disappearing linespeed - it was 1.1 and OK but now they say I'm too far away !!!

Hi,

I had a 1.1 line which worked ok without performance problems. After a month
it became very very slow. It was downloading at around 10kB/sec. I reported
it to my ISP who logged a fault with BT. About a week later it was running
at 80-90 kB/sec so I thought good they have fixed it. This lasted for 2-3
hours then went back to being 10kB/sec.

After a few more days my linespeed went to an indicated 576kbps. I am now
getting about 30-40kB/sec download on my line which is supposed to be 1gb. A
week after the linespeed was reduced I got a letter from my ISP saying
congratulations they had upgraded my line to 1.1 OK however it isn't and the
rate is not brilliant for a 576kbps line either.

I just rang my ISP and was told that my speed has been halved by BT as I am
too far from their exchange. I'm not, I am within the distance. It was
working at the right speed originally and I reassure you that I have not
picked my house up and moved it !

My ISP say that they have to go by BTs comment that its too far away. What
do I do as it was running at the right speed for a while so it cannot be too
far away ???

tia

cheers

On Mon, 23 May 2005 16:58:38 GMT, "icarus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>My ISP say that they have to go by BTs comment that its too far away. What
>do I do as it was running at the right speed for a while so it cannot be too
>far away ???

always a problem if you complain about something BT may opt to reduce
the speed to increase the reliability.

You need to find out what the line attenuation and SNR margin are on
the current speed, this will give you a clue if going for 1M makes
sense. If the margin is more than 16 dB and the attenuation less than
60 dB you could have a go at getting a speed increase.
http://www.pipexsupport.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=3408

Is your exchange congested, none of the speeds are very good. Check
the VP status at http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices.
AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 23 May 2005 16:58:38 GMT, "icarus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>My ISP say that they have to go by BTs comment that its too far away.
>>What
>>do I do as it was running at the right speed for a while so it cannot be
>>too
>>far away ???
>
> always a problem if you complain about something BT may opt to reduce
> the speed to increase the reliability.
>
> You need to find out what the line attenuation and SNR margin are on
> the current speed, this will give you a clue if going for 1M makes
> sense. If the margin is more than 16 dB and the attenuation less than
> 60 dB you could have a go at getting a speed increase.
> http://www.pipexsupport.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=3408
>
> Is your exchange congested, none of the speeds are very good. Check
> the VP status at http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges
>


hiya Phil,

the VP was red when I had problems... when it went very good it was
'upgraded' when they downloaded the linespeed it decreased. I suspect
there's no problem here but there is at the xchange.... but how do you prove
it ?

cheers

On Tue, 24 May 2005 01:20:22 GMT, "icarus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>the VP was red when I had problems... when it went very good it was
>'upgraded' when they downloaded the linespeed it decreased. I suspect
>there's no problem here but there is at the xchange.... but how do you prove
>it ?

thinking a bit harder, as a Virgin customer you may be on "Datastream"
and prone to NTLs own capacity management issues, rather than the
exchange as a whole. To find out you have to try to log in with the
bt_test@startup_domain login - this will fail if its datastream and
allow access to a single page if its IPstream. (note there are _
characters in there, not spaces)

If it is datastream just chafe away at Virgin / NTL if its
persistently slow. If its IPstream the plusnet status thingy will tell
you what's what.

good luck

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices.
AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Tue, 24 May 2005 01:20:22 GMT, "icarus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>the VP was red when I had problems... when it went very good it was
>>'upgraded' when they downloaded the linespeed it decreased. I suspect
>>there's no problem here but there is at the xchange.... but how do you
>>prove
>>it ?
>
> thinking a bit harder, as a Virgin customer you may be on "Datastream"
> and prone to NTLs own capacity management issues, rather than the
> exchange as a whole. To find out you have to try to log in with the
> bt_test@startup_domain login - this will fail if its datastream and
> allow access to a single page if its IPstream. (note there are _
> characters in there, not spaces)
>
> If it is datastream just chafe away at Virgin / NTL if its
> persistently slow. If its IPstream the plusnet status thingy will tell
> you what's what.
>
> good luck
>
> Phil



I know I am DataStream, BT have confirmed it. also you suggest a test, I've
done it and that says so too.

cheers