New router needed?

[shrimply]

I've complained about slow internet recently but its getting ridicules.

 

I've always got between 1 amd 3mbs/s on the wireless connection, which while not great is adequate. As of recently both me (connected wirelessly) and my dad ( wired connection) have been getting stupid internet speeds 0.10mb/s.

 

I was blaming orange as the speed coming in to the livebox was 224kps, but I unplugged it and plugged it back in and the speed has constantly been above 5000kps.

 

I've factory reset the livebox and turned off the wireless then did a speed test on my dads PC, still 0.10mb/s.

 

So somewhere between the livebox and my dads computer ( that's 1m of cable) we're losing 5mb/s.

 

My only explanation is that the livebox is broken and needs replaced, but we can't afford to replace it really and getting a new one out of orange will be a nightmare. I'm already dreading long conversations to India. So if you've got any thoughts and solutions then that would be brilliant.

[snow]

Hey Shrimply,

 

If you have a look at the web interface of your live box, specifically at the system information section, there should be a part for 'attentuation' and incoming/outgoing speeds, could you post what those are please.

 

What the router syncs at, and what you actually recive, can be very different things unfortunately. To get a rough idea of what your connection is like now, could you do the following:

 

Open the command prompt by holding down the windows key, and pressing 'R'.

Into the run box that appears, type cmd and press enter.

 

Into the command prompt window, type tracert 74.125.45.100

 

Copy all of this output by right-clicking on the window, and choosing 'Select all', and then paste it into your reply.

[shrimply]

Thank you - Also a big thanks for your choice of components which I used for my new comp, its great.

 

Anyway the info, hopefully this is what you need.

 

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm67/D_Hunter315/Capture1.jpg

 

And here's the other thing, this came from my computer which is sharing the internet from my netbook's wireless connection via ethenet.

 

If you'd get better info from the computer wired directly to the livebox let me know.

 

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]

Copyright © 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

C:\Users\Darren>tracert 74.125.45.100

 

Tracing route to yx-in-f100.google.com [74.125.45.100]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

 

1 <1 ms * <1 ms Darren-Netbook.mshome.net [192.168.137.1]

2 * * * Request timed out.

3 * * * Request timed out.

4 * * * Request timed out.

5 * * * Request timed out.

6 * * * Request timed out.

7 * * * Request timed out.

8 * * * Request timed out.

9 * * * Request timed out.

10 * * * Request timed out.

11 151 ms 140 ms 156 ms yx-in-f100.google.com [74.125.45.100]

 

Trace complete.

 

C:\Users\Darren>

[snow]

No problem, I'm very glad to see that your new build went well, and that Jelly Bean and Tootech's expert advice saw you through :)

 

That's what i needed to know thanks. The conenction stats from the modem look OK, and your Signal to noise ratio is actually pretty good.

 

What's werid is all of these time outs between you and your destination. Normally there should be a few to account for firewalls, but not every single one. Could you try disconnecting everything but a single computer with an ethernet cable, and running the trace again?

[shrimply]

Here you go, I turned the wireless off and then took this from the wired computer

 

Tracing route to yx-in-f100.google.com [74.125.45.100]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

 

1 1 ms 1 ms <1 ms Livebox-ED20 [192.168.1.1]

2 * * * Request timed out.

3 * * * Request timed out.

4 * * * Request timed out.

5 * * * Request timed out.

6 * * * Request timed out.

7 * * * Request timed out.

8 * * * Request timed out.

9 * * * Request timed out.

10 140 ms 149 ms 144 ms yx-in-f100.google.com [74.125.45.100]

 

Trace complete.

[snow]

That latency of 140ms seems high. I've been thinking, and the explination for the timeouts could be that your router drops all incoming ICMP messages, would would be unnecissarily strict, but some devices do it.

 

I think the livebox itself is fine, and the problem is at your ISP's end.

 

Personally I don't like orange at all, especially their customer service, so I can understand why you don't want to call them. I think in this case it might be needed though; be persistant, and tell them that your connection is too slow to use and that you need to have it fixed.

 

If you can, consider changing to another ISP. I don't think you will need to replace the router, so don't worry about that.

[shrimply]

Thanks. To be honest thee only reason we're with orange is that we took up they're £300 off a laptop offer ( the one that's just died) 2 years ago, so we are just out of contract with them.

 

If they continue to provide a decent speed as they have done over the last 2 years I've advised my dad to stay with them due to not having any LLUs in our area there aren't really any offers that I can find that beat what we're paying £19.99 for up to 8meg and unlimited downloads.

 

I have O2 at my flat and if it was possible to get that here i would as its great.

 

I know what will happen though, I'll end up calling as my dad won't have the patience and they'll spend hours going through everything that could be wrong my end before I ever get them to see what they're doing wrong.

[snow]

Tell them you know what the problem is, and ask them directly to check and reset your line. If they ask all the usual troublshooting stuff tell them you've done it already, which I'm guessing you probobly have.

 

It's definately anoying being limited with your choice of ISP. You could try here:

Broadband Postcode Checker - Availability check and broadband comparison

 

To see if there are others on your exchange (sorry if you've already tried that). Be broadband is my favorite ISP in the UK right now (also known as O2) so good choice there for your flat.

[shrimply]

Thanks, well I've been in contact via email with orange, i took plenty of time explaining in my email the problems I was having and everything I had tried only to wait 48 hours only to receive a mostly automated email full of questions many of which were unrelated to my problem.

 

And then further down telling me if I wanted any real help I'd have to call them on their 5p a minute number, so I basically told them that if they needed to talk to me about the problem they could call me as the fault was either with their connection or their equipment and if I had to phone them on their charged number it would be to request my MAC. Maybe I was a bit harsh but I'm getting fed up.

 

As for other providers, I got all excited when I used you link, put in my postcode and BE came up, only to go to their site and find it wasn't available in my area. And my other thoughts were O2 home access but I've been reading they're not all that great ( least when you phone up to complain it don't cost you)

 

My only other worry is the speed we'll get, BT say we can only get 1.5mb down the line. Orange say they are providing us with 5mbs and the actual speed is about 3mb. I'm worried that if we move to someone else we'll end up with a slower connection. But I think that if its an up to 8mb/s we shouldn't be any slower than orange are providing.

 

Options seem to be very limited, I looked at Demon internet who offer a very good deal but can't find many reviews on them.

[Tootech]

Hi Shrimply,

 

If you are thinking of moving ISP, have a look/chat to these two.

 

Zen Internet - Broadband, Hosting, Leased Lines & Security Services

 

Business Broadband & Business Hosting Services - a business class service - Eclipse Internet

 

Both are top class UK providers. I have used them both, and set my customers up with them. No hassle, tech support answer the phone, treat you as a human being and tell the truth.

 

Eclipse are perhaps better value for residential customers, but the old saying "You get what you pay for" holds true.

 

Also, check your line rate here

 

BT Broadband

 

It will tell you the speed for fixed ADSL, and Max, which is probably the one you will want.

 

I go along with Snow's comment about Orange - I don't much care for them. If it works great, but if it doesn't they are not so helpful.

[shrimply]

"You get what you pay for"

 

That certainly seems to be the case, which is a bit of a problem. My dad who pays the bill doesn't really use the internet, its just the rest of the family which has to suffer, and we could probably talk him into switching but if it costs an extra £10 or £20 a month he probably won't budge.

 

All the good companies seem to offer a very small download limit for a comparative price to what we're getting now.

 

I understand the reasons, but I still find it shocking that my dad has to pay £30 or £40 to get a decent service whereas I'm paying £7.34 a month for a great connection and speed and unlimited downloads in Edinburgh with proper customer service.

 

Fingers crossed I get a phone call from orange in a short while and they sort the problem quickly and efficiently. And who knows if I look outside I might see flock of pigs flying past.

[RandyL]

Here in the USA a 6mb download unlimited access costs about £31 or $50 at todays rates. At least where I live. This includes support. In the UK prices are slightly more competitive if you have decent support.

 

You are lucky shrimply. I cant even get 48kb dialup for £7.34 a month.

[shrimply]

Well would you believe it

 

No flying pigs, but our connection speed has just increased to around 2mb/s. Never heard back from orange though so I doubt they have anything to do with it.

 

Randy, that's really interesting, I'd always thought the states were way ahead of us in terms of speed and costs, I guess not.

[shrimply]

Just thought I'd update with the fact that internet speeds are still up, I think they're quicker then ever. Last night, after peak hours I was getting 4.5mb on a wireless connection. BT say the max we can get is 3.5mb.

 

I'm totally confused

 

Speeds had been down at stupid speeds for over a week

I emailed orange

2 days later I got a reply saying I'd have to phone them if I wanted anything done

Emailed them back saying if I phoned them it'd be for a MAC

Couple of hours later everythings fixed - but no word from Orange.

[shrimply]

Finally heard back from Orange - apparently resolution has nothing to do with them.

 

They are sending a new livebox and we need to return the old one to be tested. On the up side we get a router upgrade, on the downside if they test the livebox and find it to be faulty then who knows where we are, probably end up getting charged.

[Plastic Nev]

The only thing that comes to mind now is, just prior to finding your speed was back up, did you catch sight of any BT vans in the area? It looks like there must have been some sort of line fault that has been repaired elsewhere by BT.

As far as Orange now sending a new box, you have a choice of either keeping it, and sending the old one back for investigation, or sending the new one back and telling them you don't need it.

I would ask though if any charges are likely to be incurred by whatever you choose to do.

Nev.

[shrimply]

Yeah, I'll probably just send the old box back, I have great suspicions that it will never be checked anyway.

 

I didn't seen any BT vans and we live about a mile out of town, so if the had been working on lines on our road we'd have noticed. But it would appear it was them that was to blame.

 

I just can't understand why Orange's first port of call would be to send a new livebox, surely like every other company they'd of favoured passing the blame on to someone else. And in this case it seems to of been well deserved. But if they'd phoned before sending out a new router then I could of told them it was sorted.

 

And surely the first port of call should be for them to check the line anyway before their own equipment

 

We'll see what happens, so far we've received the envelope to send the old live box back but never received the replacement.

 

Am chuffed with the speed increase though, its the best we've ever had and pretty much constant throughout the day.

[shrimply]

Absolutly fuming with Orange this morning, I'd thought after two years the least they would do was send out the updated version of their livebox. But instead we got one the same as we already had, obvioulsy one that's been previously returned to them.

 

What's more the stupid thing doesn't work, using the same username and password in the configuration pages I get "invalid adsl authentication" - what a load of nonsense, looks like that one will be going back.

[shrimply]

edit- it is now working with a slightly different username,

 

One works using

 

Edited for your safety

 

and the other

 

Edited for your safety

 

Beats me why, but at least it does work.

 

Speeds still up at 4-5mb/s compared to 1-2mb/s before the issues started