Blueyonder 10MB Broadband

[Rich]

Is Blueyonder 10MB Broadband like ADSLMAX, where the small print states "up to 10mb" and you get what you're given, or is Blueyonders 10mb really 10mb?

[GreyGhost]

Is Blueyonder 10MB Broadband like ADSLMAX, where the small print states "up to 10mb" and you get what you're given, or is Blueyonders 10mb really 10mb?

Blueyonder is a genuine 10Mb I have a pretty constant 6.6Mb-9.4Mb 24 hours a day. Usage and contention do affect the speed. There are a total of 185 users on the same UBR as me, so it seems that even with all users on, the speed does not vary by much.
There are no issues with distance from exchange or line condition with Cable as there are with ADSL. That is what decides the actual speed you get and that is further governed by contention ratio.

[TaiChiMan]

Hi RichK

we have 10mb blueyonder and the speed is pretty consistant as grey ghost says between 6 and 10mb, just did a speed test running at 9.6 at the moment - can't fault the service we get.

jim

[Tatts]

FYI Blueyonder have implemented a 'Traffic Shaping' exercise in the NW between certain times, and rumours persist that heavy downloaders are also having their traffic shaped.

Which would explain why my downloads drop from a steady 10mb to an average of 4mb between 1600-2359 hrs.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/21/blueyonder_gets_throttled/

Point your newsreader to this, LOTS of grumbling:
blueyonder.discussion.hi-speed

[GreyGhost]

That's easily dealt with, spread heavy downloading out to off peak times and the problem goes away, at least for the forseeable future. If the heavy download use is for commercial purposes then paying for business use is the way to go. If it is for pleasure (and I use that term in it's loosest possible sense) then I really see no issue in slower download speeds.
However at £ 35.00 per month I would expect not to have a restriction put on my service. If they wish to reduce the speed deliberately then the cost of service should be reduced pro rata.

Just my 2d's worth. :)

[Tatts]

Thing whats annoyed people GG is BY denied it at first, took weeks for them to admit what they are doing.

Additionally, they still advertise the elite service as unlimited etc etc etc when it isn't. In some parts of the country anyway.

I'm out of the sin bin now, guess I shouldn't have downloaded 526Gb of stuff back in October!

[Zeb]

Is it not just a tad depressing that the French have had 24mb + broadband for a couple of years now whilst we are still piddling about with 8/10mb if you are lucky but more often than not 2-3mb......


*is beginning to think that living in the UK is like living in the dark ages...*

[Tatts]

IIRC Japan has 100mb connections!

Trouble is with such high speeds, how many websites can physically supply data at that rate?

Not many I'll wager!

[GreyGhost]

2.6Gb/sec is being trialled to selected users in Paris over Fibre Optics.
UK telecoms hardware infrastucture is the current limiting factor, particularly that last copper bit from the street into your abode.

[Rich]

Main reason for me asking was I've just upgraded from 4Mb to 10Mb with them.

My download speed has increased from the 460kbit/sec mark to around 580kbit/sec, no where near what it should be really.

I tested these speeds via ftp to fileplanet.blueyonder.co.uk to get the most accurate results (can't rely on web based speed tests).

Any advice?

[Tatts]

Have you tweaked your MTU settings?

Use a download manager, one that allows multiple connections. I use Internet Download Accelerator - highly recommended.

http://www.fuller.zen.co.uk/test/
I use that for speed tests. Currently getting 10.18Mb from there.

Some useful links on this:
http://broadband-faq.brion.me.uk/

[Keith]

Have you tweaked your MTU settings?

Use a download manager, one that allows multiple connections. I use Internet Download Accelerator - highly recommended.


So did I till I found FDM which I have been using for a couple of years now
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

absolutely no spyware or advertising junk at all simply damn good and free

[Simon]

Fresh Devices Download Manager (interfaced with Firefox and IE) makes downloading stuff easy as pie. Up to eight simulataneous download streams and resume-support (server permitting) to resume downloads if it is interupted...

http://www.freshdevices.com/

[Rich]

Have you tweaked your MTU settings?


I shouldn't need to really, it should just "work"?

I've powered down the cable modem for about an hour and powered back up, alas, no banana. Going by local (3 hops) FTP speeds, I'm on around a 5Mb connection.

http://broadband-faq.brion.me.uk/


Figures quoted on that site say around 1100kbit/sec but as per previous post, I'm just hitting 600k on a good day, that'd be a 40% overhead!

I feel a call to customer services coming on :eek:

[Tatts]

If you point your email reader to

blueyonder.support.access.hi-speed

You can post your problems on there, usually quicker than trying to get through on the phone.

They will ask for a ping to bbc.co.uk, tracert to bbc.co.uk, netstat -a, and your modem logs http://192.168.100.1/config.html

[Rich]

Tatts, what on earth is that URL!?

I had no idea these standard issue cable modems had any user accessible config pages!

I've got a Netgear router sat behind the cable modem which manages all the connection info, etc so I've never connected to the modem itself in all the years I've had it.

Anyway, you may have solved the problem. Looking at the logs, since my (supposed) time of upgrade, the logs are showing DAILY entries of:

2006-12-29 17:56:47 6-Notice 0x041D0318 SW Download INIT - Via Config file cm-10240-384


Followed immediately by:

2006-12-29 17:56:48 4-Error 0x041D050C SW upgrade Failed after download - Incompatible SW file


Think this could be the problem??

[Rich]

A reboot of the modem gains these log entries:

2006-12-30 22:02:37 4-Error 0x041D050C SW upgrade Failed after download - Incompatible SW file
2006-12-30 22:02:36 6-Notice 0x041D0318 SW Download INIT - Via Config file cm-10240-384
2006-12-30 22:02:35 6-Notice 0x045A80E4 TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
1970-01-01 00:00:12 3-Critical 0x040D9A2C DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.


Signal stats are:

Frequency 331000000 Hz Locked
Signal to Noise Ratio 40 dB
Power Level -4 dB
The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading

Upstream Value
Channel ID 3
Frequency 34000000 Hz Ranged
Power Level 47 dBmV


If that sheds any light on anything!?

[GreyGhost]

192.168.100.1 is the address of the modem. You don't usually see this as the IP served up via DHCP from blueyonder is passed through the modem to your PC or in your case your router.
The log entries you have are the same on my modem, software failure always has done nearly 9 years same modem.

Below is the signal page from my modem. Which may assist in getting their 2nd line tech support to acknowledge a problem. If the problem persists talk to accounts and refuse to pay for the service until it is fixed, that appears to be the best way to get action.

[Tatts]

As GG said - ignore those log entries, they are all the same.

That url (blueyonder.support.access.hi-speed) is the address for your email client. Subscribe to that group and post your problems on there.

I suspect though that you may be caught up in the traffic shaping, I noticed last night that I'm being 'shaped' again. Not impressed.

Edit: Just seen this on the support NG. Probably what the problem was!
<i>Hi All

With regards to the speed issues being experienced by nmany customers last
night.

It transpires that there is an issue with the POS links at Telehouse that
are responsible for the issues being experienced. This issue has been
identified and is presently under investigation under reference 400780 and
we hope to have further updates as the day progresses.

Many thanks for your patience and cooperation.

--
Kind Regards
Steve Jones
blueyonder Technical Support
http://status.blueyonder.co.uk/ </i>

[GreyGhost]

Tatts

POS links, that speaks volumes :D

[Tatts]

GG...

I was thinking what POS could mean in context, but I kept coming back to he 'usual' meaning! ;)

[Rich]

Well, I'm now running at 10Mbit/Sec:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/71482058.png

You won't believe what was wrong either...

Behind my cable modem, for the last six years or so, I've had a trusty Netgear RT311 router, solid beast, flawless, zero maintenance. Anyway, it turns out this (years old router) can only handle a thruput of around 5mbit/sec on the LAN<>WAN crossover!?

Go figure :confused:

So, one shiny Linksys router later and Bob is indeed my (10mb) uncle!

Thanks for all your help in solving this little mystery :)

[GreyGhost]

As with yourself Rich that would have been the last thing I would have looked at, glad to hear you are sorted. :)

http://www.speedtest.net/result/71628850.png

[Rich]

And near identical speeds :)

Job's a good'un!

[GreyGhost]

Blueyonder are trialling 80MB in an area I am not at liberty to mention, info straight from the horses mouth, seems I am recently aquainted with a senior engineer, and rather attractive she is too. :)

[Rich]

Who's laying the fibre cable to run that??

And who could afford 80mb on residential :)

[GreyGhost]

Who's laying the fibre cable to run that??

No idea, that wasn't part of the conversation, my mind was on other matters.

And who could afford 80mb on residential :)
It's in it's infancy at the mo', never know it may become the standard at some time.
Next time we meet I up I shall pump her for some more info. In the nicest possible way. She will be out of the country for the next few weeks so will have to wait a while.

[Rich]

No probs, always interested in things like this :)

No doubt we're only 5 years away from 100mbit being the standard and probably only 10 years away from the entire country being on gigabit.

I hope :)