uploading kills my download speed

[mike101]

Hi, could someone help, whenever I upload from my ipad it drops my download speed from 12Mb down to less than 1Mb sometimes less, sometimes want connect at all. I know uploading affects download speed but this seems very extreme. This happens on both wifi and ethernet connection.

Stats as follows

Product name:

BT Hub 6A

Serial number:

+084316+NQ95030022

Firmware version:

SG4B1000E020

Firmware updated:

03-Nov-2020

Board version:

1.0

Gui version:

1.115.0

DSL uptime:

0 Days, 1 Hours 23 Minutes 48 Seconds

Data rate:

1.02 Mbps / 15.16 Mbps

Maximum data rate:

923 / 16064

Noise margin:

10 dB / 9.2 dB

Line attenuation:

28 dB

Signal attenuation:

15.3 dB / 28 dB

VPI / VCI:

0/38

Modulation:

G_992_5_ANNEX_A

Latency type:

Fast Path

Data sent / received:

66 MB Uploaded / 340 MB Downloaded

Broadband username:

bthomehub@btbroadband.com

BT Wi-fi:

Active

2.4 GHz wireless network name:

BTHub6-JF67lounge

2.4 GHz wireless channel:

Channel 11

5 GHz wireless network name:

BTHub6-JF67lounge

5 GHz wireless channel:

Channel 36

Wireless security:

WPA2 (Recommended)

Wireless mode:

Mode 1

Firewall:

On

MAC address:

5C:B1:3E:43:41:01

Software variant:

-

Boot loader:

0.48.8-sec

[Keith_Beddoe]

@mike101 

You need to restrict the uploading rate from your ipad as its stopping the downloaded packets from sending TCP acknowledgements to the server.

Download speed will be affected if you use up all of the upload bandwidth. There is no way to avoid that, its the way that TCP/IP  works.

[mike101]

Thanks, how do I do that? By the way the upload speed is already painfully slow, it normally shows around 0.8Mb on a speed test but seems to drop to around 0.2Mb when uploading from the ipad.

[Keith_Beddoe]

---

@mike101 wrote:
Thanks, how do I do that? By the way the upload speed is already painfully slow, it normally shows around 0.8Mb on a speed test but seems to drop to around 0.2Mb when uploading from the ipad.

---

Whatever program that you are running on the ipad that is doing the uploading, would need to be adjusted so that it reduced the rate that it was uploading.

I would expect that the speed test to show a slower speed while the ipad is uploading, as the speed test must only be run when there is no other device connected.

The only other option is to use a different router which allows you to control the bandwidth and priority of devices. That will allow the ipad to upload in the background, and not affect any other device.

I am also on an ADSL connection, but do not use a home hub for a similar reason. I have devices which upload content to Microsoft OneDrive, in the background, without affecting any other devices.

I use this router https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/dsl-modem-router/td-w9970/  

This costs about £35 and has bandwidth controls. Its only single band wireless as I use a separate wireless mesh.

Another one with the same features, but is dual band, is this one.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/dsl-modem-router/archer-vr400/v2/

These are the ADSL connection stats I get from my W9970.

Line Status:Connected

DSL Modulation Type:ADSL_2plus

Annex Type:Annex A

	Upstream	Downstream
Current Rate (Kbps)	1147	12343
Max Rate (Kbps)	1176	12260
SNR Margin (dB)	6.6	2.9
Line Attenuation (dB)	20.3	36
Errors (Pkts)	0	0

[mike101]

Thanks again for the info. Having run the dsl reports test it gives me an "F" grade for "buffer bloat" (the worst). Is it possible that other BT profile settings could be adjusted before I go down the route of changing the homehub?  For context I never really had a problem in the past but my daughter (a teacher) is now working from home and is uploading a lot which has really exposed the problem.

[Keith_Beddoe]

There is nothing that can be changed on the home hub, its all locked down, as is the case for most ISP supplied hubs.

The only option is to use a different router, its not that difficult to do, and gives you full control of all devices including priority and bandwidth allocation.

[mike101]

Thanks Keith, for £30 I will give it a go. Is it fairly easy to set up on a bit line and is the bandwidth management straight forward?

[Keith_Beddoe]

---

@mike101 wrote:

Thanks Keith, for £30 I will give it a go. Is it fairly easy to set up on a bit line and is the bandwidth management straight forward?

---

You can normally get that router locally at Argos for about £35.

Yes its easy to setup as it has a setup wizard which yo select BT ADSL, in fact auto detect works just fine on ADSL.

The only details you need to connect, is the PPPoE authentication details.

username of bthomehub@btbroadband.com

Password BT

You have to enable the bandwidth controls before you can use them.

There is a guide here https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/faq/557/

Bandwidth and priority is allocated based on a device IP address, so you need to identify the IP address allocated to her computer, and "reserve" it so it does not change. You can find the IP address by looking in the DHCP table. Its very simple on this router.

Bear in mind that if she is using an Apple device running IOS14, its important that the private address option is turned off, to avoid the device MAC address changing, which would then result in a new IP address being issued, which would not have the bandwidth controls applied.

I can give you some guidance if needed, but initially I would set her computer to the lowest priority (8) and set the maximum upload speed to 200Kbs. That would allow other devices to send their TCP/IP acknowledgements without delay, which would restore their download speeds.

Its always going to be a compromise on an ADSL connection, owing to the low upload speeds. Even people on VDSL (Fibre 1 and 2) can still have low upload speeds if their line is not very good. Some even have lower upload speeds than ADSL.

[Keith_Beddoe]

I just posted this on another thread, as it may give you some idea what the bandwidth control page looks like. These are my settings.

Many of my devices have static IP addresses fixed on the device itself, and not allocated by DHCP.  Anything below 192.168.1.100, would be a static IP address, as the TP Link DHCP range is 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.199.

The port ranges are optional, and do not need to be specified, I just do it in case I want to restrict traffic on specific ports.

Bandwidth Control Rules

	Description	Priority	Upstream Bandwidth		Downstream Bandwidth		Status	Edit
			Min	Max	Min	Max

	192.168.1.65 /1-65535 /ALL	6	5	800	100	10000	Enable	Edit
	192.168.1.55 /1-65535 /ALL	2	200	1150	100	11000	Enable	Edit
	192.168.1.56 /1-65535 /ALL	7	5	800	100	11000	Enable	Edit
	192.168.1.61 /1-65535 /ALL	7	20	1190	100	10000	Enable	Edit
	192.168.1.116 /1-65535 /ALL	3	100	800	100	11000	Enable	Edit

[mike101]

That's great, coming from amazon tomorrow, fingers crossed.