This topic

Speed Confusion

cjwz — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 07:14:14 GMT

Hi Community

After trawling through a few community posts over the last few days I'm still in need of a few tips to work out if there is anything I can do to improve my BTBB. I'm a BT Fibre with Halo 1 customer, (but not using HomeHub ) but still expecting (as indicated in My BT):

Normal available speeds:

Your normal available download speed will be between 49-73 Mbps

Your normal available upload speed will be between 13-18 Mbps

Minimum guaranteed download speed

Your minimum guaranteed download speed will be 40 Mbps

However, I never see anything over 40Mbs, in fact after doing the check here https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/ I can see the max I've seen is still under 40:

Now I do understand that there's some small print to all the speed estimates etc but should I be expecting to be able to get more the 32MBPS which is what I've been getting for months now. I'm also not a million miles from the Exchange or Cabinet, pretty sure the cabinet is quite literally a stone's throw away and the exchange is a 2min walk.

I've checked the line using the 17070 and all is quiet, I've also checked the line by connecting up to my Draktek Modem:

Just intrigued to know what options I've got, because right now it feels like I'm paying for something capable on paper (or BTW/BT info) of twice what I'm actually seeing.

I know one obvious answer is to try the HomeHub hardware etc, but I thought I still had the choice and having had them hubs before, I'm still not a fan, personal choice I know. After the DrayTek modem I have things linked up to an Asus Router and Mesh setup, which I'm not planning to throw out anytime soon.

I'd be really grateful if any fellow community folk can see anything obvious or suggestions.

Re: Speed Confusion

imjolly — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 07:42:22 GMT

unlike the hub your stats don't show internet connection time or attainable speed. you show system uptime but that is not same as connection time

from your low speed and high noise margin is suggests you either have or had a connection problem where you router was dropping internet connection and DLM has taken action to reduce speed

Re: Speed Confusion

iniltous — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 08:43:25 GMT

If you still have your BT supplied hub, I cannot see why you haven’t ( at least temporarily) connected it and examined the ( on the face if it ) more comprehensive connection statistics, then it may well be possible to see if your max attainable is close to the estimator site predictions.

As far as choice, you do indeed have a choice , you could report a fault, insist ( even with the warning about if it’s your own equipment/wiring etc causing the problem ) on a engineer visit, chances are eventually an OR engineer turns up and tests/connects their own kit and if a problem indicated externally , off they go to hopefully repair it, if their equipment syncs better than yours and a speed achieved is more in line with the predicted speed , and a line test shows the line to be OK, then you know it’s your own kit , but a potentially expensive way to find out , especially if the BT Hub is in a cupboard gathering dust.

Re: Speed Confusion

licquorice — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 10:03:58 GMT

It looks suspiciously like DLM has banded your line at 35M due to instability.

Re: Speed Confusion

cjwz — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 19:50:46 GMT

After spending a bit more time with the modem I found a little more line info:

Re: Speed Confusion

cjwz — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 19:52:03 GMT

Unfortunately, the last hub I had was the HH2..so if I do manage to find it buried somewhere it will be covered in an awful lot of dust by now 😉

Re: Speed Confusion

imjolly — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 21:05:51 GMT

There is still nothing in the additional stats to show your internet connection time. Have you been having problems with your modem dropping connection as that would account for the drop in connection speed and increase in noise margin and ending up in a banded profile

Re: Speed Confusion

cjwz — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 19:42:40 GMT

I can get the current connection time from the modem:

The 32hrs would line up with when I restarted the modem yesterday. The Draytek modem replaced the original Openreach modem that's been in place for years. Since replacing that the latency experienced on the network has improved.

The main issue is the speed, in that I'm paying for a service I'm not getting made more annoying that I can get faster speeds off tethering to a 4G mobile phone.

In looking today, the SNR values have dropped from 9 to 6.

...attempting to raise it with BT but the fault raising wizard online fails on the speed test, so could well be a phone call in the morning.

Re: Speed Confusion

cjwz — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 19:45:10 GMT

...as well as SNR, Path Mode has changed today.

Re: Speed Confusion

cjwz — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 06:37:45 GMT

...saga continues:

Tried to raise the issue Saturday night but website systems were down
Raised issue, but had to go through ChatBot process as the automated line fault process detected no problem (not a surprise as the line is working just not configured correctly)
Managed to arrange a callback, which raised a complaint
Engineer booked for 3 weeks time!
Complaint closed - even though issue still exists, reason...because the engineer is booked!

So I have a 3 week wait for an engineer visit, yet the complaint is closed even though I'm paying for a service to provide 49-73Mbps...barely getting above 30Mbps. Also wonder if I was a new customer and not someone who's been a customer for 12 years, would the time for an engineer visit be different.

So re-opened the complaint, given that the closure feels just like a means to keep numbers down, as in my head the complaint should stay open until it is resolved (by the engineer visit) or someone enables the line to meet the service purchased.

A great example of poor customer service!

Re: Speed Confusion

garybs29 — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 07:33:42 GMT

A new customer would be no different timescales, purely depends on engineer avaulability in your area. On one of your other points it's in the t's & c's that they have 30 days to fix it if slow or you can claim a £20 reward card or you can leave without any penalties as well.