Upstream so wonky that Skyping is impossible [ Edited ]

[slated]

incidentally, recently your posts are showing 'unable to test packet loss' - is this becasue you have enabled 'Flood detection' in the superhub? I think this setting will stop it responding after about 30 pings (it thinks it is being flooded). Contributes to a poor 'grade' score on ping test.

[jmedwards]

I'm not using a superhub - currently using an Apple Time Capsule but I have been doing the tests with a direct connection to the modem.

Here is an externally monitored ping chart:

Funnily enough I have only been running it today, and today is the best day of connection I have had in three weeks (yes, even with the enourmous ping spikes you see above ^)... which isn't actually saying much.

[jmedwards]

Posted the wrong chart;

[jmedwards]

I can't help but post again... it has been unusable for us all evening. I was promised (emphatically) by support that 'everything would be fixed on Tuesday morning'. He couldn't say what but said it was an area realted problem.

[jmedwards]

This is at 1:30AM...

[John_O]

Hi jmedwards,

I have checked your connection and local network and am unable to find an issue. Your modem signal levels are well within acceptable levels, there are no utilisation or SNR issues on the part of our netwrok you connect to. I can see that you are still regularly traffic managed, I can see you have a large amount of data going through your connection relative to your broadband tier. Can I ask if you use any form of filesharing/P2P software? If so, do you ensure it is not running at the time you perform any speedtests? Can I ask you to test your speed again by downloading 2 files simultaneously from http://www.gamershell.com for a couple of minutes (the section video game demos has a lot of large files you can try). Once done can you also test your speed at one (or both) of the following sites http://top10.com/broadband/speedtest/ and http://www.speedtest.net. Please ensure that while performing these tests you are attached directly to the modem using an Ethernet cable rather than a wireless connection. Once completed can you also perform a traceroute to the BBC website (type tracert bbc.co.uk from the Command Prompt) and also post the results seen after typing netstat -b into your Command Prompt window.

[jmedwards]

Hi John

>> Can I ask if you use any form of filesharing/P2P software? If so, do you ensure it is not running at the time you perform any speedtests? 

We do not, and we have ensured every single computer in the house is switched off when running the tests. Please note that the ping graphs you see are external and running 24 hours a day, from two indpenendent services. Customer support won't tell me how much data we put through at certain times. I asked to be upgraded to the next tier and they said I'd need to pay a £40 fee in order to do that.

>>  Can I ask you to test your speed again by downloading 2 files simultaneously from http://www.gamershell.com for a couple of minutes (the section video game demos has a lot of large files you can try).

They downloaded fine, and the speeds are generally again fine.

However, I think you are missing the point of my complaint here. It is not throughput on the downstream, it is line quality and throughput on the upstream which is the problem at variables time sof the day. The problem here is about pings, latencies and delays, and the problems are not consistent. 

[jmedwards]

Look at today's ping and packet loss chart:

[horseman]

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jmedwards wrote:

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However, I think you are missing the point of my complaint here. It is not throughput on the downstream, it is line quality and throughput on the upstream which is the problem at variables time sof the day. ….

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Then also consider running VisualWare connectivity suite via London server for both UDP capacity tests  >50 Mbps and VOIP quality say, > Multiple Lines

Also check what firmware version your hub is running and post stats + event log directly after a perceived disco/degrade in case levels are deviating.