Check my stats please

[zappaDPJ]

Hi

I've just migrated to IDNet this morning and everything seems to be working as intended. In fact I'm a little bemused, the switch over was on schedule and flawless. I was originally with Pipex who started well and then gave me 18 months of unimaginable grief after which I went with Be Un limited for a few months. I had one sub par month with them before it all went down hill so fast I had to resort to 56K. The bottom line is after over two years of ISP hell I'm sure you can understand my current skepticism when dealing with any ISP.

However things are really looking good here. For the first time in years web pages resolve instantly, I'm getting faster throughput with 8MB than I ever did with Be's 24MB, Packet loss is almost nonexistent compared with last nights 75% to bbc.co.uk on Be and my latency to a much used gaming server has dropped from 450-8,500ms to 19-51ms. That's quite a change to say the least.

I'm currently connected via an old Speedtouch modem but I'd be grateful if someone with more knowledge than me can confirm that things are looking pretty good.

Uptime: 0 days, 2:35:51

Modulation: G.DMT Annex A [POTS Overlay Mode]

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 7.072

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 39,19 / 177,04

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11,0 / 19,0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 13,0 / 26,0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 25,0 / 6,0

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): ALCB / TSTC

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): 1 / 4

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 7 / 1

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 4 / 0

Incidently when I was connected to Be's network my FEC errors for the same kind of time frame would have read in the hundreds of thousands.

Anyway, any feedback at all would be most welcome. Thanks

[Inactive]

A warm welcome zappaDP, 

Someone will help you very soon.

[Rik]

Hi Zappa and welcome to the forum.

The stats look nigh on perfect, attenuation of 26db, noise margin is at the normal target of 6db. Only your sync speed puzzles me slightly, I would have expected you to get the full 8192. As a result, when your profile settles, it will be 7000k rather than 7150, but I doubt you will notice the difference. Switching to a router might gain you the extra sync step.

[Sebby]

What Rik said.

To me, it looks like you've got a great line, but are probably plugged into an extension socket, or perhaps use an extension cable to connect the router, and subsequently noise is being picked up.

[Rik]

Or it's just the effect of a USB modem, Seb.

[Sebby]

Could be - a driver update may help.

http://www.thomson.net/GlobalEnglish/SelfService/dsl-modems-download/Pages/default.aspx

[David]

Just a    from me ZappaDPJ you made the right choice 

[Steve]

 

No more to suggest, but my attenuation is 22 downstream with a margin of 15 sync 8128 so you could have a bit of noise around also I wonder is interleave on?

[zappaDPJ]

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it. There could be a number of reasons for the slightly low sync speed. Although I'm plugged directly into the master socket, it's not a BT type socket but a very basic imitation that came from an electrical supplier (long story). It was however wired in by a BT engineer. I'm also temporarily connected via a very long network cable to a 10 year old modem.

I went out for 5 minutes this morning and typically missed the Royal Mail delivery of the new modem. I'll pick it up before the end of the week and reposition things so that I can use a shorter network cable but all in all I'm really happy at the way things are going so far.

Thanks again

[Rik]

You want to keep the phone lead short, Zappa, the network side won't affect the speed of your connection.

[Sebby]

When you say the modem is connected by a long network cable, is that to the phone line? That could certainly pick up noise. It's best to keep the RJ11 cable as short as possible, and use something high quality.

[David]

Keep us posted Zappa DPJ 

[zappaDPJ]

Keep us posted Zappa DPJ 

I certainly will

Just to confirm my cable from the PC to the router is currently very long and the cable from the router to the micro filter is in fact a lot longer than it needs to be. My previous ISP was insistent that I isolate my router from every possible source of interference including 'loud music' in order to solve my PL and latency issues. Rather unsurprisingly all these issues were resolved at a stroke by migrating to what so far seems an exceptional provider, IDNet.

As soon as my new modem is installed I'll ensure a shorter cable is used and I'll report back. I must say it's great to find such a warm, friendly and helpful atmosphere here. So much better than all the doom and gloom currently present at Be forums.

[Rik]

We do warm, friendly and hungry, Zappa. I'm amazed no-one has mentioned food yet.

[Steve]

"Boing" said Zebedee "its time for tea"

[Rik]

 

[Sebby]

As soon as my new modem is installed I'll ensure a shorter cable is used and I'll report back.

I would go for one of these.

I must say it's great to find such a warm, friendly and helpful atmosphere here. So much better than all the doom and gloom currently present at Be forums.

We try.

[Simon]

I must say it's great to find such a warm, friendly and helpful atmosphere here. So much better than all the doom and gloom currently present at Be forums.

Nice of you to say, Zappa.   

[vitriol]

Rather than create a new thread, my internet of late has been a bit weird, pages not loading, speed throughput up and down etc......

I've noticed that my noise margin is now under 10db (atm 8.6db) I'm sure before that it used to be around 12db.  I used to get alot better throughput when it was higher.  Router is Netgear DG834GT.

Is this normal? Full router stats below.

Sync speed is still 8128 / 448

Attenuation  21 / 10

Noise Margin 8.6 / 23


I must confess that I haven't really investigated anything yet.  Just recovering from a two day trip from Belfast.  Too much Guiness........

[vitriol]

Speedtest this morning

Here

Router stats

Sync  8128 /448

Att     21 / 10

Margin  11.9 / 23


What could cause the margin to drop lower during the evening?

[Rik]

Noise increases after dark, Vit, due to the propagation of radio waves. If you were to re-sync then, you'd probably get a lower speed. Your figures look fine, but you might be able to improve the margin with some wiring changes.

[vitriol]

Thanks Rik, I'll have to put up with it for the time being, I don't have much spare time at the moment.

[Sebby]

That noise margin is still fine, and certainly wouldn't/shouldn't impact speed, so it's probably some other factor, like exchange congestion or just BT in general!

[zappaDPJ]

I retrieved my new modem (Netgear DG834G) from the Post Office today, plugged it in using some more appropriate cables and everything seems to be working as intended.


The modem was purchased through IDNet and came preconfigured but I can't for the life of me get past the modem login screen. I've tried using admin/password, admin/1234 and my IDNet username/password but no joy.

Any ideas?

[Sebby]

Netgear's are admin/password by default, so I only think that IDNet have changed that. It's probably worth clarifying with IDNet in the morning, if no one else knows.

[Steve]

Should be admin and password, a factory reset will return you to the default settings.

[Rik]

It's usually your IDNet username and password, Zappa, but maybe they've changed that now.

[zappaDPJ]

I finally got around to calling support and you were both half right (admin/IDNet password).

These are my current stats which look like an improvement with the new modem:

Connection Speed 7808 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 26.0 db 12.5 db
Noise Margin 6.4 db 22.0 db

[Rik]

I'd have expected you to get a full synch with a 26db attenuation, as it is you're on a 6500 profile rather than a 7150.

Do you have a number of phone sockets?

[Steve]

Its a higher downstream than before with the same margin but as Rik says you should really get a full sync? Do you think you could get a filtered faceplate on that non BT mains socket?

[zappaDPJ]

I only have the one socket (no extentions) but I am considering getting a filtered socket.

My only hesitation is that when I moved to this property I found a number of BT cables left hanging outside. The property had been refurbished and the builder had cut corners as well as the BT cable. I had the line connected but BT wanted an arm and a leg to repair the damage. I brought one of the cables into the house and tried to fit an off the shelf master socket but the cable was multi-core with little or no colour coding.

The bottom line was I couldn't get a dialing tone after trying every combination so I [cough] reported a fault and a BT engineer (who did actually comment that the cable was not something he'd seen before) finally got it working after spending the best part of a day between a telegraph poll and a junction cabinet.

I'm just a little bit worried that if I try to swap the faceplate I'll end up with a problem I can't fix myself. Then again I may just throw caution to the wind

[Sebby]

Hmm, so do you have an NTE5 master socket (one with a removable lower half)?

[zappaDPJ]

No, it's literally a face plate with just a small circuit board attached directly to the socket with the ring capacitor.

[Sebby]

In that case, you can't fit a filtered faceplate. You could call BT and tell them that you want to add extension wiring but can't because you don't have an NTE5. They have been known to come and fit one for free if you tell them this, but obviously I can't give you absolute assurance.

[zappaDPJ]

Having now looked at an NTE5 face plate I can see the problem. I'll give BT a ring and see what they say. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Sebby]

Theoretically, there's no particular reason why your own "master" socket should create a problem if there are no extensions, but it's always more difficult to know for sure without an NTE5.