Are TalkTalk slowing my superfast connection?

[cressylock]

Until the end of last year I consistently received 56Mbps download speed.

Since January this year, I have been complaining about the slow performance, spent many hours wasting my time 'chatting' with someone asking the same pointless and mundane questions, and they have always (after about 2hrs each time), reset the line and have increased the throughput above the minimum guaranteed speed, but never to the same performance as last time. 

Apparently there was never a problem with the line, so the only other thing can could degrade the performance is throttling?

On Sat 21st, I noticed my speed had dropped to 14Mbps. I restarted the router and it increased to a whopping 18Mbps. TalkTalk acknowledged a fault and sent out an engineer on Sunday morning. Fantastic, but I wasn't home and he didn't know what he was doing there. All he knew was an address and there was a fault. After several hours he left, leaving his phone number with my partner for me to speak with him. I have tried a number of times but never rings through.

I tested the connection speed from the router each day this week, with the following results: Sun 54.9Mbps, Mon, 54.9Mbps, Tue 49Mbps, Wed 49Mbps, Thu 44Mbps! I am again below the minimum guaranteed of 45Mbps. As the line could handle 54.9Mbps on Sunday and Monday, why has the speed dropped to 44Mbps several days later? 5Mpbs reduction at a time?? TalkTalk must be throttling the connection...

Also, over all this time, their speed dashboard is misleading at best, and must be against some law, as it's a complete fabrication! The dashboard always says "Great! You're getting the download speed of 66Mbps, as expected" Although you click on the Speed History, and it's been 35Mbps or below! I have never had 66Mbps!

Is there anyone from TalkTalk monitoring this forum who can sort this out! Please restore my speed and remove any throttling you may have in place.

[cressylock]

I can't hear any noise on the voice service (that is usually the first thing I check)

Sorry, but no, I don't have an alternative phone, without going out to buy one. I had a small extension lead from the main socket to the phone, which I just removed. I know such things can impact the broadband but only if the extension was between the main socket and the router. I wouldn’t expect this extension to impact the broadband as it wasn’t connected to the router.

The main socket says OpenReach MK4. It's a faceplate over the 'test' socket, and the faceplate has a phone and router socket. The phone and router are typically plugged into the faceplate, which they are now. I would only connect the router directly to the test socket, through the filter, when working through the 101 questions with support.

Hopefully this answers your questions, but please let me know if you have any other questions.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

The potential engineer charges apply only if the engineer is unable to locate ok/everything is working ok when they arrive or if a piece of equipment or internal wiring is faulty. If the fault is located on Openreach maintained equipment then no charges would apply.

Is there any noise on the voice service? Do you have an alternative handset that you could test with for a short period to see if DLM adjusts the speed and rules the current handset out?

Do you mean that both the microfilter, router and phone are connected to the test socket?

Thanks

[cressylock]

Thanks Debbie

I've looked at the private message, and I'm sorry, but I do not agree to point 1.

The next step will be to arrange an engineer visit to investigate further, to do this can you confirm:

• That you accept potential Engineers charges
• Provide availability, either AM (8am to 1pm) or PM (1pm to 6pm) between Monday to Friday.
• Confirm your mobile number

When the engineer was here the other week, apparently he suggested we can't have a landline. This is nonsense as we have of course had a land line for years, without issue, and it is needed, so not an option to disconnect. If an engineer comes back and just says the issue is that, then they will leave without fixing the problem, in my opinion. 

My phone and router plug into a modern integrated socket in the wall. I have tested with the router plugged into the master socket many times.

I understand the DLM adjusts speeds based on the error rate. How could the error rate be higher just because a phone is plugged in?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

HI cressylock

I'm just sending you a Private Message to confirm some details so we can arrange the engineer visit.

Thanks

[cressylock]

Or let me put it another way, if there's either a problem with the line that is causing the DLM to slow the connection, then they should fix it.

If the line is ok, then there's a problem with the DLM algorithm.

Either way, I expect them to fix it.

As my contract is with TalkTalk, if they say everything is fine or come up with some lame excuse, then I will expect TalkTalk to work with Openreach to get my speed back up to the levels it was before.

If I hear that I need to upgrade to full fibre just to get the speed I was getting before, then I won't be happy... 

[cressylock]

Yes please.

Maybe they can explain why DLM keeps slowing down my connection if the line is ok.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi cressylock

Thanks for your reply.

I can see that the sync speed is still below the predicted range. The next step will be an Openreach engineer visit, would you like me to arrange this?

[cressylock]

This is the 2nd time I've added a message, but can't find it... I replied yesterday to confirm that the new router is connected.

I have also given a comparison between the old and new routers below. The current connection speed, and has been the same since Sunday, is 44Mbps, again below the minimum.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi cressylock

Apologies for the delay.

Is the new router connected?

[cressylock]

I can't find it, but I posted an update yesterday to say that the speed had increased to 49Mbps... I thought it was on the up...

I have just checked and the connection speed is back to 44Mbps

[cressylock]

Hi Debbie

The new router has arrived, and it's plugged in.

I'm not sure if this will be useful, but I have compared the connection statistics between the old and new routers:

	Old router		New router
	Downstream	Upstream	Downstream	Upstream
Actual Rate [Kbps]	43998	19999	43998	19999
Maximum Rate [Kbps]	59618	19999	57323	19999
Noise Margin [dB]	0	6	0	6
Attenuation [dB]	18.9	0	19	0
Power [dBm]	13.3	7.5	13.2	7.5

The figures are similar, but for some reason the maximum download speed is 57,323Kbps whereas the old router was 59,618Kbps. Won't this lower my maximum speed?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi cressylock

Thank you. Please let me know once the new router is connected, I can then check the connection stats/speed again after 48hrs.

Debbie

[cressylock]

Thank you. I'll let you know how it goes

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Sorry also forgot to mention, we can't switch DLM off, DLM is managed by Openreach on the line.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi cressylock

Thanks for your reply.

The router is on its way, please allow 24-48hrs for this to arrive.

If DLM doesn't start to increase the speed after 48hrs (with the new router at the test socket) then we can pass this to Openreach for an engineer visit. The engineer can complete further investigations and also reset DLM.

Thanks

Debbie

[cressylock]

Yes, that would be ok.

I have heard of such a thing before, and I asked someone very nicely to turn it off, which they did.  I thought that was a thing of the past, before fibre. In fact, I recall being sold this as one of the benefits of fibre. Is this history repeating itself now full fibre has been installed outside? 🙂

When the chatty people say they reset the line, are they resetting this DLM? If so, in effect, never actually solving the underlying cause.

Could you reset the DLM now and I'll leave my backup router plugged in? Or, can you turn off the DLM?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi cressylock

Thanks for your reply. In regards to the speed increasing, DLM monitors the line and makes changes to the profile to help increase the speed.

If the connection is unstable or DLM detects issues on the line (can be router related) then DLM will start to decrease the speed to help stabilise the connection.

I think we should send a new router for testing and then leave this router connected to the line for at least 48hrs whilst DLM is monitoring the connection. Will this be ok?

[cressylock]

Thank you for your quick reply.

No, you haven't sent me a new router for testing. My router isn't that old, but I can't remember exactly when I was told to reset the last one, and it turned into a brick. It would probably be about 6 months old(ish)

I have just plugged in my backup router directly to the test socket and that is showing 42.97.

As 2 routers are showing very similar speeds, so I would say it isn't a router issue. It's not a line issue. You don't throttle... then what else? Just a couple of days ago, my speed was 54.9, so we know it is possible. 

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi cressylock

I'm really sorry to hear of the issues you are experiencing.

Just to confirm, we do not throttle speeds.

I've completed a line test which hasn't detected any faults and your line is in sync at 42.1mb.

Can I just check, have we recently sent you a new router for testing?