Hi guys, really useful site, great that you're getting so many people together. I've been upgraded from the old £17.99 to unlimited, and am connecting wired to a livebox. My download speeds have fallen from around a very acceptable 6Mbps to around 2-2.8Mbps at best, and down to about 1.2 at busy times. My exchange (Blaydon) does not have Orange LLU. I've posted my speedtest.net below, and router stats. What would you guys recommend?
First step would be to run a BT speedtest to see what Profile is set for your line at the moment and then monitor the downstream rates shown by the livebox and what the profile does over a couple of days. Mainly looking for changes in the two.
On a side note your target margin is at maximum, 15, which would usually indicate some sort of connection issues in the last couple of weeks.
Cosmicdance, I would leave Orange but I'm tied to an 18 month mobile contract that I specifically signed up for to get the £5 unlimited.
Elhana, here's my BT speedtest for this morning (least busy time), if by connection issues you mean disconnections etc I've not experienced any since the first few days. I've been on the unlimited for about 6 weeks, so past the intial setttling down period. But I'm at the limit of my technical knowledge now so I'm totally in the hands of you guys!
IP profile for your line is - 3000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 5056 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 2785 kbps
Your attainable seems a bit low for the attenuation you have. If you were getting 6meg downloads then the attainable would have been significantly higher. From the IP Profile of 3000 it looks like you may have experienced some connection/stabilty issues. Interleave switched on would seem to further substantiate this. Have you connected any additional equipment to your line recently and do you have filters in all the right places.
As a start I would go to master socket and remove lower plate if you have this type. Then plug livebox directly into part of socket still fixed to wall. Connect without filter and run line stats again. See if there is any significant increase in attainable. If there is it would point to an internal problem. Lets know how you get on.
Once a contract has been broken - which it has as they proved you with 6 Mb then down to 2 MB you can cancel at anytime.
They have to provide you with your MAC code by law, regardless of any contract term left.
Cosmicdance - I could cancel the broadband, but I am tied in to the £30pm phone contract for 18 months, so it would cost me a lot more to switch broadband supplier! Previously I was on a £15pm phone contract plus £17.99 Orange bb. Wish I had stayed on that phone contract, then could have switched bb for no extra cost!
Tvman - I've not conected any additional equipment other than plugging a phone handset into the livebox. I do tend to unplug the livebox from the mains at night - would this make a difference? Filters are in the right place (I only have one phone socket) - I've tried replacing the filter but made no difference. My socket does not have a lower plate, took it off and the cable just runs direct to the socket so can't conect the livebox directly I don't think. Ran all the tests again and got virtually exactly same results as above. Anything else I can do? Is it worth contacting Orange? Thanks again!
Ok it's the profile limiting the connection to start with. That normally should increase if the connection is stable for 3 days. You may want to leave the livebox connected over this period to see if it does go up if left alone.
Also as I mentioned before the target margin is at maximum, this indicates problems at some point. The target margin would explain the lower than expected sync and attainable speeds. Target margin is automatically re-examined by the system after 14 days of stability.
Apart from if there's a problem with the system being stuck at those settings then it should be reacting normally. Half the idea is that when there are problems you're not supposed to lose connection completely and instead run with a slightly degraded, but working, connection. Depending on how you use the connection many don't even notice the drop off.
Right now the main thing to do is simply monitor the Livebox stats and the profile for a few days to see what happens. If the profile does change up then there's likely nothing wrong at the moment and hopefully whatever caused this was a temporary issue that's since cleared up.
Thanks Elhana, your advice is much appreciated! I shall continue to monitor it and keep my fingers crossed! For future reference is it best to keep the livebox plugged in to the mains permanently? (This is less to do with saving electricity than the fact that it is quite bright and illuminates the room in a red glow!)
Paul
Once a contract has been broken - which it has as they proved you with 6 Mb then down to 2 MB you can cancel at anytime.
They have to provide you with your MAC code by law, regardless of any contract term left.
Andy
Is this definitely the case since the speed will be quoted as up to 8MB. I wouldn't mind verification for another member please
Joined: 13 Aug 2006Posts: 1689Location: Marylebone Central London
I think they will quote to you that its up to 8 as you said unless they have stuck you on a 1 or 2 meg cap without telling you then they have broke the contract.
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