This topic

Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 19:09:51 GMT

I am about 300 metres from the cabinet. My FTTC dropwire which is approx. 12mm dia. translucent polythene covered steel armoured cable (circa 1973), comes underground through the estate, down my drive to the electricity meter box then up in the cavity to a brown, lozenge shaped GPO 3 way junction box in the loft. From there on it goes to an NTE5a master socket now with filtered faceplate.

BT estimated my download speed would be 43Mbps - 50 Mbps, upload speed would be between 8 and 9 Mbps - Stayfast guarantee 36 Mbps download. Fastest download and upload speeds 51Mbps and 9Mbps.

The quiet line test is good, almost silent. I would add that my router stats are WiFi as my HP laptop has no Ethernet socket. I have pasted my line data and router stats below - apologies for the small size, I keep getting warnings about exceeding 333kbps.

Could an expert on these matters please be kind enough to look at these data and advise me on my situation and if improvement is possible? Thank you.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

pippincp — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:16:41 GMT

If the quiet line test is only almost silent the it isn't good. Any noise will affect your braodband.

Besides the important part of the checker result being difficult to read you also missed out the exchange and cab number.

For images instead of reducing the dimensions to get the file size down use a free jpeg optimiser.

http://jpeg-optimizer.com/

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

imjolly — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:32:10 GMT

Have you tried connecting to test socket with a filter and repost your router stats do you have any extension phone sockets in your home?

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 21:41:33 GMT

Thanks for your rapid reply and sorry for the over-enthusiastic editing.

My cabinet is Child Okeford 1 a Huawei cabinet which is just about in visible distance of my home.

As I am almost 80 years old my hearing is probably not perfect but all I can hear on Quiet line test, if I try hard, is a faint hiss - a bit like the sound of the sea in a seashell when I was a kid.

Thanks, I will investigate a file optimiser prog. as you suggest.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 21:47:03 GMT

Thanks for your rapid reply and I have tried the test socket with a micro-filter but there is no difference. I do have a filtered faceplate on the NTE5a which totally separates the only extension's wiring and uses a separate socket for the phone line.

Thanks for the thought though.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

imjolly — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 08:48:24 GMT

when you used the test socket with filter was there no difference in connection speed but what about the attainable speed and noise margin. did you also check when in test socket there was no dial tone at your extension socket?

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 09:05:55 GMT

I did not check the attainable speed in the test socket I am afraid but there would have been no dialling tone at extension phone as the test I did was during fitting the filtered face plate and I had not yet fitted the wires to the extension as I had no PDC tool then.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am fairly sure that I would just manage to reach the Stayfast guarantee speed with an Ethernet connection as with my previous laptop, the sync. speed was just the bit higher wire connected but my new HP Envy has only WiFi so speed is that bit lower even close to TP-Link VR2800 router.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 09:47:19 GMT

I got there in the end I hope.

Child Okeford Cabinet 1

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

Ethelrobinson — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 09:53:11 GMT

I’ve seen plenty of articles on the web with a variety of supposed solutions, and non of them really seem to work. What are the actual legit ways of increasing internet speed from home? If you even can make a tangible difference.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

imjolly — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 09:58:21 GMT

your connection speed is way below that expected for your line according to dslchecker. if you can hear a slight hiss then I would report a phone fault not broadband to 150 and get engineer visit

it would have been interesting to see stats when connected to test socket with filter

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

Carlusha — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 10:23:10 GMT

@TeeBee1

Since your HP Envy does not have an ethernet port, there are adaptor options available to you if you really wanted to connect via ethernet - USB to Ethernet.

I would focus on getting that line hiss sorted first as recommended by @imjolly

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 15:51:55 GMT

Thank you all, I will be arranging to borrow my old MacBook Pro in the next few days because I know that does have Ethernet facilities. I wonder why modern laptops such as the HP Envy 15 and even the new MacBooks I notice have done away with Ethernet sockets in favour of USB C? I guess to facilitate thinner and thinner cases.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 19:25:51 GMT

I have now tested my line via an old MacBook Pro with the Ethernet cable connected to a micro-filter and into the BT test socket on my NTE5a master socket. Not much difference it appears to me but about 2 more Mbps on the TP-Link VR 2800 sync speed. Hope the images are large enough to read.

Child Okeford Cabinet 1 (Huawei)

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

imjolly — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 20:15:32 GMT

Your connection is still terrible compared to your expected range from dslchecker results your attainable is also very low and suggests a problem with your connection/line and I would suggest you phone 150 and get engineer visit

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TimCurtis — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 11:24:39 GMT

@TeeBee1

Just to add to @imjolly comments, the error packets for just 10 mins connect time looks very bad to me.

Also my attentuation is 33 up & 15 down and my speeds are approx 12m & 57m so with your far better (lower) figures you should be getting much better speeds.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 11:52:25 GMT

Thanks for comment, I am not clear about the relationship between attenuation which is not dreadful and SNR and SNR Margin which I believe fall near the target figure BT use to decide the DLM setting. I am not ANY kind of expert though!

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 18:48:10 GMT

Thank you all and especially @imjolly and @pippincp for your patience and suggestions. An engineers visit would seem to be the best way to go although I will not be amused if I am told that my line meets the 36Mbps Stayfast guarantee criterion (it is close) and that I will be charged for the visit!

I need to wait about 3 weeks for my recent Pfizer vaccination to "mature" before having a home visit from an engineer just to be safe.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

pippincp — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 18:48:48 GMT

Not near enough target SNR and shows a line problem. With a good line on a Huawei cab your noise margin should be about 3.0dB with G.INP or 6.0dB without.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

TeeBee1 — Mon, 17 May 2021 08:49:26 GMT

Some feedback on my original post as thanks to the experts here who gave up their time to help me.

After a delay with Covid jabs etc I phoned 150 and reported my slow line speed as advised.

A Cube engineer came, changed my NTE5a to a 5C but declined to touch the C1973 underground dropwire - house wiring connection (6 joints in 6 inches). He escalated the problem to OR. but nothing happened so I made another appointment for an OR. engineer.

He was brilliant, he neatly terminated the connection with 2 jelly crimps and spent in total, 2.5 days (yes, really), following my underground line back to the cabinet 200m away. He found an underground junction box not shown on OR. plans and reduced the V. high cross-talk figures.

I have posted the results after the DLM has gradually increased the line speed, a terrific improvement! Downloads via oopla @ 42+ Mbps are common now, not 26-27 Mbps as previously. My line is close to the 50/10 profile stated by the engineer.

Thank you all again.

Re: Can my download speed be improved?

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 17 May 2021 08:53:16 GMT

@TeeBee1

You can provide feedback to Openreach, its always appreciated.

https://www.openreach.com/thank-an-engineer-form