Speed Cap?

[AllyM]

Is a member of TalkTalk staff able to whether or not the DLM is capping my downstream sync speed at 35Mbps?

It seems to have been at a rather suspicious value of around 34.99 for a little while now with a SNR margin of 8dB.

[ferguson]

Well, if you switch it on and off regularly then there's your answer. Maybe try leaving it on for a while and see if DLM starts to look kindly on your connection? Otherwise, you really haven't got an issue. 

[AllyM]

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@ferguson wrote:

Do you leave your router on 24/7 as a rule? 

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No, I generally switch it off when leaving the house an switch it on when I get home.

I understand that many people have a "leave it on 24/7" philosophy, but years of experience has shown me that one or two off/on cycles per day is nowhere near enough to trick the DLM into taking action, particularly when it is always left off for much more than 30 mins before being powered back on.

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@ferguson wrote:

try switching it off for a full 30 minutes, this should be enough to restart the session and kickstart DLM if that is indeed the problem. 

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As I said, it is normally powered off for well over 30 mins most days, and in any case I believe the "trick" you describe only really works in cases where the session has got screwed up such that the sync speed has remained good but the throughput speed has become disproportionately slow.

To clarify, what I am taking about is that every time I power on the router, it has always synced at somewhere between 35 and 40Mbps at round about the target SNR. The exact sync speed would vary slightly from day to day. (perhaps environmental factors like temperature, humidity etc affecting the exact line quality at the time of negotiation, I really don't know)

Recently however (I'm not sure for how long) each time powering on the router the sync speed is suspiciously always almost exactly 35Mbps at 8dB SNR. Hence, me asking the question.

The speed difference is very small and for all practical purposes doesn't affect my use of the internet. I just wanted confirmation of what was going on and thought, as I said, that it would only take staff a couple of minutes to do so.

I had not envisaged myself, yourself, and others having to spend as much time and energy to get a simple answer to a simple question.

[ferguson]

Do you leave your router on 24/7 as a rule? If so, as a one off, try switching it off for a full 30 minutes, this should be enough to restart the session and kickstart DLM if that is indeed the problem. 

[AllyM]

Ok, @ferguson here goes:

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@ferguson wrote:

If you are on a Fibre 35 package, why would you expect to see higher? 

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I believe a Fibre35 service would be capped at 40Mbps, not 35Mbps.

I am on Fibre65 (have been for several years) although I do realise my line is not capable of delivering much higher than 40Mbps.

I expect to see somewhere between 35Mbps and 40Mbps  since that is what I have previously always seen.

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@ferguson wrote:

Of course it is capped, that is what you signed up to. 

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Not sure what you mean. I guess when signing up we do kind of implicitly agree that the DLM can make changes to our line profile that it thinks are necessary. I believe that has happened, and I was just asking if a member of staff could confirm that?

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@ferguson wrote:

The fact that your SNR shows as it does simply means that there is potential for more if you switch to a faster service.

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Like I have said, I have previously always seen speeds slightly higher than 35Mbps at an SNR of 6dB. Recently (last few weeks maybe, not sure) it has been syncing at almost exactly 35Mbps at an SNR of 8dB which leads me to suspect that a 35Mbps cap has been applied. There is no faster service available that I can move to.

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@ferguson wrote:

I think you have been immensely rude in the way you have characterised the staff response, which seems to be perfectly clear. 

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The member of staff has quite clearly quoted the estimated speeds as stated in my contract, but that is not the question I asked.

I'm sorry if you thought I was rude, but it is very frustrating when they fail to understand what I thought that was a very simple and straightforward question, which should have easily answered in 2 minutes.

I'll repeat my question again in the hope of making it as clear as possible:

I am asking is for a member of staff to please check the actual line stats and confirm if the DLM has capped my sync speed at 35Mbps.

I do realise with the Easter holiday, staff will likely not be back at work now until Tuesday.

[ferguson]

@AllyM 

If you are on a Fibre 35 package, why would you expect to see higher? Of course it is capped, that is what you signed up to. The fact that your SNR shows as it does simply means that there is potential for more if you switch to a faster service. I think you have been immensely rude in the way you have characterised the staff response, which seems to be perfectly clear. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

@AllyM, there's no guarantee of who will answer when we escalate your thread, but I will escalate it for further attention. 

[AllyM]

@amahle-TT , you have totally missed the point.

I understand I will not get much higher than 35Mbps, but I should get a little bit higher, and have done in the past. I will re-iterate again that recently it has been sitting suspiciously at the 35Mbps figure (a if it is artificially capped/limited) and the SNR margin is 8dB which suggests there is still some speed to be gained as I am aware the target SNR is 6dB.

Would a "community star" be able to escalate my post for attention by a proper member of staff who will simply answer my question?

I'm not sure if these "new" staff members AIs or just clueless humans.

[amahle-TT]

Okay, looking into your account I can confirm that the following speeds are speeds you should be receiving as stated when you took up this package.

Highest Download is 35.0

Lowest Download is 31.5

Minimum guaranteed Download is 28.3

Highest upload 5.8

Lowest upload 5.2

But if you would like to receive more speeds or a better package you may check our website http://talktalk.co.uk to see the available and latest deals or you may contact our Better Value team at 0345 172 0088
 from Monday - Friday 9am - 7pm; Saturday - 9am - 6pm to further assist you in looking for better deals. https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Our-live-chat-team/ta-p/2230529

[AllyM]

As stated in my original post, yes it is a question about my broadband speed.

I thought my question was perfectly clear but I will explain once more:

It appears from my end that the downstream sync speed it artificially limited at 35Mbps by the DLM. I was just asking for confirmation of that point and if the was the possibility of anything that could be done about it (but I am guessing not).

[amahle-TT]

Just to confirm are you having issues with your speeds?

[AllyM]

I made the original post at home, then I went out, and I'm back home now.

Don't know what that has to do with anything. I only asked you  to check your line stats.

[amahle-TT]

Hi there AllyM, thank you for reaching out. I will look into this for you. Please confirm if you are messaging us from home.