Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
So my grandparents were with Sky basic broadband for a few years and had numerous problems with it disconnecting etc. Sky were never successful in fixing it, and thus we opted to try their fibre. After a month of waiting, it was finally installed. So, as a recap, Ping/DL/UL before were 50ms/6Mb/0.4Mb and after fibre they changed to 8ms/37.5Mb/16Mb. So, what's the problem, you may be thinking? I've been away for a couple of days, and I came back to complaints about the internet being slow. I did a speed test, and the results are as follows: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5223985774
Now, it's not terrible, but the connection now often hangs, and gaming is just as terrible as before. This is wired directly to the router on my desktop. I've tried on the master switch. Rang Sky and went through about 2 hours of troubleshooting (I have a basic knowledge of routers so it was quicker than usual). I even plugged it into their test socket and the same result. Router syncs at 35000kbps and at times the download will reach that, but the ping is still high. Nothing has changed since, and it can't be wireless issues. They have no idea what's wrong as the line test is showing mostly clear, but not perfect. As such, they're sending an engineer out, as soon as they can find a timeslot. Now, as I waited a month to get fibre installed, I imagine it'll take roughly the same time to get an engineer out to see us.
Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Resetting the router hasn't done anything.
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
To gather some more information, you could try a couple of things.
First, try this speedtest to see if there's a large difference between the single and multi threaded results. I'm really not a big fan of speedtest.net because it essentially bruteforces your connection with dozens of threads to get the best possible total throughput - something you often won't get with normal downloads. http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/speedtest2.html
Also, you could make an account and set up a ping monitor, which will give you a graph like this, to keep an eye on it over time:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/s...01-04-2016.png
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
These are the results I got back:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedt...80115115728707
The ping is considerably higher than before, and the download less than what I should be getting. Even the router sync speed isn't within the estimated speeds.
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
If you are using wireless log into it and set the channel to 12 or 13 and Apply it, could be some sort of inteference.
We have Sky Fiber using one of their new dual band routers that you get (required by) with Sky Q and have found that when I changed the wireless channel it started working better, same went for previously when we had the old router.
On an evening with them essentially being on BT for the fiber if you are in a built up area our connection which maxxes out at around 26Mb drops down to around 14Mb, it is a crappy BT thing unfortunately and it tends to speed back up later on, this usually happens from around 4pm till around 9pm. Guessing their structure is getting hammered by kids coming in from school and adults from work etc
Mind you it could well be an issue with the line, ours kept dropping out during high winds and when it was raining. In the end they sent Open Reach out and they removed the original master socket as it went up and over the roof down to the front of the house to the back room so it comes off the pole and literally comes in at the back window, speed and stability is much better now.
If you are using the black sky hub, do you have the dual type socket, normal phone on bottom with a small broadband connector above? If you do have that setup you do not need to attach a microfilter to the socket
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
I'm using cable, and have already used the WiFi analyser application so select the appropriate channel. I've tried multiple different filters (the socket type requires them since it's the older single socket type) as well as different filters and sockets. I've even plugged it into their test socket to see whether it's interference with the cabling around the property.
The part that doesn't make sense to me is that for the first day, it worked amazingly. 37 Down and sub 10ms ping constantly. Since I've come back it's ridiculously slow... Not in terms of raw speed, but loading web pages is slow, there's quite a delay. If I turn on tethering on my phone and use that, all web browsing is quicker, even though it's over 4G and has the same ping (around 40ms).
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Maybe try changing DNS server, see if that helps at all?
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Hmmm, I do get DNS server errors when the broadband first connects so I'll give that a try! Which would you recommend?
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
openDNS works well too.
IP address:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Turns out that you can't do this with the router - it doesn't allow you to set a DNS. I'll try on my computer once I'm back home.
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Yeah you can ignore the router's DHCP settings and just set it on the PC itself.
It's probably one of the biggest reasons I dislike Sky as an ISP - their ToS forces you to use only the router they supply, it's not very good, and you can't change many settings on it.
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Had an engineer round and the problem is apparently the cabling between the master socket and the other socket downstairs. Here's the next problem, with the router plugged in upstairs, you can't get signal downstairs (where all the bedrooms and working area is). I'm looking at powerline adapters. I'd like one that has power pass through and then 2 ethernet ports and 5GHz WiFi. Any suggestions?
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Powerline is a bit like WiFi - it can work well, but it depends...
The obvious suggestion, if it's possible, would be to run some Cat5 around.
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Powerline as mentioned can be very touch and go. I had TP-Link powerline adapters up and downstairs and used to get frequent drops in connection, however since I changed to Edimax haven't had one dropped connection yet.
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
So.. You mention that this is your grandparents connection? And after you went away for a couple of days, it was broken.
Have you asked them if they've done anything to it? They might not even realise what they've done.
Re: Strange problem with Sky broadband (basic and now fibre)
Nothing was done to the router other than a reboot after the internet went down. Running any cables around the place is a no go unfortunately.