Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Helpneedadvice]

That was a load of waffle but basically I haven't been on any Tiscali equipt for the last month or so.

[kitz]

Just checking
- Can you log onto the bt startup_domain
- or can you log into the Tiscali Test login

[Helpneedadvice]

OK just tried: definitely cannot log onto Tiscali (and I could a month ago before they changed me over back to BT). However, since the changeover, I have never been able to logon to BT directly and bypass the ISP. The speedtest site has asked me to do this a few times for a secondary test when throughput has got really low and I can't get it to work. I can get the Big blue BT picture up whilst logged on with my ISP, just can't navigate to the site at all once I have entered the BT login details in my router. Have checked I entered them correctly several times. Told ISP the other day, they said it was most likely a problem with the BT site.

However, when I do a BT first level speed test, it does come back and tell me my IP profile speed, impying it does recognise me.

Worked immediately after getting the new username yesterday several times.Except this morning: Tried 3 times an hour apart and I've been getting:

Unexpected result received when querying the network to find your services connection details. Please try again shortly, but if this problem persists raise the issue with your service provider

Be grateful if you can make anything of this...

[Helpneedadvice]

Worked immediately after getting the new username yesterday several times.Except this morning: Tried 3 times an hour apart and I've been getting:

Unexpected result received when querying the network to find your services connection details. Please try again shortly, but if this problem persists raise the issue with your service provider

When I say it worked, I'm referring to the initial BT speedtest through ISP, not the logging on direct to BT minus the ISP.

[kitz]

>> just can't navigate to the site at all once I have entered the BT login details in my router

That could be a DNS lookup problem. 
But the main thing is you are on the BT IPStream..  sorry about the diversion.


As regards to the message, the BTw performance tester is often quirky to say the least and often seems to throw up strange errors if its busy. :/

[Helpneedadvice]

Oh Well.. here's the latest...

ISP now say it's not them after all. Their tests they did the other day gave wrong readings implying it was due to their network (and this was apparantly because they themselves are on a very small exchange and I think they said "suffer from congestion at busy times").

Anyway they now say my low throughput is due to contention on my exchange by BT (even when it occurs at strange times of day like 6:30 am) and that my exchange is still showing as congested on their system and due to get work completed to fix this.

Remember this:

Virtual paths: Red

BT is reporting that some of the virtual paths at this exchange are not operating within BT Wholesale's planning guidance, although they are still operating within the product specification.

At busy times, your ADSL connection may operate at a reduced speed, although not all customers on your exchange may be affected. You should only contact support if there is no current ETA date set.

The ETA fix time is: 26 Jun 08

BTs completion date for this was 2 weeks ago but ISP say as it has not been updated, the work has not been completed yet.

So anything more I can do? Does this all make sense?

[Helpneedadvice]

I'm back on my old username now...

[kitz]

OK I'm out of suggestions now.

The contention thing doesnt ring true - not at 6.30am.

I'll tell you a story here...
One of the reasons why I kinda got so involved in adsl in the first place is because of contention.  My own exchange has a very long history of contention.  The first one in the UK that BT admitted suffered from it way back in 2003..  and it periodically suffers bad contention, and its one of the reasons why for so many years I paid extra to go on 20:1.   
When visiting others homes on this exchange, I even see signs of it on some of the LLU operators such as TT and even Sky.

This exchange has suffered bad over the years, weve seen speeds down to <100 kbps when 512 was the norm, and <300kbps when 2Mbps was the norm.  But one thing with exchange contention is that it varies over the course of the day..  and by around the early hours you should be able to get much better speeds.  The fact that yours doesnt vary implies something else.

The following is what really bad exchange contention looks like (see graph at bottom).
http://www.kitz.co.uk/contention/11thJuly.htm

[Helpneedadvice]

Hmm.. the ISP said to me that if someone selfish was sharing my VP and had a download box and was downloading at that early hour, it would use up much of the available bandwidth and cause my contention issue, whatever the time of day. He seemed to think that BT should sort it with their fix, but couldn't tell me when that might happen since they are currently shown as overdue. Also implied that this could recur as the new bandwidth gets used up. It's so frustrating not being able to speak to the local BT engineers themselves. I feel like knocking on the door of the exchange and asking them what the status is!

So should I try and get moved back to the Tiscali datastream now, I wonder?

I haven't a clue what to do now!

[Helpneedadvice]

  The fact that yours doesnt vary implies something else.

Thing is, it does vary, but in reverse to what you might expect. My worst speeds ~ 2M are either early (6:30am) or mid morning or mid afternoon. In the evening, I am getting 6M quite often. Really strange!

[Helpneedadvice]

Question just occured to me: if contention is an issue on the VPs to my ISP, would this vary depending on the ISP? Would I get better with another ISP? Do Bt have better capacity for themselves as ISP?

[kitz]

BT did *an upgrade* in the midst of when I was recording those stats..  The effect it had was a slight improvement in speed.
eg they went from 300 to 500 kbps at peak...  back then they increased in "chunks" and obviously hadnt increased it by enough.

Things are a little bit different these days in that BT now use SuperVPs, therefore VPs arent as small and theres more users on more bandwidth, which helps avoid the effect of just a handful of people being able to max out the VP.
For maxdsl they use MSANs with larger backhauls..  and exchange contention shouldnt be as drastic as it was several years ago.

600-700 day and night isnt normal..  even if you did have a dozen heavies at that exchange, then bandwidth would still increase in the early hours when all the other "normal users" on that MSAN free up their bandwidth.

Do you know anyone on a BT (or other IPStream MAX connection) to ask what sort of thing they are seeing at your exchange?  If its only small then theres likely only one MSAN.

[kitz]

Question just occured to me: if contention is an issue on the VPs to my ISP, would this vary depending on the ISP? Would I get better with another ISP? Do Bt have better capacity for themselves as ISP?

The VPs are a mix of all IPStream ISPs and no preference at all is given to BTBroadband.
Hence why I was wondering what others at your exchange are seeing.
You must make sure they are on MAX though.   If they are on a fixed rate product, then they will likely still be on the old DSLAMs.

[Helpneedadvice]

My husband is on BT business broadband - he gets a better contention ratio - 20:1 presumeably? I asked my ISP about that. I was told that they have similar products, but they cost around £50/month.

I will ask around and see what others are getting...

From the Sam knows website: my exchange supports 4,860 residential premises & 417 non-residential premises. Would that be just one MSAN (whatever that is  ) Any other way of telling?

He said that the temporary username that I'd been given had had no contention applied. He was seeing a different (higher) "pull" from his end than I was seeing. This led him to the conclusion that it was contention at the exchange and not their network or my line at fault.

[kitz]

>> BT business broadband - he gets a better contention ratio - 20:1 presumeably?

Yes - so its unfair to compare like for like... although its still likely to see some form, but just not as much.  Ive still seen it on 20:1 on occasions, but no-where near as bad.

>> I asked my ISP about that. I was told that they have similar products, but they cost around £50/month.

The ISP I was with (Plusnet) do it for £8 per month on top of whatever account youre on. eg £14.99 +£8.  You also get the increased upstream speed (832 kbps).
Theres a couple of others that also offer it for a bit extra, such as Enta and Vispa, but you'd have to check prices with them since I cant recall off the top of my head.
 

>> my exchange supports 4,860 residential premises & 417 non-residential premises

Obviously not all of those will have adsl.. and some will be on fixed rate.. so yes likely just one MSAN.  My own exchange has more than double those figures and only one MSAN which can support several thousand lines.

>> (whatever that is)

See pics - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/telephone_exchange.htm

>> Any other way of telling?

Nope - there was an ISP site that did tell you up to a few years ago.. but BTw made them take the info down :/

>> He was seeing a different (higher) "pull" from his end than I was seeing.

Sorry, I dont know what he meant by that.