download speed halved! cause?


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my internet download speed has dropped significantly in the last few days from 650-700Kbps, which has been pretty constant since i got it 8 years ago, now its a little over 300kbps.

 

i'm pretty sure my ISP isn't throttling the connection. (i'm with Sky)

 

so i'm at a loss as to what it could be because i've checked pretty much everything.

 

what has been ruled out.

 

1 Computer to router - speed is the same through Wifi (laptop) and Network cable (desktop), 

 

2, Router overheating, although i've had issues with this in the past, the router has been off on many occasions over night and then on, the speed is the same.

 

Router status shows:

 

Connection Speed 3067 kbps

797 kbps

Line Attenuation 33 db 18 db Line Attenuation 33 db

18 db

 

 

i've already reset the router (with the reset switch for 30 seconds) a few times, makes no difference.

 

3, checked the phone socket to see if that could be an issue, there was some corrosion on one of the pins inside which i cleaned, made no difference. 

 

 

 

Setup is like this:

 

Computer -> network Cable -> Router -> DSL to Phone cable -> Phone extension -> Phone line/wall

 

 

 

 

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Ageing network cable? rj45 cat 5e?

 

If I may be so bold, I would suggest a new cable might help (I upgraded my wired connections to cat6 even though I don't need it)

I only mentioned the cable as I once had a devil of a time trying to figure out why my vm set up slowed down, and after a week of troubleshooting, I discovered changing the cable helped

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network cable is about 2 years old, it's a 50m Sheilded Cat5E, which i ruled out becuse it's the same speed over WiFi from my laptop.

 

the rest of the stuff i should add is atleast 8 years old. 

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Someone tapping in to your wireless ?

 

 

Another router using the same channel ?

 

Try switching.

 

I had a similar DSL problem once -- turns out it was a bad board at the phone office.

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That's strange... I'm with TalkTalk and my speeds have literally been slashed from just over 1.2MB/s to ~250KB/s in the past week. I'm putting it down to weather although my area hasn't been hard hit at all (bit of wind never hurt anybody). If it doesn't pick back up I'll be spending a considerable amount of time getting it back to those speeds.

 

I'd expect throttling if I'd been hitting the old tpb, but I haven't :/

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Another thing I might mention as the storm have hit the UK badly

there might be outages and isp's are probably shunting customers onto other networks due to no coverage in some areas (happened in wolves when they were setting up the new servers)

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Try a different ADSL filter.

my first advice would be calling your ISP and have them check the connection and reported speeds so they can see the line from their gateway into your house if everything is ok.

 

Also about the ADSL filter: i had an similar issue a few years ago when using ADSL and the speed dropped like a rock; turn out to be the filter was dying so changing it would return the speeds and stability back to normal.

 

also this isn't a WIFI issue, since OP reports low speeds even on cable.

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I dont use any filters!

 

i bypassed the filters completely for the router by using a DSL to Phone line cable, the router connects directly into the main phone socket in the house, all the phones are in the filters though.

 

i'm suspecting that there might be an issue with some of the cabling, so i'm going to wait a week to rule out the weather being an issue since there was a lot of flooding (not in my area though) in UK,

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Without a lot more information it can be anyone's guess why your connection has slowed. Could be interference, a thief, router being on too long, a broken peering connection, ISP throttling, etc.

might have to replace all the ageing cabling. but stuck with the old sky router i've got :/

Aging cabling? Network cables are made out of copper. Unless you've bent it to the point of internal breakage the cable will last longer than both of us electrically (if not entirely).

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Not sure if this is related to your situation; however, i have had an issue once where my internet speeds was really slow and it turned out to be the power supply of the modem. So if you do try to swap out the power supply make sure you use a similar voltage type, etc.

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Firstly check in your router settings if you've got some unauthorized IPs using your wi-fi. Secondly your best bet would be call the ISP's support, they'll identify and fix the problem faster than we would.

 

I had a DSL connection at my previous home and my bandwidth speed used to fall drastically like every 2 years. Then I called the ISP, they sent me people to change my router with a newer one and speed was back as usual. That happened like 3 or 4 times. Only once did the cable age (it was some 14 years old) and then the connection was cut entirely.

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Try connecting your modem to the test socket which is on your master telephone plate.

 

To get to it, remove the front plate on your master socket and you'll find another telephone socket buried underneath.. that's the test socket. It's basically a direct connection to the phone lines outside, so it bypasses any internal wiring.

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Firstly check in your router settings if you've got some unauthorized IPs using your wi-fi. Secondly your best bet would be call the ISP's support, they'll identify and fix the problem faster than we would.

 

I had a DSL connection at my previous home and my bandwidth speed used to fall drastically like every 2 years. Then I called the ISP, they sent me people to change my router with a newer one and speed was back as usual. That happened like 3 or 4 times. Only once did the cable age (it was some 14 years old) and then the connection was cut entirely.

 

I've seen cooper wires with cotton insulation that had more than a century (not for ethernet lol), so unless the cable is bent, it will last more than we do. Also bad power suply can make the modem go nuts, but in OP's case it can be anything; i would call the ISP so they can check if the line is OK and the reported speed is OK as well. If yes then the problem is behind the router.

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I've seen cooper wires with cotton insulation that had more than a century (not for ethernet lol), so unless the cable is bent, it will last more than we do. Also bad power suply can make the modem go nuts, but in OP's case it can be anything; i would call the ISP so they can check if the line is OK and the reported speed is OK as well. If yes then the problem is behind the router.

Yep, mine was badly bent :rofl:  And one day after moving it around with the hoover it just broke. The next day the ISP support comes in and replaces it with a new one and even gave me extra cable in case it breaks again .

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