Slow Internet? Traffic Sense "Network Provider Throttling" Must Read

WellKnownSid

OP - you didn't fully answer my question:

I would be interested to know the usage case, how much data, across what devices, how it's being measured and importantly where.

What you're experiencing doesn't match what everyone else experiences. When do you tether? How much data? Where do you use the data?

I doubt any kind of speed checker will give reliable results. A couple of points from something you said:

if i was to be downloading heavy or P2P File sharing then that would be okay as it would be outwith the peek time

Does that mean you've been P2P sharing or had heavy downloads in the past?
Does that mean you're in Scotland?

WellKnownSid

the_commuter wrote: »

hi Sid
Ive mesured it in two ways

You also say:

(There's 1000 Kilobytes in 1 Mb)

you can expect internet speeds as low as 8Kbps (8 Kilobytes Per Second)

The trouble is there's approximately 122 Kilobytes in 1Mb - not 1000 - and 8Kbps is NOT 8 Kilobytes per second.

Here's what I'm thinking - if you don't know your kilobytes from your Kb - then you could be looking at all of your measurements wrong - especially as you're looking at two or more different tools and trying to compare the numbers.

For example, if one piece of software is saying you're only getting 100KB per second download speed and another says you're getting 0.8Mbps - has the number gone up or down?

the_commuter

Cycrow wrote: »

How do you know you are actually being throttled ?
just because the speed drops at certain times, doesn't mean its throttled, its more likely due to congestion.

A better car analogy would be, on a motorway, some vehicles are restricted more than others, like lorries and caravans that can be restricted to 60mpg rather than 70. These are the ones being throttled, whereas normal cars get to travel at the top speed of 70.

With data throttling, its only certain data packets that get throttled, not the entire connection.

Whereas congestion would be like rush hour, past midnight you can drive down a road at full speed, say 40mph. But during rush hour you are lucky to reach 5mph on that same road. You arn't being throttled down to 5mph, you just cant go any faster due to the traffic on that road. The only way to solve it would be to reduce the traffic or increase the roads capacity. The same is true for data connections.

Throttling tries to get rid of lorries from the road to allow the cars to travel faster

Hi Cycrow

I know its being throttled cos it happens everyday exact same time 3pm on the dot it slows right down and lifts 00:00 on the dot. there's no way everyone is logging on the exact same time everyday, and logging off 00:00 every night. if it was slowing down at 3:05pm or 3:20pm then i could say its most probably a congestion thing as the time vairys, but it doesn't

the_commuter

WellKnownSid wrote: »

You also say:

The trouble is there's approximately 122 Kilobytes in 1Mb - not 1000 - and 8Kbps is NOT 8 Kilobytes per second.

Here's what I'm thinking - if you don't know your kilobytes from your Kb - then you could be looking at all of your measurements wrong - especially as you're looking at two or more different tools and trying to compare the numbers.

For example, if one piece of software is saying you're only getting 100KB per second download speed and another says you're getting 0.8Mbps - has the number gone up or down?

Hi Sid

Ive been away changing networks so haven't been online, am with EE now

i think i may have gotten 1 or 2 things wrong (How many Kb's in 1 Mb) but as for the speeds and the changes in speed Ive gotten all that bang on i know the difference between 2MB/sec and 8Kb/sec

This is the downloader i use and the speed is highlighted in the images for comparison



Note the transfer rate/download speed 672KB/Sec (3 network above Off Peek avridge top speeds hits 700 Kb/sec but sits a steady 500 or 600) During peek times 3 network is as low as 8KB/Sec and can barely load in a basic web page with minimum pics and flash content on the page (which can effect a page load speed) which is not a factor.




Note the transfer rate/download speed 2Mb/Sec this is EE network above Off Peek avridge top speeds hits 2Mb/sec but sits a steady 2mb + avridge During Peek times for EE that vairys from at lest 70Kb/Sec to a few hundred Kb/sec

As for 3 network when a download of 71 Mb takes a few mins outside peek time but then slows down at 3PM bang on the dot to 1 hour + to download 71 Mb's during peek time, this is how i know its being throttled
the time difference in download times from a few mins (before 3pm) to 1 hour + after 3 pm, then at 00:00 its then back to taking a few mins.

I don't have this problem with EE they traffic manage but not anywhere like 3 are baring in mind they checked the masts there's No Problem there, there's no congestion problems either it's all been looked into by their Tech folk unless the tech folk have missed something or don't know !!!!!! they are doing the only other possibility is their traffic management, bearing in mind other people have had the same problem with 3 network and they live in different areas from me some rural

I hope the screen shot images clear any confusion, these speeds aint 100% correct but its enough to highlight the problem and prove the difference

the_commuter

SnowTiger wrote: »

That seems like busy/overload cells.

Up until about four months ago I was tethering to 3 and downloading in excess of 40Bytes of data a month. I didn't notice any slow down during peak hours.

Speed tests typically showed a download rate of 8Mbits or more. I've now switched back to using ADSL, with a top download rate of 2MBits.

I live in quite a remote area and guess 3 is less congested here.

Hi Snow Tiger

If i was getting Mb speeds while with 3 network Ide have been more than happy with that even 100Kb/Sec during peek times would have been more than enough, but considering avridge Internet speed these days is in the "Mb's" and mines was less than 56K dialup during peek times I'm no longer accepting that Ive had it over 10 years now. I think I'm gonna get rid of my mobile altogether or take the EE home broadband + up to 20GB mobile data package and do all my interneting with that as it seems a great deal and doesn't come with crippling restrictions

dealer_wins

With Three you know its throttling, as at midnight exactly, boom speed goes from nothing to 20-40meg instantly lol

the_commuter

dealer_wins wrote: »

With Three you know its throttling, as at midnight exactly, boom speed goes from nothing to 20-40meg instantly lol

Hi Dealer yes that's right bang on the hour the speeds drop quicker than a penny



Rated Most Reliable Network by You Gov? i bet they don't get throttled at 3pm till 00:00

If 3 had just been honest in the 1st place done all their checks and apparent mobile mast upgrades (that they apparently carried out) and then said this is most probably due to trafficsense for some reason (as we have exhausted every other cause) then i could have said fair dues okay, but it's the months of lies, denial and waiting for improvements that basically wont happen. they know the speeds i was getting were not right they did not were not going to mention the trafficsense issue it was only due to my own research into their slow speeds i found this out there was nothing explaining it on the site (which there is now strangely enough) trafficsense was a subject they really did not wan to talk about tbh and took to it's defense very quickly. they also told me its possible due to my hand set and a new one (costing hundreds of pounds) could have fixed the speed issue which it would not have i do find worrying and is main reason for my posts here a lot of money is concerned and a lack of consumer knowledge i wonder how many people they have conned into contracts with that line? are they are misinformed about their product/service? or is it just more lies?



their "It Sucks We'll put Thing's Right" campaign it's laughable


tbh concerning all the information provided and idk if its was lies or just a lack of knowledge but their tech team don't have a clue, it's certainly one of the two, I'll let folk make their own minds up though, but be careful of them or any network provider specially if you have an issue and the resolve proposed by them is some form of costly upgrade or a new phone and monthly contract

WellKnownSid

But to be fair, when I want to download my email or view a web page on three I never have this problem. Personally I'm all for them restricting the people who try to download 71MB executable files over the air if it means my email and web access is uninterrupted...

the_commuter

WellKnownSid wrote: »

But to be fair, when I want to download my email or view a web page on three I never have this problem. Personally I'm all for them restricting the people who try to download 71MB executable files over the air if it means my email and web access is uninterrupted...

Hi Sid as you can see from my pics its not an exaggeration its worse than bad lol i can understand that but tbh a file of 71Mb (in this case a browser) should not have an effect on other peoples net imo if it dose then the connection/service is not good enough considering were talking of connections in terms of broadband MB's Sec speeds these days not 56k Dialup it should not have this effect on other peoples internet were speaking 71 MB's Not 71 GB's lol neither should it take an hour to download 71Mb's during peek time it's pathetic and totally unacceptable imo its not happening on EE. Ive been with them a few days and I'm stunned by the speeds avridge 1Mb+ Sec i can get with them shame they don't do bigger only data packages though as keeping in touch with family takes up lot of data at times. Ive got 100Gb for 30 days which is outstanding and doing a lot of catching up on things people etc shame this is not offered on a monthly PAYG or even 50GB (I think 20GB is Max I'm not sure with small Add-on offered at up to 2 or 4 GB) this way you would not have to worry about going over your limit or running out. EE also have a traffic control thing in place but even during peek hours my speeds are still more than reasonable, No hassles tbh.

Web Pages load in Np, Email Np, Stream a Video Np, even Video call family and friends (which is my main form of contact they don't stay Uk) at a reasonable time, anytime of the day and not having to wait all night till after 00:00 which am sure anyone can understand is very important specially at this time of year it's Absolutely priceless! I can even make a purchase online without the page timing out half way through and getting a block put on my card which happened once before when i was with 3 and it nearly cost me to loose my booking (tickets to a show + hotel) and a lot of hassle and a 2 + hour wait to speak to the fraud squad to get the block lifted, all due to their throttling the web to worse than 56k dialup this is ment to be 3G not even 4G

it's honestly been like that many years they have been generous in recent years by giving you unlimited Data Allowance (unlike the 5 pound a GB days) but shame they throttle their connection to below bare minimum
I was a long serving loyal 3 customer for over 15 years but their lack of honestly and resolve drove me off and "when it sucked" they couldn't make it right and claimed there was nothing they could do to improve the connection or tweek the trafficsense restrictions in my area. there is a huge market being untouched at the moment and sooner or later someone will offer a decent monthly PAYG Package with a big data allowance with reasonable speeds during peek times and even allow you to tether. until now its been too costly for me to run a mobile phone and a home broadband but it's something I'm looking into worse case senareo I'l have to get rid of the mobile, but the best thing of all though is being able to video call family abroad without restrictions now

With that said, To Anyone reading, I hope You have a Great Christmas & Best Wishes for the New-Year :beer:

corf999

To be fair the speeds on your screen shots of 5mb/s (3) and 18mb/s (EE) look pretty decent to me.

Depending on the area 3 is over subscribed because of all the unlimited one plan tethering users still on their network and you are likely being caught by their tethering traffic management.

EE have considerably more mobile spectrum hence more mobile bandwidth available for each mast and doesnt allow unlimited tethering and are currently able to provide more bandwidth per customer - although users in central London may disagree.