Zen, speed

Sterlingtimes

My ISP is Zen.

My connection speed as shown by accessing the router is ALWAYS as follows:

connected↓ 80,0 Mbit/s↑ 20,0 Mbit/s

My actual speed had been going downwards by steps over time. See graph below.

It is not internal wiring since I have tested directly into the master socket.

Please, can anyone tell me why these step changes occur?


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unforeseen

It looks like your line is seeing a lot of problems so the automatic systems are dropping your speed in an effort to provide a stable connection.

[Deleted User]

Sterlingtimes wrote: »

My ISP is Zen.

My connection speed as shown by accessing the router is ALWAYS as follows:

connected↓ 80,0 Mbit/s↑ 20,0 Mbit/s

My actual speed had been going downwards by steps over time. See graph below.

It is not internal wiring since I have tested directly into the master socket.

Please, can anyone tell me why these step changes occur?


.

Is your 'actual speed' tested wired to the router or using WiFi? I'm presuming you have rebooted the router at some point?

Sterlingtimes

Thank you, Colin. Yes, I am connecting by ethernet, I have rebooted my router and I have plugged into the master socket. I used to see variability in connection speed, but now I am ALWAYS connected at 80 exactly. Is the loss of speed caused by the Zen or Open Reach components of the network?

Sterlingtimes

Thank you, unforeseen. Why does my connection speed (always 80) not drop?

Mister_G

Is your line clean? Have you tried dialling 17070 option 2 "Quiet Line Test". If there are any pops or crackles then these can affect the speed. This is best done from a hard wired phone rather than a wireless one.

The drops shown on your graph do tend to indicate that the line is not very stable.

Retrogamer

Your sync speed, which is your raw connection speed is the speed measured between the router and the external equipment (DSLAM normally) is static at the full package 80/20mbps which indicates the line and raw connection are fine.

When you are doing the speed tests you are monitoring the throughput speed which can vary depending on various things.

The only accurate way to measure throughput is ensure only 1 device is connected to the router, via ethernet (turn off wireless on the router)
Boot the device into safe mode with networking if windows, and the MAC variant if MAC OS

This ensures there are no other devices on the internet network or other programmes running in the background of the device that might skew the throughput speed test results.

Sterlingtimes

Retrogamer wrote: »

Your sync speed, which is your raw connection speed is the speed measured between the router and the external equipment (DSLAM normally) is static at the full package 80/20mbps which indicates the line and raw connection are fine.

When you are doing the speed tests you are monitoring the throughput speed which can vary depending on various things.

The only accurate way to measure throughput is ensure only 1 device is connected to the router, via ethernet (turn off wireless on the router)
Boot the device into safe mode with networking if windows, and the MAC variant if MAC OS

This ensures there are no other devices on the internet network or other programmes running in the background of the device that might skew the throughput speed test results.

Thank you. I have followed your advice to the letter and I typically get a download speed of 68 but it can be lower. The router used to show connection speeds which would vary from time to time but now 80 is always indicated. When I run diagnostics with the Openreach speed checker, an "IP profile" is indicated of an unvarying 70.4. The router itself does not show the IP profile. I think that over time my line has become less good, but does this decline lie entirely within Openreache's domain or is Zen contributory?

wongataa

Your ISP has nothing to do with the line from your house to the exchange as that is under the control of Openreach.

Retrogamer

Sterlingtimes wrote: »

Thank you. I have followed your advice to the letter and I typically get a download speed of 68 but it can be lower. The router used to show connection speeds which would vary from time to time but now 80 is always indicated. When I run diagnostics with the Openreach speed checker, an "IP profile" is indicated of an unvarying 70.4. The router itself does not show the IP profile. I think that over time my line has become less good, but does this decline lie entirely within Openreache's domain or is Zen contributory?

That's fine i would say.

As long as your throughput speed is within 70% of your sync rate, then it would be deemed normal and acceptable.
You are currently getting throughput speeds of approx 85% your sync rate

58Mbps is the lowest acceptable speed test when doing it via sites.

The IP profile is the maximum speed you will achieve on speed tests.

Although your router is connected at 80Mbps, the throughput speed has been capped (that's your IP profile) possible to ensure the connection remains stable and reliable.
Interleaving and error correction can lower the IP profile a little but that's out of your control.

Sterlingtimes

Thank you, Retrogamer, for your kindness in explaining this to me. It seems that I can monitor the picture best by deriving the IP Profile from the Openreach site. Certainly, performance has been falling over time.