This topic

Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

ScottyP65 — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:01:12 GMT

Hi all, I have HomeAssistant, (HAOS) running on a Gigabyte BRiX mini PC and it monitors my BT broadband, curiously it reveals what I suspected from odd performance issues, and that is the speed drops to a very low level, several times a day, every single day and at random times. The modem remains blue at these times, it has been rebooted, firmware updates are automatic, and it is connected by Ethernet to the mini PC so no wireless issues.

Here is an example of just the past two days. I contacted tech support but when it was tested, it was fine. Typical of course, it does this randomly. I have Halo 3 but still have the old modem that I was issued when I joined BT many years ago. See the log graph below, this has been happening for a long time, I have data to the start of March and it is continuously doing this. How do I get this resolved if it is random and seems fine when they test it.

Speed drops to as low as 13mbps

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

ScottyP65 — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:18:52 GMT

One of the mods moved this to the fibre section; I do not have fibre. I have copper / ADSL service on a standard phone line using a filter, but the Halo-3 package was sold to me when I renewed. Please move this post back where it should be.

@Keith_Beddoe

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

licquorice — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:30:29 GMT

You do NOT have ADSL, you have VDSL fibre to the cabinet broadband and this is the correct board for your post.

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

ScottyP65 — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:48:25 GMT

How do you know what is installed? I have a standard phone line and need to use a filter. Max speed is 80mbps. Can you explain how you know I have fibre to the cabinet?

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

licquorice — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:52:12 GMT

Extremely simple. The maximum speed of ADSL is approx 20Mbps, your speed is far in excess of that and only possible with FTTC

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

ScottyP65 — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:59:05 GMT

Ok thanks, easy enough to understand when explained. The reason I asked is we have no availability apparently of fibre in the area. Seems that isn't true...

Next, while the crystal ball is out, why is my speed dropping to ADSL levels then, several times a day, every day.

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

iniltous — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 12:04:26 GMT

You are on a domestic FTTC service that ultimately is shared with many other users, if you want a service that is not shared , then something like a fibre leased line may be appropriate but can be around 10 times the cost , what your chart shows ( with one exception between 3am-6am ) is when you would expect peak usage , more customers making use of the bandwidth available, quiet times like 9am to 6pm less demand with people at school or work so not so much ‘competition’ for the available bandwidth.
Unless you are experiencing actual real life issues , a speed test simply for the purpose of checking what speed you get serves what purpose ?,
Your chart doesn’t really show anything out of the ordinary, apart from the early morning anomaly, the site your speed test uses it not under BT control , and a speed test using a single speed test site is more likely to show up the speed test site bandwidth limitations rather than your ISP or its supplier.

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

licquorice — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 12:07:18 GMT

As trite as this might sound, it is because you have an intermittent line fault. Unfortunately, intermittent line faults are hard to trace by their very nature. Testing won't necessarily identify a problem with the line. It requires a diligent and experienced engineer to track the fault down but I'm afraid they are as rare as hens teeth these days.

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

ScottyP65 — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 13:07:33 GMT

Stay fast guarantee...get the speeds we promise or xyz etc

Surely already takes account of the prevailing speeds due to demand. The chart shows my speed drops in the AM, at Midnight, at 3pm, randomly and with no pattern. If I get a stay fast guarantee, how do I invoke that if no one cares what a speed test says. It matters not if this was tested by my ISP; it's a real world test from my device, to the internet on the service I am paying (handsomely) for.

How do I get the issue investigated by BT?

Additionally, the BT Speed tester no longer functions from a web browser (their message not my statement) and it is not possible to use it online, only from a mobile device. What?

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

licquorice — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 14:03:45 GMT

There are 2 different things when it comes to measuring broadband speed, sync speed and throughput speed. Unfortunately both are known colloquially as 'Download' speed.

Sync speed is the speed of the signal to your modem/hub and should remain constant unless you have a line fault and is the speed referred to by BT with the speed guarantee.

Throughput speed is the speed to your PC or other device and is the speed that speedtester sites measure. This speed is totally subject to all sorts of variables such as congestion etc and is not guaranteed by any ISP.

You need to determine if your problem is with sync speed by checking the hub stats at the time you get the slow speeds or if it is purely throughput speed that is the problem.

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

ScottyP65 — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 11:58:26 GMT

Ok, so I am a Microsoft .NET developer (stating that upfront so you know I am not puzzled by tech or networking terminology) so can you explain how and where to measure the "sync speed" to the hub. I'd be interested in looking at that metric.

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

licquorice — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 12:18:30 GMT

Advanced settings> technical log> information

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

ScottyP65 — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 12:52:47 GMT

Thanks for that, As suspected it says 20mb/80mb for data rate. Its a Hub 6A with v1.0 hardware.

So this doesn't show any potential issues. But I will keep an eye on things.

Re: Broadband dropping speed several times a day, every day

licquorice — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 13:39:09 GMT

Check it when you get the speed drop. If it still reports 80/20 it points to probable congestion in the backhaul as suggested by @iniltous rather than a line fault.