CupraT

Up until a few months ago I got download speeds with sky of 16 to 18 Mbps

This dropped to 8 and has been this for a while so I rang sky who said they had made some adjustments ... No idea what .... And to see what happened over the next few days

I now get the internet dropping connection frequently with no speed increase.

I rang them today and they are sending out a new splitter as they said the line was unstable?

Any ideas what this may be or what I can do as it's driving me mad!!!

Ps not sure why but the router keeps defaulting back to its default password

paul98typer

dam, just wrote a longish post and it disappeared when I tried to post it.

Well here goes again, shorter version.
New splitter will prob do naff all. probably fault on the line which will make the sky equipment lower your speed till it reaches a stable lower speed. unless you added unfiltered equipment at the same time as your speed dropped a while ago.
Sky have now upped your speed (lowered SNR) which is causing dropouts and because of errors will make it appear your speed has not gone up. It will continue to do this until the equipment lowers your speed to a stable one or sky helpdesk drop it manually.
Probably going to need an Openreach broadband engineer visit to sort out.
Make sure your router is plugged into test socket and check sync speed and snr level by logging into your sky router.
Is there any noise on the line, crackling or hissing/fax machine type noise?

Littleted

Dial into the router and check what the handshakes negotiated at, you'll see the numbers.

It sounds like a fault because DSL will handshake at the speed you've been told you'll get but then settle down over a period of a week or 2, if a faults there or your lines poor noise etc, it will slowly decline in speeds, hence why your sometimes seeing only 8mb.

Speak to supplier and get them to test it, I had the same, started at 14mb but when I checked it one day it was at 4mb, so I complained, they ran some tests and turned the line up slightly. ALS been god now. Also look at your uptime is it consistent ie 20 days or has it reset ie reads 2 days etc

CupraT

Both - thanks for taking the time to reply

Paul - no crackling on the line. Phone is ok. Apart from the speed dropping a few months ago it was working ok. Now it's dropping connection all the time.

No other changes to kit recently other than I've added 2 wireless sky anytime devices to the 2 sky boxes I have

Is the openreach engineer visit a cost to me or sky?

Littleton - can I see any of the stuff you mention within my router ie via the 192. Address?

Ps I have had my router for 10 years so have purchased a new one as it's due an upgrade. Will see if this helps.

CupraT

I've just run some speed tests on the laptop and when it's running it's around 14 wireless...used a number of sites to check. The connection though drops every few seconds or so though hence maybe why it shows such a low speed on the IPAD?

It's properly getting pion my thruppany bits though !

Littleted

YES GO IN VIA 192..
Check negotiated Speed and uptime.

Also hardwire yourself just to check its not a wifi issue

CupraT

We'll since reporting the issue to sky, the connection has got worse to the point that it won't connect at all.

Not good given I work from home a couple of days per week and need the net!

I sort of think it may be router but given the problem got worse after I contacted sky, common sense says it's them t1tting around with things that have exacerbated an existing issue....maybe with the line.

Not massively impressed!

jonc

I went through similar with Sky. Initially the broadband speed was around 4-4.5mbps, then after 6 months or so, the speed dropped down to 1-2.mbps. Had BT engineer round, tested the line and there and found nothing out of the ordinary. A lot of calls and more visits by BT engineer made no difference. Got fed up and moved to BT Infinity and have been happy since and now getting 22mbps.

CupraT

I would have moved to infinity but not available yet

JonC - did you pay for the BT engineer visits?

Cheers

jonc

No I didn't pay for the BT engineer, Sky booked them in for me. But having said that they did waste a day for me as they either didn't turn up or were late. They basically checked line from master socket and the socket where the modem was connected and that's it and found nothing wrong, and said they'll check it from the exchange. More chasing and phone calls later was a fruitless effort so switched providers. Luckily fibre had just been installed in my area. Check on the following link to see what's available in your area and when fibre might be available. http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

kernel

I think you will get charged for a BT visit if they find the fault is your side of the test socket. That's why it's important to check using said test socket.

wrx5343

Wait for the new splitter (actually called a filter) to arrive. They do fail and cause all sorts of random problems like drop outs to occur.

jonc

Oh yes that's true. Just plug the router into the master telephone socket, normally you have to remove a small panel on the master socket to reveal the socket for the line that goes directly to the exchange. If the line speed and upstream and downstream noise ratios are the same as the other sockets in the house, then the fault isn't with sockets in the house but with the line. Your router diagnostic page will give you all the info to compare.

Littleted

Can you not get Virgin, Ive tried Lots of ADSL providers, and all a shower of ****. SKY was Ukonline when i had it, nothing but issues.

Virgin have been bulletproof, Ok their router is ****, but use your own and its rock solid mine. I work in IT and need it as i work from home, Its been down for about 20mins total in 3 years

CupraT

Thanks all,

I get my new moden and splitter/filter tomorrow so will see what that does.

At the moment I have no net access. Tried plugging into the master socket and nothing at all.

Currently using my 3 mobile phone tethered which is working great

ScoobyWon't

Easy answer - get Virgin fibre optic if you can.

Long answer - you'll end up calling out BT to look at your phone line(s). They will want £120+ if the fault is in your house (that's how they try to put you off getting them out). The fault will actually be in the exchange and they'll have to install a new card. You'll tell them that the fault is in the exchange and it will take them 30 minutes to fix.

They (BT) will ignore this, spend 6 hours messing around and then try what you tell them. It will than miraculously work.

That's how it worked for me, anyway.

CupraT

Well I've changed the router and filter and still no connection.

Whilst I had a slow connection and some drop outs before, since ringing sky the problem has got far worse and I now have no connection!

Rang them again and they say the problem is either at me end or at the exchange....no ****

The can see a very small trickle of data at their end

I have no phone issues at all

Nothing else changed on my set up

Moving to virgin etc is not an option at the moment as I have no cable option etc

On a plus point they do seem to be looking as they have asked for details of my router etc via a call back