Inconsistent speeds

[ClareLW]

So I had Sky Max installed earlier this month with Wifi Max - Not sure why I paid extra for the WiFi max when it barely gives me a consistent Wifi connect stood next to the bloody thing.

But the real issue is the speeds. I'm supposed to have a g/teed 400mbps plus speed yet this morning I'm at 6-10mbs when trying to download from Steam. I pause the download and my speed goes up to 95mbs (still woefully 300mbps under the promised speed) 

So two questions 

1 - What did I pay all that extra money for

2- Does sky really throttle download speeds when actually downloading because as a family of gamers again I ask what did I pay all that extra money for?

 

[daveNOS]

@ClareLW The guaranteed speed is not the download speed to your device its the speed that your router is connecting to the cabinet/exchange(line access speed), depending on how your connecting it can be significantly lower that your line access speed.

How are the devices you're using connected is it wireless or wired?

If possible can you post your router statistics?

 https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/How-to-find-your-Sky-Broadband-router-stats/td-p/2855717

[jamesn123]

---

@ClareLW wrote:

But the real issue is the speeds. I'm supposed to have a g/teed 400mbps plus speed yet this morning I'm at 6-10mbs when trying to download from Steam. I pause the download and my speed goes up to 95mbs (still woefully 300mbps under the promised speed) 

---

Steam measures is MB/s not mbps which is what is used by ISPs/speed tests so 10MB/s on steam would be 83mbps on a normal speedtest.

---

@ClareLW wrote:

2- Does sky really throttle download speeds when actually downloading because as a family of gamers again I ask what did I pay all that extra money for?

---

There is no throttling going on, before you accuse Sky of doing anything it might help if you had even basic knowledge of how networking works.

If you start a download on steam, then run a speedtest the speed is obviously going to be lower because steam is currently using that bandwidth. You don't get unlimited bandwidth so if your original speedtest is 93.5mbps and then you start a steam download that is using 10MB/s (83mbps) then you would only have about 10mbps left over for the speedtest to use, therefore your second result of 6mbps is about right.

What isnt quite right is your original speed, as you said it should be a minimum of 400mbps but this would only be via ethernet. How is the device your running the tests on connected to the hub? WiFi or ethernet?

[ClareLW]

It varies. 

My son's Laptop is a gaming laptop connected via WiFi and he sits directly above the router. His speeds are about 150ish (1st Image)

My desktop is about 2 years old not even, ethernet connection speeds vary upon making the first post they were 10-96 for 3 days. Following a windows update the speeds changed to over a hundred and fluctuated a bit more. A power cut brought them back inline (2nd Image)

My eldest's desktop is an amalgamation of 12-5 year old parts, is in the bedroom furthest from the Router wired again via ethernet and throughout all of this had speeds of about 320. (Last image)

While the box was registering consistent speeds in, they were not translating out. 

It is now since my power cut, but only to my machine, the Laptop and Rear PC still get inconsistent speeds. Wifi on a phone is attracious and is constantly dropping inside my own house. Which is curious because that's not how the Wifi Max was sold to me

And yes I had already tried things like clearing my download cache and fully flushing my DNS. What seems to have sorted my personal PC issue was the router restarting. But the kids still have wibbly wobbly speeds. Though niether of them seem to care to be honest. Just me 🤔

Though I do need to change the ethernet cables because they are both too long and a trip hazard so given your comment about speeds from the box to the machines is there a specific brand I should stay away from or head towards?

[Karlos2]

Im getting exactly the same problem. Getting speeds up to x6 times slower than what i paid for. A neighbout has BT and was getting 6 times my speed during the same period. Ive only just left Virgin Media, but this service is proving worse.

[ClareLW]

Interesting. 

I wouldn't say worse personally for me. Virgin Media in my area consisted of 2/3 times a week being down for hours at a time, usually in prime time hours. Sky have never had service interuptions that bad for me, (I think maybe once I lost internet for 3 hours and then not that long ago all of Sky went down for thousands of people) and that's it for I think about 8/9 years of internet from Sky.

They are good. I just feel like I was perhaps missold something or promised something from an agent that is actually not true and that's left me kinda salty.