Kitz Forum

Broadband Related => FTTC and FTTP Issues => Topic started by: Black Sheep on January 17, 2015, 08:29:09 PM

Title: Strange result ??
Post by: Black Sheep on January 17, 2015, 08:29:09 PM
Was working on an 'Early Life Failure' (ELF) on a recent 'PCP only installation'. The EU was complaining of slow T/P speeds (16 Meg), and the issue was down to star-wiring dragging his synch speed down to 22Meg.
This had been resolved a few days back by the EU plugging the router in the test socket (whilst going through the script with the call-centre handler), and his synch returned to the full 40 Meg.

So, all is well and various tests showed his desktop/i-Pad etc. to have T/P speeds of circa 37/38 Meg. The EU commented he didn't perform speed tests on these devices, only via his 'Smart TV'. So I plugged my works Lappy onto the end of his Ethernet cable that is usually plugged into the TV, and got the expected 37/38 meg again.

However, when we put the cable back into the TV and ran a test via the TV menu ..... it returned a 16Meg speed reading !! The reason why he raised the fault in the first place !!.
He obviously now knows that it's the TV that is causing the speed issue and that it inadvertently caused a genuinely required repair visit for the other devices to get full benefit. But, what on earth could cause the TV to lose 20+ Meg speeds ? Anybody come across this before ??  :)
Title: Re: Strange result ??
Post by: NewtronStar on January 17, 2015, 09:09:42 PM
But, what on earth could cause the TV to lose 20+ Meg speeds ? Anybody come across this before ??  :)

That's easy it's the smart TV's OS and the NIC card, if it was me the first thing I would do is to update the firmware for that model.
Title: Re: Strange result ??
Post by: loonylion on January 17, 2015, 10:27:08 PM
could be a cheap nic in the smart tv offloading everything onto the cpu and the cpu not coping with the speed.
Title: Re: Strange result ??
Post by: Black Sheep on January 17, 2015, 10:28:13 PM
See ...... this is the place all the cool guys & gals hang out !! Cheers NS, although I don't profess to understand the in-depth reasoning, even I get what OS/Firmware Upgrade means !! Thank you sir. ;) :)
Title: Re: Strange result ??
Post by: Chrysalis on January 17, 2015, 10:39:01 PM
Bad software as well, a low RWIN value can limit speeds.
Title: Re: Strange result ??
Post by: NewtronStar on January 17, 2015, 10:49:39 PM
See ...... this is the place all the cool guys & gals hang out !! Cheers NS, although I don't profess to understand the in-depth reasoning, even I get what OS/Firmware Upgrade means !! Thank you sir. ;) :)

It's not that hard to update the firmware on smart TV's it just hard to find the source, and have updated my Toshiba's TV firmware this Friday.

take a note of the exact model number from the backside of TV then google the manufactures website "Toshiba TV firmware" and download file to PC and extract file to USB memory stick then insert memory stick into the TV's USB port and use the combination keys on the remote to start the flash process (upgrade).

Title: Re: Strange result ??
Post by: Black Sheep on January 18, 2015, 09:40:48 AM
Thanks guys. Another 'fix' for the memory banks.  :)
Title: Re: Strange result ??
Post by: kitz on January 18, 2015, 12:20:05 PM
Dont know if this is related or not, but dont TV's have some sort of maximum bit rate - ie 20 Mbps seems to be a common spec, although Ive seen lower figures quoted.  Its something to do with the TV refresh rate and how much it can buffer a stream.

Although smart PCs may contain a CPU, theyre not a 'proper' PC and often use a hub type service to get access to the Internet (mine has Toshiba Places), these are apps and although you can browse the internet...  its not IE, FF, chrome etc... so this may also affect a speed test.