as thay are the guys who own the line they have to power to get it sorted out.

to find your actually connected speed go in to the settinga of your router, I know mine has the speed there in line condition it should tell you your connected speed. mine says 8128kbps which is 8mb but my downlaod speeds have varied while typing this from 6700kbps to 700kbps go figure.

Poser

Look don't be to fooled by the speeds because the new equipment that provides the broadband is good but once the signal leaves the exchange the speed slows down because the cable to your house is very old and isn't able to provide the broadband to its full capacity so until Bt change to underground cables the broadband will alwys be slower than it should.

wolfman

I have to agree with Little John. There are a lot of factors.

The main ones are contention ratio, and distance from the exchange. Maybe try doing a speed test at 2am or so, and see if there's much difference. Around that time there should be less people using your exchange, so you may find the connection quicker.

Little_John wrote:

There is an issue that it takes a time to get a stable connection, do you switch your router on and off as and when you need it?

Unless during your 10 day MaxDsl trial period. It's often good to reboot the router to let it re-sync.

Little_John wrote:

Changing ISP proberbly wont sort your problem, you will still be half a mile from your exchange.

Yeah, quite a few ISP's seem to be having problems since the introduction of MaxDsl anyway. Even more expensive/reputable ones such as Eclipse and Zen.

djohn2002uk

All the explanations about line quality etc. are irelevant in the OPs case and in my case. BT have told me that I should get 5.5Megs and the OP should get 6Megs. They run tests on the line before advising us of these speeds and they are not providing us with anything near on a consistent basis. There could even be a case of mis-selling here.
I understand all the reasons for low speeds at certain times of day (line quality, contention etc) but we are not talking about these, the fact is that BT told us :-
10 days of running tests to determine the best speed at which our line was stable during which time, the speed would fluctuate. (Mine is still fluctuating after 9 weeks)
After this we should experience stable speeds, allowing for contention ratio. This speed should be in the region of 5.5Megs for me and 6Megs for the OP.
I don't consider it acceptable to still be getting speeds between 6Megs and 750K after 9 weeks.

nickmack

djohn2002uk wrote:

All the explanations about line quality etc. are irelevant in the OPs case and in my case. BT have told me that I should get 5.5Megs and the OP should get 6Megs.

Anyone who uses BT wholesale equipment is subject to line quality and contention ratios. Both of these, particularly the ratio can cause changes in speed in short periods of time.

They run tests on the line before advising us of these speeds and they are not providing us with anything near on a consistent basis. There could even be a case of mis-selling here.

The service you were sold for ADSL Max was UP TO 8Mb. This means 8Mb is the absolute maximum speed under perfect conditions.

I understand all the reasons for low speeds at certain times of day (line quality, contention etc) but we are not talking about these, the fact is that BT told us :-
10 days of running tests to determine the best speed at which our line was stable during which time, the speed would fluctuate. (Mine is still fluctuating after 9 weeks)

It depends where the fluctuation lies. Is your router/modem connecting at different speeds or are you reporting different speeds from download tests?
If it's the former, then you need to speak to them, otherwise if your connection speed is stable then the problem likely lies with your internal wiring (you are plugging into the master socker aren't you?) or with pc/contention/dns/general web traffic issues.

I don't consider it acceptable to still be getting speeds between 6Megs and 750K after 9 weeks.

You're mixing your synchronisation speed with download speed here.

djohn2002uk

nickmack, you are just running through the same things as the posts above. I've already said that I accept ALL the limitations and don't need to be told over and over what they are. Most of us are au fait with what to expect.
BT told us what speeds we could expect, and during peak periods I would accept lower speeds but not during the day when people are at work and kids are at school, and certainly not from midnight onwards.
Line quality and distance from the exchange has no relevance to what I'm expecting because BT have checked the line and given us figures of 5.5 and 6 Megs, based on the physical condition of the line at the time it was checked.
So, during the day and after midnight I am expecting a stable connection close to what they have said.
Also, after reading my post do you think I know nothing? "You are using the master socket aren't you?"
As it happens I am not using the master socket but a short, good quality, extension lead which makes no difference because I have checked speeds with and without it.

nickmack

djohn2002uk, I can't find a post from you about where the fluctuation lies and how you are testing your speed.

If your previous post was asking for ideas, then I think they have all been covered.

If it was a general moan about your Broadband then, sorry about your problems, but as you maybe aware ADSLMax is a new service and does have some teething problems, quite a few people's expectations have not been met in terms of speed. Just feel lucky you're not on TalkTalk Broadband!

wolfman

djohn2002uk wrote:

and during peak periods I would accept lower speeds but not during the day when people are at work and kids are at school

During the day is peak time isn't it? I always thought it was 8am - 6pm. I've never got over 2Mbps with Eclipse during then. 2-3am would be a good time to test if you're ever up then, and there would definitely be fewer people using the exchange.

It probably boils down to contention, and bandwidth throttling at BT's end. MaxDsl seems to still be causing problems everywhere though. Just go on the adslguide.org.uk forums, and no matter which ISP you check you'll have quite a few posts regarding downstream/upstream speeds.

hazeyj

Blimey..what a debate. To be honest honest I dont really care about megbottles or bandwidgets (see I cant be bothered to type the corect words!) all i care about is that BT told me I would receive 6 meg and I dont.

If they had told me I would maybe receive 2/3 meg I would be happy its just because they told me I would recieve 6 meg .

I never switch my router off either.

Just a bit worried from the above posts that I may get charged for my engineer call out visit as the fault on the line hasnt been fixed yet....so hope it isnt my pc. Ive done all the things and ran tests tho that BT have asked and the engineer is a last resort.........theres always hope:wave: