SNR Margin downstream.

neocr0n · Oct 05, 2008, 20:07:14

I used to average around 10 now it hovers around 6.5.

I've changed/done absolutly nothing in the house to cause this. Outside of my house what could the problem be? Exchange issue?

Simon · Oct 05, 2008, 20:14:40

Hi,

In anticipation of a techie's appearance, could you please post your router stats, and if possible, a BT Speedtest?

neocr0n · Oct 05, 2008, 20:25:06

That speedtest wouldn't work for me. Said Java wasn't enabled when it clearly was. Used a different service.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/334182785.png

       Downstream     Upstream

SNR Margin :6.0    15.0    db

Line Attenuation :46.5    31.5    db

Data Rate :6144    448    kbps

Simon · Oct 05, 2008, 20:52:52

That speedtest doesn't give the BT profile, and the BT one is unfortunately the only one that does, but not to worry, it might not be needed.

I'm actually slightly confused by your question, as I thought that a lower SNR was good, as it means that your connection is more stable.

Steve · Oct 05, 2008, 21:14:12

The default downstream SNR margin for maxdsl is 6 db.If your connection is stable it will remain at this level. However if the line is unstable "noisy" the dslam software will raise the margin to try to stablise the line in increments of 3 up to 15. I am assuming your line is stable and has been stable for sometime. I think what may have happened is that the noise on your line has reduced and after a period of stability the dslam software has reduced your margin (from 9). Has your downstream sync increased with the reduction in margin? So I would think nothing to worry about.

You will see much higher margins which are quite normal on lines that have full sync i.e 8128

Sebby · Oct 05, 2008, 21:47:08

Update Java, neocr0n, and try again.

That said, I would say your stats are pretty perfect. That sync is very good for that attenuation, and if the downstream SNRM stays at 6dB, that's exactly how the system is intended to operate.

neocr0n · Oct 06, 2008, 00:22:04

Thanks for all the responses guys.

These forums infuriate me because everytime I come on here its almost nothing but praise for IDnet and really thats great for all of you but it really makes me mad to think I appear to be the only one that has serious issues with IDnet. I have gone through two routers, I've had a BT engineer out who said all is well yet still I'm dropping far more than I should. At least 6 times a day. Today though I've dropped closer to 20 times.

I have my suspicions It's my exchange and perhaps I'm on bad equipment there or something because I fail to see how it is anything in my house.

Tacitus · Oct 06, 2008, 07:48:56

Quote from: neocr0n on Oct 06, 2008, 00:22:04
Thanks for all the responses guys.

This is a very helpful forum.....

Quote from: neocr0n on Oct 06, 2008, 00:22:04
............I appear to be the only one that has serious issues with IDnet. I have gone through two routers, I've had a BT engineer out who said all is well yet still I'm dropping far more than I should. At least 6 times a day. Today though I've dropped closer to 20 times.
I have my suspicions It's my exchange and perhaps I'm on bad equipment there or something because I fail to see how it is anything in my house.

Whilst there is an abundance of help on this forum we can mostly point you in the general direction of where the problem may be, rather than offer a definitive solution. My guess is you are right and it is an exchange or line problem rather than one with iDNet. You say you have serious issues with iDNet but have you actually contacted support to sort it out? What they don't know about, they can't fix

Steve · Oct 06, 2008, 08:29:18

I cannot understand how the dropped connections were not mentioned in the first post in the thread.

Sebby · Oct 06, 2008, 09:28:13

Quote from: neocr0n on Oct 06, 2008, 00:22:04
Thanks for all the responses guys.

These forums infuriate me because everytime I come on here its almost nothing but praise for IDnet and really thats great for all of you but it really makes me mad to think I appear to be the only one that has serious issues with IDnet. I have gone through two routers, I've had a BT engineer out who said all is well yet still I'm dropping far more than I should. At least 6 times a day. Today though I've dropped closer to 20 times.

I have my suspicions It's my exchange and perhaps I'm on bad equipment there or something because I fail to see how it is anything in my house.

You have to appreciate that anything to do with the line (noise, for example) is outside the control of any ISP, not IDNet.

But anyway, what is the problem? Your stats are 100% perfect as far as I can see!

Rik · Oct 06, 2008, 09:35:36

I think it's the 20 disconnections/day, Seb, which does suggest a BT or internal wiring problem.

Sebby · Oct 06, 2008, 09:37:14

It's early in the morning.

I suspect it's something somewhere along the line, rather than at the exchange, but it's difficult to say. I would get in touch with IDNet and see what they think - another engineer might be the only solution.

Rik · Oct 06, 2008, 09:39:44

I agree. I also suspect the line is performing at or above FTR, which will make it hard to get BT to do much.

Sebby · Oct 06, 2008, 09:42:53

What's strange is how the target SNRM doesn't seem to have increased. I would have thought that if there have been 20 disconnects today, the DLM would've kicked in.

Rik · Oct 06, 2008, 09:43:25

It is odd, isn't it.

neocr0n · Oct 06, 2008, 18:41:50

As a follow up, does anyone have a Billion 5200g router? Trying to set up the wireless on it but it will not stay on. Wireless light flashes on and off.

Bellow are my current settings.

http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wirelesste9.jpg

Furthermore to this I'm currently using ASUS WiFi-AP Solo, (its in built with the motherboard) as my network device.

I only have the one computer upstairs that I want to wireless in with my router downstairs. Should I select;

Access Point Mode or Station mode, then Infrastructure Mode or Ad-hoc Mode?

I went with Station & Infrastructure. Just wanted to double check that.

I'm hoping by doing this I can rule out house wires as the problem.

Thanks,

neocr0n.

Sebby · Oct 06, 2008, 19:31:12

You want access point and infrastructure, I believe.

neocr0n · Oct 07, 2008, 01:42:54

Ok managed to get my wireless working, this might be a long shot but I'm experiencing some intermittent wireless latency spikes in games, once every 2/3 minutes I'd say, did this happen to anyone else on wireless and does anyone know the cause?

Currently using the wireless solo on a ASUS P5K-E motherboard and a NETGEAR DG834G v2 router with the latest firmware.

Wireless is connected at 54mbps signal strength 80%.

Thanks,

Jonny

Rik · Oct 07, 2008, 08:55:17

I'm not much fussed by latency, so I've never really checked, but if it's intermittent my first thought would be interference, possibly a neighbour on the same channel, or another device in the same spectrum.

Sebby · Oct 07, 2008, 09:29:54

Yep, I would try changing the channel.

neocr0n · Oct 07, 2008, 14:39:09

Well, I'm on channel 1 I believe and most people around this are on 11. On top of that I have one more problem some of you might be more familiar with.

I can download from direct hosting at give or take my full speed, around 400kb/s over wireless, I would normally get a little more wired.

On torrents(legal of course) however I've never hit above 50kb/s and this particular torrent has a lot of seeds, there really should be no problem getting close to max on this. Any ideas?

Rik · Oct 07, 2008, 14:47:14

Sorry, I don't use torrents. I do know that they're not throttled in any way by IDNet.

Steve · Oct 07, 2008, 15:00:39

Quote from: neocr0n on Oct 07, 2008, 14:39:09
Well, I'm on channel 1 I believe and most people around this are on 11. On top of that I have one more problem some of you might be more familiar with.

I can download from direct hosting at give or take my full speed, around 400kb/s over wireless, I would normally get a little more wired.

On torrents(legal of course) however I've never hit above 50kb/s and this particular torrent has a lot of seeds, there really should be no problem getting close to max on this. Any ideas?

I presume the ports are forwarded ok?

neocr0n · Oct 07, 2008, 15:07:12

I've never once forwarded a port on the router. Everything has just always worked and at full speed so its something I've never really bothered doing.

Steve · Oct 07, 2008, 16:40:47

I thought for optimal torrent software download speeds the relevant ports for the machine had to be forwarded? Either automatically via UPNP or a manual set up of port forward.

neocr0n · Oct 07, 2008, 17:34:27

Well UPnP i guess has just always took care of it for me. I've unchecked "Windows zero config" and thinks seem to be better for me now. The spikes & the torrents.

I don't want to commit to this just yet but it has been 16 hrs without a disconnect so far and thats a little unusual for me. If I make it to over 24 hrs, I think I could safely say it was my house wire from upstairs to down.

Which means I have to take back all the nasty things I've said about IDnet & BT

Rik · Oct 07, 2008, 17:35:40

Toes crossed you've found the problem.

neocr0n · Oct 07, 2008, 17:46:37

That said wireless is still too choppy for me.

My old setup was as follows. A connection point upstairs wired to the main connection point downstairs. Since normall phone wires aren't really good enough I guess I should think about maybe running a long cat5 cable from upstairs to down yeah?

What other options do I have because wireless just doesn't cut the mustard for me.

I found this interesting product,

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=24311

Its my understanding reading this that I would run a cat5 cable from my computer to one of these in a near by plug, I would then have another of these plugged in downstairs near my router and run a cat5 cable from that to the router?

Is that how it works or do I have it all wrong? Has anyone used one of these before or can verify that its a good piece of kit? Would it cause damage to any electrical wiring etc?

Rik · Oct 07, 2008, 17:50:38

Mains networking is effective and for many people it's better than wireless. It may have a latency issue for gaming, but otherwise it's as you believe, one by the router and any others where you want a computer. If it's not difficult to run Cat5+ cables, then that's a cheaper and faster solution, your only limitation is that any one segment in ethernet can't be longer than 100m.

Steve · Oct 07, 2008, 17:58:18

Mains networking works fine for me I use it extensively in my house for desktops and games machines the 85mbps are fine for most jobs, if you want video streaming probably go upto the 200mbps . The electric meter acts as the "firewall" throughput is better than wireless g and my eldest son managed good throughput for torrents and WoW.Its a doddle to setup as well.

Rik · Oct 07, 2008, 18:01:23

Aside from that, though, Steve, you wouldn't recommend it?

Steve · Oct 07, 2008, 18:05:59

For me its a no-brainer: do I want to use the nearest electrical socket or drill holes,lift carpets etc to run a network cable.

Rik · Oct 07, 2008, 18:07:33

Have you got your drill charged then, Steve?

Sebby · Oct 07, 2008, 18:56:08

Quote from: neocr0n on Oct 07, 2008, 14:39:09
On torrents(legal of course) however I've never hit above 50kb/s and this particular torrent has a lot of seeds, there really should be no problem getting close to max on this. Any ideas?

It could be a couple of things. Either the ports haven't been forwarded (either do it manually or enable UPnP) and/or you need to enable protocol encryption (a lot of servers require this now).

neocr0n · Oct 09, 2008, 15:27:41

All fixed now. It was definatly a internal problem, basically the wire connecting my upstairs point to the downstairs main socket.

Since going wireless I've been connected for 62hrs.

I've also fixed the wireless lag issue with games and sorted out the torrents.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Rik · Oct 09, 2008, 15:30:23

Good news, thanks for letting us know.