8Mb internet connection

[RogerS]

BT are in the process of upgrading many exchanges to handle this.

However, a few cautionary bits of advice.

It will take at least 3 days while the BT system fine tunes your line. During this time your line speed is going to be all over the place - so do not panic.

It won't work with a USB modem.

Try and avoid turning off or rebooting your router otherwise the BT equipment thinks that your line is dodgy and ratchets down your line speed (and I haven't yet found out how to get this reset). So if your mains supply has a tendency to go on/off then treat your router to an Uninterruptible Power Supply.

Once fine tuned then the BT equipment constantly monitors the line and, a s far as I can see, will tweak the line regularly..which may mean quite wide fluctuations in line speed.

After about 4 days my speed went up to about 5Mbps which isn't bad...but then I went through a lot of mains on/off cycles and now i'm back down to 356k. I'm told that I have to go through the finetuning all over again.

If your line speed hasn't given you much improvement after three/four days then it is worth switching off the router for about 30 minutes. Then turning it back on which has the result of forcing the BT equipment to reset your line and start again.

Zen website has a load of useful stuff on it.

Don't be surprised if the various speed test services get overloaded as we all try to find out what our new speed is :lol:

 

[Neomorph]

I'm on Blueyonder and last September my speed was supposed to be upgraded to 10mb from 4mb... so guess when it actually was done here...

LAST NIGHT!

:shock:


Got to say though... it's a hell of a lot faster rendering web pages! Totally instant now. My guess is when everyone round here figures out they have been upgraded the connection will slow to a crawl as everyone plays with the new speed. Gradually it will peter off again as they realise that it's just the same internet lol

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Roger, couple of things if I may..

The stabilisation period for 8mb is 10 days. After that your line is still dynamically line managed constantly. As per in SYNC discussion below. The 10 days just gives the broadband provider a baseline to enable people to raise faults to BT Wholesale in the future.

It does work with a USB modem, certainly with the Voyager modems

There are two things to consider here. One is SYNC speed (your modem to the exchange) and one is through put speed. the exchange out to the BT network (B-RAS)

You turn on your router, it SYNCs to BT exchange (DSLAM) at 6mb say. This is determined by the quality of your line and how much noise you have on it. SO the better your in house wiring the more speed you can get, but if you are a long way from the exchange, there will be more noise and so you can expect lesser speeds. Stick your wireless router into the master socket in your house and you cut out your in house wiring, extension leads etc.

So you get your modem/router in SYNC at 6mb (mouse over the little arrows on the sys tray if you have them). And you then get 'through put' at 6mb as well, because the B-RAS (on BTs network) thinks to itself, Right, they can get in SYNC at 6mb, so thats a good stable speed for that line with that modem/router. So you can browse the web at 6mb, no bother.

However, if you turn your router off, and for some reason when it SYNCs with the BT exchange it syncs at 3mb, then the B-RAS at BT will throatle your 'through put' to 3mb for the next 3 days. You will be browsing the web at 3mb. If after 3 days you have continued to connect and reconnect and SYNC at above 3Mb, then you will get the lowest speed that your router has been in SYNC to the exchange at. Its so that you get the MOST stable speed that your line characteristics can support continuously.

If you have a problem in your house wiring, or inteference on your phone line, and get in SYNC, just once, at say 288k, and then restart your router and get in SYNC at 6mb, it doesnt matter. BT will maintain your 'through put' speed at 288k for three days, until it works out that you have been in SYNC several times in the last few days at other speeds.

So if you get in SYNC at 6mb, its good to try and stay connected as Roger states. Although, they do this to give you the most stable broadband connection speed that they can. So if you cant really support 6mb on your line, you will be disconnected at some point when the broadband cant sustain the higher speed, and will reconnect at a lower rate, say 4mb.

The 3 days is a bit of a nightmare though, because it isnt a three day average, its the lowest rate you achieved over the 3 day rolling period.

If you are connected at 6mb and then get reconnected at a lower rate, you need to start looking at your line quality yourself. Check your filters in the house, remove any extension cables and stick the router as close to the master socket as you can. Check your connection doesnt get inteference from central heating coming on, outside lights coming on, internal lights etc. Alot of this is up to you to improve your line as much as you can. If you do, yo will get better speeds.

BT do state (on their website) that in some instances the Voyager 105 has a problem and cant get over 4mb through put, even though its in SYNC at more. But its not all Voyager USB modems, its just some with certain drivers and other software installed on the PC. To be sure, get yourself a good quality wireless router or an ethernet modem, get it plugged in to the master socket and you are away..

Damn that was a geeky over long post if ever I saw one.

 

[RogerS]

Thanks, Big Louie, for the clarification.

So if I understand you correctly then eventually ( :wink: ) my line will stabilise at the best possible speed....? Provided I don't constantly fiddle around with disconnecting the router/powering down etc.?

 

[Chris Knight]

When I first wanted broadband, I tried BT who sent an engineer who after a few checks declared I failed a Whoosh test and couldn't get it - even though he had been able to connect in ADSL mode.

Without knowing exactly what that meant and determined to get broadband, I signed up for a connection via an ISP with one of the early DIY packages and got 512 with no problem.

Later on, I upgraded this to 1MB still no problem and most days I actually get 1.2 and on the odd day 1.5 and even on a day when someone forgot to throttle me I got 3MB.

If I query the BT broad band page, it says I am too far from the exchange (we are 6km or so) to get more than 512KB (which is all that my neighbours can get). On this basis I am keeping quiet even though I would sign up for 8MB like a shot if it were offered.

It seems to me that BT are being very conservative - overly so IMHO.

 

[neilc]

Forgive my ignorance but how do you actually check the speed of the connection. I have broadband but haven't a clue of the speed it running at.
Neil

 

[PowerTool]

Neil - if you google for something like "broadband speed checker",there are several free software downloads you can use to check it.

Andrew

 

[Chris Knight]

Neil,
There is also a number of programs that measure speed in/out of your connection like DU meter which I like ( http://www.dumeter.com/)

 

[neilc]

Cheers lads.
Neil

 

[RogerS]

There's one here

and another one here

 

[dedee]

Roger,
the Zen speed checker appears not to be working they suggest the BT one
http://speedtester.bt.com/cgi-bin/home.page.pl

Since having my service upgraded on the 4th April, I've had the router and Mac switched off while I've been away. Switched on last night & according to the BT test was getting 4mb. The BBC test gave me 6MB and the ADSLguide less than 2mb all within the space for about 5 minutes.

I'll leave everything running for a week or so and see what happens.

Andy

 

[CHJ]

Regarding the benefits of higher connection speeds and also a caution about leaving your router permanently connected during storms.

This thread triggered a discussion with a Senior BT engineer about the BB network, he made the following observations.

1) routers are delicate instruments and should be unplugged (telephone and power) if lightning is a remote possibility and any part of the route from the exchange is overhead.

2) the speeds quoted are theoretical as between the exchange and the ISP is a connection shared amongst a number of customers. So if you do all suggested in this thread you will not see anything like the speeds quoted if all the other BB customers are downloading films / music etc at the same time. - Just the same problem in the office.

3) another variable is the ISP's ability to handle all the traffic and the speed of transfer from the destination page (it may or may not be cached at your own ISP).

4) given all the above the speed you will see at your end is the worst speed in the various links the data has to travel. It is usually worst in the local loop but that is by no means guaranteed.

So IMOHO although getting the best possible connection between yourself and the local exchange is good, paying a premium for the possibility of it being the max. or getting frustrated because it is not the best available elsewhere makes little sense.

If you live in remoter areas improvements in speed will only come when the core structure is upgraded and in practical terms may even go down as more people become connected.

If you use BB for video conferencing (messenger and the like) you will see vast performance differences dependant on time and day. This is a good indication of actual traffic speed.

 

[Neomorph]

There is a good site for tweaking broadband connection HERE. It's mainly to do with my ISP's 10mb upgrades but there are a few things that are useful for tweaking your PC to handle broadband better. For instance Cybertweak and XP Antispy are essential for getting the most out of your broadband connection.

My recommendation for speed testing is a program called Broadband Speed Test by Dan Elwell.

Hope that helps...

 

[CHJ]

A few FAQ's from BT re 8Mb BB

 

[Neomorph]

I forgot to mention a good speed tester with logging that I use is something called Netmeter.

You can see how much bandwidth you are actually using as BT are pretty much bandwidth nazis (I know it's a bit strong but their definition of unlimited is pretty much a lie and they charge you for it - see here where they charge for excessive use).

I'm just glad my ISP really is an unlimited broadband connection and still faster than BT.

 

[SimonA]

John, (NeoMorph) Was the upgrade to 10mb a free one? Where you on the 4mb connection before? Sorry for the questions, but I'm with Blueyonder too, on a 4mb connection, and was just wondering if they're going to be upgrading everyone again in the near future........

SimonA

 

[Anonymous]

CHJ, I agree with much of your post, but I would say, that if you are in a rural area, moving to the 'up to 8 meg' products will almost certainly improve your potential speed.

My own line could only run a 1mb connection, that is because the 1mb and 2mb products from BT are a fixed rate product. They either work (your line is good enough) or they dont work, your line has too much noise on it.

Now, with 8mb (and 512) the products are rate adaptive. 512 will reduce slightly to give you some form of connection. 8mb is a dynamic line product, so the number checker checks your line, gives you an estimate of the speed you can get. Its often more, because BT were conservative previously, as the 1 and 2 meg products were not rate adaptive. I think that was the correct thing to do under the circumstances, as otherwise they would have sold lots of borderline 2mb products that had intermittent issues.

Right, I;m stopping there after my last war and peace effort

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Big Louie, for the clarification.

So if I understand you correctly then eventually ( :wink: ) my line will stabilise at the best possible speed....? Provided I don't constantly fiddle around with disconnecting the router/powering down etc.?

yep, thats exactly correct.

Over 10 days your line will constantly be connected and disconnected (often by you and often by the quality of your line) as the quality of your line may differ through the day, as other things influence the noise on your line.

But even outside the 10 days, if for some reason you get disconnected and then reconnected at a much lower rate, say 512, then for the next 3 days your "through put rate" (NOT your SYNC rate) will be set to 512. After 3 days of your modem/router 'speaking' to the DSLAM at the exchange, it will determine the lowest speed you have been in SYNc at, and set that for your next 3 days "through put" rate.

If that happens, you need to find out why you are having a 'slow sync event' as that is restricting the speed with which your through put is working. Usually, its coz your heating comes on, next door neighbours dodgy tv or satalite box, electric fence, dodgy street lamp etc, anything that can cause an electrical event that causes the noise that knocks you off.

Or so the theory from BT goes at any rate If you do have problems, PM me.

 

[CHJ]

OK I'm with you there biglouie, I am already with an ISP that is committed to giving me 8mb or as near as possible as soon as BT have upped the local loop capabilities.

My router always indicates 2mb connection but actual download speed connection test varies enormously within UK, one minute 1.8+mb next 300k.minute, Netmeter usually records 350k or there abouts.
UK Server sources are the worst , Asia, Aus, USA are always faster, I suspect UK traffic is throttled or over systems over utilized.

Just yesterday I enabled a BB installation in Leicestershire on a 1mb connection that has faster apparent download speed than I achieve, this I put down to a combination of my distance from exchange and my aging spec machines.
I'm not complaining whatever the reason, it's a new world compared with dial-up.

 

[Anonymous]

absolutely, always worth looking at.

What I would say however, is that I have seen quite a few number checkers for ppl on 1mb niow, that comes back as 8mb available at 256k ! Thats a bit tricky, but just shows that the quality of their line must be twerrible, but just enough to sneak a 1mb line onto.