[Merged] Stoke on Trent - Getting worse

murfitUK · 05-10-2006, 01:40

Sorry to bore the pants of everyone but I've got to have another whinge about the service. I pay for the 4meg service but get something that's not much better than an old dial-up.

During the day things aren't too bad but after 5pm there is hardly any point in trying to access the internet. It used to get better after midnight but the last 3 or 4 days it has actually got worse after midnight.

Here's a speed test I did at about quarter past twelve tonight:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/murfituk/st0610050018.html

If anyone has any useful "contacts" at ntl I could phone to discuss I would be grateful if you could let me know.

As before: I have no viruses/spyware or anything else. I usually connect through a wireless network (very secure) but it is exactly the same if I plug the laptop straight into the cable modem. The laptop has Linux so ntl doesn't support.

Switching providers isn't really an option as the BT engineer says the quality of the old phone line is very poor and I'm unlikely to get any decent speed, so looks like I'm stuck with ntl.

Please help.

scoobydoo[uk] · 05-10-2006, 19:29

Im not getting that bad results but mine are still poor for 10mb, again im back down to 5mb now, and its been up and down all day long, about 2pm this afternoon i was running at 3mb, then it went back up to about 9mb, then its down again now...
Its annoying to say the least and i dont know whats going on... traffic shaping is affecting my newsgroup downloads but speed tests done on the web etc are still showing poor performance so this cant have anything to do wtih traffic shaping.

hades1380 · 05-10-2006, 20:37

Hi murfitUK,

I'm also in the stoke-on-trent area and I too am seeing much the same as you.

Wot worries me is the amount of packet loss that comes about.
I have tried various tracert and pathping's but to no joy.

grubbymitts · 05-10-2006, 23:05

to get any decent surfing speeds after 6 around the Stoke/Newcastle area you need to proxy dance. On the 4mb I'm getting full speed downloading from Newshosting, but trying to surf can be a strain.

gadge · 05-10-2006, 23:21

been like this for a few weeks now.

anduin · 09-10-2006, 23:02

Newcastle under lyme ... ( just across the road for people not from the area

)
absolutely abysmal - 10mb service literally running slower than my old dial up modem.

actually considered connecting through gprs instead..

have tried proxy dance and its not really helping -

just tested newsgroups: ( not a heavy user of them personally but i still have an account for the odd bits i want ) .. very very slow to start and slowly worked its way to 3mb or so

speed test from this site: ( these are nearly double i was getting from the default proxy )
Mon, 9 Oct 2006 20:49:34 UTC

1st 512K took 5359 ms = 95.5 KB/sec, approx 787 Kbps, 0.77 Mbps
2nd 512K took 5437 ms = 94.2 KB/sec, approx 776 Kbps, 0.76 Mbps
3rd 512K took 5407 ms = 94.7 KB/sec, approx 780 Kbps, 0.76 Mbps
4th 512K took 4734 ms = 108.2 KB/sec, approx 892 Kbps, 0.87 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 809 Kbps, 0.79 Mbps

Router rebooted, ntl250 rebooted, wife kicked and hair pulled out

( just kidding about the hair lol )

i havent done a long enough ping test to see about packet loss; but did a quick test on pcpitstop.com and was getting some.

sky TV works perfectly well though lol ( i know .. please dont comment on sky .. tis just a joke

)

Did anyone get or have any information as to why stoke and surrounding area is so extremely poor - if i wasnt 312 miles from the bt exchange i'd be on adsl now. Seems my choice is 'pathetically slow with ntl' or 'pathetic 1mb adsl' although i guess the latter would consistantly be slow and not get my hopes up.

Welcome back 1991 - good old 36k baud external modems woot

---------- Post added at 22:02 ---------- Previous post was at 21:56 ----------

Curious ...

10pm on the nose and what happens?

this,,,
Mon, 9 Oct 2006 21:02:14 UTC

1st 512K took 828 ms = 618.4 KB/sec, approx 5096 Kbps, 4.98 Mbps
2nd 512K took 906 ms = 565.1 KB/sec, approx 4656 Kbps, 4.55 Mbps
3rd 512K took 891 ms = 574.6 KB/sec, approx 4735 Kbps, 4.62 Mbps
4th 512K took 1640 ms = 312.2 KB/sec, approx 2573 Kbps, 2.51 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 4265 Kbps, 4.17 Mbps

Now i did stop recording at the same time with sky+ .. coincidence?

lmao

murfitUK · 09-10-2006, 23:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by anduin

Router rebooted, ntl250 rebooted, wife kicked and hair pulled out

( just kidding about the hair lol )

Took over 4 minutes to load this page - that's quicker than it has been recently.

Hair - long gone.
Wife - disappeared just after the hair.
Not kidding about the hair.

anduin · 10-10-2006, 21:44

I just got off the phone to tech support ( on an 0845 number .. disgusting that i should pay for calling them to tell them that THEIR network is pants .. but i guess thats a whole subforum away from this one )

Explained to them that my network is fine in the mornings; fine throughout the day; yet appaulingly useless in the evening. In his finest american fake accent the chappy suggested he sends an engineer - i suggested that unless he wants to send an engineer to every house in stoke on trent and surrounding areas then i wasnt interested, i reiterated the fact that its an evening problem and asked if maybe the lack of natural sunlight was affecting the cable in my garden. - and yes i stopped him from answering before he did.

So off he goes to his 2nd line support ( apparently ) and comes back with a generic reboot mode/ disconnect router / stand on your left leg whilst chanting to the god of bandwidth... i politely declined all of these offers as i had done all of the above prior to making the call ( i also use voip and didnt fancy cutting myself off )

At this point we took a little time out to have a dance and chat about how often we frequent the phone line ( ok maybe not .. maybe we just kept going over the same subject again, again, again, again, again )

So the last dance was over, a little smooch and a little touchy-feely action and off he went to call his mum ( 2nd line support actually .. but who cares so long as i pull eh? )

This time its quite a shock .. some very important sounding department is apparently aware that the area is getting nailed senseless and our shoestring has too many conkers on it. - i cant remember exactly but i think he said something like .... "awww nevermind, at least you are paying for a 10mb line and maybe one day you will achieve a speed above the 40k or so you are getting" ( this is where i just re-read what i said .. sorry for the blatant lies .. he really did say that maybe i should speak to cust services during my companies working hours )

So the point of this post?
They apparently know that people in stoke etc have more chance of a one legged cat burying a turd on a frozen lake than browsing with a smile. And apparently one day after everybody ( including postroom staff ) have all agree'd on a way to resolve it, then they will fill in the fault submissions page on www.whyonearthisitsoslow.net.jp.com.org and send it off to the guy who will fix the problem.

Sorry for the rant - lol - maybe there is hope yet?

10-10-2006, 22:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by anduin

This time its quite a shock .. some very important sounding department is apparently aware that the area is getting nailed senseless and our shoestring has too many conkers on it. - i cant remember exactly but i think he said something like .... "awww nevermind, at least you are paying for a 10mb line and maybe one day you will achieve a speed above the 40k or so you are getting" ( this is where i just re-read what i said .. sorry for the blatant lies .. he really did say that maybe i should speak to cust services during my companies working hours )

So the point of this post?
They apparently know that people in stoke etc have more chance of a one legged cat burying a turd on a frozen lake than browsing with a smile. And apparently one day after everybody ( including postroom staff ) have all agree'd on a way to resolve it, then they will fill in the fault submissions page on www.whyonearthisitsoslow.net.jp.com.org and send it off to the guy who will fix the problem.

Sorry for the rant - lol - maybe there is hope yet?

That is the standard get you off the phone as i cannot be bothered answer. I have had emails from support and conversations with Tech supposed support who have said the same. That is the answer they have been giving out for 2 months now to anyone who has any type of slow down or brain fart.

If only there was another supplier in my area that can give me 8-10 meg but there is not at this time.

As far as i am concerned NTL are now the Pitts as far as broadband goes. They have killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

anduin · 10-10-2006, 23:09

guess what ...

yet again at several minutes past ten i notice a speed increase..

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:09:05 UTC

1st 512K took 843 ms = 607.4 KB/sec, approx 5005 Kbps, 4.89 Mbps
2nd 512K took 750 ms = 682.7 KB/sec, approx 5625 Kbps, 5.49 Mbps
3rd 512K took 749 ms = 683.6 KB/sec, approx 5633 Kbps, 5.5 Mbps
4th 512K took 875 ms = 585.1 KB/sec, approx 4821 Kbps, 4.71 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 5271 Kbps, 5.15 Mbps

10-10-2006, 23:32

I said this the other week, and don't want to tempt fate, but recently it really hasn't been too bad. Yes, the odd bad night, but I have certainly known much worse. Maybe I've just really lowered my standards over the years with NTL? Also, if I go to download any big files from Microsoft and the like I regularly get over 1MB/sec

I have this theory that at the top of Ash Bank we are connected to a different region .... one that works

Though Bill C knows that hasn't always been the case for me!

Oh, Stoke is down for Network optimisation this week too

11-10-2006, 00:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by anduin

guess what ...

yet again at several minutes past ten i notice a speed increase..

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:09:05 UTC

1st 512K took 843 ms = 607.4 KB/sec, approx 5005 Kbps, 4.89 Mbps
2nd 512K took 750 ms = 682.7 KB/sec, approx 5625 Kbps, 5.49 Mbps
3rd 512K took 749 ms = 683.6 KB/sec, approx 5633 Kbps, 5.5 Mbps
4th 512K took 875 ms = 585.1 KB/sec, approx 4821 Kbps, 4.71 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 5271 Kbps, 5.15 Mbps

Just passed 11.00pm and its back to normal

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:08:29 GMT

1st 512K took 484 ms = 1057.9 KB/sec, approx 8717 Kbps, 8.51 Mbps
2nd 512K took 438 ms = 1169 KB/sec, approx 9633 Kbps, 9.41 Mbps
3rd 512K took 437 ms = 1171.6 KB/sec, approx 9654 Kbps, 9.43 Mbps
4th 512K took 735 ms = 696.6 KB/sec, approx 5740 Kbps, 5.61 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 8436 Kbps, 8.24 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here.

anduin · 11-10-2006, 08:38

7:37 am and its as usual for me

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:37:44 UTC

1st 512K took 532 ms = 962.4 KB/sec, approx 7930 Kbps, 7.74 Mbps
2nd 512K took 578 ms = 885.8 KB/sec, approx 7299 Kbps, 7.13 Mbps
3rd 512K took 515 ms = 994.2 KB/sec, approx 8192 Kbps, 8 Mbps
4th 512K took 547 ms = 936 KB/sec, approx 7713 Kbps, 7.53 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 7784 Kbps, 7.6 Mbps

themelon · 11-10-2006, 09:34

To be fair there isnt much choice in Stoke for a decent Broadband service, its either ntl or bust.

I have on numerous occassions tried to use a BT Line for ADSL and failed miserably, and using a supposed 'Business' service at work everyday in Longton which drops off at least 3-4 times a day (I sorry that is not business standard). The BT Lines and exchanges round here seem to have been installed in the Victorian era when much of the city was built.

We use Eclipse at work, who seem reasonable, we have branches in Tamworth, Stafford and Burton and the only Braodban services which cause problems are in the SOT area, the rest never drop off. Not a coicidence I think.

I have lived in 4 Houses in recent years around Hanley and Stoke and have always managed to end up more than 4 miles from the exchange (allegedly the reason why my service was so crap, and 4 BT lines were appalling quality for voice calls also

ntl has been bad lately, but i sure as hell cant see an alternative. I dont think the 4 BT Lines and the poor service at work are bad luck, its a crap BT infastructure in the area. I also know a number of people in different areas of the city with poor speeds and lack of service on ADSL.

Maybe we should start a Broadband for Stoke campaign

We have the A500, lets have Broadband!

grubbymitts · 11-10-2006, 12:09

It took 30 years to complete the A500. God help us