When you see an ISP advertise using the phrase "speeds up to 8Mb" what this translates to is 'the fastest speed that your line can carry, up to 8Mb". The actual speed that you get in the end will depend entirely on the physical length of your line from the exchange to your home and the quality of your internal wiring. Here are the important things to remember when you first get speeds up to 8Mb:
1. Your first 10 days of "speeds up to 8Mb" will be a period which your line will be tested to determine what the optimium speed is that your line can carry. During this time you may experience slower speeds than expected or intermittend connection issues. Don't worry too much about it - this should resolve itself by day 11.
2. Connect using your master socket.
3. Have a microfilter fitted to every phone socket that is in use and remember to include sockets being used for FAX machines and SKY TV boxes.
4. Use a router and not a modem. If you have an option between using a USB or ETHERNET port to connect, choose the ETHERNET port everytime (especially for the Apple Mac users). Leave the router on as much as possible during the first 10 days.
Because speeds up to 8Mb can be sensitive here is some basic speed troubleshooting for speeds up to 8Mb. If you do need to call the support centre you'll be ahead of the game if you know the answers to these questions and follow these steps prior to calling in it should save you some time (and possibly a phone call).
Are you within the first 10 days of your ‘go live’ date?
When you first start your broadband with speeds up to 8Mb it’s important that you turn off your router/modem and then turn it on again. This will ensure that your router/modem will synchronise when it connects to the new faster service. The 10 day stabalisiation period will commence after you have connected at the new rate for a period greater than 15 minutes. If you do not restart your router/modem, your connection speed will remain the same as you had previously.
During the 10 day period, we recommend that you leave your router on all the time. The computer doesn’t need to be on, just the router.
During the stabilisation period you might experience slow speeds or intermittent connection issues. Should your speeds not be satisfactory by day 11 please get in touch with your ISP
Microfilters
Check that every phone socket in your house that is in use has a microfilter fitted to it. Remember to include phone sockets that are being used for Sky TV boxes and FAX machines.
Microfilters can be problematic if you are using a faulty one. Faulty microfilters will impact your speeds and you will get disconnections. To check your microfilters to see if you’ve got a faulty one, unplug everything from all phone sockets in the house, test each filter from the test port from within your master socket by connecting to the Internet. If you get a substantially lower sync using one of the filters you’ve found your faulty one and it will need to be replaced.
Master Socket
Internal wiring can influence the end speeds that you receive. If you are getting slower speeds than expected and you’re connecting from an extension socket, please move your set up to the master socket and see if your sync rates improve. If they do leave it there for three days to see if the speeds improve. If the speeds do improve it may be time to look at getting a wireless router or a very long ethernet cable.
A further step if you don’t see any improvement from your master socket is to connect from the test socket that exists within your master socket and see if the sync rates improve from that location. If the sync rates improve, please stay connected to the test socket for three days and see if your speeds improve. If your speeds do improve from the test socket but not from the master socket it is most likely that your internal wiring is causing the problem and you will need to get your local phone person out to fix it. Make sure you test out everything else first (such as microfilters) before you get the phone person in!
Hardware
Get up to date with the latest drivers or firmware for your broadband modem/router. Most hardware manufacturers have the latest drivers available on their websites for download; we recommend that you make sure that your drivers are up to date .
Apple Macintosh
I love Macs and I use one at home. If you’re a Mac user do not connect to the internet using a USB connection – treat yourself to a router that’s got an ethernet cable and use that to connect.
If you do continue to use a USB connection please be aware that we’ve seen problems with the Apple Mac and the Voyager 105 – if you’re using this combination of equiptment, please download the latest 105 drivers from our Website. Or even better; get an Ethernet router!
Speed Tests
In the instance all of the above doesn’t point towards the cause of the problem, you’ll need to get in touch with your ISP. If you're a Madasafish customer run a few speed tests at different times of day through the speed tester located in “My Account”. The speed tests that you run will become a permanent part of your account records and this will expedite the process of raising faults if you’ve done this before you call us. During the time that we’re dealing with your query I would recommend performing a speed test daily.
Change in Your Sync Speeds
If your sync rates decrease, your throughput speeds will immediately decrease too. If your sync rate increases, it will take three days for your throughput speeds to increase. Go figure.
If you see an increase in your sync rate please stay connected for three days and you should see an increase in your speeds; provided that the sync rate stays at that rate or higher.
Getting in Touch With Your ISP
If you perform all the above troubleshooting and nothing seems to appear as the immediate cause of the problem, call or email your ISP. Should you write in please make sure to include all the troubleshooting that you’ve performed as outlined above, this will mean that your ISP will be able to look at your speeds in greater depth straight away. Also, if you write to your ISP, be sure to include your username so that we can locate your account.
Kind regards,
Samara
Madasafish Customer Care