This topic

Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 09:10:58 GMT

Hi. I am at the end of a long run of copper and no chance of fibre although we have a fibre exchange. I am getting very slow and or no service for several hours then back to “normal” 20mb speeds then drops again. I have run the my bt test and it shows speeds to the device of 0.2 download and 0.3 upload when I am having problems. I have Sonos and various iPads, phones, laptops , TV etc plugged in. About 20 devices max. Most are dormant and no heavy use with video or Netflix type apps. Welcome any suggestions as the engineers I get from open reach have done the best they can and the home engineers don’t care as it’s getting to the router. The wifi is unusable for 50-70% of the day. Previously it was fine. Slow but steady.

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

imjolly — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 10:24:36 GMT

welcome to the BT community forum where customers help customers and only BT employees are the forum mods

please can you post the stats from your router (if hub enter 192.168.1.254 in your browser) and if HH5 then go to troubleshooting then helpdesk and if HH6/SH2 then advanced settings then technical log information .

Have you tried the quiet line test? - dial 17070 option 2 - should hear nothing - best done with a corded phone. if cordless phone you may hear a 'dull hum' which is normal

enter your phone number and post results remember to delete number https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Someone may then be able to offer help/assistance/suggestions to your problem

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 12:37:13 GMT

thanks for the response. Quiet line checked and line silent

the stats you request. are they these

Connection status	Connected
Connection type	Fibre Broadband (VDSL)
Firmware version	v0.38.00.10147-BT (Fri Oct 14 23:39:03 2022)
Serial number	removed by me
Downstream sync speed	24.0 Mbps
Upstream sync speed	7.5 Mbps
Network uptime	0 days 23 Hours 6 Mins 13 Secs
System uptime	0 days 23 Hours 7 Mins 42 Secs
Public Wi-fi status	Active

i also got these

featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream HandbackThreshold(Mbps) WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability Date Left in JumperHigh Low High Low VDSL Range A (Clean)
VDSL Range B (Impacted)

32.1	20	7.1	5	16.5	Available	Available	--
30.9	16.5	7	4.3	12.8	Available	Available	--

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install ProcessFTTP on Demand

330

Available

ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) ADSL Availability Date Left in JumperWBC ADSL 2+WBC ADSL2+ Annex MADSL MaxWBC Fixed RateFixed Rate

Up to 2	--	1 to 3	Available	Yes
Up to 2	Up to 0.5	1 to 3	Available	Yes
Up to 2	--	1 to 3	Available	--
0.5	--	--	Available	Yes
0.5	--	--	Available	--

SOADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) WBC SOADSL Availability Date Left in JumperWBC SOADSL 2+SOADSL MaxSOADSL Fixed Rate

Up to 2	--	1 to 3	--	Yes
Up to 2	--	1 to 3	--	--
Up to 0.5	--	1 to 3	--	Yes

Observed Speeds VDSLMax Observed Downstream SpeedMax Observed Upstream SpeedObserved Date

24.02

7.52

2023-03-17

Other Offerings Availability DateVDSL MulticastADSL Multicast

Available

Premise Environment StatusBridge TapVRINTE FacePlateLast Test Date

08-03-2023

Exchange Product Restrictions StatusFTTP Priority ExchangeWLR WithdrawalSOADSL Restriction

FTTP is not available.

The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme

WLR is currently available at the exchange

SOADSL is restricted at the exchange

For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (VDSL or G.fast) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

For all SOADSL services,the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

Actual speeds experienced by end users and quoted by CPs will be lower due to a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

hope this makes sense and thank you

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 12:52:10 GMT

just to clarify i don't think the speed to the router can be improved and accept that 20mb is the best i can get

The problem is that the wifi speed varies. sometimes it is 20mb and most of the time is about .02mb

it used to be stable and now its unusable for a lot of the time.

i have had many engineers visit the house and the next ne is due Monday but they don't care as it intermittent and works as far as the router.

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

imjolly — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 13:05:18 GMT

@Way2go

sorry but that is not the hub stats from advanced settings/technical log information

connection time is 23hrs was that manual reset or router dropping internet connection?

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:46:34 GMT

thanks for your help and sorry about that

i hope this is now the right data

his is a list of your Hub settings and current statistics.

Product code:Hub

Serial number:+091298+1919006897

Firmware version:v0.38.00.10147-BT

Firmware updated:Wed Feb 15 21:22:29 2023

Board version:R01

GUI version:1.77 20_05_2022

DSL uptime:1 days,03 Hours21 Mins57 Secs

Data rate:7.529 Mbps / 24.027 Mbps

Maximum data rate:7.529 Mbps / 24.180 Mbps

Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:On

Noise margin:6.0 / 5.9

Line attenuation:11.8 / 26.6

Signal attenuation:11.8 / 33.7

VLAN id:101

Upstream error control:Off

Downstream error control:Off

Data sent / received:2.6 GB Uploaded / 18.6 GB Downloaded

Broadband username:bthomehub@btbroadband.com

Public Wi-fi status:Activated

2.4 GHz wireless network name:BT-GFA85C

2.4 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 1)

5 GHz wireless network name:BT-GFA85C

5 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 36)

Wireless security:WPA2

Wireless mode:Mode 1

Firewall:On

MAC address:64:CC:22:D9:B4:A4

Software variant:-

Boot loader:0.1.7-BT (Thu Nov 30 09:45:22 2017)

regarding the question of the router - i rebooted it manually

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

pippincp — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:53:48 GMT

Those stats look OK but because you removed the exchange and cab you are supplied by we don't know if they could be better.

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

licquorice — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:55:13 GMT

Unfortunately no ISP guarantees WiFi speeds as there are too many variables. Have you tried changing channels?

@pippincp and @imjolly The OP is happy with connection speed

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

pippincp — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:55:20 GMT

Also try changing modes.

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:02:12 GMT

thank you for your advice - how do i do that please?

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:06:00 GMT

found it 🙂

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

licquorice — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:23:58 GMT

Are you sure it is actual WiFi link speed that is slow or throughput that is slow? You should be able to see the link speed on a connected device.

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:27:47 GMT

Thank you - i have problems in the speed to my ipad/iphone devices most of the time but the laptops are always faster when i do a speed test on them. i stand in front of the router for all so its not distance or walls.

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:31:10 GMT

i tried various channels and modes and the results were similar. i then went back to the reset to recommended - still similar. i then switched off the 5GHZ and at the moment and its probably just a fluke but everything is working at the same speed - laptop/ipad/iphone each being tested on a speed test and all good. no idea why or if it will last

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

licquorice — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:37:59 GMT

But have you checked the wifi link speed rather than download speed via a speedtest site.

Not sure where you would find it on Apple devices but it will be in network settings somewhere.

The link speed is the actual speed of the wifi connection between the hub and device. Mine is below, the link speed is 866Mbs but throughput will be far less as I only have a 40Mbs broadband connection.

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:06:06 GMT

thank you for your help and advice. I am still getting 20Mb speeds (which for my location is the best ) after switching off the 5GHZ channel. i am now getting the same speed on both the lap tops and ipads when testing. I will keep all my fingers crossed that this keeps working and either way will come back on and advise you. many will laugh at the sheer joy of getting 20mb solid but believe me i am a happy person at the moment 🙂

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

Way2go — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 19:39:28 GMT

Final message. Thank you for the help and advice. My nightmare of no wifi and very slow wifi for ever was solved by switching off the 5ghz channel. I did this by chance and it worked. Looking into this more I suspect the problem was some devices needed to get on the 2.4 ghz channel but could not as the 5ghz was on. I am guessing they flooded the network and the clashes caused the outages and very slow speed. Switching off 5ghz allowed them to connect and stopped the problem. This maybe utter BS but that’s the best I can come up with. So happy at 20 mb speed and anyone who has higher speeds than this should be happy. Ps glad I joined this community

Re: Slow and very intermittent wifi

licquorice — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 19:51:06 GMT

Glad you got it sorted. The more likely cause is a faulty 5Ghz module in the hub and devices favouring it over 2.4Ghz. The 2.4Ghz signal is slower than 5Ghz but has greater distance. You don't need the extra speed of 5Ghz as your limiting factor is your broadband sync speed.