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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Slow broadband speeds

Hi there,

 

Every night my internet speeds will drop massively. Throughout the day, I get about 60mbps download and 18mbps upload, with a ping of about 30. Then, in the evening, I get 25mbps download at best (usually a lot lower than that), an upload of about 5mbps and a ping of over 200. I've tested this both via WiFi and ethernet, and the results are the same. I know you can sometimes expect some slower speeds in the evening due to it being peak time, but this is over 50% performance degradation which is absolutely crazy. When I go into the router settings and check the line speed/do a technical check on the NowTV site, it claims my line speed is 80mbps, and while I know I shouldn't expect that speed due to various factors, I don't even get close to that when my internet is performing at it's best, never mind when it's at it's worst.

 

I've tried following the instructions on the help page, and live chat is not available for whatever reason. If anyone could help me out that would be great.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
RoyB
Legend

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

I can see somebody knows what they are doing😎

 

Re throttling at peak times, NowTV’s policy is here

 

So pretty uncompromising, and if it is happening, it is accidental.

 

One thing you could try is getting a new IP address; my fellow responder @schnapps  advocates powering down the router for 30 minutes or so. And see if this gives you a new gateway into NowTV, possibly avoiding the piece of NowTV kit giving those very long ping times. Worth a try anyway.

 

Other than that, best to call the broadband support phone number you have been given and discuss it with them, with particular reference to guaranteed speeds.

 

And I am sure you know enough not to be fobbed off with ‘evening contention’ issues, as you are getting to NowTV (Sky) like lightning, and the upstream delay starts with Sky’s own internal equipment.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.

View solution in original post

17 REPLIES 17
RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

Could this be anyone on your property, such as a teenager who comes home from school and starts playing Fortnite?

 

What you are measuring the speed of is the service to the device you are checking on, and not the service to your property, unless you can stop all other internet activity through your router while making the check.

 

And if you have an Android phone or tablet, download WiFi Analyzer Classic, from which you can see not just your activity, but also the activity from properties around yours; if there are lots of other users on the channel your router uses at night, but not during the day, then WFA will show this if you measure at these different times, and suggest a clearer channel that you might like to switch your router to.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks for the response! No, there's only myself and my SO on the property, we're both in at the same time. The speeds consistently drop every evening between 1830 and ~0030, even when we're not using it (we both go to bed at 2300, work and that). I've currently got a raspberry pi attached to the router, via ethernet cable, that runs a speedtest every 30 minutes via an automated script to check these speeds. I've also made sure to run some speedtests, wired, with all other devices disconnected just to make absolutely certain.

 

I did know that the speedtest would be to the device conducting the test, and not to the property. In fact, I've logged into the router to check the line speed several times and somehow it claims to consistently sit just below 80mb/s, without wavering. Most of the day, the device I conduct the speedtest on would support that, with the speeds averaging about 72mb/s outside of the times mentioned above, and consistently getting a ping of < 30.

 

I've actually ran a tracert command (see attached) to try to find out where the issue lies, and interestingly enough it seems to be an issue with a Sky/NOWTV server. You can see that the ping drops massively after hitting it. From what I can guess, it looks like an issue with the provider i.e. NOWTV are either throttling the connection at peak times, or simply do not have the infrastructure to consistently support the speeds they advertise.

 

I've also tried changing my WiFi channels (and used a WiFi analyzer) already, and it didn't resolve anything, but it's a little irrelevant in this case anyway as I'm conducting the speedtests using a wired connection.

 

tracert.png

 

If you have any other thoughts, @RoyB , please let me know. If the speeds remained at peak times even close to what we receive throughout the rest of the day I'd be absolutely chuffed. Thanks again for taking the time to reply!

RoyB
Legend

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

I can see somebody knows what they are doing😎

 

Re throttling at peak times, NowTV’s policy is here

 

So pretty uncompromising, and if it is happening, it is accidental.

 

One thing you could try is getting a new IP address; my fellow responder @schnapps  advocates powering down the router for 30 minutes or so. And see if this gives you a new gateway into NowTV, possibly avoiding the piece of NowTV kit giving those very long ping times. Worth a try anyway.

 

Other than that, best to call the broadband support phone number you have been given and discuss it with them, with particular reference to guaranteed speeds.

 

And I am sure you know enough not to be fobbed off with ‘evening contention’ issues, as you are getting to NowTV (Sky) like lightning, and the upstream delay starts with Sky’s own internal equipment.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I have downloaded a game through xbox one, it is between 53 and 74 mbps yet it took nearly 5 hours for a 101.12 GB game 2 download is this normal, many thanks to any replays and advice

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

101.12*10^9/(63/10*10^6*3600) = 4.45855379189 i.e. 4 hours 28 minutes

 

So yes, pretty much exactly what you experienced, especially if it ran closer to 53 Mbps than 74 Mbps, or you had something else going on at the time taking some bandwidth.

 

101.12 GB

* 10^9        (To get this into bytes - ^ is ‘to the power of’)

/(63/10     (Average of your 53/74 Mbps in Megabytes, as the b in Mbps is bits, and it takes
                     about 10 bits to send a byte, even though a byte is 8 bits, as there is an overhead)

* 10^6        (to get this in bytes also)

*3600)      (to get the s - seconds - in Mbps into hours)

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Many thanks for explaining this

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Sorry to jump on here but not quite sure where this thread started but i have the same issue (only when we went into lock down) my speeds have drastically dropped. I also cannot get an IP address from now TVs DHCP server when i hard wire my laptop does anyone know why this is happening or how we contact now tv to get a resolution. any suggestions will be helpful.

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

Thats OK, Several issues raised and dealt with here, but all with this common factor of possibly slow speeds.

 

I take it you mean an internal IP address from your NowTV router?

 

Best ask them; the response on the broadband telephone support line may be a bit slow, but they are still there.

 

You can find the number you need, if you don’t already know it, under My Account/Broadband & calls/Moving House. (Same number for everything, even if you aren’t moving 😀)

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Yeah I don't believe that non-throttling policy, as I'm getting it as well.  I'd like a phone number where I can speak to someone?