Troubleshooting slow broadband

Evening All,

In the last few weeks or so, my broadband connection has seemed to be
running very slowly. I don't have any concrete evidence to back this
up, but file downloads and web pages are taking an age - sometimes I
have been tempted to go and dig out my old 56k modem!!

I'm with Virgin and have emailed them to see what they can do, and the
answer (probably unsurprisingly) was nothing - its my fault. They
sent me a list of instructions about restarting my PC and router 3
times a day for several days at different times (do they not think I
have better things to do!). They also gave me some speil about
speedtouch modems (don't have one) and micro filters etc.

Anyway, before writing back and telling them not to be so insulting, I
was hoping to get some concrete evidence of my performance. I have a
netgear 834 wireless router and am looking at the admin page. The
ADSL stats are:

Connection speed: 1152kbps down, 288kbps Up
Attenuation: 43db Down, 26db Up
Noise margin: 24db Down, 28 db Up

Thing is, are these actually telling me anything, cos they don't
appear to change! Presumably, the 1152kbps means I have 1M broadband,
but is this theoretical or actual?

If I were to change ISP, would it make any difference? If the line is
the problem, presumably not!

Any hints, advice would be most welcome. Got jobs to do now, so no
more investigation for me tonight :-(

Al.

"Al Henderson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Evening All,
>
> In the last few weeks or so, my broadband connection has seemed to be
> running very slowly. I don't have any concrete evidence to back this
> up, but file downloads and web pages are taking an age - sometimes I
> have been tempted to go and dig out my old 56k modem!!
>
> I'm with Virgin and have emailed them to see what they can do, and the
> answer (probably unsurprisingly) was nothing - its my fault. They
> sent me a list of instructions about restarting my PC and router 3
> times a day for several days at different times (do they not think I
> have better things to do!). They also gave me some speil about
> speedtouch modems (don't have one) and micro filters etc.
>
> Anyway, before writing back and telling them not to be so insulting, I
> was hoping to get some concrete evidence of my performance. I have a
> netgear 834 wireless router and am looking at the admin page. The
> ADSL stats are:
>
> Connection speed: 1152kbps down, 288kbps Up
> Attenuation: 43db Down, 26db Up
> Noise margin: 24db Down, 28 db Up
>
> Thing is, are these actually telling me anything, cos they don't
> appear to change! Presumably, the 1152kbps means I have 1M broadband,
> but is this theoretical or actual?
>
> If I were to change ISP, would it make any difference? If the line is
> the problem, presumably not!
>
> Any hints, advice would be most welcome. Got jobs to do now, so no
> more investigation for me tonight :-(


www.speedtest.net or any of the other performance-testing websites would
show you the actual download/upload speed. The 1152 kbits/sec is is simply
the speed between you and your local exchange, and is simply the maximum
possible in your circumstances.

Changing ISP to A&A or Zen or one of the other professional ISPs frequently
recommended here will ensure you get more technically competent advice.

-- Graham J

In message <(E-Mail Removed) .com>
at 12:50:29 on Thu, 1 Nov 2007, Al Henderson
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>Any hints, advice would be most welcome. Got jobs to do now, so no
>more investigation for me tonight :-(
>
Is your ISP a good source of Vitamin C, or don't you want to say?
--
Mike News

Anyone who is a bit techie can see the way things are going with regards to
the internet. Therefore, ISP's like Sky, Virgin, etc. are looking to get as
many people subscribed to their services as they can.

The problem comes that sometimes their Sales/Marketing Departments do their
job maybe a bit too well, but the infrastructure in place can not cope with
the demand. FYIW, Virgin are number two with about 3 million subscribers,
however that doesn't mean that they are number two with regards to the
service they provide.


"Al Henderson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Evening All,
>
> In the last few weeks or so, my broadband connection has seemed to be
> running very slowly. I don't have any concrete evidence to back this
> up, but file downloads and web pages are taking an age - sometimes I
> have been tempted to go and dig out my old 56k modem!!
>
> I'm with Virgin and have emailed them to see what they can do, and the
> answer (probably unsurprisingly) was nothing - its my fault. They
> sent me a list of instructions about restarting my PC and router 3
> times a day for several days at different times (do they not think I
> have better things to do!). They also gave me some speil about
> speedtouch modems (don't have one) and micro filters etc.
>
> Anyway, before writing back and telling them not to be so insulting, I
> was hoping to get some concrete evidence of my performance. I have a
> netgear 834 wireless router and am looking at the admin page. The
> ADSL stats are:
>
> Connection speed: 1152kbps down, 288kbps Up
> Attenuation: 43db Down, 26db Up
> Noise margin: 24db Down, 28 db Up
>
> Thing is, are these actually telling me anything, cos they don't
> appear to change! Presumably, the 1152kbps means I have 1M broadband,
> but is this theoretical or actual?
>
> If I were to change ISP, would it make any difference? If the line is
> the problem, presumably not!
>
> Any hints, advice would be most welcome. Got jobs to do now, so no
> more investigation for me tonight :-(
>
> Al.
>

"Ali" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ZJrWi.17584$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Anyone who is a bit techie can see the way things are going with regards
> to the internet. Therefore, ISP's like Sky, Virgin, etc. are looking to
> get as many people subscribed to their services as they can.


Anybody who is a bit techie, will also know how to actually use usenet
correctly, and NOT top post, and look like a prat?

Neil

Al Henderson wrote:

> Evening All,
>
> In the last few weeks or so, my broadband connection has seemed to be
> running very slowly. I don't have any concrete evidence to back this
> up, but file downloads and web pages are taking an age - sometimes I
> have been tempted to go and dig out my old 56k modem!!
>
> I'm with Virgin

LOL !

> and have emailed them to see what they can do,

Bwahahahahahahaaa !

> and the answer (probably unsurprisingly) was nothing - its my fault.

Yes, it is indeed YOUR fault for using a useless ISP.


> They sent me a list of instructions about restarting my PC and router 3
> times a day for several days at different times (do they not think I
> have better things to do!). They also gave me some speil about
> speedtouch modems (don't have one) and micro filters etc.

A load of bollocks basically. The only reason you'd need to reboot your router 3
times a day would be if it was seriously faulty.


> Anyway, before writing back and telling them not to be so insulting, I
> was hoping to get some concrete evidence of my performance. I have a
> netgear 834 wireless router and am looking at the admin page. The
> ADSL stats are:
>
> Connection speed: 1152kbps down, 288kbps Up
> Attenuation: 43db Down, 26db Up
> Noise margin: 24db Down, 28 db Up
>
> Thing is, are these actually telling me anything, cos they don't
> appear to change! Presumably, the 1152kbps means I have 1M broadband,
> but is this theoretical or actual?

It indicates the speed your router is 'syching' to the exchange equipment, the
DSLAM. You should theoretically be able to see download and upload speeds of up
to around 90% of those figures.

I STRONGLY recommend you use this site to get an idea of how fast you r
conenction actually perorms.
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

That's a low sync rate for 43dB of attenuation though. Are you actually on the
MAX adsl product ?


> If I were to change ISP, would it make any difference? If the line is
> the problem, presumably not!

Yes, a good ISP can get niggly things sorted. Virgin are next to useless at
doing anything other than taking your money.


> Any hints, advice would be most welcome. Got jobs to do now, so no
> more investigation for me tonight :-(

Move away from VM.

Graham

Neil wrote:

> "Ali" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>
> > Anyone who is a bit techie can see the way things are going with regards
> > to the internet. Therefore, ISP's like Sky, Virgin, etc. are looking to
> > get as many people subscribed to their services as they can.
>
> Anybody who is a bit techie, will also know how to actually use usenet
> correctly, and NOT top post, and look like a prat?

LOL !

Graham

Al Henderson wrote:
> Evening All,
>
> In the last few weeks or so, my broadband connection has seemed to
> be running very slowly. I don't have any concrete evidence to back
> this up, but file downloads and web pages are taking an age -
> sometimes I have been tempted to go and dig out my old 56k modem!!
>
> I'm with Virgin and have emailed them to see what they can do, and
> the answer (probably unsurprisingly) was nothing - its my fault.
> They sent me a list of instructions about restarting my PC and
> router 3 times a day for several days at different times (do they
> not think I have better things to do!). They also gave me some
> speil about speedtouch modems (don't have one) and micro filters
> etc.
>
> Anyway, before writing back and telling them not to be so
> insulting, I was hoping to get some concrete evidence of my
> performance. I have a netgear 834 wireless router and am looking
> at the admin page. The ADSL stats are:
>
> Connection speed: 1152kbps down, 288kbps Up
> Attenuation: 43db Down, 26db Up
> Noise margin: 24db Down, 28 db Up
>
> Thing is, are these actually telling me anything, cos they don't
> appear to change! Presumably, the 1152kbps means I have 1M
> broadband, but is this theoretical or actual?
>
> If I were to change ISP, would it make any difference? If the line
> is the problem, presumably not!
>
> Any hints, advice would be most welcome. Got jobs to do now, so no
> more investigation for me tonight :-(
>

The stats you give show a 1Mbps fixed rate service which is well
within limits, unless you have a large number of errors creeping in
from somewhere. What time were the readings obtained as that could
pinpoint a problem, the SNR readings will fluctuate during the day
with them dropping in the evenings. This is not caused by contention!

But I've got to be honest you haven't exactly given your custom to a
ISP with great customer support..

Eeyore wrote:
> Al Henderson wrote:
>> Connection speed: 1152kbps down, 288kbps Up
>> Attenuation: 43db Down, 26db Up
>> Noise margin: 24db Down, 28 db Up
>
> That's a low sync rate for 43dB of attenuation though. Are you
> actually on the MAX adsl product ?

Graham, you would have known that if you had actually read the posting
instead of crowing over someone who made the same mistake you did not
so long ago

BIG HINT look at the upload speed

"kráftéé" wrote:

> Eeyore wrote:
> > Al Henderson wrote:
> >> Connection speed: 1152kbps down, 288kbps Up
> >> Attenuation: 43db Down, 26db Up
> >> Noise margin: 24db Down, 28 db Up
> >
> > That's a low sync rate for 43dB of attenuation though. Are you
> > actually on the MAX adsl product ?
>
> Graham, you would have known that if you had actually read the posting
> instead of crowing over someone who made the same mistake you did not
> so long ago

Who's 'crowing' and where ?

Graham