Your home connection could be improved

[kylescudder]

Hi all,

I have recently noticed that my download speed has fallen below the BT guaranteed minimum and the upload speed has fallen below the expected speed (I can't find any guaranteed upload speed on my account) which is of course concerning, especially since I work from home.

I ran the BT speed test and was greeted with a page titled "Your home connection could be improved", it states below that the hub will be restarted and a brief explanation about what the different lights could mean etc. However it the only change it says it will make will be the put the wifi on the fastest channel. This confuses me slightly, as I am not sure exactly what they mean by this. My understanding is that the router is a dual band router/modem support 2.5GHz and 5GHz, and each device is capable of joining either band depending on the signal strentgh etc. So what does "puts your wi-fi on the fastest channel" in the context of a router that has many different devices on it split across those to frequencies. Have a misinterpreted the use of the word channel in this context?

My goal is to replace the BT Smart Hub 2 with a TP-Link Archer VR2800 in the near future anyway as I need to be able to change the DNS server of the router for my pi-hole setup, but until that time my BT router is set up in an almost stock confuguration (due to the lack of customisation I can actually do) so other than potentially changing the external IP address (this would cause a massive pain in the butt for my VPN config) if I was forced to restart the server.

Any help would be greatly appreciated on this topic. 

[NigelB72]

As far as I understand the SmartHub has multiple channels on each WiFi frequency so it's possible the ones that were in use were either picking up interference or local congestion so it's switched to a less busy channel automatically.

[kylescudder]

Do you know if it will give me a choice on what devices to switch? I have some home automation things set up that I would rather BT doesn't touch. 

[imjolly]

when you move to a third party modem/router bear in mind that if you use your landline for making/receiving calls then when  you are moved to digital voice (in 2025 or probably before) it requires the use of the SH2 as the primary connected device

[kylescudder]

We do not own a landline, so this is not a concern, thank you for the information though.

[WSH]

BT can’t change your devices.

There are 13 sub-channels within the 2.4 GHz band.  If your wireless is using the same one as a neighbour’s they essentially cooperate and take turns at using it.  Of course, if your wireless is only getting half the time, transferring data could take twice as long.  Hence the idea of “slow”.  5GHz is similar.  The router will switch to a channel that no one else is using, (or more likely, the least busy it can find).

As far as your devices go, they will look for your SSID and use whatever channel it is being transmitted on.  It’s automatic.

[kylescudder]

So this would make sense if the device getting the below guaranteed speeds was using the WiFi, I think I understand that now. However it is through a Cat5e cable into a HP ProCurve1810G-24, then another Cat5e cable from the switch to the device, so this device would be uneffected by the aforementioned bands and sub-channels, right?

If this is correct then I would still be eligible for some kind of compensation?

[WSH]

I believe any guarantee offered would only cover from the ISP to the router.  That’s the only bit they control.  The other side of the router is your own network and your own responsibly.  They have no control over that.

Sounds like you need to pin-point exactly where it is slow.  If it is in your own network, couple of things you could try.  Your switch and the devices will auto-negotiate as to the best speed both ends can manage.  (You can’t have one end doing 1000Mb/s when the other end can only manage 100Mb/s etc.)  Occasionally something will screw over this auto-negotiation and they’ll drop to 100 instead of a 1000.  Quickest fix is just to unplug the cable and plug it back in again.  What we call ‘reseating the connections’.  (The network equivalent of turn it off and turn it back on again).  This triggers the auto-negotiation to run again.  Also note, to get 1000Mb/s all eight wires need to be connected but only four wires are required for 100Mb/s.  It’s possible that a duff connection on one pin is dropping it to 100Mb/s.  Over time, expansion and contraction can move the connectors just enough to do this.  It’s known as ‘thermal creep’.  Reseating the connections fixes it.  This tends to be especially common if the switches are near a radiator, in the sun etc.  It could also be a defective cable.  They do fail very occasionally.  Lastly, cat 5e is working flat out a 1000Mb/s so it doesn’t take much to upset it, especially if it is a very long cable run.  Cat 6 is better these days.

[TimCurtis]

@kylescudder 

Post the SH2 stats from the Technical Log page. That'll give a good starting point.

[WSH]

@kylescudder

Having just re-read your original post, I would have to agree with TimCurtis.

The use of the expression “speedtest” and talking about wi-fi threw me, but if you meant BT’s diagnostics said there was a problem then that will be your external connection.  Posting a copy of the router stats page may allow us to identify the problem.