Sky BB

[NJTRAF]

Right, basically I live in the arse end of nowhere...seriously, look for Kimblewick Road, Buckinghamshire - I live in the middle of a shit load of farmland basically.

Now, when I moved here I really only had two choices for Broadband. BT and Sky. Now, given the fact I loathe BT (If only I had Virgin Media in the area...) I decided that Sky would be better, I have the full Sky TV package anyway and never had any issues with them so I decided to go for their all singing all dancing bit of everything package. Unfortunately for some reason Sky couldn't take over the calls so I had to get BT for the landline (I think its because I wasn't in their LLU area)

Sky came out, assessed the line and reckoned i'd average between 1meg and 2meg, which is ok considering the location etc. Anyway, ever since i've had it its be astronomically shit!! I actually bothered to start taking note in the last month, running various speed tests at various times of day. I'm averaging just under 400kbps!!!

Now, it is my understanding that under Ofcoms terms that broadband is defined as having an average speed of 500kbps (half a meg) at a minimum. I aren't getting that, so I was wondering if anyone knows how/if I can get Sky to upgrade the line somehow or cut my price plan (considering i'm on their fucking £17.99 connect or whatever the shit's called - might as well call it the rape)

Now, i'm obviously in a contract with them but if i'm not getting the minimum speeds defined as being broadband then does that mean that if sky refuse to do anything then I can effectively tear up the contract and leave a steaming great shit on their faces??

The worst part is, I was looking at average speeds of providers in the area...guess who's top with 2 - 3.5 meg?? B-fucking-T

[NJTRAF]

fucking hell, just did another speed test there and my d/l speed came out as 240kbps and upload speed came out as 300kbps ffs! lol

[cannontrodder]

It's all about the line though. Sky won't upgrade that, they don't own it.

[NJTRAF]

It's all about the line though. Sky won't upgrade that, they don't own it.

Aye, I understand they can't upgrade as BT own the line - what I would expect, considering the fact I can't get what is defined as broadband by Ofcoms regulations, is a reduction in price for my tariff as i'm paying for a broadband product, yet not receiving one. Either that or if they refuse to do that i'd expect to be able to terminate my service with Sky without charge as they aren't providing me with the minimum terms of my contract

[bailster]

I'm no expert on adsl, but I did a fair bit of reading of adsl forums when I had issues a couple of months back. Your slow broadband speed could be caused by quite a few things - mainly distance from the exchange, faulty internal wiring, "stuck" BT profile among other things.

What I'd suggest doing before anything else is to do a BT speedtest. You must use the test socket on your houses main socket. The telephone line will come into your house into the master socket. All your internal wiring will be linked to the master socket. If you can disconnect ALL your internal wiring easily then do that. If it's hardwired then unscrew the faceplate off your master socket which should then reveal the test socket (this will automatically bypass all your internal wiring). Plug your router\modem into the test socket and then go to :

http://speedtester.bt.com/

You will need your broadband login details as your ISP will be able to see the results of this test. Useful if\when you have to phone them. Don't use wirless when doing the speedtest.

If you do that test it will show you your current connection speed, your BT profile and the minimum speed where BT will admit there is a problem.

If you could post back the results of that test here then that would be great. The BT profile is important. Basically BT have tools that are constantly monitoring your line. If your line is noisy or unstable then your profile will keep getting reduced. Your profile determines the speed at which your modem or router will "synch" at. It will not synch higher than your profile so even when you get to the bottom of the cause of the slow speed you sometimes have to wait up to 10 days for your profile to increase. A good isp may be able to get this sorted quicker for you.

It would also be useful if you could get your line stats. If you can login to your sky router (google this if you don't know how) and look for line stats. Your Line Attenuation is should give you an idea of what sort of speeds you should be able to expect. This generally increase the further you are form the exchange. The graph on this link should help :

http://adsl24.co.uk/images/page_adsl2chart.gif

Your noise margin is also important. This should be about 6db, but increases in blocks of 3db (I think) if it's much higher then it suggests a noisy line. Causes of noise are usually down to faulty or incorrect internal wiring\extensions, but another cause can be when your Sky Box is connected to the phone line. Google this and you should find quite a bit about it. My isp provides me with graphs on the quality of my line. They give examples of other problematic lines and one was a Sky Box playing havoc with an ADSL line almost constantly.

You have got filters on all devices connected to phone points as well haven't you? Also have a read of this :

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

In particular the bit about removing the ring wire - if this has not been done then it could have an effect on your speed.

Let me know how you get on. The fact that they did suggest you could get 1-2Mb suggests to me that there is a problem other than distance form the exchange - hence the information overload above.

[goalscrounger]

The other factor I've found that influences my download speeds is the line of sight the router has to my wirelessly connected PC. If the signal from the router weakens, the download speeds drop accordingly.

I get my best performance (about 650KBps) with the router plugged into the main socket in the living room and placed in a position to give me a good wireless connection in my study.

[terminaljunkie]

Perhaps some home plugs instead of Wireless?

[Sawyers]

You tried an i-plate?

[terminaljunkie]

You tried an i-plate?

Best used with the i-Knife and i-Fork

[Sawyers]

[Spoff]

Interestign stuff, Bailster, I'll have a look at that too.

Been on the minumum Sky package (up to 2mbs) for ages and recently upgraded to unlimited as there is an offer of 6 months free.

New package is up to 20mb so was hoping to get about half that. According to Broadband Speed Checker I am getting less than 5mb. but that site reckons given the distance from the exchange I should be getting 12mb

[Stepper_T]

Where is the exchange?

[Spoff]

Where is the exchange?

By road the exchange is 1.79 miles from my house. (according to AA route planner) Can check what Broadband Speed Checker says when I get home.

Not had oppotunity to check out the speeds as Bailster suggests, should have chance this weekend.

Wakefield Exchange apparently serves 26,032 residential premises and 1,629 non-residential premises.

[Spoff]

Apparently I am 2076 meters from the exchange.

[cannontrodder]

Distance from the exchange isn't the only thing that affects speed. The copper wire final hop to your home could be a total piece of shit!

[tunstall]

its a good job you're not an expert bailster

[cannontrodder]

[Spoff]

Distance from the exchange isn't the only thing that affects speed. The copper wire final hop to your home could be a total piece of shit!

Is that likely to be affected by when the wire was put in? House is just short of nine years old so would 'hop' decent stuff was used?