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Speed drops after new router installed

shed53 — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 17:57:00 GMT

I installed a Smart Hub 2 late evening Friday 19/11/2021. I tested the broadband speed before the upgrade and was getting 55 Mbps down and 6-7 Mbps up.

After the upgrade, I’m getting only 21 Mbps down, thought still 6-7Mbps up. This is still the case, 44 hours after the new router was installed.

Is this normal? Is it time to prod BT to find out what’s happening?

TIA,

Chris

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

imjolly — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 18:13:50 GMT

It's not normal as speed should be virtually the same.

Did you remember to turn of smart setup?

Can you post the hub stats - advanced setting then technical log information

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

shed53 — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 22:04:33 GMT

I'd forgotten to turn off Smart Setup. I just did that, then restarted the hub. Still only getting 20 Mbps.

Here's the Technical log information:

Product name	BT Smart Hub 2
Serial number	1.85E+09
Fireware version	v0.27.07.07281-BT (Wed Jul 28 12:06:02 2021)
Board version	R01
GUI version	1.74 12_11_2020
DSL uptime	0 days 0 Hours 3 Mins 58 Secs
Data rate	6.0 Mbps / 21.5 Mbps
Maximum Data rate	6.0 Mbps / 63.4 Mbps
Noise margin	9.8/26.8
Line attenuation	12.7/21.8
Signal attenuation	11.0/25.9
VLAN id	101
Upstream error control	Off
Downstream error control	Off
Data sent/received	12.8 MB Uploaded / 78.1 MB Downloaded
Broadband username	bthomehub@btbroadband.com
BT Wi-Fi	Active
2.4 GHz wireless network name	BT-GWA63M
2.4 GHz wireless channel	Smart (Channel1)
5 GHz wireless network name	BT-GWA63M
5 GHz wireless channel	Smart (Channel36)
Wireless Security	WPA2 (Recommended)
Wireless mode	Mode 1
Firewall	On
MAC address	44:FE:3B:68:8C:7D
Software variant	-
Boot loader	0.1.7-BT (Thu Nov 30 09:45:22 2017)

Thanks for your help.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

imjolly — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 22:12:38 GMT

Have you tried using the test socket with a filter to see if that improves your connection speed maybe also try different modem/rj11 cable.

Do you have a dial tone? If so dial 17070 option 2 should be silent and best with corded phone

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

licquorice — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 22:17:41 GMT

It has all the hallmarks of a disconnected wire.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

Checked2013 — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 22:18:29 GMT

Looks to me like the DLM has reduced the speed due to all the restarting of the hub. It's best to now leave it alone and hope DLM Increaes the speed though it will take some time.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

shed53 — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 22:27:40 GMT

Thanks, everyone.

Seeing as the only change was from Smart Hub to Smart Hub 2, something to do with that change is top suspect for me. I think I'll give it a day or two to see if Dynamic Line Mgmt does put the speed back. Then look at other candidates, with moaning to BT among them 😉

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

licquorice — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 22:31:51 GMT

A simple test is to check for dial tone. Broadband can work very slowly on one wire but you need both for the phone to work.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

pippincp — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 02:48:17 GMT

@Checked2013wrote:
Looks to me like the DLM has reduced the speed due to all the restarting of the hub. It's best to now leave it alone and hope DLM Increaes the speed though it will take some time.

On what do you base that diagnosis when the OP has only mentioned one restart of the hub? If you want to include the hub swap out then that only amounts to two restarts hours apart which should not cause DLM to act.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

iniltous — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 08:57:08 GMT

How is the router connected to the master socket , presuming that’s where your router , (and the previous one ) is connected ? do you use a separate filter or a built in interstitial cover on the socket ?, is everything connected securely ?, your downstream noise margin seems high , if everything was fine until you swapped the router , it suggests you are unlucky and the new router is faulty , the new router isn’t correctly installed, or it’s a big coincidence but the line developed a fault at the same time you were changing router….you could switch back to the old router temporarily and check the stats on that to compare one with the other .

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

licquorice — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 09:24:26 GMT

I very much suspect a wire was dislodged in the master socket when swapping routers.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 09:40:41 GMT

With a high maximum data rate (63.4 Mbps) and a high noise margin (26.8dB), I would suspect that DLM has detected a major issue, and reduced the connection rate.

A bad connection which caused multiple disconnects in a very short time, would be seen as a fault, just like continually restarting the home hub would do. A noisy line would also cause this.

It would be best to leave it alone for at least a week, and avoid any disconnections or restarts of the home hub.

If it does not resolve itself, then you will have to raise it as a fault.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

imjolly — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 10:09:57 GMT

as previously posted I also don't think this is DLM taking action for connection problems. do you have the new master where the faceplate clips on rather than screws? if so check you have not dislodged the faceplate slightly causing a poor connection

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 11:59:41 GMT

DLM has already taken action, by reducing the actual connection speed. If it was a bad connection, then that would also affect the max available rate, as that is determined by the available bandwidth, and that is fine. Something has upset the connection.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

shed53 — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 14:43:12 GMT

Thanks, again, to so many experienced peeps for adding your thoughts.

In no particular order...

I have a new master socket where the faceplate clips on. When I changed routers I went nowhere near the socket. I unplugged the broadband (RJ45) and Ethernet cables, put the new hub in the old hub's place and reconnected the cables. So, I don't *think* the master socket connections play a role in the drop in speed.

We had major broadband issues in the summer and the OpenReach engineer tracked down a couple of external cabling issues, including a poor connection in the street cabinet, and repatched us at the exchange. Our speed went up after that and we have consistently got 45-55 Mbps, mostly 50+. BT's estimate after signing for Halo 3+ late October was 49-55 Mbps with a guarantee of 45Mbps.

I plugged a corded handset into the test socket behind the faceplate of the Master Socket this morning and tried the quiet line test, dialling 17070 option 2. The line was silent.

When I performed the quiet line test. the hub detected it had lost broadband so my Hybrid Connect kicked in. When I put everything back, the hub stayed solid purple, showing it was still using Hybrid Connect. I waited a few minutes but the hub didn't go back to broadband so I rebooted it. This of course means the hub has had another restart, which I had wanted to avoid, given one of the suggestions above. I retested broadband speed and observed a slight improvement - 23Mbps.

The speed is tolerable though far from ideal, so I think I will leave everything alone for several days, testing the speed intermittently, and see how it goes.

If it doesn't resolve itself, I'll look back at some of the other physical suggestions (new modem cable, rechecking the faceplate etc) and see if they help. If all else fails, I'll raise a ticket.

As I said over the weekend on a different thread, I love this community! It's so helpful.

Re: Speed drops after new router installed

shed53 — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 16:41:47 GMT

Latest update, Monday 6th December.

After waiting a week or so, line speed actually dropped, to 16-17 Mbps over several tests. I called in a fault, BT Home Tech visit on Friday. Engineer swapped my Smart Hib 2 for another SH2. He also advised me not to use the USB port (for my Sonos music library) as, apparently, using it interferes with the performance. That got the line speed "back" to 24 Mbps. BT then arranged an OpenReach visit for Saturday.

The OpenReach engineer got close to 60 Mbps with his own device. I had kept the Smart Hub we'd been using since the summer just in case the SH2 didn't work as expected so we tried that and hey presto - 55Mbps.

I repeated the test this morning with the same sort of results - in fact, one Smart Hub test achieved 59.41 Mbps. I phoned BT but they cannot progress until tomorrow because the line is being monitored for 3 days following Saturday's OpenReach visit and the system won't let them do anything with the case until that elapses.

Watch this space...