BT Broadband Basic-HELP!

[Malaris 0]

First of all soory if there are any threads under this topic already ( I couldn't see any ).

 

Anyway I was wondering if anyone could help me fix/diagnose the problems I am having with BT Broadband.

 

I only got it about 2 days ago and it is way too slow.

The max speed of it is 1/2Mb (576kps to be exact).

I couldn't wait to get playin Halo and UT2004 at a respectable speed and actually download something in less than 3 days!

However when I play Halo there is SO much lag I couldn't believe it-it was worse than my old 56k dial-up and my ping was over 2500.

 

Later, when I tried to download a shareware version of Duke Nukem 3D, it said it would take 15.9 minutes on a 56k connection.

 

1hour 34minutes later I had downloaded it at a whopping 1.38kps average speed (sometimes dipping into 9xx bytes per second)

(YES, LESS THAN 1KPS!!!!!!!)

 

I have looked at the help off the CD and it doesn't help at all.

I think it might be something to do with my actual wires connecting the modem to the phone line box.

 

Ideally it would look like this;

 

Phone Wall Jack-----Micro Filter------Modem------PC

\

\

\

Phone

 

My PC is a floor above my Wall Jack and the cables do not reach (a second wall jack is not an option for complicated reasons)

So the help guide said I should try it with an extension lead in between the Phone Wall Jack and the Micro Filter but this didn't solve anything.

So I tried using a longer cable (with RJ11PP20 plugs at each end) between the Micro Filter and the modem but my internet speed still didn't improve.

 

I try to use the BT Broadband Help Online but it just closes itself after it loads up.

 

My PC specs are as follows (and they meet the system requirements for broadband);

 

Intel Celeron P4 2.3Ghz

256Mb DDRAM

80Gb Hard drive

Intel 82845G Graphics Controller

Windows XP Home Edition

 

It's not a supercomputer by any means but it does the job.

 

Can anyone help PLEASE?!?!

It would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Waffler.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ScinteX 0]

Hi Waffler, It sounds pretty odd to me!

Silly question but you are sure that you have unplugged the line to your old modem? Its possible that your pc is still using your old modem! Or at least, IE is.

 

Assuming thats ok (and im sorry if ive offended) you could try a speed test:

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

 

This should give u a fairly reliable result.

 

It seems like your scenario could just be bad luck. What i mean is that it is possible for you to have joined a bad gameserver and then downloaded your game from a poor performing server.

 

If you use the Opera browser it shows you how fast data is being recieved which is handy.

 

It could be Windows Update that is automatically downloading an update...hence its using up the bandwidth. Maybe worth checking out.

 

Sorry I cant give a one stop fix!

 

All the best

 

 

[packman 0]

I can't comment in detail, Waffler, because I don't even have Broadband myself, but my understanding is that there are several grades of Broadband available from most service providers. 500K download speed seems to be very reasonable. However, that's usually the MAXIMUM speed, your actual average speed depending on contention, the distance between you and the exchange,and the quality of the cabling between you and the exchange.

[jmmijo 1]

I know a few blokes in the UK that have BT xDSL as well and they have on occasion had issues like this. Basically they called BT and raised hell concerning it. My other suggestion is did you receive the turtle shaped xDSL modem/router that connects to the USB ?!? If so I'd highly recommend getting something else as these are known to have all kinds of issues, some of them include random reboots of the OS

 

I fell like I maybe raining on your parade but you need to start with BT and see if indeed it's just a matter of line noise or something else on your premises that is causing this to happen

[Malaris 0]

Thanks for the advice guys I'm gonna get on BT's back ASAP.

 

ScinteX, I have an in built Conexant Soft56k modem in my PC so I can't disconnect but thanks for the idea anyway.

 

I'll let you know when/how/if I fix it so the mods can freeze this thread.

 

Thanks.

[ScinteX 0]

The turtle! hehehe oh yes that will be the bright green Alcatel speedtouch then mine was ok but it was just so ugly

[ScinteX 0]

My dsl is "half a meg".... so in your Browser's language thats usually "60K".

It is usually that all of the time except for the odd second when it goes to 61K 8)

Remember it is 576 Kilo-Bits-Per-Second... not Bytes. Therefore divide by 10 and you have a more understandable measure- usually 50 to 60K per second.

 

500K a second would be a 5meg line.... as for the contention, yes thats usually 50:1 for homes users, 20:1 for 'busienss broadband' as they term it, however a SDSL connection is even lower, at 10:1 or 5:1 or even 1:1 if you have the odd £500 a month spare

 

[packman 0]

Sorry, you've got that completely wrong, Scintex. 500K (or thereabouts) IS "half a meg", but in Internet line rates it's assumed that it's bits/sec being discussed, not bytes/sec.

 

The difference between bytes and bits is a factor of 8, not 10. The fact that you're getting "61K" means you've either signed up for a slower service than you intended (60k bits/sec ISDN) or you yourself are converting down by a factor of 8. In other words, if you've truly signed up to proper Broadband, your average download rate should be around 500K bits/sec, less some for the error retransmissions due to the imperfections of the line. You yourself are probably getting around 480K bits/sec.

[ScinteX 0]

yep, apparently 443.......i know its late but havent we both just said the same thing?!

oh well it doesnt matter; if im wrong im wrong and thats why we are all here

[Malaris 0]

eer ok guys I take your words for it.

 

Anyway, it turns out that my connection speed is fine, but that after having installed BT Braodband/modem my PC is slowing down and hence all programs aswell.( I re-installed Halo earlier and it took so long I completed Streets of Rage 2 on my megadrive while doing it!)

 

When I open windows task manager, on the performance tab my CPU usage is always 100% and my page file is using around 130Mb-180Mb (out of 501Mb), even when running NO programs/applications.

 

Does this have anything 2 do with my problem?

If yes, do I need to end some process' and if so what?

[Arronax 0]

I have exactly the same prob...

 

I got the speedtouch 556k modem and exactly the same comp as waffler

I was hoping to start playing planetside and generals a bit more now that i got broadband but i was using internet for about a week when i had to format to get norton working..

Now the internet just stops after a few minutes and i cant log back on without restarting ;(

 

Strangely my RAM has 76% used when the computer has just been restarted, i have about 30 procceses which i have no idea wat do

 

Specs for comp, in case they matter,

2.4 ghz Celeron

256 MB ddr2700

Geforce 5200

80gb hard disk and a 10gb

plus norton/norton systemworks...etc

[Malaris 0]

Hey guys I solved the problem-and it was sooooo simple.

 

My sky TV was using the same phoneline as my phone and internet so I unplugged it (it is only used for Pay-per-view and interactive games) and my internet now works fine and at full speed!When I want to order and PPV etc. I simply plug the Sky lead back into the wall...

 

 

However I don't have any ideas that will solve your problem Arronax. (Sorry!)

[Arronax 0]

Its ok, My internet is improving day-by-day...i suppose it must be BT's problem...Catch you on UT2004

[Malaris 0]

Originally posted by Arronax:

Quote:

Catch you on UT2004

 

 

Yeh, you just might....

 

 

Glad to hear your internet is getting better, if I were you I would give BT hell over this problem.

[Arronax 0]

My internet works now....No idea what happend it just works