bouts of very variable broadband speed from usual 16/4 down to 5.9/0.4 Mbps

[ajd111]

I live in the East Riding of Yorkshire just on the edge of a market town and my bb comes over several (about 5) Kms of copper. (The route is extremely non-optimal as the copper runs along 2.5 sides of a triangle, with the nearest fibre cabinet only about 1 Km away).  My bb speed has been suffering bouts of serious (i.e. vey noticeable) degradation from about 16up/4 down to 5.9/0.4 as measured by the Google spped test as well as others.  I have several screen snips showing test results.  I have been told there is no chance I can upgrade to fibre due to the amoint of digging that would be ivolved.

Can someone tell me what the most likely causes are and how the problem should best be investigated?  Thanks.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@ajd111 

With the upload speed of 16Mb, you must be on a FTTC connection not ADSL, which is why I have moved this to the "fibre" broadband board.

Please provide the connection information from your BT Home Hub, and the expected speed range from the BT broadband availability website. Please do not post any personal information.

[imjolly]

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

in order for the forum members to help 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

[ajd111]

Thanks for your helpful reply imjolly.  I'm afraid I don't use the BT router, I use a Draytek 2860.

The broadband checker says

Telephone Number 01759xxxxxx on Exchange POCKLINGTON is served by Cabinet 2

Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)

Downstream Handback Threshold(Mbps)

WBC FTTC Availability Date

WBC SOGEA Availability Date

Left in Jumper

High

Low

High

Low

VDSL Range A (Clean)

28.5

18

5.3

3.4

16.5

Available

Available

--

VDSL Range B (Impacte

27.9

16.5

5.2

3.1

12.5

Available

Available

--

Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)

Downstream Range (Mbps)

Availability Date

FTTP Install Process

FTTP on Demand

330

50

--

Available

--

ADSL Products	Downstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range(Mbps)	ADSL Availability Date	WBC SOADSL Availability Date	Left in Jumper
WBC ADSL 2+	Up to 4	--	2.5 to 6.5	Available	--	Yes
WBC ADSL2+ Annex M	Up to 4	Up to 0.5	2.5 to 6.5	Available	--	Yes
ADSL Max	Up to 3	--	2 to 6	Available	--	--
WBC Fixed Rate	1	--	--	Available	--	Yes
Fixed Rate	1	--	--	Available	--	--
Observed Speeds	VDSL
Max Observed Downstream Speed	19.99
Max Observed Upstream Speed	4.91
Observed Date	2021-07-24

Other Offerings	Availability Date
VDSL Multicast	Available
ADSL Multicast	Available
Premise Environment	Status
Bridge Tap	N
VRI	N
NTE FacePlate	N
Last Test Date	14-07-2021

Exchange Product Restrictions	Status
FTTP Priority Exchange	N
WLR Withdrawal	N
SOADSL Restriction	Y

The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme

WLR is currently available at the exchange

SOADSL is restricted at the exchange

FTTP is not available.

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.

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.

The Stop Sale date for IPstream is from 31 Oct 2013. The Formal Retirement date for IPstream is from 30 Jun 2014.

 ==================================================

The web interface to my router says

adsl statusadsl status more
Type ? for command help
> adsl status

---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------
Running Mode : 17A State : SHOWTIME
DS Actual Rate : 19998000 bps US Actual Rate : 4914000 bps
DS Attainable Rate : 23258532 bps US Attainable Rate : 4914000 bps
DS Path Mode : Fast US Path Mode : Fast
DS Interleave Depth : 1 US Interleave Depth : 1
NE Current Attenuation : 28 dB Cur SNR Margin : 8 dB
DS actual PSD : 7. 2 dB US actual PSD : 11. 2 dB
NE CRC Count : 135 FE CRC Count : 28344
NE ES Count : 40 FE ES Count : 27323
Xdsl Reset Times : 0 Xdsl Link Times : 3
ITU Version[0] : 00000000 ITU Version[1] : 00000000
VDSL Firmware Version : 05-07-06-0D-01-07 [with Vectoring support]
Power Management Mode : DSL_G997_PMS_L0
Test Mode : DISABLE
-------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------
Far Current Attenuation : 32 dB Far SNR Margin : 5 dB
CO ITU Version[0] : b5004244 CO ITU Version[1] : 434da48c
DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR : < BDCM >
> adsl status more

---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------
Near End Far End Note
Trellis : 1 1
Bitswap : 1 1
ReTxEnable : 0 1
VirtualNoise : 0 0
20BitSupport : 0 0
LatencyPath : 0 0
LOS : 0 0
LOF : 0 0
LPR : 0 0
LOM : 0 0
SosSuccess : 0 0
NCD : 0 0
LCD : 0 0
FECS : 0 206931 (seconds)
ES : 40 27323 (seconds)
SES : 4 47 (seconds)
LOSS : 0 3 (seconds)
UAS : 27 54553 (seconds)
HECError : 0 0
CRC : 135 28344
INP : 0 220 (symbols)
INTLVDelay : 0 13 (1/100 ms)
NFEC : 156 32
RFEC : 12 16
LSYMB : 1344 16
INTLVBLOCK : 78 32
AELEM : 0 ----
>

The Draytek page describing this is at

https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-dsl-status-more

I ran the quiet line test and the line was very quiet, no detectable background or spikes.

I hope this helps. Kind regards,

Jon

[ajd111]

Hello, is anyone there? I'm still getting bouts of degraded service. All suggestion appreciated,#Jon

[imjolly]

from dslchecker your expected down connection speed range is 28/18 with handback at 16.5mb and you currently have 20mb .  your up speed is 5mb and that is top of expected range

I cannot see internet connection time in your stats but speed has been same since 24/7.  Have you been having connection problems with router dropping connection or maybe manual resets trying to improve speed or maybe both?

have you tried using the test socket with a filter to see if that helps?

[ajd111]

Here is well fastest then don't put Hi imjolly, thanks for your reply.  On my desktop which is connected to the router by copper, I normally see over 20Mbps download and 4 to 5Mbps upload.  I haven't reset the router recently.

I enclose a traffic flow graph from the router though as this is the first graph of this type that I have seen I'm reluctant to try and interpret it.  I realise that it indicates flow rather than the potential for flow.

I also enclose the DSL status from the router in case that can be of help.

Diagnostics >> DSL Status

General Tone Information |  Refresh | ATU-R Information                    Type: VDSL2          Hardware: Annex A          Firmware: 05-07-06-0D-01-07          Power Mngt Mode: DSL_G997_PMS_L0          Line State: SHOWTIME          Running Mode: 17A          Vendor ID: 00000000 00000000         ATU-C Information               Vendor ID: b5004244 434da48c [BDCM]         Line Statistics         Downstream             Upstream                 Actual Rate 19998 Kbps 4914 Kbps Attainable Rate 25493 Kbps 4914 Kbps Path Mode Fast Fast Interleave Depth 1 1 Actual PSD 7. 2 dB 11. 2 dB       Near End                  Far End                    Trellis ON ON Bitswap ON ON ReTx 0   1   SNR Margin 11 dB 5 dB Attenuation 28 dB 32 dB CRC 183 28370 FECS 0 s 207033 s ES 52 s 27349 s SES 7 s 47 s LOSS 0 s 3 s UAS 27 s 54553 s HEC Errors 0 0 RS Corrections 0 0 LOS Failure 0 0 LOF Failure 0 0 LPR Failure 0 0 NCD Failure 0 0 LCD Failure 0 0 NFEC 156 32 RFEC 12 16 LYSMB 1344 16

Regarding filters, I suspect that the wall plate has a filter inside it.  The back part of the wall plate has the BT logo on it in the front part has two sockets one with the router logo and the other with the telephone logo.  The wall plate is marked ADSL vV 1.0.

I hope that helps.  All suggestions appreciated,
Jon

[ajd111]

A couple of additions to the previous posting. Please excuse the garbage on the first line (poor use of dictation software). Regarding filters and the wall plate: I think it was installed about five or six years ago.

[imjolly]

which master do you have

still can't see anything showing internet connection time (not system time)
It looks like you are in a banded profile hence stuck at 20mb and why I keep asking about length of connection time.

if you line is now stable then banding should release automatically but that can take a few weeks to happen

[ajd111]

Hi imjolly, thanks for your reply.  I think I have box number five.  Just to be sure I enclose a photograph.

I've looked up banded profiles on the Internet and understand what's going on now.  I think I need to contact Draytek to see if the router can tell me more about my Internet connection time.  Right now I'm obtaining 17 Mbps download speed using the Google checker (and only 11.7 using the Which checker) so presumably if limiting due to banding has been going on then it has been being relaxed in my favour.  So if I observe new periods of slow download speed then it presumably wouldn't be due to banding (unless banding is chipping in all the time).  I do wonder whether contention on the other side of the FTTC Cabinet might be a factor.  Can that be ruled out?

Kind regards, Jon