Broadband connection speed dropped over new year below my guaranteed speed

[CliveH68]

I live in an area which still relies on copper to the premesis, when I signed up to Sky Fibre I was guaranteed 36Mbps and I constantly received a solid 40Mbps although my line is capable of slighly higher speeds (A BT engineer confirmed Sky were capping the speed at 40Mbps for all customers in my area)

Over the new year when the Internet was not being used due to being away, the speed has dropped to below 30Mbps but the line stats are showing that I am capable of much higher and should be able to achieve the previous 40Mbps

Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed (Kbps) 27399 5524
Line Attenuation (dB) DS1:19.3    DS2:53.0    DS3:78.0 US0:7.6    US1:48.0    US2:0.0
Noise Margin (dB) DS1:10.6    DS2:10.6    DS3:0.0 US0:6.7    US1:6.0    US2:6.0

Running the online line check confirms my speeds are lower than I can achieve but Sky are saying there is nothing they can do as its not a line issue, and have just offered me to cancel due to my speeds not achieving my guranteed speed

There is nothing wrong with my socket/microfilters etc. and nothing has changed apart from simply not using the boradband for a few days, do sky lower speeds if the boradband is not used for a while ? if so this would be strange practice I think. It looks like the line needs to be reset or retrained but dont know how I would ask for this

[jamesn123]

@CliveH68 

When you say not being used do you mean just nobody home on the WiFi connection or did you actually switch the hub off during this time?

[CliveH68]

Yes nothing connected/no traffic for about 3-4 days, I did reboot the hub when I reconnected and found the speed dropped as I saw the WAN connection had a lower uptime than the router. I have since left the hub off overnight to see if it would 'reset' but nope connection speeds still lower than expected

[jamesn123]

@CliveH68 

Its possible the line has developed an issue over that period due to the storms and flooding we have seen across the UK. What is the guaranteed minimum download speed Sky quote you when you run a line test or check your welcome email when you first signed up with Sky?

[CliveH68]

Its possible it could be water/flood related but my line stats are not showing any degredation in the line quality, when I had a copper line issue last year (break in the line) my noise margin dropped to <1 and speeds went down too, with a very crackly voice line this time my noise margin is still showing I can achieve higher speeds and no other indicators of a line issue (confiirmed by Sky line test) so quite strange why the connection speed to the router has dropped so much

And Sky say my guaranteed speed is 36Mbps although I have always received 40Mbps constantly since my service went live almost two years ago (as I write this my router is showing 27Mbps connection speed), my contract is expiring in two months, not that I think this is anyway related

Maybe ill wait it out for 7 days and then if it does not improve just cancel and move to another provider as Sky dont seem to think they can do anything to resolve it unless it shows as a line fault and they have emailed to say as I am not receiveing my guaranteed speed I can cancel at any time

[jamesn123]

@CliveH68 

Your stats are showing an issue. Any value above 6dB on the margin is a fault unless its artificially limited which in your case it isnt until your speed is back to 40mbps. If your guarantee is 36mbps then Sky are obligated to at least put in a fault report to Openreach for an inital investigation. However Openreach may well tell Sky that its not viable for them to fix the line with the rollout of FTTP on the way. 

[CliveH68]

Thanks for the advice and info on the noise margin I was not aware of that, I am also not sure on the plans for FTTP in my area, so I will progress with Sky support to see if they will agree that its a line fault to raise with Openreach for investigation

[Highlinder]

@CliveH68  You are able to check on if your area is up for the install of FTTP via the site below.

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband 

[CliveH68]

I have an Openreach engineer booked to investigate, thank you for the advice and assistance, great community !