Speed being limited - advanced networking problem,?

Question

hi there, this is not FAIR USAGE POLICY, i've checked with my ISP, and they're not limiting me.

i've had an ongoing issue with my internet connection speed... roughly 2 months, but has become severe in the last 10 days.

a little background for you

2months ago download speeds peaked at 183Kb/s typical of 160kb/s

there had been no change in router settings.

but one day my speed dropped to 16kb/s download.

it drove me insane;

two days later it was fine. this happened once or twice more, no apparent cause.

it peaked last week when my internet went down for a full 7 days to 16kb/s

then back up to 150Kb/s for 1 day

now it's sitting at 60kb/s

i've checked with my ISP, and they're not limiting me under a FUP

ok, trouble shooting that i've tried

resetting the router

reverting the router to factory

checking filters

leads

etc

check this photobucket link if you will, somethings limiting me

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t120/xioxenna/Untitled-1-4.jpg

[e-mail] if you've a question

Answer 1

I had exactly the same problem. I complained to my ISP and they filed a report to BT who came to my house to check the line. They had a software utility that shows the actual download speed of the connection and also the maximum capability of the connection. The capability of my connection was 4 times higher than what I was actually getting. It turns out that my line had been regraded at the request of my ISP, even though my ISP denied this. I had been taken off DSLmax and put on a lower fixed speed connection. The diagnostic software also shows the type of connection at the exchange. The only problem I had was getting a BT engineer to fix the problem. Because of restructuring the BT engineer who visits is only responsible for faults between the exchange and your home, not inside the exchange. I had 4 different engineers visit my home, the last one finally took pity on me and agreed to sort out the problem in the exchange (he had to reset my connection on the DSlam). Then bingo, high speed downloads restored. Hope this helps

Answer 2

Well the first obvious thing in that image is the bit where it clearly states your connection is not secure, you must configure your wireless network security, most likely someone else is using your internet over your wireless connection because you are making it available for anyone within a few hundred yards to use free of charge.

While you need to correct that either way to protect yourself from being prosecuted for people who like to use open wireless networks for criminal activity due to the fact that they wont be caught, Or at least having your identity stolen because all your internet activity is being broadcast several hundred yards with no security of any kind (everything you read or write on the internet can be read by anyone with a wi-fi card).

The next step after fully securing your connection if the problem continues is to contact your ISP (or telephone company if you use ADSL) and have your line tested for faults.

Out of interest does the weather have any effect on it?  Is there any possibility of recent radio interference (Neighbors got wi-fi? Nearby radio/TV transmitters? CB radios? Taxi radio systems? stuff like that).

Edit 1:53PM UK: Definitely looks like it is getting a fair speed (should be around 260kB flat out in theory) although with your line length really seeing that would probably be unlikely, having said that a line problem would normally cause the sync speed to drop as well, but not always, transient problems could well cause the router to see enough frequency bands open at startup to show a high speed but for transmission on some or all of the spectrum to later fail.

Is your sync speed (as seen by the router) the same as it used to be before the problem?  Also don't reset the router too much the disconnects will be taken by the DSLAM as instability on the line and it will cut the rate in effort to find the maximum stable rate (That is how rate adaptive ADSL works which it seams you have from the sync rate, only rate adaptive DSL works at that rate, otherwise fixed rates are 256,512,1024,2048 down channel sync speeds or nothing).

It is also worth checking with your ISP exactly what rate BT is reporting to them as the maximum stable rate, with rate adaptive DSL BT tells your ISP how much data to send that your line can take, sometimes this information is reported incorrectly and will cause your throughput to be far lower than your reported sync rate.

Finally what is the stability of the line like? is it frequently disconnecting on it's own I mean?

Answer 3

Sounds like you are on a plan where you are allocated so many GB to use per month, and once you go over that your speed is throttled back to 128kbits/s (16KB/s). If this is the case you may see it increasing to normal speeds every month or so (whenever your new billing month starts).

It also depends on the download source, and the traffic on the internet at the time of day. peak times you may get slower speeds when lots of people are all on the net.