At what point is Broadband not broadband?

Manix

After returning to the UK, I've been working with a 3 wireless dongle for the last few weeks. This has been superb - 3MBps average..

I thought a wired broadband would be cheaper and faster. So I signed up to Orange Broadband last month. I was told I'd get upto 6MBps.

I got the router installed last night and have checked my speed. 0.44Mbs average. Upload speed 0.004Mbs. (ie slower than dialup).

I've checked all the usual things, the router is connected directly to the only telephone socket in the house, its a newly installed socket so there should be no ring problems, and I can see the undamaged wire all the way back to the telegraph pole. I live in the center of a city, so it's not a rural problem.

As far as I see it, 0.44 Mbs is not broadband.

Has there been any definition of the minimum speed that a company can provide and still call it broadband? and can anyone advise if I get out of my current contract if the speed doesn't improve. Cheers!

Mark_In_Hampshire

My own personal definition of broadband is 5Mbps down, 1 Mbps up or better.

However there is no official definition, Virgin Media cable is effectively 10Mbps+; anything down a phone line is 135kbps+ (basically, an ADSL signal), 3G (Mobile "Broadband") is basically any connection that works.

OFCOM got around to trying to come up some form of "universal service commitment" of 2Mbps, but it isn't really a "definition" nor a commitment.

The general definition being touted for "superfast broadband" is 25Mbps+ downstream.

All that said, although it is just possible that 0.4Mbps is the speed you'll get on your line downstream, the upstream is too low for it to be anything like "normal". Minimum should be 256kbps+ (0.2Mbps).

I'd pursue this as a fault with the line, there's just a chance you've plugged your kit in while some kind of problem is going on, but something is definitely amiss.

kwikbreaks

Check and post the router stats here.
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

As this is a new broadband install and is actually working (sort of) they will not accept a fault call until it has been in place 10 days.

macman

Noise on the line? Dial 17070, option 2, quiet line test.
Is the filter correctly fitted? Try swapping it out for a known good one. ISP supplied filters are notoriously rubbish (as indeed is Orange broadband).
Are you testing the speed using ethernet not wireless?

Gordon_Hose

Do Orange do DLM?

bod1467

Horange use BT IPStream (they've stopped doing LLU), and since BT use DLM then I guess Orange do too.

Gordon_Hose

Then if I was the OP I would leave my router plugged in and re-test after 10 days of constant up-time

bod1467

Agreed. Regular disconnects will fool DLM into thinking the line is poor, and so force a very restrictive profile to try and maintain stability.

macman

But based on a 6Mbps estimate, should it not have synched even initially at more than 0.44Mbps?

Winema

You've got to leave the router on for usually 10 days, as your line will be constantly tested for the most stable connection.

bod1467

macman wrote: »

But based on a 6Mbps estimate, should it not have synched even initially at more than 0.44Mbps?

Probably. But getting Orange to do anything anyway can be difficult, and doing so in the first 10 days next to impossible.