WBC - successful connections

[Ted]

No, but Willy could end up spending £100+ to get nowhere (I must admit that I'd give it a try).

I remember reading somewhere, that if you order a new line and specify it will be used for ADSL, then BT had an obligation to provide a line that was fit for purpose. If they supplied you with a "new" faulty line, you'd possibly have grounds to reject it. As old lines were only ever meant to supply voice traffic, that's all they need to deliver, so its "tough luck". Worth looking into if you plan on living there for a long time.
I would check out some of the close neighbours to see if a good line is possible in that area. It should be at 18db

[Rik]

The problem is, Ted, that 250k is considered good for ADSL. It's worth checking, though.

[Ted]

Personally, i'd chance it, the possibility exists that you may get another bad line but i would consider that a remote possibility. Like i say, i'd ask the neighbours, just to make sure there isn't a whole bad cable in the area, also a possibility. 

[Rik]

Also, lines from IDNet are a bit cheaper than from BT.

[Sebby]

Personally, I can't believe BT can get away with that when the stats show 18dB.

[cavillas]

Have you thought about moving?

[Rik]

Sometimes, Alf, that is literally all anyone can do.

[jameshurrell]

Thought I'd post my experiences of WBC... some of you may have seen some of my posts over at Thinkbroadband, but thought I'd put them here now!

I had a Draytek Vigor 2600 that was not ADSL2+ compatible, but had given me excellent service for 6 years - when I was emailed about WBC at my exchange, I thought about it and decided to go for it. It turns out that once I was switched to the new service my Vigor clearly wasn't going to work correctly. It managed to sync, but it wouldn't log in. Well, actually that's a lie as it logged in once but I was given a WAN IP addres in the rang 172.16.X.X...!

Anyway, I ordered a brand spanking new DG834 v4 and I'm now up and running. Here are my before and after stats:

BEFORE (Draytek Vigor 2600):

Down = 7616
Up = 448
Interleaved (when i first moved onto this line I was on Fast path, but the line went dead one day and there was a prob in the green cabinet - since then I've been on Interleaved)

Near Attn. = 20.5
Near SNR = 8.5

Far Attn. = 16
Far SNR = 14

Alcatel DSLAM

WBC (Netgear DG834 v4)

Down = 14183
Up = 888

Down Attn = 27
Down SNR = 10.6

Up Attn = 11.8
Up SNR = 15.1

I haven't poked around too much yet - I have activated the command line on the Netgear as I gather that gives me more stats, so will post those up when i find them.

I've not done a BT speed test yet, but the Namesco BBMAX and Speedtest.net testers suggest I'm still on my pre-WBC profile as I'm getting about 6000kbps down. When I first plugged it in, I had a sync of 15000 (something), but then 2 successived re-syncs has brought it down to the current figure. But I'm pretty happy. It would be interesting to see whether I'm on fastpath now with the new connection too.

I have another line that I may try once everything settles down (it's an office line so don't want to risk it just yet). It's on the same exchange (but different DSLAM chipset), but it has far superior figures:

Down = 8128
Up = 448
Fast path

Near Attn. = 14
Near SNR = 16

Far Attn. = 5.5
Far SNR = 27

TI (Texas Instruments??) DSLAM

Will keep you posted.

[Simon]

Thanks for that, James.

[rireed3]

It managed to sync, but it wouldn't log in. Well, actually that's a lie as it logged in once but I was given a WAN IP addres in the rang 172.16.X.X...!

Although both my Speedtouch 546 and 585v6 do ADSL2+, they had the identical symptom on 6.x.x.x firmware, except that I am on an MSAN with Infineon chipset, supposedly Huawei.

I got a Netgear v5 from IDNet, and that worked straightaway.  I later also got the 585v6 to work on 8.2.2.5 firmware that Thomson won't give out!

Something has obviously changed that made some older firmwares useless on the ADSL 'standards'.  It would have been nice if the companies that knew about this, BT and the router makers, had bothered to make this public.

The government is now forced to run around saying how essential broadband is, and the industry acts as if it's just ok that we get knocked off for days or weeks at a time 

Richard

[VaderDSL]

Nice one! I did something similar to you, went from 2600 > vigor 100 > dg834 V4

[jimholder]

As a very contented IDnet subscriber I've never had the need to contribute to this forum. I received an invite to change my subscription to the new ADSL2+ service, noted that the cost would remain fixed but that my download allowance would increase, my download speed might increase and that my upload speed would increase. I opted for the change despite being about as far as you can get from my Basingstoke exchange

I checked with Belkin (a very good tech support group) that my F5D 9630 G+ mime WR would be suitable, made the recommended f'ware upgrade and waited for the switchover.
Whilst waiting I followed the various tales of woe/happiness on these pages. I have now been switched (exactly when I don't know – I wasn't told).
My router stats show:-

   Downstream   Upstream
Data Rate Kbps   4090   824
Noise Margin dB   5.2   3.8
Output Power dBm   12.8   0.0
Attenuation dB   51.5   28.8


and speed test results are consistent at:-

DOWN 3245  UP 645

Before the switch my downstream data rate and actuals coincided at about  3000 kbps and upstream at about 320 kbps. So my expectations have been met - until such time as BT replace the piece of damp string between my home and their (ho ho) network.

The dramatic change is in the attenuation figure. I have read somewhere in this forum that an increase should be expected when switching to ADSL2+ but mine has doubled. Can someone confirm that nothing can be done about this, since I attribute the difference between the data rate and actual speed to this figure alone?

[Sebby]

Attenuation should certainly not have doubled, but you should expect an increase of about 3dB. If it really has doubled, get onto IDNet support, as that's going to be a fault. That said, if you were only getting around 3000k throughput before, I'd say your current attenuation is actually correct - perhaps it was being misreported before.

Anyway, I'm glad you're happy with the service.

[Simon]

  Jim, 

[D-Dan]

I'm going to post a tentative success. Currently synced at 8,781 with a NM of 5 - 5.5 (evening). ADSL was stable at those margins - so fingers crossed.

For the record - currently using ST 585v6. Also worked with Netgear DG834v3 but syncs were lower.

Upstream is at 1,015 - which judging from the NM there (about 5.5) is probably about as good as it gets.

Steve

[Simon]

Fingers crossed, Steve. 

[Ray]

  Jim,  

[quandam]

Since the large migration to ADSL2+ my 'basic' DSL connection is, to use a technical word, zinging along. Is this to be expected as there is now more room on the 'basic' pipes?

I am touching 7mb all day long now and it really is enjoyable. I would say that since the migration my general speeds have increased from around 6.5 Mb (Good anyway!) to the aforementioned 7Mb. Anyone else seen an improvement?

Long may it last

[Sebby]

Nice one, Steve. It sounds like things have improved.

[Sebby]

Since the large migration to ADSL2+ my 'basic' DSL connection is, to use a technical word, zinging along. Is this to be expected as there is now more room on the 'basic' pipes?

I am touching 7mb all day long now and it really is enjoyable. I would say that since the migration my general speeds have increased from around 6.5 Mb (Good anyway!) to the aforementioned 7Mb. Anyone else seen an improvement?

Long may it last

Glad to hear it. I hope it continues.

[Noreen]

The profile is low for the sync speed, Noreen, so I'm guessing you have had a couple of re-syncs.

It's improving.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[VaderDSL]

Just had a resync here :

ADSL Link
Downstream : 14456 kbps
Upstream : 1232 kbps

Line Attenuation
Down : 30.0 db
Up : 13.8 db
     
Noise Margin
Down : 9.1 db
Up : 6.2 db

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
   Your DSL connection rate: 14456 kbps(DOWN-STREAM),  1232 kbps(UP-STREAM)
   IP profile for your line is - 11000 kbps
   Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 10335 kbps

[Sebby]

That's interesting. It looks like there was a burst of noise, followed by a higher re-sync, probably owing to the fact that there was less noise around, despite a short burst of noise.

[tpk]

Hi all,

New idnetter here.  I've been activated since last Friday and I think it's WBC so I thought I'd post my stats and ask for opinions on if it's likely to improve during the training period?

ADSL Link     Downstream     Upstream
Connection Speed    2230 kbps    932 kbps
Line Attenuation    45.5 db    26.2 db
Noise Margin    12.4 db    6.7 db

ID supplied Netgear A2pB023b.d20e

I always use the test socket.

Cheers,
tpk

[quandam]

Hi all,

New idnetter here.  I've been activated since last Friday and I think it's WBC so I thought I'd post my stats and ask for opinions on if it's likely to improve during the training period?

ADSL Link     Downstream     Upstream
Connection Speed    2230 kbps    932 kbps
Line Attenuation    45.5 db    26.2 db
Noise Margin    12.4 db    6.7 db

ID supplied Netgear A2pB023b.d20e

I always use the test socket.

Cheers,
tpk

Afraid I can't help but I can welcome you to IDNetters