Randomly slow internet

[Rich1986]

About 10 days ago approximately, out of the blue my EE suddenly started going incredibly slowly at random intervals. Streaming Netflix, YouTube, video conferencing, online gaming - even just loading webpages - would all suddenly become really slow. Then, a while later it would seem to sort itself out. This has continued ever since.

There's no obvious pattern - it's not that at certain times of the day it's slowing down...or when I'm doing a particular thing with the broadband it slows down. It just seems random - these periods of 'lag' do seem to getting more frequent, and last longer - and conversely the periods of stability seem to be getting less frequent and shorter. 

Just a few extra bits of info:

1. I have checked on the router - there is nobody else 'leeching' - i.e. no neighbours etc are connected to my router and downloading using my bandwidth.
2. It is not just my PC that experiences this 'lag' - it is every device we have in the house. I have tried my wife's work laptop, my phone, a spare laptop we have, and my desktop PC. All experience the same issues at the same time. All also get the same 'scores' on BTW Performance Tester.
3. My PC is using an ethernet cable - the rest are wireless.
4. My router *was* an old style one (from 2015) but has been replaced several days ago with a SmartHub. On setting it up etc I noted that the problem seemed to resolve with no obvious issues that evening - but the following morning the problems resumed again with agonisingly slow internet.
5. A BT Engineer has been out to my address twice. He has removed all of the sockets in the house except for one which he changed and is now a 'master' socket that has some sort of built-in filter in it. He has also done some work on the exchange and both times he has been here prior to leaving he has run some tests at my property and said we are getting about 40MB/S entering the property and he can't see any issues.
6. EE have run tests their end over the phone and said (as of today) it appears around 39MB/S is entering the router and they can't see any obvious issues.
7. I have tried turning the router off and on - repeatedly - oddly, when I do this the issue seems to pretty much vanish - but for only around 10 minutes.
8. I have ensured nobody is downloading anything, closed all non-essential programs on each computer and tried turning all devices off except for one and trying each device - they all have the same problem - so it's likely not the devices themselves.
9. Finally - I have never had this issue. It just appeared out of nowhere 10 days ago - nothing has happened - we didn't move home, we didn't spill coffee in the phone socket, we didn't alter any settings on our old/new router - we have no explanation for why this is happening.

Today I ran the BTW Performance tester at random intervals and recorded the results:

Time	Ping	DL	UL
1202	293	2.37	1.03
1203	378	2.34	0.99
1204	435	2.59	7.42
1230	430	4.06	4.22
1231	372	4.22	1.14
1232	437	3.32	0.99
1257	14	29.14	6.63
1258	14	26.96	6.79
1259	14	28.5	7.27
1338	98	25.99	3.78
1339	137	22.46	3.47
1340	149	26.32	4.07
1522	89	20.55	6.68
1523	117	21.93	4.05
1524	136	17.64	2.79
1626	150	29.31	3.91
1649	134	20.04	2.39
1650	149	23.48	3.73
1821	128	20.63	7.27
1822	130	18.04	1.6
1823	89	27.72	2.22
2023	425	2.9	0.99
2026	425	5.6	1.56
2031	362	2.77	2.72

As you can see - only around 1257hours was I getting about what I should be getting. The rest of the day any time I ran the test I wasn't getting what I'm meant to be.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1634570566197634355

http://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressFeatureProduct

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream HandbackThreshold(Mbps) WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability DateHigh Low High Low      VDSL Range A (Clean) 

VDSL Range B (Impacted) 

65	47.7	13.3	8.5	41.6	Available	Available
62.7	41.8	12.9	7.5	35	Available	Available

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install ProcessFTTP on Demand

330

50

--

Available

--

ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) Availability DateWBC ADSL 2+WBC ADSL2+ Annex MADSL MaxWBC Fixed RateFixed Rate

Up to 17	--	10 to 19.5	Available
Up to 17	Up to 1.5	10 to 19.5	Available
Up to 7.5	--	6.5 to 8	Available
2	--	--	Available
2	--	--	Available

Other Offerings Availability DateVDSL MulticastADSL Multicast

Available

Available

Exchange Product Restrictions StatusFTTP Priority ExchangeWLR WithdrawalSOADSL Restriction

N

N

Y

I spoke with EE on the phone again today and they are sending a 'Cube' engineer out Thursday morning - in honesty I don't really know what that means.

My wife relies on fast, stable internet for her work - what else can I do in the meantime to fix this? I'm pulling my hair out here.

[XRaySpeX]

Welcome to EE's Home Broadband Forum.

If you would like help with your BB speed or connection issues, please would you carry out the following steps for starters, which will enable us to diagnose the problem and advise you further. Do not restart your router to do these tests:

1. Post your full router stats:

• For a BrightBox: login and go to Advanced Settings/ System/ DSL Status. Also post 'System Uptime' from top of System Log page.
• For a SmartHub: login and go to Advanced Settings/ Technical Log/ Information. Obscure your names & any numbers in the BB Username & also the SSIDs.

Full router stats are key to any speed & connection issues.

2. Try a wired speedtest, using an Ethernet cable supplied with the router, here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html . Click on the "Results Page" button at the bottom of the graph you first see and then copy to here just the "Link to this result:" link that you see below the next main graph.

3. What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker estimate for your phone number? Post just the whole table and the line above it, blanking out your phone number. If it doesn't recognise your phone number or you don't have one, use the Address Checker, not the Postcode Checker.

[Rich1986]

1. Post your full router stats:

Product name:Smart Hub

Firmware version:v0.06.01.08190-EE

Firmware updated:Sun Oct 17 00:53:17 2021

Board version:01

DSL uptime:0 Days, 12 Hours, 35 Mins, 55 Secs

Data rate:8.40 Mbps / 40.00 Mbps

Maximum data rate:8.40 Mbps / 49.45 Mbps

Noise margin (up/down):5.8 / 10.6

Line attenuation (up/down):33.4 / 20.4

Signal attenuation (up/down):32.5 / 18.0

Data sent / received:11.6 GB / 16.3 GB

2.4 GHz wireless network name:EE-Hub-LOf8

2.4 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 6)

5 GHz wireless network name:5Ghz-EE-Hub-LOf8

5 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel 44)

Wireless security:WPA2

Wireless mode:Mode 1

Firewall:Default

MAC address:30:B1:B5:13:63:EC

Software variant:-

Boot loader:0.0.3-EE (Mon Dec 4 17:32:53 2017)

2. Try a wired speedtest, using an Ethernet cable supplied with the router,

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1634628908646664255

3. What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker 

Address ------------- on Exchange ------------ is served by Cabinet 18

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream HandbackThreshold(Mbps) WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability DateHigh Low High Low      VDSL Range A (Clean) 

VDSL Range B (Impacted) 

65	47.7	13.3	8.5	41.6	Available	Available
62.7	41.8	12.9	7.5	35	Available	Available

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install ProcessFTTP on Demand

330

50

--

Available

--

ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) Availability DateWBC ADSL 2+WBC ADSL2+ Annex MADSL MaxWBC Fixed RateFixed Rate

Up to 17	--	10 to 19.5	Available
Up to 17	Up to 1.5	10 to 19.5	Available
Up to 7.5	--	6.5 to 8	Available
2	--	--	Available
2	--	--	Available

Other Offerings Availability DateVDSL MulticastADSL Multicast

Available

Available

Exchange Product Restrictions StatusFTTP Priority ExchangeWLR WithdrawalSOADSL Restriction

N

N

Y

Thanks for your time and prompt reply.

[XRaySpeX]

Um,, Connection speeds are good but Upstream speedtest extremely slow & downstream TBB speedtest fairly slow.

Locate the hidden test socket that is revealed when you remove the bottom half of the split faceplate (2 screws or press tabs) of your master socket. Only do this if you have a split faceplate. Do you have any extension sockets in the home even if unused? Are there any wires connected to back of faceplate of master socket?

Try the BT Quiet Line Test (QLT), dial 17070 Opt 2, preferably with a corded phone, in the test socket with the router disconnected. If there is any noise, report it to your landline provider as a voice fault (don't mention Broadband). Often sorting out voice faults will fix the Broadband as well.

Reboot the router & plug it into the test socket. Post the full router stats & speedtest when plugged into test socket.

Is the issue any better?