Poor Fibre Broadband Speed

[Lavraki]

My Sky Fibre Broadband speed is abysmal.

I had to uninstall my NordVPN to get a half decent speed. Sometimes the speed is at the guaranteed minimum of 90mbps, but most often not even close.

Ookla speed checker starts at <40 mbps and climbs up very slowly to around 70mbps on the first test. The speed slowly increases with subsequent tests and eventually gets up to the minimum guarantees of 90mbps after a few tests.

Next day it starts all over again. 

Why can I not have a consistent speed 24/7?

Is my fibre signal being choked/shared/ divided among the 20+ users on my telegraph pole?

The Sky broadband tester is not working at the moment but when it does work, it tells me that my signal is ok and is around107mbps. I never get anything like this even when I attach my laptop directly to my router by ethernet cable.

What is going on?

[JimM1]

@Lavraki Run a www.fast.com speed test but only connected to a Ethernet device, and post up same as the picture below when it is cleared for you to view.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Lavraki wrote:

Is my fibre signal being choked/shared/ divided among the 20+ users on my telegraph pole?

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Wholesale fibre bandwidth is divided, yes (although not at the pole) : that's inherent to the topology of the national Openreach network.  2.5Gbs between up to 32 addresses is a typical ratio.

[Lavraki]

Many thanks for your replies.

Fast.com and ookla are now displaying speeds of 94mbps on the same laptop and ethernet connection as before.

This just leads me to confirm that Sky (like I suspected Vodafone did previously) monitor my usage and alter my fibre speed to suit their economy/wider service provision to all their customers.

Carrying out speed tests always seems to help improve my speed, so I believe that they make their adjustments when a client seems to be aware of poor service and checks their speeds.

I will now do a speed check once per day and save the screen shots before asking for any compensation that I may be entitled to for the poor service and not offer the opportunity for them to increase the speed to minimum contract levels following a speed test.

It would be nice to have a 24/7dependable speed and be able to reinstall my NordVPN that I paid a lot of money for.

[JimM1]

@Lavraki And you may wish to go look, read what a Nord VPN does to speed so you KNOW and are aware off!!!!

[Lavraki]

I am well aware of the gremlins and tactics that NordVPN use.

Their highest speed on a UK server is around 35mbps. If my speed is not as high as it should be, that will surely affect the speed I get from their system.

I cannot download emails via Thunderbird unless I turn NordVPN off and I cannot make online bank transfers unless I uninstall it.

It has to be said that I didn't do my due diligence on NordVPN before entering into a long contract that can't be cancelled.....

[JimM1]

@Lavraki You would be better to understand how and what a shared network is like, speed test's waste off space, and get yourself a constant baseline for comparison when you suspect a problem.

[Lavraki]

Shared network?

There is me, my laptop and my phone..

Constant baseline for speed measurement? Any suggestions? 

Please don't suggest using the Sky speed checker. It doesn't work all the time and is always positive.

I turn off/on their router and the supply to the little white "fibre box" to see if that helps but it never does.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply to my misfortunes. 

I think it was something like venting my spleen.

We old folks do that when IT lets us down and we are offered IT solutions that we are not equipped to undertake. 

[JimM1]

@Lavraki With you on that, up there on that old age side myself, anyhow couple off links below that you will find usefull.

Test my speed
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

https://speed.cloudflare.com/

https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat

https://www.fast.com   Let the fast one do it's thing it's a 2 part test, checking hub speed and also the device speed, the update button shows it all when done.... 

And for speed related issues good read.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/12/why-buying-gigabit-broadband-doesnt-always-deliver-1gb...

Ethernet and wireless wi-fi testing off both you will see different results and response. Hope it helps👍

[TimmyBGood]

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@Lavraki wrote:

This just leads me to confirm that Sky (like I suspected Vodafone did previously) monitor my usage and alter my fibre speed to suit their economy/wider service provision to all their customers.

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That's unlikely: all ISPs now claim they don't restrict bandwidth proactively.  The overloading of the backbone capacity reaching a local node when multiple adjacent properties are all pulling significant bandwidth is a different phenomenon.

[JimM1]

@Lavraki Just dropped you a PM, so envelope above will pop up a number, you click on it to read.

Use the service checker, when in it, look at the Broadband and click, you will see the last 30 Day history that sky checks to see how your network is doing, they do not care 2 hoots about any check you do, that is the bible and holy grail for them....