Internet Speed dropping around same time each day

[Neadie14]

Hi,

I have Sky Broadband Superfast in my house with speeds of up to 102mps.

When I run speedtests daily I can get speeds between 40 to 60 mps but around 8.30pm to 9pm every evening this drops to below 10mps and we cannot stream anything or even watch the Sky Go App.

We don't have any other devices turning on at this time and surely congestion from others using the internet could not be the issue.  It happens at the same time every evening.

Below are the router stats at present time and I can add stats from later the evening if needed

Any help with be much appreciated.

Thanks

[jamesn123]

Hi @Neadie14 

Unfortunately this is just the nature of WiFi as a technology. At that time of night everyone around you in different homes is sitting down to do the same thing and the WiFi airspace around you becomes majorly congested, it doesnt matter if you only have a couple of devices its about what your neighbours are doing as well.

The best solution is to connect as many devices as possible via ethernet instead of WiFi.

You could also look at Sky's WiFi help guide here 

[Neadie14]

Thanks James but it just doesn't mkae sense that neighbours with other Network providers don't have the same issue.

[jamesn123]

@Neadie14 

It does make sense its just you need to have an understanding of how WiFi works. The interference can come from various appliances/devices and can affect WiFi routers in different ways. If you read the link I put in my previous reply it has a good explanation of it. 

[jamesn123]

@Neadie14 

This is a good video to help explain it

[Neadie14]

Thanks James

[MartinSom]

It would be worth checking stats when the issue is occuring just to confirm that your sync speed is the same.

Speed test on a wired device as well just to confirm. 

If you still have the issue then confirm you have no other wireless networks locally on the same channel and then consider a third party wireless Mesh solution to help.

[James325646453]

I can't help but disagree.

It seems more likely and also from my own experience where speeds start to drop aropund 4pm in my rural location where Sky is prominent that Sky's exchange capacity is not scaled to properly cope with demand.

With more and more Sky services now being delivered over broadband, when users all start watching video at the same time, kids start downloading games and mum wacks her 4k steam on - I guess (and it's an educated guess) that exchange capacity can't cope.

Now you're likely going to come back and blame Openreach capacity but that shows a lack of understanding of how carriers integrate with Openreach exchanges.  I am on an unbundled exchange, which means Sky have their own (albeit rented) capacity, which they manage.  BT Retail will never have this problem as they overengineer their capacity.

[jamesn123]

@James325646453 

Nice theory but it doesnt apply in this case. The original post stated their speed slows after 9pm ish, from their stats we can see that they exclusively use WiFi, not ethernet. WiFi is easily interferred with in busy parts of the day even if you dont have a lot of people around you. If it were a capacity issue this would need to be proved by using a direct ethernet device to measure throughput coming straight from the hub. 

[James325646453]

He stated that the local users to him on other carriers don't have the same issue.  Connecting via ethernet or WiFi is immaterial.  

I contact Sky today and they confirmed at least in my case it was exchange and Street cabinet over subscription causing my issue and I use wi-fi.

How do you explain that his neighbor's who use wi-fi (as if they didn't it woukd make tour argument carry less weight) aren't seeing the same problem?

[jamesn123]

@James325646453 

Because WiFi is affected in different ways depending on the router, client devices, range, use cases etc. Additionally the Sky hub is known to have poorer WiFi stability & range compared to the likes of BT, TT, Plusnet etc. Maybe the neighbours dont notice it as heavily as OP with a Sky router.

Either way, you saying that 'connecting via Ethernet or WiFi is immaterial' is just misinformation and proves you dont have the background knowledge to be arguing over this subject and you are just using what Sky have told you in your particular case to argue about someone elses situation without any additional knowledge on their setup, area or usage. 

[James325646453]

Dude.  I've build service provider networks turning over millions per annum.  I know exactly what in talking about.

Sky has capacity problems at the edge due, it seems in part, due to the move from satalite to broadband as a means to deliver services.

If they don't have the capacity at the local exchange they've unbundelled whether you use wi-fi or enternet you'll still get affected by network congestion.  That's just a fact.

Yes WiFi overlap can cause problems but then they would also cause problems for the other users, which the OP clearly stated isn't happening.  So with that knowledge Tou need to look elsewhere for the bottleneck.

Have a great day.