Connection drops on a daily basis / Varying (low) connection speeds

[desyone]

People probably know the drill by now, everything is fine then suddenly they go through a period where they receive barely a 10th of their paid connection speed, with their connection dropping completely at least once per day.

This all started happening when BT somehow increased our connection speed from 8Mbps to 21Mbps and also increased our upload from about 250kbps to 1Mbps which happened a couple months ago now. This was great! Everything was working fine, no drops in the connection or speed and it seemed like they had given us a nice boost for free.

That is, until things started going wrong about a month later when our connection would frequently drop, the connection speed would often fall to below 1Mbps and this is still happening.

With regards to solving this problem myself, I don't see how anything could be interfering with the setup I currently have, as nothing has changed within the house itself. Before I ring up an Indian/ Chinese/ Scottish/ Martian call center, I'd like to try and get some feedback from the users on this forum.

I'm going to buy some new ADSL filters just to see if the ones I'm currently using are packing up (they're cheap so that is no problem if nothing changes).

I have run quite a few speedtests using the recommended btspeedtester and have had varying results, all of which barely, if at all, meeting the acceptable range of speed for my line. Here is my most recent test:

 Download speedachieved during the test was - 4563 Kbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4000-21000 Kbps.
 IP Profile for your line is - 11000 Kbps

Some additional info on my connection:

		ADSL line status       Connection time 0 days, 00:46:06 Downstream 12,651 Kbps Upstream 1,260 Kbps   ADSL Settings VPI/VCI 0/38 Type PPPoA Modulation G.992.5 Annex A Latency type Interleaved Noise margin (Down/Up) 6.8 dB / 6.5 dB Line attenuation (Down/Up) 18.3 dB / 8.9 dB Output power (Down/Up) 20.2 dBm / 1.9 dBm Loss of Framing (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 FEC Errors (Down/Up) 2101 / 817 CRC Errors (Down/Up) 33376 / 1808 HEC Errors (Down/Up) 262820 / 0 Error Seconds (Local/Remote) 2101 / 771

[imjolly]

the upgrade to 21Cn adsl2+ was the reason for the increase in speed but the new 21CN is more aggressive on any noise on your line.  so what was a good stable connection on adslmax up to 8mb is not necessarily a good connection on adsl2+ up to 20mb.

try the quiet line test  dial 17070 option 2  should hear nothing and best done with corded phone if possible   if cordless then dull hum is normal

are you connected directly to the master or better the test socket?  do you have other socket apart from the master?

your btspeedtester shows the throughput/download speed lower than I would expect for a profile of 11000

[desyone]

Thank you for the quick reply.

I just tried the quiet line test on a cordless (no corded phones in the house) phone and there was a very quiet crackling sound.

My BT homehub is connected to the master socket. There are two other sockets in the house which are currently not being used.

[imjolly]

as you have other sockets even though not in use is it possible for you to connect to the test socket behind the bottom half of the master.  this will eliminate and possible noise from your internal extension wiring

[desyone]

Thanks again for the reply.

I connected to the test socket and saw a difference straight away when my internet reconnected. I ran another btspeedtest and here are the results:

 Download speedachieved during the test was - 8610 Kbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4000-21000 Kbps.
 IP Profile for your line is - 11000 Kbps

ADSL line status

Connection Information     Connection time 0 days, 00:11:22 Downstream 13,838 Kbps Upstream 1,272 Kbps

ADSL Settings VPI/VCI 0/38 Type PPPoA Modulation G.992.5 Annex A Latency type Interleaved Noise margin (Down/Up) 6.3 dB / 6.3 dB Line attenuation (Down/Up) 18.2 dB / 8.9 dB Output power (Down/Up) 21.5 dBm / 1.9 dBm Loss of Framing (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 FEC Errors (Down/Up) 676 / 0 CRC Errors (Down/Up) 5613 / 160 HEC Errors (Down/Up) 60095 / 0 Error Seconds (Local/Remote) 676 / 100

I don't suppose it's possible to simply leave things as they are connected to the test socket?

[imjolly]

that's made an improvement and connection looks ok  you can remain in the test socket for as long as you want just that none of your other sockets will work

if it becomes a problem then I would suggest that you get a filtered faceplate for the master that way the router will connect to the faceplate and no other filters will be required and also all you other sockets will work again.

you cannot however connect your router to any other socket bar the filtered faceplate

[desyone]

Thanks for the help!

I shall be looking in to getting a filtered faceplate shortly.

Edit: Spoke too soon...

It seems to have reverted to what it was before.

Can't post btspeedtest results just yet due to the hour-use restriction but I did one using speedtest.net and also checked my ping at pingtest.net

Connection Information     Connection time 0 days, 01:09:19 Downstream 13,838 Kbps Upstream 1,272 Kbps

ADSL Settings VPI/VCI 0/38 Type PPPoA Modulation G.992.5 Annex A Latency type Interleaved Noise margin (Down/Up) 5.3 dB / 6.3 dB Line attenuation (Down/Up) 18.2 dB / 8.9 dB Output power (Down/Up) 20.7 dBm / 1.9 dBm Loss of Framing (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 FEC Errors (Down/Up) 4158 / 0 CRC Errors (Down/Up) 55260 / 45 HEC Errors (Down/Up) 721653 / 0 Error Seconds (Local/Remote) 4158 / 24

Sorry to trouble you further but at this point would trying to get an engineer out be the next course of action?

[john46]

Hi post another BT speed test as soon as you can with those results it will enable someone here to give more advice

[desyone]

This is the results from the test I just this moment carried out:

 Download speedachieved during the test was - 2712 Kbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4000-21000 Kbps.
 IP Profile for your line is - 11000 Kbps

ADSL line status

Connection Information     Connection time 0 days, 06:34:42 Downstream 13,838 Kbps Upstream 1,272 Kbps

ADSL Settings VPI/VCI 0/38 Type PPPoA Modulation G.992.5 Annex A Latency type Interleaved Noise margin (Down/Up) 5.3 dB / 6.3 dB Line attenuation (Down/Up) 18.2 dB / 8.9 dB Output power (Down/Up) 20.5 dBm / 1.9 dBm Loss of Framing (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote) 0 / 0 FEC Errors (Down/Up) 23695 / 0 CRC Errors (Down/Up) 42215 / 1382 HEC Errors (Down/Up) 4995937 / 0 Error Seconds (Local/Remote) 23695 / 606

[imjolly]

your throughput speed is low again.  have you changed the filter just in case that is a problem.  if so then you need to contact mods for assistance as your 2712 is below acceptable range of 4000 http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4951