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[The Xen One]

So I've had a problem with our connection for ages - sometimes it randomly stops working, sometimes it just goes really slow for no reason. These periods can last up to an hour or two which is really annoying! I play a lot of games online and so when it just randomly starts to lag loads it makes me angry! I have sorted out my settings and drivers etc for my computer and it has some pretty good specs so I'm sure it is the connection. BT say we get 8 mbps, I have 14 screenshots of DL tests saying we only get 1.95 and I decided today to look into it more.



After doing BT's speedtest I got these results: DSL Connection Rate - 8.13 Mbps     IP Profile 2 Mbps



I looked at some other threads from a while ago and googled it finding people with the same problem but couldn't see what they'd done to fix it. Here are my router stats:



Almost forgot to mention we're (apparently) 1.7km from the exchange (I live in the country near a village).

Can anyone help me understand why it's so much slower than they say it is (and should be - if this site is correct I could apparently get 7 Mbps) and how to speed it up? Is it worth complaining to BT/get them to get an engineer out? Would be much appreciated!!!

Sorry to introduce myself this way 

EDIT: Forgot to say, I play mostly Counterstrike Source and about half of the time it is actually OK but the lag manifests itself by random spikes in ping - I play on a server where my ping is normally around 15-40ms and it goes up to 400ms - and loss in packets (I started monitering it today using the net_graph 3 command) which ranges from 10-70/s during the laggy periods. FPS ranges from 170-300/s and choke is usually around 2 or 3, max 7 at bad times.

[Black Sheep]

Hi Xen

Firstly, you are on an ADSL1 package, which is an 8Meg product. The good news is your synch speed is at the full 8Meg.

Now then, your 'Throughput speed' (or 'Surfing speed') that you are achieving is well short of the synch speed. It should fall into a bracket between 80-94% of the synch speed, but as you already know, it is far less.

For some reason your TS appears to be capped at 2Meg. If it's a genuine mistake, a phone call to your ISP should soon resolve this. If it's capped through non-payment of bills, going over your download limit, or even that is all your are paying for (just a 2Meg connection, usually Sky do these), then I'm sure they'll inform you of this.

HTH

[c6em]

I have heard of the problem/concept of a "stuck IP profile" on the 20CN equipment.
...and indeed it seem to happen more on lines at the full 8128 sync
....and 2Mb is indeed the profile number it sticks at.

I suppose something causes the line to drop to 2, the problem then goes away and for some reason the IP setting gets 'stuck' there and won't go back up.
This might be one reason why it seems to be capped at 2MB, along with the others already detailed by "Black Sheep"

[Black Sheep]

c6em is referring to 'Sticky B-RAS' profiles I think ?? Have a look here .... http://www.thinkbroadband.com/files/broadband-max-myths-and-legends.pdf .... section 4.

We've disussed this before until we're blue in the face, but IMO, switching the router on and off on a consistent basis (IE every night), appears to be detrimental to profiles. Admittedly, this is more-so on a 21CN circuit, and yours is a 20CN circuit. But it wouldn't do any harm to leave the little blighter permanently switched on.

[The Xen One]

Thank you so much for the fast replies guys
I thought this might be the case but I didn't think BT were that evil (we have called them about it before  ).
I have lots of screenshots etc. to send to them so it's just a case of writing a letter now (I don't fancy talking to someone in India).
Hopefully it's not a problem with our hardware and they can fix it quickly.
We do leave our router on all the time (unless it stops working completely for like 3/4 hours) - it's been on for a while now.

Thanks again for the help would be lost without people who knew what was what

EDIT: Forgot to say (I'm pretty forgetful  ) we were on a 30GB limit until recently but we asked for unlimited because we were going over on downloads. We are now paying for 8Mbps Unlimited. Is it possible they capped us a while ago before we switched and didn't take it off when we moved to unlimited?

[Black Sheep]

Thank you so much for the fast replies guys
I thought this might be the case but I didn't think BT were that evil (we have called them about it before  ).
I have lots of screenshots etc. to send to them so it's just a case of writing a letter now (I don't fancy talking to someone in India).
Hopefully it's not a problem with our hardware and they can fix it quickly.
We do leave our router on all the time (unless it stops working completely for like 3/4 hours) - it's been on for a while now.

Thanks again for the help would be lost without people who knew what was what

EDIT: Forgot to say (I'm pretty forgetful  ) we were on a 30GB limit until recently but we asked for unlimited because we were going over on downloads. Is it possible they capped us a while ago before we switched and didn't take it off when we moved to unlimited?

Seriously, I'd ring them asap and explain the problem, and request an 'SNR Reset'. This should take the circuit back to its  original MSAN Profile, ie- its default settings saved in its memory from its first ever initialisation (after stabilisation).

A 'SNR reset' is quick and extremely easy to do.

You would also have to ask them when the 'cap' was applied, but yes, it could tie in with issues before the 'switch to unlimited'. However, they tend to put the cap quite low on the downstream, usuallu 256/512 Kbps, which ensures downloading is a pain in the rectum.

Ring them now bud, you could have your 7Meg B'RAS profile back within 30 minutes. 

[The Xen One]

Ok will ring them first thing tomorrow, thanks man
Hopefully they'll be nice

[The Xen One]

So I just finished talking to some guy from another country, explained the problem to him, we were being capped, IP profile less than connection rate (better than that ) and so he did a 'test'.
He said there was a fault with the line, I requested an SNR Reset and he said he would get a specialist on the case and it would be resolved within 48 hours.
So the good news is they are (supposedly) sorting it out, the bad news is that guy didn't really know what he was on about and we might have to call them again

[Black Sheep]

That's pretty much par-for-the-course regarding Broadband and skilling, I'm afraid. 

[The Xen One]

They called my mum earlier (I was at school) and said they'd fixed it and we should check the speed.
She said I wasn't in and they said they'd ring back at 9 tomorrow morning.
Nothing has changed at all :@ Apparently this guy is a 'specialist' so he should at least understand what little I know.

[burakkucat]

Nothing has changed at all :@ Apparently this guy is a 'specialist' so he should at least understand what little I know.

D'oh! 

If the truth is known, you probably know more than that -- ahem -- "specialist"! 

[The Xen One]

Ok so the call they said would be to confirm it was working ok (which it wasn't) was just to make us pay our bills  so much hate for BT
So we called up, shouted at them and then got through to a tech guy who actually knew exactly what he was on about and did an SNR Reset for us and even explained exactly what it was. Turns out we weren't using the master socket either. So just need to keep the router on and he's gonna call on mon to check it's working OK.
Hopefully that's it now! Thanks very much for all the help 

[Black Sheep]

Happy days Xen ............ balance has been restored to the world, eh 

[The Xen One]

Hopefully...... not seeing any increase yet. Hopefully the next couple of days will bring it

[The Xen One]

Hasn't got any faster yet.......