Looking Good going fast

old Bill · Dec 20, 2006, 07:46:32

Hi,
As some of you may remember I was having a fair few problems with my line a few weeks ago. I was just geting over 2 meg download speed. Well having talked to the team at C/S I was switched back to a fixed rate 2 meg line. Well this morning I switched back to the the max. My exchange is still red (what a suprise) however I am now syncing at 6080 KBPS, and my best speed so far has been 4.5. I relise i still have the 10 day traing period ahead of me but I had forgoten how fast ADSL could be. A big thank you to everyone here and at C/S for you help.

Rik · Dec 20, 2006, 08:52:03

Good luck with the 10 days of Xmas.

old Bill · Dec 20, 2006, 18:13:35

Thanks for that. Here are my stats. Anyone like to have a shot at what speed i might get at the end of the 10 days.

SpeedTouch


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Home > Broadband Connection > DSL Connection


DSL Connection

   Link Information

Uptime:   0 days, 12:51:18

Modulation:   G.992.1 Annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:   832 / 6,080

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:   71.18 / 332.70

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:   11.5 / 19.5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:   29.0 / 48.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:   8.0 / 5.5

Vendor ID (Local/Remote):   TMMB /

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote):   0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote):   19,773 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down):   0 / 0

CRC Errors (Up/Down):   0 / 629,936

HEC Errors (Up/Down):   0 / 315,119

Pick a task...

         See information about my broadband connection(s)

Rik · Dec 21, 2006, 08:42:16

If you maintain that sync and your lines is stable, you should end up with a BRAS profile of 5000kbps, throughput of about 4700kbps iirc.

Nerval · Dec 21, 2006, 15:45:42

Yes, that's almost the same as mine.

Been stable on BRAS 5000k since I got this router and not turned it off.
Then last night I thought - ah well, if I can resync at just a couple of hundred more , I can get a BRAS profile of 5500k, then leave the router on and Bob's yer Uncle, as they say.
Can't remember what the exact min sync for a BRAS of 5500 is, but no doubt Rik will remind me.

So I rebooted the router, instantly synched at 5250 and BRAS plummeted to 4500k.

Oh well, such is the wages of greed.

So anyway, back synching at 5900ish, so just a 3 day wait and my BRAS will return to where it was before I messed it up.

Oh Well.

Rik · Dec 22, 2006, 10:34:41

Profile 5500

Sync between 6240 & 6784

Profile 5000

Sync between 5696 & 6239

Profile 4500

Sync between 5120 & 5664

Next question?

Nerval · Dec 22, 2006, 10:39:45

Thankx Rik, you're a star!
I've written it in my Book of Knowledge so I don't have to ask or search again.

But you can see how being only 200 short of the next tier was so tempting.

Next question?
What's Santa bringing you? lol

Rik · Dec 22, 2006, 10:46:56

I'm 32k short of the next teir, that's not tempting, it's frustrating!

Santa never brings me anything - I've always gone and bought it before he can get here...

Nerval · Dec 22, 2006, 11:00:16

That must be the problem of being the Man Who Has Everything lol

Rik · Dec 22, 2006, 11:13:41

No, it's the problem of the man who has everything he can afford.

Given a free hand, I could do much better!

MoHux · Dec 22, 2006, 12:29:08

Listening to you two I'd say you're both short of the next tier!!

Rik · Dec 22, 2006, 12:48:03

Ah, a Carpenter's fan... (Close ti yer

)

Nerval · Dec 22, 2006, 14:08:01

Quote from: MoHux on Dec 22, 2006, 12:29:08
Listening to you two

Must have a good bugging device then as we're at opposite ends of the country.
AND Rik's Scotch as well.

Rik · Dec 22, 2006, 14:24:39

Not quite opposite.

And that's Scots or Scottish, I'm totally non-alcoholic. You don't want to upset Mise, or Scott,

Nerval · Dec 22, 2006, 17:53:16

Picky picky picky - get your dirk out of your sock and get it polished.

And anyway you should be getting your gun ready to go hunting haggis like all you Scotchmen do at halloween.

Oi vay and slanty. lol

Rik · Dec 23, 2006, 08:45:06

I never hunt haggis, it's cruel. Instead, I use new-fangled humane traps!

Oh, I polished my shian dhu yesterday, together with my sporran... Brings tears to the eyes!

Nerval · Dec 23, 2006, 08:54:47

you're supposed to take it off first

Rik · Dec 23, 2006, 09:02:22

That could explain where I've been going wrong. Spelling it right would have helped too.

Nerval · Dec 23, 2006, 10:39:12

Well with my two doctorates in spelling, it would have been churlish of me to point that out lol

Rik · Dec 23, 2006, 10:41:10

old Bill · Dec 24, 2006, 15:40:22

Well a few days on things seem to looking very good

Link Information

Uptime:   4 days, 10:18:34

Modulation:   G.992.1 Annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:   832 / 6,080

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/GB]:   309.62 / 1.81

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:   11.5 / 19.5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:   29.0 / 48.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:   8.0 / 6.0

Vendor ID (Local/Remote):   TMMB /

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote):   0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote):   128,417 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down):   16 / 0

CRC Errors (Up/Down):   2,782 / 4,008,338

HEC Errors (Up/Down):   1,530 / 1,927,922

Pick a task...
Just cant wait for my speeds to settle down after the 10 days, like a yoyo at the moment.

WISHING EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY FESTIVE SEASON

old Bill · Dec 24, 2006, 19:49:54

Speeds are dead tonight. Just noticed that my SNR is down to 5 is that good or bad ?

Bat · Dec 24, 2006, 20:14:13

Hi,
Net going dead slow here too Bill

Tried meddling didn't improve it

Cheers,
Gavin

maxping · Dec 24, 2006, 20:18:03

Quote from: old Bill on Dec 24, 2006, 19:49:54
Speeds are dead tonight. Just noticed that my SNR is down to 5 is that good or bad ?

Ive just got 5641kbps on the Giganews test.

It might be worth turning the router off for 30 mins and trying again.

Try the Giganews test (click on the blue News-Euro link -

http://www.giganews.com/performance.html

BTW my exchange is red.

Check yours here - http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

Virtual paths: Red

BT is reporting that some of the virtual paths at this exchange are not operating within BT Wholesale's planning guidance, although they are still operating within the product specification.

At busy times, your ADSL connection may operate at a reduced speed, although not all customers on your exchange may be affected. You should only contact support if there is no current ETA date set.

The ETA fix time is: 15 Dec 06

Record last updated: 11 Dec 06

old Bill · Dec 24, 2006, 21:36:47

Will it hurt to turn off the router since i am in my 10 training period ? I thought that you had to leave the router on so that it did not disconect. Just run speed test geting less than 156kbps.

Rik · Dec 25, 2006, 01:13:06

It will do no harm to turn off the router, just don't keep doing it. More than 10 or so re-syncs in an hour is likely to trigger a downward movement on the BRAS profile.

Nerval · Dec 25, 2006, 08:46:04

Quote from: old Bill on Dec 24, 2006, 21:36:47
Will it hurt to turn off the router since i am in my 10 training period ? I thought that you had to leave the router on

Happy Xmas Bill
I know your speed is sorted today, but the usual advice in the training period is reboot your router once a day.
This sends a signal to max that you can reconnect reliably at a decent speed.
Sometimes leaving it connected all the time doesn't give Max the prod it needs to set your BRAS rate properly.

And also remember that after the training period, Max will still adjust your rate as it sees fit, so it's not set in stone.

The "training period" is normally quoted only to keep you quiet for ten days while it sorts out a proper BRAS rate for you. In your case it's done that already by the look of it, so I'd forget about it.

Rik · Dec 26, 2006, 11:51:47

It's also impossible to raise a fault with BT during the training period.

old Bill · Dec 27, 2006, 16:54:27

Hi,
As i said in one of my previous posts my rate has been set at 5000KBPS. However my speeds are still all over the place, Is this normal ? I have not yet seen a 5 meg download speed am i likely too get that fast ?

Nerval · Dec 27, 2006, 16:59:54

With a 5meg stable rate, the best you will get in practice is about 4.5 ish. The 5 is a theoretical maximum figure only.

Actual speed is subject to so many other factors - your exchange, the network, the sites you're downloading from, etc etc. Though unless your exchange is at red, it doesn't normally vary all that wildly.

old Bill · Dec 27, 2006, 17:19:15

That would explain a lot. My exchange is red. Faster speeds during the day, then from about 4.00 onwards it slows down. Fastest speed I have seen is about 4.7 and the slowest 41.So from what you are saying that is about right. Thanks for the help and have a great new year.

maxping · Dec 27, 2006, 20:20:05

Quote
That would explain a lot. My exchange is red. Faster speeds during the day, then from about 4.00 onwards it slows down.

Schools out and then parents arriving home from work wont help,my exchange is also red but i don't really notice , it says most people may only notice at peak periods so it looks like your exchange may be severely lacking in capacity (for want of a better description).

Don't want to rub salt in but i have just checked and I'm now getting.

Virtual paths: Green

There are currently no known capacity problems on your exchange.

The work was supposed to be done on the 11th so yours may also be running late.

old Bill · Dec 27, 2006, 21:28:27

The work on my exchange should have been done by now. BT are getting very good at puting it back. Now due on the 29th/12. I live in hope.

Rik · Dec 28, 2006, 12:18:49

Often, they do do the work on the advertised date - they just don't put in enough capacity, so the exchange goes red almost immediately. I find their planning a little lacking.

old Bill · Dec 29, 2006, 22:02:11

Well the good news is that my exchange is green. Now for the bad news at the start of the week my sync rate was 6080 kbps and my profile was 5000 kbps. Now my sync rate is still 6080kbps but having just run the BT speed test again by profile is down to 4500 kbps and my speeds are still all over the place. I have been disconnecting my router for about 30 min once a day. But apart from that I have not seen any other problems apart from the dramatic speed drops. If things carry on like this I might as well go for a cheaper option elseware.

old Bill · Dec 30, 2006, 09:50:52

Hi,
As you can tell from my last post I was a bit anoyed last night. Can anyone tell me why my profile has dropped ? Is it because i have kept on unplugging it every day or is it down to the amount of errors on my line ? Is there any way of geting my profile back up to the 5000KBPS mark ? Now that my exchange is green i really want to make the most of it. My latest router stats are as follows. Thanks for any advice.

   Link Information

Uptime:   1 day, 17:32:55

Modulation:   G.992.1 Annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:   832 / 6,080

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:   47.19 / 480.32

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:   11.5 / 19.5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:   29.0 / 48.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:   7.0 / 6.5

Vendor ID (Local/Remote):   TMMB /

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote):   0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote):   52,823 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down):   0 / 0

CRC Errors (Up/Down):   0 / 634,106

HEC Errors (Up/Down):   0 / 202,316

Nerval · Dec 30, 2006, 10:40:44

Bill
Your stats as I said earlier are virtually identical with mine.
I'm on a profile of 5000, which sometimes drops to 4500, then goes back up after 3 days. The drop will be cos you've resynched once at 5664 or less.

the answer is to reboot once a day only, and hope it connects at higher than 5664.
Then when Max has reset your profile to 5000, hopefully after 3 days, keep your router connected.
If you have to reboot at any time, you just need to hope it reconnects at higher than 5664 which is the top limit for a profile of 4500.

I suspect that, like me, you'll end up fluctuating between 4500 and 5000 - and it won't really make that much difference to your performance.
But it's out of your hands mainly.

old Bill · Dec 30, 2006, 11:29:24

Thanks for the advice. I rebooted a couple of days ago and my snyc speed was low. It is now back up to 6080 and has been connected for 1.5 days so i should see a improvement in a couple of days with a bit of luck.

TimJ · Dec 30, 2006, 11:35:26

What concerns me about your stats is the high number of CRC and HEC errors.

If you can put up with an extra 20-30mS on your ping times I think having interleaving turned on would help you a lot.

One point to note is that my Speedtouch does not reset the errored seconds count on a re-connection so it can be erroneously high, this may well be so on your router.

As a comparison here are my stats on a line 5km (or longer) with interleaving turned on and sync kept down to just above 4000kbps using DMT.

Note the high FEC errors - I think that this is the number of errors that interleaving has corrected, leaving a low CRC and HEC errors that require re-transmission.

It would probably worth your while talking to support about these error numbers.

Tim.

Uptime: 9 days, 15:48:03

Modulation: G.992.1 Annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 4,096

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [GB/GB]: 2.89 / 24.30

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 26.5 / 50.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 14.0 / 10.5

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / µ

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): 0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 2,517 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 1,580 / 56,063,596

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 914 / 13,731

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 604 / 9,610

old Bill · Dec 30, 2006, 12:20:07

Thanks for the advice. I tried interleaving about a month ago and it caused all sorts of problems so i think I will have to give that a miss. Will call C/S next week and have a word. ( i am sure they will be thrilled to here from me again not)

Poor Simon and the others must be sick of hearing my voice by now.

TimJ · Dec 30, 2006, 12:31:44

Out of curiousity - what sort of problems did interleaving give you?

It "should" give a more stable connection but with the downside of higher pings and a slightly slower connection speed.

Tim.

old Bill · Dec 30, 2006, 12:36:32

My conection became unstable and lousy speeds. Spoke to C/S who turned it off and things settled down again.

Rik · Dec 30, 2006, 14:27:14

The speed should have dropped a little, but stability should have improved drastically. That's a slightly weird experience you have had. Have CS got BT out to you yet?

Nerval · Dec 31, 2006, 08:08:53

Bill
just to make you feel better and show you how it goes, I'd been keeping my router on and running happily with a profile of 5000 for a few days.

Then last night we had a brief power dip around 10pm, and this morning I found that the router had gone off and resynched at 5400, so that's the rate buggered and back to 4500 for another three days.

Resync in the morning is no problem, but it's always at night that the SNR margin goes right down.
Oh well, happy new year!!

old Bill · Dec 31, 2006, 11:24:13

I rebooted the router this morning, Sync at 6180kbps. I have just run BT speed test and my profile is now back to 5000KBPS and my speeds have gone back up to 4.7. I AM HAPPY NOW. IDNET THE PERFECT ISP

Rik · Jan 02, 2007, 14:55:00

They always were. The shame is that BT are perfect idiots.

old Bill · Jan 02, 2007, 17:51:47

Well I lost my connection last night. I called C/S this morning and they sent it off to BT I also told them about the amount of errors on my line and they said they would contact BT about that as well. My BB was back up and running after a couple of min. I checked my stats about 11.30 and found my snyc speed had dropped by 500kb down to 5500KBPS. I spoke to Idnets C/S to find out what was going on and they said that BT had not got back to them, and they would contact me when they had something to tell me. I had a call from BT wholesale this afternoon wanting to know how the interleaving was working. I told the person that I had not been told that interleaving was on the line. He said that Idnet were told this morning about 11.00 that the interleaving was been put on my line and to find out after a couple of hours how things were going. It was left that the guy from BT wholesale would call me tomorrow to find how my line was going. WHAT REALLY BOTHERS ME IS THAT SOMEONE IS TELLING ME PORKIES. IDNET SAY THEY HAVE NOT HEARD A THING AND BT WHOLESALE SAY IDNET WERE CONTACTED THIS MORNING. I STILL HAVE NOT HEARD A THING FROM IDNET. I really would like to know what is going on.

Nerval · Jan 02, 2007, 20:15:29

Oh dear.
Can't see why IDNet would bother lying to you though.
Isn't it just that whoever BT spoke to in IDNet didn't record it, so that the IDNet person you spoke to didn't know?
Unless of course BT didn't actually ring IDNet as they said.

I've no reason to back IDNet or anybody else, just can't see that they gain anything by lying to you.

old Bill · Jan 02, 2007, 21:06:55

Hi,
I am not trying to put the blame on Idnet or BT wholesale. When i spoke to Miriam she said she would let me know as soon as she heard anything. And BT wholesale said they had told Idnet. Perhaps a mixup someware but it still does not look very good from the customers point of view. At the end of the day all I would like is a service which is reliable and as fast as possible.

Rik · Jan 03, 2007, 11:13:05

What we'd all like is BT to communicate better. Like Nerval, I can't see what IDNet would gain by lying or not contacting you. OTOH, I can quite believe BT didn't get around to phoning IDNet, or they sent an email which wasn't addressed to CS.

old Bill · Jan 03, 2007, 22:36:34

Well BT wholesale called me today as they said they would. They are going to call me in a week to see how things have settled down. Here are my stats with the Interleaving on. What do you think to this. The line seems smoother but it is a fair bit slower. I am not sure which is I prefer, a faster but eratic line or a slower but steady one.
Link Information

Uptime:   1 day, 7:22:01

Modulation:   G.992.1 Annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:   832 / 5,504

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:   35.90 / 298.89

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:   11.5 / 19.5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:   29.0 / 48.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:   7.0 / 6.5

Vendor ID (Local/Remote):   TMMB /

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote):   0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote):   0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote):   390 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down):   1,848 / 8,075,652

CRC Errors (Up/Down):   662 / 589

HEC Errors (Up/Down):   542 / 499

TimJ · Jan 04, 2007, 00:37:42

Quote from: old Bill on Jan 03, 2007, 22:36:34
I am not sure which is I prefer, a faster but eratic line or a slower but steady one.

Maybe it's my age but I prefer it slow and steady!

In practice will you notice a 500kbps reduction in speed? With general browsing and gaming I suspect the answer is no. P2P and NNTP might be slower but being being on Home max+ you will doing most of that overnight anyway.

Without all those errors your actual speeds will not be reduced by nearly as much as the sync speed - it might even be higher.

Give it a try for the week then decide. I suspect that I would stay with interleave on - you can always ask to have it turned off at a later date.

Just my opinion - but the choice is yours.

Tim.

Nerval · Jan 04, 2007, 10:26:46

Quote from: TimJ on Jan 04, 2007, 00:37:42
Maybe it's my age but I prefer it slow and steady!

It's the only way for some of us

You really won't notice a .5Mb reduction on the kind of speeds you're getting.

My own fluctuates between Profile rates of 4.5 and 5Mb and the only way I can tell which it is is by asking the BT speedtest. And the only reason I look occasionally is some sort of perverse macho thing whereby I'd rather be on 5Mb than 4.5, even though I can't tell the difference.

I'd stick with the stable line.

Rik · Jan 04, 2007, 15:19:18

Third vote for stable. Better a download that completes than one which is interrupted because the connection dropped.

old Bill · Jan 04, 2007, 18:11:22

Well I will leave it on for the time being and see how it goes. The strange thing is before the interleaving was switched on I only lost connection a couple of times. My speeds were up and down like a yoyo (maybe to do with the 10 day training period or just because it was Christmas) The main thing was just the amount of errors on my line. Anyway i am geting a constant 4.2 download speed now.

Rik · Jan 05, 2007, 11:39:29

Stop making me jealous.

Lance · Jan 05, 2007, 13:36:48

Quote from: rikbean on Jan 04, 2007, 15:19:18
Third vote for stable. Better a download that completes than one which is interrupted because the connection dropped.

You could of course use a download manager that can cope with the connection being dropped and only pauses the download!

old Bill · Jan 05, 2007, 13:52:49

I have not heard of that before. Can you tell me more about it please.

Rik · Jan 05, 2007, 14:06:14

Quote from: lance on Jan 05, 2007, 13:36:48
You could of course use a download manager that can cope with the connection being dropped and only pauses the download!

True enough. I just prefer not to have the problem rather than to find a cure.

Rik · Jan 05, 2007, 14:07:32

Quote from: old Bill on Jan 05, 2007, 13:52:49
I have not heard of that before. Can you tell me more about it please.

There's one here:

http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/

otherwise just Google for download managers. Some apps, eg Acrobat Reader, come with their own d/l manager.