BT HOME HUB - Shows fast connection but intenet is slow

[defcon_alert]

Before i ask, i did do a search for similar problems, and i found 1 but i didnt really understand what how it was resolved so:

Hi, I have a Toshiba Equium P200 connected via wireless ( signal: excellent) to a BT Homehub

For the last 2 days ive had horribly slow internet speed, i tried connecting
via ethernet but got the same result. but when i go to home hub manager is
shows:

Downstream 6,176 Kbps
Upstream 448 Kbps

Which is what is normal for me, so i figured its not a problem with the
home-hub

I checked if anything else was using up any bandwidth via task manager and nothing was, i went to device manager and checked properties of my network/modem which was also fine. I also tried "un-checking" TCP/IPv6, and then reset the home hub to factory settings, none of these worked.

I removed my anti virus programs, still nothing. I started the computer in safe-mode with networking and the speed was still slow.


I tried a speed test at : http://speedtester.bt.com/ and got:

"Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 6176 kbps (DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 113 kbps"

Im not too sure what this means, I download quite alot (iplayer / 4OD ) have BT capped my speeds ??? ( i checked my bt email account and they havent sent me any warning or anything)

and if they have capped it (which they have before, but i phoned them and they took it off) is there any thing i can do, such as complain ?

[Olozzj]

"Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 6176 kbps (DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 113 kbps"

Originally Posted by defcon_alert

There's your problem straight away - your IP Profile. Please note that this has nothing to do with your PC (or laptop) and will probably have nothing to do with your Home Hub either.

Despite your "sync speed" (the speed at which your Home Hub has connected to the exchange - in your case 6176 k), you will only ever get the maximum speed of your IP Profile.

You seem to have a pretty good line judging by your sync speed of 6 meg, but for some reason your IP Profile is ridiculously low, and it should be around 5000 / 6000.

It's pretty much impossible to find out why your IP Profile has suddenly dropped this low, but from my experience this is usually caused by a sudden drop in line quality. When your router (Home Hub) tries to "re-sync" to the exchange after the drop in quality, the DSLAM reduces your IP Profile because it thinks you have a bad line.

If you normally connect at 6 meg and this event is a one-off, your IP Profile should automatically increase back to its original value (or possibly even higher) after a period of 10 days. Yes it's quite a long period of time to wait while you're coping with slow speeds, but this is all down to how ADSL Max works. Please note, this is not your ISP's fault (eg BT).

If I were you, I would wait 2-3 days then do another test with the BT Speedtester (http://speedtester.bt.com), then compare the new results with the ones you've just given. If they have improved then all well & good, but if they haven't give your ISP (BT) a ring and explain the problem. (PS it might be wise to speak to their "cancellation department" so you get an English CSR - otherwise they may not understand your problem )

[defcon_alert]

OK, thanks for the response, guess ill just wait it out for a few day, and i cant stress how annoying it is for my speed to go from 6meg to speed similar to dial-up

[Olozzj]

and i cant stress how annoying it is for my speed to go from 6meg to speed similar to dial-up

Originally Posted by defcon_alert

lol

I know exactly what you mean, it happened to one of our 8 lines and it's annoying to say the least.

And to be correct, you're currently enjoying speeds just over that of dial-up. :P

[snoozy]

Hi,

Have you tried simply turning off the power to the modem, leaving it a minute, then turning it on again?

Sorry if this sounds daft - but you never know..

[Olozzj]

Hi,

Have you tried simply turning off the power to the modem, leaving it a minute, then turning it on again?

Sorry if this sounds daft - but you never know..

Originally Posted by snoozy

Hi Snoozy. This is a method which, in some cases, can work, but in this case it is not reccomended at all - because it would almost probably end up lowering the IP Profile even further - so speeds would plummet to an all-time low.

It's nice to see other people trying to help though

[Austin_KW]

You may want to check with the ISP. Someone (dont remember who) was using IP profile to throttle heavy users.
Anything below 500kbs looks suspiciously like traffic management? Call them and say your IP profile is stuck and needs to be reset but I would not be surprised if this is TM.

[Olozzj]

You may want to check with the ISP. Someone (dont remember who) was using IP profile to throttle heavy users.

Originally Posted by Austin_KW

Really? That's an interesting one! I didn't know you could dynamically change the IP Profile in such a way.

[Austin_KW]

Sounded strange to me, who knows maybe the help (sic) line just fed him a line to get rid of him.

[Olozzj]

Sounded strange to me, who knows maybe the help (sic) line just fed him a line to get rid of him.

Originally Posted by Austin_KW

more than likely

Hey there wondering if you could give me a hand with my internet speed because you obviously seem knowledgable and I'm....not.
We have had BT Home at my house hub for about a year now so a little past the settling in period! Both my parent's PC and my laptop use the wireless internet and the speed is dreadful, i'm not sure of the exact advertise meg but i'm assuming its a decent speed (8meg?) because we pay a fair amount for it. When i hover over the little icon the speed on both the laptop and pc reads 54mbps with excellent signal strength.

I ran a speedtest on the bbmax site for both and got:
Laptop: Download:35kbps (4.4KB/Sec) Upload:149kbps (18.6KB/Sec)
PC: Download: 33kbps (4.1KB/Sec) Upload: 131kbps (16.4KB/Sec)
(I don't know what the ones in brackets are but they were there so i copied them down)

I also used the BT Speedtester and got this:
(Laptop)
Your DSL connection rate: 256 kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 28 kbps
The PC was exactly the same but acheived a higher Actual IP (-63 kbps)(????)

These are all just numbers to me but I can tell something isn't right by the speed of my internet, if i do any downloading the highest speed i'll get is about 10KB/s if I'm VERY lucky, but it's almost always around 5KB/s. And streaming videos, from youtube for example, is a nightmare, just now it took me just over 7 minutes to stream a video lasting exactly 1 minute!

I'm hoping someone will help shed a bit of light on this, and hopefully some suggestions to help sort this out...
Thanks in advance!!

[Memfis]

IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps

Thats very very very low.
it should be somewhere between 2,000 (2Mb/s) to 8,000 (8Mb/s)
Are you miles from the exchange? Have you ever used another isp on that line?

When i hover over the little icon the speed on both the laptop and pc reads 54Mb/s with excellent signal strength.

Ok so you're connected over wireless and can transfer between your pc & laptop at 54Mb/s but that's not the speed of your internet connection.

Plug modem into the test socket (unscrew the master socket it's hidden inside) and see what speeds you get there. This will help identify if it's internal wiring or external wiring that's slowing you down.

I would be on the phone to your ISP and be giving them hell by now

Who are your isp? you didn't mention it? (You posted from a BT IP address).

[Austin_KW]

@BigBTHHfan

Those numbers are very bad. I looks like a line problem. You need to eliminate your internal wiring and retest.
Connect to the test socket, by removing the bottom half of the master BT nte5 socket; Then rerun the bt speedtest

Ok apparently my house is awkward, we don't have the bt nte5 sockets it is just a metal plating attatched to the wall, and when i unscrewed it there is some wiring but nothing that looks like another socket??

We did get into contact with BT before and they recognised that it was slow and said it was due to problems at their end which they have now fixed? Sounds a bit like BS to me and considering the speed hasn't changed at all i think i'm right!

I'm going to try a few other sockets in the house but any other ideas whilst i'm gone would be appreciated!

[Austin_KW]

Some houses are star wired.
Make sure every extension with a device (phone, skybox etc) has a filter.

Open up each extension (plate) and disconnect the ringwire (pin 3?) You just need pins 2 and 5 connected, any other wires can add unbalanced noise.

two of the sky boxes don't have micro filters, will this make a big difference??

the pins connected behind the plate are numbers 2,3,4 +5, i don't really fancy removing any of the wires unless it's absolutely necessary - is unbalanced noise a big issue?

any ideas as to where there might be another test socket hidden??

[Olozzj]

two of the sky boxes don't have micro filters, will this make a big difference??

Originally Posted by MASSIVE BTHH fan

It certainly will.

If I were you, I'd unplug everything from your line - which includes Sky, all telephones, and also your broadband. You appear to have a big house, so double-check all hidey-holes to make sure there aren't any hidden phone sockets with a device connected.

Leave everything disconnected for a minute or two, then connect only your HomeHub to the phoneline via a Microfilter - but do not connect any additional devices (such as Sky, Telephone).

Once this is connected, go to the BT Speedtester web site and run a test. If you see an improvement from the result you experienced earlier, you know it's down to one (or more) of the other devices connected to the phone line in your house.

If you see an improvement, the next process is trial and error; plug in one additional device at a time to the phone line, wait 5 minutes, then re-run the BT Speedtester and see if the results have changed any at all. If, after plugging in a certain device, you notice the speed of your broadband / line has dropped, you know that device is causing you a problem, so problem solved!

Make sure, though, that every single device connecting to a telephone socket has a Microfilter attatched, including your two Sky boxes. If a device doesn't have a Microfilter, DON'T plug it in! Instead, purchase an additional Microfilter, connect it between the device and the telephone line, then plug it in.

Finally, count how many devices you have connected to your telephone line. You shouldn't have any more than 4* devices connected, or this can cause serious problems!
(* yes, it all depends on their REN value, but as a general rule, each device has a rating of 1 and a standard BT line has a rating of 4 REN)

[Austin_KW]

What Olozzj said;
Try with only the broadband router connected and see if your dsl sync speed improves.

If no improvment then try disconnecting the additional wires. The filters only connect pins 2,5 so you are safe enough disconnecting them. But it is probably the unfiltered devices.
I recently fixed a connection where adding a missing filter changed the dsl rate from 1mbs to the full 8mbs.

Well I have done exactly that and immediately notcied a bit of a difference with the internets speed, but have done the speed tester again and the connecction rates have increased but the IP profile is still 135: (don't quite know how to interpret that)

Your DSL connection rate: 3616 kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 61 kbps

despite this it is still taking 7 minutes to load a 1 minute vid, and this is with absolutely everything unplugged except the router.
And it wont let me take another test for 3 hours!

Feel like crying!!

[Austin_KW]

That looks much better you are now syncing at at respectable 3.6mbs.
The IP profile can take upto 3 days to track the new speed (it reflects your stable speed over time). If it does not change you can call your ISP and tell them you have a 'stuck ip profile'.

[Olozzj]

'stuck ip profile'.

Originally Posted by Austin_KW

Austin, do you really think those nice chaps in India will know what that means? lol

Anyway, are you any further with your problem? Have you found a specific device to be causing a problem, or haven't you tried testing yet?

Forget the "nice" chaps in India, I don't even know what that means!

I found a few micro filters floating about the house and connected them up, but the internet is still going pretty slow, and now I can't even do the BT speed test anymore, it always says this:

"Performance Tester was not able to find all the network details required for telephone number:xxxxxxxxxxx

Please check that it is the correct telephone number for your service, and if not try again. If you believe it is the correct number for your service then please raise this as a fault with your service provider"

I suppose I am going to have to raise this as a fault with my service provider then?!

I havn't messed about with anything since about 3 or 4 days ago when it was working fine-....well.....better. I have 2 Sky boxes one house phone and one home hub connected to those little phone-like socket things each with its own microfilter.

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
Your DSL connection rate: 3488 kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP profile for your line is - 1750 kbps
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1567 kbps

Looking better??? Translated into English what exactly does this show? For instance, as I know next to nothing about almost everything what is the connection rate, down stream, the speed of the ip profile mean and the actual ip profile? And (i know i'm pushing it) can anyone tell me what this amounts to in terms of how fast my internet is in megs? If that makes sense? But still the internet seems 10 times faster (which i think should make sense - 135kbps to 1750kbps?) so thanks so much for your help to the both of you, and a little bit for you too memfis, but only a bit
Thanks guys! x

[Olozzj]

First of all, why not register with us at The Scream, instead of using random usernames and confusing me lol

Secondly, when you run the BT Speedtester and view the results, you want to be looking at the 'Actual IP Throughput' which shows you how fast the Speedtester was able to transfer information down your line. In your case:

Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1567 kbps

Originally Posted by Me 4 Home Hub 4ever

This means the BT Speedtester transferred data down your line at 1.5 Mb per second. This is certainly an increase from those hurrendous speeds you were getting, and judging by your sync speed & IP Profile, your speeds will increase in time.

It looks like you've got everything sorted now. For the next few days, you should notice your broadband getting faster and faster until it reaches the maximum stable speed on your line.

Hi all, im new to this site. Im having the same problems with these idiots about my connection and they're saying that its down to me that my connection is slow. my down stream rate is 1164, up stream is 448, IP pprofile is 750 and actual ip through test is 670. When i asked the person on the the other line why i was getting a crap speed compared to the 5.5mbps i was promised she just said 'its your wiring' I managed to get her to talk to the people that change the ip profile and they upped it to 1 meg which im still waiting for! And then got told that if my line cant support anything more then thats all i can have. Once i let them tell me all their pack of lies, i then told them that my old aol connection was well over 2meg so my is capable of handling high speeds, they hung up on me!!!!!

[Olozzj]

A little troubleshoot:

You should make sure that your modem or router is connected directly to your BT Master phone socket. If you connect from a slave socket, or you use an ordinary telephone extension cable, you run the risk of having slower speeds, disconnections, or your broadband may not connect at all.

The ideal configuration is to connect a microfilter into the main phone socket, then have a short RJ11 cable running from the ADSL port to your modem/router, and have any phones/faxes/sky boxes running from the telephone port.

If you have more than one telephone socket, you must make sure that every device is filtered at some point before it connects to your line. You must not "double-fiter" your line. In other words, you cannot have a filter running through a filter.

If you're connecting wirelessly to a router, ensure that you have a strong signal. If your signal is weak, try moving either your router or computer slightly (a metre) left or right which usually avoids any interfering materials or devices.

Finally, a few words of advice for when you're speaking to your ISP (BT);
do not shout or swear at their CSR's - otherwise they may well hang up on you, and they did not 'promise' 5.5 Mb - they cannot guarantee what speed you will get, so therefore they will only advise.

Good luck

Hey guys I stumbled across this thread while trying to figure out why my net speed has dropped.

I used to have AOL and we used to get 1.4Mb con, but since we have gone to BT it has dropped to 800Kbps.

I have connected the router through the master socket and the sync speed jumped from 800Kbps to 2400Kbps, now how do i get rid of the internal wiring mess.

We have 2 other sockets else where in the house but they are not used. Is there anyway to disconnect the internal wiring around the house and just use the main socket?

You need a BT Iplate to eliminate your internal wiring, I dont think you need additional filters on the extension's using an Iplate.

[centaur]

Hey guys I stumbled across this thread while trying to figure out why my net speed has dropped.

I used to have AOL and we used to get 1.4Mb con, but since we have gone to BT it has dropped to 800Kbps.

I have connected the router through the master socket and the sync speed jumped from 800Kbps to 2400Kbps, now how do i get rid of the internal wiring mess.

We have 2 other sockets else where in the house but they are not used. Is there anyway to disconnect the internal wiring around the house and just use the main socket?

Originally Posted by 0xy

Quite simple to do without the Iplate IF you are sure you won't want the other internal connections.

Once you remove the lower part of the faceplate to reveal the 'test socket', you simply remove those wires connected to it and tape the ends so they can't make connection any more.

Job done.