Follow Up : Broadband Speed Test

Change providers. My router is powerd off when not in use. No problems here.

MBQ

that wont stop it happening -its BTs algorithm. But it will mean that a quick email to the ISP will get it sorted in less than half a day.

I juts email mine and say 'had some issues, my BRAS has gone down. I think I've fixed the issues, can you get BT to reset the line? and it gets done rapidly.

- Change providers. My router is powerd off when not in use. No problems

- here.

- MBQ

That's surprising.

I'm with Plusnet ADSL and the Plusnet help pages are very specific about leaving your router switched on all the time.

Its software run by BT in the exchanges that automatically lowers the speed profile as a result of frequent disconnections. In theory (I think) the user should get more information in this way slow speed - frequent disconnections than with high speed frequent disconnections. Don't ask me why.

I only know this because when I first joined Plusnet I was using a modem and this was being switched off a lot. Having looked at the Plusnet help pages I had to phone Plusnet to get them to get BT to raise the profile. The profile is solely down to BT not the ISP.

michael adams

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com...

Trying to convince somebody living in Mubai of your "nightmare" in having to suffer a slow broadband speed for a few days could be quite a problem, clearly.

The profiles are set in the exchanges by BT and according to the Plusnet Help pages anyway (I assume BT have similar pages) can take anything up to 48 or maybe 72 hours to correct. They work on the immediate past usage - how many disconnections have taken place in the past say 72 hours. Not on what may happen in the future. It may be possible to reset these manually but for that you'd probably need to be paying for a premium service.

michael adams

...

Changing ISP won't affect this automatic speed reduction in response to bad line conditions. A decent ISP can restart the 10 day training period but I don't think they can reset the BRAS. But there shouldn't be any need, only have the hub connected and powered when the line is stable. Don't mess with the wiring or have electrically noisy things going on(*) with the internet connection "live". If there is no active connection the kits doesn't know what the line conditions are and will reconnect with the last known settings.

(*) Thunderstorms within a few miles will also bugger up the BRAS rate for up to three days. The BRAS should automagically recover within 72 hours of the noise that forced it down stopping.

A different ISP would not make the problem go away (although may make getting it fixed less vexing!). There are a couple of technical things you can do. Generally the DSLAMs can tell the difference between random disconnects and ordered disconnects. So if you know you need to power the router off, then going to its web page first and telling it to disconnect can be better than simply powering it off.

Check also if you router has "dying gasp" support - this should again allow it to disconnect gracefully on power loss, so that it does not look like a line interruption.

Finally if the interruptions are going to be short (few mins at a time before power is restored, or can be found from an alternate supply) consider a small UPS to hold up the router etc.

A simple just "dissappears" shouldn't trigger the BRAS to be reduced, I don't even think frequent reconnects with the sync rate remaining more or less what it should will trigger a speed reduction either.

However a single resync at a low speed that remains for a few minuets to less than an hour will force the BRAS down. There is no effective buffering within the BT network so they only allow the ISPs to feed data in at a speed below which it can leave.

In article , Andrew Mawson scribeth thus

Yes I know .. that's why we have for some of our services a provider up in Rochdale in darkest Lancashire and 'tho they do speak funny they do get things done;!>.

Even Virgin media aren't as bad as BT now;!....

Yes a friend of mine who still sticks with AOL tells me thats their standard stock fault response when they have problems.

He has VM's up to 60 meg service going right past his house but still he sticks with around 1.8 down and . 2 something up and waffle when he has a problem;'(.