ADSL Filters

[waykins]

Can ADSL interfere with downloading speed, I only ask because recently my download speed went from a respectable speed to a speed compared with dial up I have been on the phone to Sky and they keep repeating the same thing over and over, so I was wondering if anyone here has some concrete evidence that these Filters cause interference. My Internet is OK but its when I try to download something thats when it irratates me. Thanks for the help.

[outlaw2001it]

Your download speeds, and Internet speeds are all combined. If you have a slow Internet connection, you're going to have slow Internet speeds. ADSL speeds also depend on how many people are on the node surfing/downloading. If you are on SKY, I take it you're in the United Kingdom. If you're downloading bit torrents...look at your bandwidth being slow, and if you keep it up...look at your connection being cut. Be-careful what you download in the UK...they are not tolerant for any illegal activities.

[waykins]

Thanks for the reply, but that is not what I meant. My Internet browser is up to speed but when I try to download a file from Mircrosoft ie, Windows Media Player 11 the speed is normally at 40-60kbps but now its gone down to 10-14kbps the same goes for my Kaspersky virus database updates which normally take a few minutes to download but takes upwards of an hour to complete. Yes I am in the UK.

[outlaw2001it]

With everything that I said about people downloading on the same node as you, it could also be the speed off of the servers that you are downloading from. Try downloading on an off time if possible (early morning, or late at night), and see what happens.

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Hi, I was recently on an internet course with Nildram (another UK ISP - a.k.a. Tiscali) and while the filter shouldn't have any adverse affect on the speeds, unless it is on its way out, there could be a multitude of issues if you removed it, especially if you also use the line (as I'm guessing you do) to make/receive calls.

If you don't use the line that the internet connection is on, then I would try to plug a phone into it and listen. If you hear any crackle/noise, then there is a problem on the line between you and the BT exchange. You will need to take this up with BT - as this is considered to be the "first mile", and is dealt with by BT OpenReach.

Yes, the filter does "split" the line between voice and data, but it also cleans the line - any noise or crackle on the line could be affecting the data transfer. The download speed is normally the first thing you'd notice as that's the wider and less tolerant side....

The line is separated out (by the router and also at the BT Exchange) into segments, the upload and download are in different "bands", and the upload uses the lower area (which is why maximum upload speeds are around the same regardless of distance from the exchange) and download is the upper range. This is (generally) a bigger spread of allowance, but is more fragile. Any segments that the exchange thinks isn't reliable enough will not be used, which is normally done without you noticing.

What it could be is that the filter isn't doing what it needs to, which is causing the download segments to be considered unusable. What I would do is go to speedtester.bt.com and run a test, then buy/borrow another one and try browsing/downloading again using that. You could always confirm your speed using that again, but you'd have to wait a couple of hours. The reason I say to use speedtester.bt.com (rather than speedtest.net or any others) is that the ISP might ask you to run this test anyway, as they can view and assess the results themselves, so could spot any reasons for the problem...

It could also be what Outlaw said too, but if you're finding that all traffic, from several sites, is suddenly going slower I would try that first.

Get back to us after this and let us know how it goes...

[waykins]

Thanks for the link NLM, have just performed the speed test and according to the results I should be getting 144kbps on download and 377kbs on uploads but my downloads no matter where I download from still stick at under 20kbps, I have tried downloading on the other 2 computers that share my wireless router and sure enough they to have slow download speeds, I have just ordered more microfilters for my phonelines and hopefully they'll get here by the middle of the week. I'll get back to you once I have replaced the old ones, but if that's not the cause of the problem then I'm extremely confused.

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Whereabouts in the Land of Eng are you..? I've got about 20 of the damn things.... (I won't throw them away - just in case....!)

[waykins]

Sorry wrong place, I'm actually in Scotland but thanks for the offer. I've already ordered some. At least I'll know where to go for more

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Ok, no worries.. I'm in Surrey (now that I've moved...)....

[waykins]

Hi all, thanks for the replies turns out it was the filters. Back up to full speed now