Help! Really stuck as to what is causing drop in speeds...

[toonlass]

Hello, 

I would really appreciate some help with our broadband - I have basic IT knowledge but have run out of ideas and am going in circles with BT phone/chat support.

I am posting as we have an ongoing issue with our broadband speed. Some background- we have been with BT at our rural house since 2012 (they are only option as ISP). Our exchange (Bethersden cabinet 2) is not being upgraded to fibre/we are too far away anyway so we are getting started on a community funding programme for FTTP to 15houses.

In the mean time according to dslchecker we have a downstream line rate of 1.5mbps (fixed 2) and downstream range 1-2.5mbps.

We accept that living rurally our broadband will be an issue and over the past 5years we have had at best 3.8mbps (very happy as I realise this is decent for our cabinet).  We have used a HH3 most this time and had 2 replacements due to issues not resolved by other checks.

November last year a new issue arose - broadband speeds would be 2.8mbps one day and then 0.5mbps at best for a couple of days before resolving itself again with no changes our end. I used to reset the router to help but following advice with BT have avoided doing this to try and avoid any 'fault on the line' messages. In this same call just before Christmas BT reset my connection to the exchange and all was good with the best speeds we have had in a long while (3.8mbps).  But then every few days it drops to 0.5 or even less and we can't even load websites or listen to radio online let alone stream any FB/movies. 

Setup is

Netgear router D6200 (though same issues occurred with HH3 we switched to a netgear hoping it would help)

Connected to phone socket in hallway which has cable upto master socket with front plate - socket in lower half. 

We have used the btwholesale test wired direct to the test socket on this and get the same results.

I have been told different things by BT about the wholesale speed test.  Is this checking the connection at the exchange or my house?

The wholesale Speedtest can say upto 3.3 on wireless connection when other Speedtests such as Ookla (using London server) say 0.5mpbs which I am inclined to agree with as websites don't load/can't steam. Why this discrepancy?  I get the same results when I test using a wired connection iMac to router.  

I have tried the following over the past few months

• Changing channels (back to auto now as didn't seem to help
• 2.4ghz and 5ghz have different SSIDs
• I have shut down our NAS server for a few days but no improvement
• Restarting the router/powercycling
• Noise test on phone line good
• No issues in our area

BT wholesale diagnostics:

1. Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.

	Download  Speed
	3.38 Mbps

0 Mbps

7.15 Mbps Max Achievable Speed

 Download speedachieved during the test was - 3.38 Mbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 0.6 Mbps-7.15 Mbps.
 Additional Information:
 Your DSL Connection Rate :4.8 Mbps(DOWN-STREAM), 0.45 Mbps(UP-STREAM)
 IP Profile for your line is - 4 Mbps

Router details: seems to show wasn't restarted this week? when I did try this?

System Up Time 136:13:40

Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time WAN PPPoA 3709180 5411691 0 13254 140834 06:29:31 LAN1 SONOS Bridge 100M/Full 13318416 8630496 0 6782 5157 136:13:18 LAN2 - NAS Server 1000M/Full LAN3 Link down LAN4 - iMAC 100M/Full WLAN b/g/n 145M 76839422 58575049 0 4023 3988 136:12:43 WLAN a/n/ac 867M 4522156 1894629 0 6406 419 136:12:36

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream Link Rate 4800 Kbps 448 Kbps Line Attenuation 44.0 dB 30.5 dB Noise Margin 8.4 dB 19.0 dB

Please let me know any other info that may help or anything else i can try?

I think this looks like a good connection by these stats? But then nothing streams!?

Would really appreciate some advice as it is so frustrating

Thank you

Alex

[Keith_Beddoe]

Welcome to this customer to customer forum.

Is there any noise on your phone calls? Dial 17070 and select option 2, there should be no noise between the announcements.

[toonlass]

Thanks for your reply

Doing the test just now and there is a very slight hissing noise on the handset (cordless one) but nothing significant (unsure how obvious a noise issue would be?)

BT are supposedly sending new microfilters to eliminate that as an issue - not arrived yet!

Thanks

[john46]

there should be no noise heard also the wholesale speed test should be run using a wired connection and is the only test accepted for speed problems the speed test shows the speed within the BT wholesale network other speedtests unfortunately are subject to general internet traffic and are not as accurate

[toonlass]

Thank you - so if there was a slight noise what does this show?  They checked the line on Friday and said there was no fault.  

I chased the microfilters today - they are on their way (should arrive Monday!).

The data I posted was from a wired connection to my iMac (LAN 4) using an ethernet cable to the router.

SPeeds have varied today again too using the wholesale speedtest.  What would make it vary so much and be so inconsistent day to day/?

Thank you

[john46]

general internet traffic will reduce speeds

[toonlass]

But this is a new issue the past couple of months-a different pattern to speeds than we have had before and no link to peak/non-peak.

[john46]

if you have noise it shows a line fault

[john46]

the speed test and your router stats look ok no noticeable problems

[toonlass]

should i double check with a corded phone?