Slow Internet Connection

**Beef Oven!** · 30-05-16, 22:10

I’m so sorry that you are experiencing problems ds. YouTube and iPlayer are our lifeblood!!!

For what it’s worth, I’d urge you bite the bullet and get wi-fi. I know you won’t regret it.

**Dave2002** · 31-05-16, 10:06

Without giving us your GPS coordinates, which part of the world roughly are you in? It seems to me that you are getting pretty poor service, and even some difficult areas are now getting 4Mbps.

The symptoms do sound consistent with some sort of fault. Are you with BT or another provider? The problem with getting BT out to fix the fault is that (a) they may not be able to fix it anyway, and (b) if they can demonstrate reasonably that it's an internal problem with your wiring or equipment, they will charge a considerable amount for coming out. That would probably also apply if you're with another provider, as they mostly use OpenReach (BT subsid) to fix problems, if they can.

Did this problem come on suddenly? Have you ever had acceptable service?

One person locally had problems which persisted, and BT tried to charge him. He pointed out that the problems came on after some upgrades had been done in the local area, and eventually he got things sorted and the charges waived I think, but since he's a scientist/electrical engineer he was able to argue the case. Otherwise the admin people simply play broken parrot (should of course be broken record) and claim there's no fault due to them, and that the charges for call out "have" to apply.

I don't fully understand beefy's comment re wifi. However, if you can plug a wifi router directly into the master socket, and disconnect everything else, then maybe that's what he was suggesting, and it should at least allow you to do most things fast enough. Almost all wifi routers now do the local wifi bit as fast as, or faster than the ADSL rate, so the important thing is to get the broadband rate up to max speed. If this doesn't work, and all the internal stuff is disconnected, then the fault surely has to be with the master socket or external wiring.

I have seen rates as low as 0.15 as you mentioned, but if you've had things working in the past, and you've changed the filters (new ones), and it's a recent thing, then it could be worth bouncing this back to the ISP. They are quite often hopelessly useless at getting things fixed without some pressure - though you don't want them to charge you.

**french frank** · 31-05-16, 10:24

I found a private telephone engineer (ex-BT) to come and install a new master socket so that I could have my router &c upstairs. I don't think he charged much, so they could be cheaper than BT (depending on what needs to be done, obviously). This one knew his stuff and was very scathing about BT (he taught me the phrase 'confusion marketing' where customers end up not really knowing what they're paying for).

**doversoul1** · 31-05-16, 19:30

Dave 2002
Thank you very much for comments and explanation. I am in Kent, Dover to be precise. Although it is rural here, the connection is usually fairly good. Yes, my connection problem came on suddenly. The first thing my ISP did was to find out what I did on that particular moment. Their first thought was a telephone call I made/received interfered it in some way but there was no phone call at that very moment.

Yes, I know what happens if you call out the BT for an internet problem. That is what my ISP (a small company whom I have known for twenty years) is trying to avoid but they have not yet offered any other solutions. I’ll press them to sort out the wiring problem. From what my neighbour says, even if I change to wireless, I’ll have to solve the wiring problem. This is because it is likely that what I have been using as the main socket (where my ADSL router is plugged in) may not be the main socket, which could well be the root of the problem.

ff
Lucky you. I used to know a couple of people who were just like your engineer but they are no longer around.

**Anastasius** · 01-06-16, 09:31

I think we're missing something here.

Speed problems of this sort are down to the connection between the router and the telephone line. Why do I say this? Simply because disconnecting the router from the ADSL socket 'resets' things - as it were. So nothing at all to do with your cabling (ethernet) from router to your computer. And so wi-fi I don't think is going to fix the problem nor is doing anything with your networking cable.

Have you or can you replace your router ? Which ISP are you with ?

**Beef Oven!** · 01-06-16, 09:38

Originally posted by Anastasius View Post

I think we're missing something here.

Speed problems of this sort are down to the connection between the router and the telephone line. Why do I say this? Simply because disconnecting the router from the ADSL socket 'resets' things - as it were. So nothing at all to do with your cabling (ethernet) from router to your computer. And so wi-fi I don't think is going to fix the problem nor is doing anything with your networking cable.

Have you or can you replace your router ? Which ISP are you with ?

That makes a lot of sense to me. I have just remembered, I had a similar problem in eastern Europe. I changed the router and the problem went (ostensibly with the old router!). Sorry, I can’t be any more technical than that!

**Dave2002** · 01-06-16, 10:08

Originally posted by Anastasius View Post

I think we're missing something here.

Speed problems of this sort are down to the connection between the router and the telephone line. Why do I say this? Simply because disconnecting the router from the ADSL socket 'resets' things - as it were. So nothing at all to do with your cabling (ethernet) from router to your computer. And so wi-fi I don't think is going to fix the problem nor is doing anything with your networking cable.

Have you or can you replace your router ? Which ISP are you with ?

Could be a faulty router, though seems unlikely. Other cables attached to other phone points, or devices hanging off those could cause this kind of thing.

The link between the master socket and the broadband exchange uses a form of adaptive OFDM I think, and normally this should improve over time up to an optimum level. If things go wrong the line parameters can be reset and the adaptation process restarted. If there are still problems somewhere the adaptation process can actually make things worse, which may explain what's going on here, and why it works for a while before going back to a snail's pace.

Would be good to rule out the router. Is it possible to borrow or substitute another one to check?

**Anastasius** · 01-06-16, 10:29

Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post

Could be a faulty router, though seems unlikely. Other cables attached to other phone points, or devices hanging off those could cause this kind of thing.

The link between the master socket and the broadband exchange uses a form of adaptive OFDM I think, and normally this should improve over time up to an optimum level. If things go wrong the line parameters can be reset and the adaptation process restarted. If there are still problems somewhere the adaptation process can actually make things worse, which may explain what's going on here, and why it works for a while before going back to a snail's pace.

Would be good to rule out the router. Is it possible to borrow or substitute another one to check?

He says that he is plugged into the main BT socket and so this eliminates extensions etc surely ? Does he have any extensions anyway?

**Serial_Apologist** · 01-06-16, 10:42

Originally posted by Anastasius View Post

He says that he is plugged into the main BT socket and so this eliminates extensions etc surely ? Does he have any extensions anyway?

My own ADSL connector has two sockets - one to which the router to this computer is connected, the other, my land line phone.

**Dave2002** · 01-06-16, 10:54

Some old wiring - e.g. from GPO days, has all sort of odd goings on - multiple entry points, wiring from the back of the "master" socket etc. If there is a new master socket properly installed then only connecting to that should give good results if the router and the minimal wiring to get that connected are working OK.

**doversoul1** · 01-06-16, 15:38

The reason why internal wiring comes in to it is because I sit upstairs with my desktop and a plugged in router. My IPS suspects that the telephone socket the router is plugged in is not the main socket. In other words, there is in-between wiring before the signal reaches the router from the main supply. Some years ago when the BT engineers were here to deal with the outside cable, they saw the internal wiring and did not like the look of it; the main cable / wire going upstairs to the main socket and coming down again to an extension telephone socket downstairs. So they fixed a socket upstairs that acted like main socket (I guess) and got rid of the downwards line. The line comes in from outside is now goes into the extension socket downstairs.

However, this was working fine until this problem started so I am not hundred percent convinced that it is the wiring problem. In any case, this has been going on now for almost three weeks and I am on the point of going out of my mind. So I ordered a router, if only to see that the problem is elsewhere*.

I have been with this small IPS for nearly 20 years and they are usually very helpful but somehow this time, they aren’t acting very promptly.

(Oh bother, The connection has slowed down. I’ll have to wait until it picks up the speed. May be this evening….sigh)

*My IPS still thinks it is the wire and not the router because, in his words, routers are binary: they either do things or don’t, which is not how my router is behaving. However, as we are expecting to have faster broadband in the area, he has agreed to supply the one that will be suitable for the higher speed.

**Serial_Apologist** · 01-06-16, 16:11

Best of luck with that, dovers - some of us have noticed that you have been coming to the forum less in recent weeks, and missed your presence here.

**ferneyhoughgeliebte** · 01-06-16, 16:24

Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post

Best of luck with that, dovers - some of us have noticed that you have been coming to the forum less in recent weeks, and missed your presence here.

**Dave2002** · 01-06-16, 16:46

dovers

Can't you open up the socket and check it? If it's a modern master socket it'll likely have a test port inside. There's a video on this page from BT which shows some sockets with the internal test sockets - http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/d...ing-and-set-up

There's also this page - which shows some master sockets - http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/d...-have-i-got%3F

If you can find a master socket with an internal test port, then you may find that your router works with that, in which case the original problem is almost certainly something internal in your home. If not, then it's worth getting yet another line test done.

One other thing - if you have a WiFi router, once you get it working, even temporarily - perhaps on the test socket, then you should be able to use that for all your wireless devices - though it won't help if you have older equipment without WiFi.

Wired (ethernet) connections are generally better than WiFi, but it does depend what you want them for. For example, if you transfer files between machines on your internal network, then it's best to stick with cabled connections. OTOH many of us nowadays simply use WiFi for accessing broadband networks, and most modern wireless routers can do WiFi a lot faster than broadband, so there's not so much point in putting in a lot of cable links. Older WiFi routers are probably not so good, and it's also possible to get blackspots in a building where it's very hard to send and receive a signal.

However, you may be lucky, and find that a modern wireless router will easily deliver the level of service you want - even streaming video.

Hope that helps.

Slow Internet Connection

Slow Internet Connection

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