Poor broadband speed?


Ellis

Ellis

99 CW EK9 B18C
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Jul 8, 2011
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Ok so ive just moved into a new house with my other half and 9 month old son.
The house has broadband installed in my the previous owners name (will be getting renewed in my own in a few week)

The laptop and iphones work fine with it and connect and operate online with no issues.

The Xbox however, will go online find a match etc but whe i play it (COD black opps2 to be exact) it laggs like hell constantly.

Im putting it down to the cheap **** router and provider, if i change to say BT for example or sky would i perhaps have a better connection with one of the bigger providers or will they all give the same speed in my area?

Its connected via hardwire but is exacty the same when connecting wireless

Thought id ask on here as im not verry knowlageable in this field and noticed some of you seem to be.

Thanks in avance for any info or help you can give.
 
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There could be numerous reasons for this, I'll go through everything that I can think of which may be causing this:

1. Black Ops 2 in itself is very laggy at the best of time it's hard to get a good host. This could be an issue, you can change the settings in multiplayer so that it searches for hosts that are local meaning that you should get a better connection and not play frenchies.

2. When in the multiplayer screen what type of NAT does it say you have? If you don't have an open NAT then you can experience some lag. Theres load's of instructions out there on how to open ports in your router for playing COD.

3. The internet you are getting is poor. You didn't say who the provider was but I'm going to assume that it's normal ADSL and not fiber optic. This depends on how much you want to spend on your internet. If all you want to do is play COD and you don't watch movies on Netflix then your probably best to get a good line by BT even the cheapest one that they have would do you fine.

4. You actually have quite good internet to start with, as you haven't said the provider then I can't tell download and upload speeds. But assuming that they are good it could just be because you are using the internet at a time that is defined as high load times e.g 6-10pm. During these times providers limit the speed you receive so that everyone receives a consistent speed. This could end up making your game laggy.

5. As you said your router could be needing an upgrade. If your not too clued up on routers or internet technology on a whole I would contact your provider and ask if they can provide a newer router as some will actually give you it for free (your paying enough right). Otherwise they may point you to get a specific model out of PCWorld or another computing shop, with this I would make sure that you take your time and ask questions so that you buy the correct one because PCWorld are a ball ache to get a refund from. I worked there so I know.

Hope this has been of some help. If you are stuck with an ADSL line just now I would consider moving to a provider that you could get fiber optic from if it's an issue but you may end up paying more. Just make sure your NAT is open, it will say on the multiplayer screen in black ops, and you should be good to go.
 
have you actually tested you speed online to see what rate your getting. There are numerous factors that can affect the speed.
1. Line length from your exchange or fibre cabinet plays a major factor, the furthur you are the slower your speed is going to be.
2. the type of router you are using and the setting on it, some need setup for the likes of the xbox and ps3 to leave ports open etc.
3. Wireless interferance, wireless handsets and sound systems that used wireless signals to transfer signal can interfer with your routers wireless signal, this can be resolved from changing your wireless channel on the routers settings (192.168.1.254 is usually the ip you type into your browser to access your router.)
4. Compatability between your wireless adapter for your xbox and the router, I found with my router being Wireless "N" compatablie but my older type adapers not being it caused issues with the connection. To iliminate this problem i would recommend hardwiring your xbox to your router if you can using the ethernet cable, this will stop any lag between your xbox and your router.
5 As said time of day can paly a part as you will most likely share a card with around 95 other people the more of these people that are online the slower the speed will be as the card spreads its bandwidth as best it can to provide service to all its users.
6. There is a myth that some providers will give you better speeds that others (did you know plusnet is actually owned by BT), this is not true they will all give you as fast as speed as the wire your on will carry at a stable rate. say for example the maximum your getting 11689kbps then this will be rounded down to a stable 11000 or 11256kbps. However virgin and cable are different as they use different types of cable to provide the service, so yes in this instance there will be a difference in quality and speed as they have a different set of protocols.
7. A common problem for broadband is extension and filters. your router will work best at your main socket in the house before it has to go through your internal wiring to an extension. Also the more extensions you have on your house the worse your BB signal will be, again slowing it down even more. The dongle filters used for adsl can also go faulty causing problems on your line. Keep a few spare and replace them every once and a while, bin the old ones so you dont get mixed up and re-use them.
8. Finally KEEP YOUR ROUTER TURNED ON! turning your router on and off each night simulates having a fault on your line and they service providers equipment will pick up on this and start to slow your broadband speed down to try and give you a stable service. Keeping it turned on will allow the BRAS to bring your signal up at a stable rate and keep it there.

note: faults on the line like crackling and earth hum will also slow down your speeds dramactically as well so if you have a fault report it in!
 
i tested it and i seem to be getting 2mb, ive made sure the router is in the main phone socket in the house and it makes no difference so ive got another brand new filter to try then after that im going to enquire about a different router and keep refering back to here for more info and things to try.

thanks for both your detailed respones! +rep'd both of you :nice:
 
2mb will not be great for xbox live tbh, you must be a good distance from your exchange as most are now a 21cn network which leaves the exchange at 21mb. Could also be your package is a light use one and your speed is capped at 2mb.
 
elchunk said:
2mb will not be great for xbox live tbh, you must be a good distance from your exchange as most are now a 21cn network which leaves the exchange at 21mb. Could also be your package is a light use one and your speed is capped at 2mb.
Click to expand...

i get the same at my old house as its less than a mile away and it works fine, we do live a fair bit from the exchange id imagine its in the sticks a bit. i will have a look into it in more detail thanks again mate
 
...if you un screw the face plate of your main socket; there's a test socket behind it..

Ive found that plugging in there rather than on the face gives you a slight better speed & better latency!

Well as others have said.. More info needed to help you more;

Post code
Area
ISP
Package youre on
Router manufacturer/model
Post up a speedtest.net result screenshot?

:thanks:
 
thunderboy said:
...if you un screw the face plate of your main socket; there's a test socket behind it..

Ive found that plugging in there rather than on the face gives you a slight better speed & better latency!

Well as others have said.. More info needed to help you more;

Post code
Area
ISP
Package youre on
Router manufacturer/model
Post up a speedtest.net result screenshot?

:thanks:
Click to expand...

Thats because you are removing the extension wiring from the line. :nice:
 
Not sure I follow what you mean on extension wiring; but it absolutely works... Though I'm not sure you're technically supposed to be using the socket... BT own the equipment behind the fascia and back to the exchange... Then the home owner owns the fascia on the main socket and onwards

FYI I was on about this on the first socket in the house:
testsocketa.jpg
 
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thunderboy said:
Not sure I follow what you mean on extension wiring; but it absolutely works... Though I'm not sure you're technically supposed to be using the socket... BT own the equipment behind the fascia and back to the exchange... Then the home owner owns the fascia on the main socket and onwards
Click to expand...

your phoneline will come into your house via Dropwire or undeground cable, this is terminated onto the back of the main socket in the house. Your internal wiring to other sockets in the house (extensions) should be punched onto the faceplate of that socket. So when you remove the front plate you are in effect isolating your internal wiring off the line. This is why when you have a fault the call centre staff will ask your to talk off the front plate as if the fault in found to be in your wiring or equipment it is chargeable work to fix, usually at £99 plus VAT for an engineers visit. :nono:.
 
my wireless is 45 meg download.. use an ethernet cable and its 110 down !
 
Aleex said:
my wireless is 45 meg download.. use an Ethernet cable and its 110 down !
Click to expand...

Happy days, you must be on virgin's cable as far as i'm aware BT's infinity is capped at 100mb down 20mb up at present.
 
yus on virgin.

just willy waving some numbers hehehehee
 
Came across this ball of shite today, Broadband problems you say sir! I think i found you're problem. :nono:
 

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Ah fascinating, so what you don't know about broadband and fibre optic isn't worth knowing?

My question to you our broadband is suppose to be 9mb download but we frequently loose connection and YouTube is all but pointless at times.

Been through our provider they have done loads, even tried a new box and maxing out the lines speed.

Is it really worth going with fibre optic?
 
9mb is plenty fast to stream and download whatever you want in 1080p. you say your loosing connection, is this from your computer to your router or the actual internet connection at your router? If your loosing your internet connection at your hub/router then there could be a fault on your line or your on a faulty card in the exchange that a lift and shift to another card would solve. If you don't have your extensions filtered properly too this can cause your internet to drop sync also. Fibre optic is great if you do alot of HD streaming and heavy amounts of downloading, but imo if you have greater than say 6mb then that's plenty to stream at 720p comfortably.
 
good website for checking your internet speed also. Its worth noting that alot of these speed checker sites can give you a vast variety of speeds depending on where you select the server to be.

BTW Performance Test
 
elchunk said:
9mb is plenty fast to stream and download whatever you want in 1080p. you say your loosing connection, is this from your computer to your router or the actual internet connection at your router? If your loosing your internet connection at your hub/router then there could be a fault on your line or your on a faulty card in the exchange that a lift and shift to another card would solve. If you don't have your extensions filtered properly too this can cause your internet to drop sync also. Fibre optic is great if you do alot of HD streaming and heavy amounts of downloading, but imo if you have greater than say 6mb then that's plenty to stream at 720p comfortably.
Click to expand...

Yeah it looses connection, it's been better and much more stable there was a time I was get 0-0.5mb which was extremely frustrating.

Maybe some of our problem is YouTube related i can not watch any HD without constant buffering.
 
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