Slowest internet speed ever

[loveclose]

 

Christ - I've just done a speed test cos every internet page I load is AGAIN takin' ages to load - not just here, (sorry Mick if you thought it was!!), but every site.

8.4mps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should be nearer 190mps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have 8mb broadband, but it is effectively 2.5mb cos of exchange distance.

But 8.4?

Wots more, it always seems to be around 22:30 onwards that this happens, nearly every night.

Anyone else experienced this before I get onto my isp???

Sorry, going to have to come back tomorrow, cos this internet speed is driving me NUTS

(Sorry, rant over..... )

[Mick]

Peter, mine was loading very slow around 6pm tonight, but all seems fine now.  Doing a speed check I'm only running about 4061.01 Kbps ( 4 Mbps )down, and 376.14 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps ) up.  The joys of 8 meg broadband 

Here's my speed test.  Taken a couple of mins ago. http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/1208902922166371249.html

[Simple]

Wow, I would be happy with that. Mine is running at 2.5mbps yes , and I have 8mB broadband. During the day I get about 4.5 andthat is it.

[Mick]

Simon I only live about 1/2 mile from the BT exchange, but it desperately needs upgrading methinks

Here's another one ten mins later. Speed Down 5998.84 Kbps ( 5.9 Mbps ) Speed Up 376.24 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/12089036569046331395.html

[guest4]

I never get more than 2.7Mbps upload and its at 1.8 atm. 376k upload so that seems pretty consistent.

[Mick]

Andy spose that shouldn't cause problems, unless you do a lot of downloading.   What ISP's are you guys using?   I'm using Orange 8mb Broadband.

[guest4]

I'm on BT 'up to' 8meg. Occasionally it gets low enough to interfere with streaming but a reboot of the server usually sorts that out.

This 'up to' 8meg bit is the only thing I'm unhappy about tbh cos you get quite a few bits and bobs like free wifi when out and about. Can surf the net in the pub...

[Jonathan]

I'm on BT 'up to' 8meg. Occasionally it gets low enough to interfere with streaming but a reboot of the server usually sorts that out.

This 'up to' 8meg bit is the only thing I'm unhappy about tbh cos you get quite a few bits and bobs like free wifi when out and about. Can surf the net in the pub...

Don't get me started on BT internet.....

I've been with them 2 years.  They rang yesterday to say that as a loyal customer I could have my cost reduced if I stayed for another year.  My "up to 8MB" would go down from £17.99 to £15.99.  I said that sounded pricey.  He started waffling on about the free wifi I would get.  "Hang on, you promised me that last year and I never got it...".  At that point he panicked and put me through to customer retention in the UK (the best department of any firm).

He started by offering em a fiver off per month (£12.99).  If he had shut up at this point I would have signed.  But he had to keep talking....

"You can have TV on demand too!"  "Will that work?"  Err, YES!  Oh, you are on a 4MB line and it needs 4.5 - but we can up that if you take the TV.  "4?  Not 8?"  Ah, it's up to 8 but since you are so far from the exchange (a good mile) the fastest we can set it to is 4.  "Unless I pay you more and you set it to 4.5?"  Well, that's free - you're not paying for that!  "So will you do it"  Yes, if you pay us.  Hmm.  We talked for a while about the free Ferrari I would give him.  Shortly after he gave me £500,000.  He didn't bite.

So I'm on 4 MB now not 8?  "It's up to 8 but we have it set at the maximum speed which is 4".  So why is speed test showing 3?  "Ah that's wrong - you have to use the speed test from the BT site to get an accurate result"  Not the industry standard one?  "NO, only our own speed test is accurate".  OK, it's showing 2.5 right now.  "Well, it must be wrong!".

Shortly after that I hung up.

In about 2 week O2 will upgrade their circuits at my local exchange under LLU.  24 MB internet will cost me less than 20 quid a month.  More importantly my upload speed (I send albums and prints to the labs via FTP) will triple.  Can't wait.  Bye bye BT.  If only he had shut up at the start!

[loveclose]

 

Think I must have meant 8.4kps - anyway, slower than 56k modem - dead dead dead slow.

Couln't even load my homepage at one point........

It's almost as if suddenly there are too many people on the blower and I get squeezed out.....

Either that, or my modem plays up at the same time everynight....

Can't be someone hacking into the wireless cos that's encrypted ok.

It's not my skybox, cos I haven't connected that anywhere cos it always interfered with my system when I did...

I'll do a speed test now to compare, but it's now 18:31 and my speed appears to be normal now, but it won't be later....

[loveclose]

Here's my result as of this early evening......

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/120897194720358714059.html

Don't know if you can see it, cos I'm not a member there.....

BTW, I'm with PlusNet

Will do another speed test this eve - if I can get on it!

[Mick]

Can't be someone hacking into the wireless cos that's encrypted ok.

he he, I would be surprised, go quickly take a look though the next doors window, and see if he's on the web. 

[Mick]

Don't get me started on BT internet.....

"You can have TV on demand too!"  "Will that work?"  Err, YES!  Oh, you are on a 4MB line and it needs 4.5 - but we can up that if you take the TV.  "4?  Not 8?"  Ah, it's up to 8 but since you are so far from the exchange (a good mile) the fastest we can set it to is 4.  "Unless I pay you more and you set it to 4.5?"  Well, that's free - you're not paying for that!  "So will you do it"  Yes, if you pay us.  Hmm.  We talked for a while about the free Ferrari I would give him.  Shortly after he gave me £500,000.  He didn't bite.

So I'm on 4 MB now not 8? 

This is ridiculous, sure if your paying for up to 8 meg, then they should supply you with the fastest connection possible from your exchange.  How is giving them more money going to help that?   Are they throttling your connection to squeeze more cash out of you.

[Carlj]

All BT bb is provided on ipstream max, ie, will be provided at the fastest possible speed up to the max of 8 megabits per second. O2 use llu (local loop unbundled) to provide higher speed in theory, though a lot of the problems with speed relate to the wiring used in the house for extensions, etc. Vision actually takes 2mbs of speed for its service, hence a minium speed of 4mbs (generally) is required to allow both bb and vision to coexist. A lot of speed problems are actually apparent not due to bb speed, but to the restrictions on upload/download speeds from the websites. Another factor is contention rates - many cut price offerings come with worse contentions, so you'll slow down except in the wee small hours. Quite a few are substantially slower than BT. In addition, some cap their service at a max 2mb, though at long line length properties, is more stable.

Oh, and PlusNet is a BT company, as are Dabs....

[Alfonso_Frisk]

Was talking to a bt engineer yesterday and advised using bbmax.  (  http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/ ) as a test for your line speed etc. Apparently its what they use and is the most reliable. I tried it and I am getting 2556 kbps down and 378kbs up which suprised me as I thought I would get at least 4-6mb down as I am paying for up to 8mb and only about a mile from the exchange.

[jimthetrain]

I've got the up to 16 meg package from sky because of the unlimited download usage and I know It will never be anywhere near that. So just tested it and it was 675Kbps down (0.7Mbps) and 644Kbps up (0.6Mbps) Rebooted the router and it got worse. I know having it wireless loses some but I've got used to it. It seems quick enough to me but I haven't seen one at full capacity to compare.


edit.  Just checked my router settings and it tells me i'm capable of downloading at 6368 Kbps So i'm at 1/10th of the line capacity.