Anyone else seeing WBC oddities today?

Rik · Sep 18, 2009, 13:10:25

Quite right, Esh. I was always a bit wary of making the move to WBC, and though it has been better than Max for me at times, I do get a strong feeling that BT haven't really got a grip on things yet, so the downside is that it's often been a lot worse than Max.

OTOH, BT did something similar when launching Max. Perhaps the moral is not to be in a rush to move to a new service?

jonathancox · Sep 18, 2009, 13:51:45

I don't recall as much pain with Max as when WBC was introduced (June for me). I initially synced at 7.9meg on Max, but that gradually fell to 5.5meg over 2 years with NO kit/wiring/internal changes as more and more people came to Max.

I'm lucky to have plenty of LLU and other options at my exchange. I've not gone for Virgin cable - too many horror stories from neighbours

Maybe we should all move somewhere with a proper 21C network. My cousin lives in Tokyo, for example....she has proper fast internet!

Rik · Sep 18, 2009, 15:34:33

I don't like fish enough.

Rik · Sep 19, 2009, 10:47:33

I got my 4M profile today, and BT gave me my speed back to go with it:

The BT tester, though, appears to be broken.

Sebby · Sep 19, 2009, 12:32:15

Not broken, just resting as it's Saturday.

Rik · Sep 19, 2009, 12:47:16

It was 'resting' yesterday too.

Sebby · Sep 19, 2009, 13:43:28

I can't think of an excuse for that!

Rik · Sep 19, 2009, 15:20:52

I reckon BT are upgrading it against the rush of tests they are expecting.

Sebby · Sep 19, 2009, 15:21:57

That must be it.

Rik · Sep 19, 2009, 15:23:18

If the BT Retail WBC launch goes ahead next week, the tester is probably going to get swamped.

Lance · Sep 19, 2009, 17:39:03

But then again, are people on BT retail that bothered about the speed they get?!

Rik · Sep 19, 2009, 17:40:06

They will be when they start paying for a faster service, Lance.

coreservers · Sep 20, 2009, 12:07:15

Mines re-synced yesterday for the 1st time in 270 hours.
Stayed at 6.8mb (yes finally getting stablility), ..... but the upload has dropped from .92 to .46. not sure if the two can be linked

Rik · Sep 20, 2009, 20:41:20

With the BT tester broken, you can't check your profile. They may be, or you may be being hit by what happened to me earlier in the week, throughput at half profile. BT have recognised they mis-configured the network and are frantically trying to correct it before BT Retail launches WBC this coming week.

Lance · Sep 20, 2009, 22:53:40

That would be right. Openreach fixing it in a hurry because another BT group company is going to be using it. So much for the independence openreach is supposed to have!

LAD · Sep 21, 2009, 14:47:00

Hi all,

After IDNet kindly chased BT to lower my SNR to 6dB last Thursday I was happily experiencing broadband at a speed back up to something like half decent (5.3Mb) as my ADSL2+ connection has been poor ever since I switched over and has always been slower than my ADSL Max connection.

Having returned home from a weekend away however I now find my connection is back down to 2.8Mb again and the SNR is back up to 15.5 dB !!

Could this BT 'work' for WBC be messing with my line? It's certainly messing with my head!!!

Cheers,

jim

Rik · Sep 21, 2009, 15:33:04

Did you leave your router connected while you were away, Jim, if so, was anything showing in the log? Oddly, I have the opposite problem, I went away, shut down, and have powered back up at a speed which will lift my profile a further 500k, but pings are 4ms slower. I really don't know what BT are doing right now.

LAD · Sep 21, 2009, 19:11:53

Quote from: Rik on Sep 21, 2009, 15:33:04
Did you leave your router connected while you were away, Jim, if so, was anything showing in the log? Oddly, I have the opposite problem, I went away, shut down, and have powered back up at a speed which will lift my profile a further 500k, but pings are 4ms slower. I really don't know what BT are doing right now.

Yep, left the router on.. not touched it since IDNet had BT reset the default SNR just in case I did anything to make it worse!

Turned the computer on this morning, couldn't browser and email wasn't collecting. Logged into the router which said there was a connection up running at 2976 kbps so restarted the router and that is how it has been ever since.

Not sure about the logs, I've had a look in the logs page (DG834Gv4) router and can't see anything other than a long list of DOS attempts.

Rik · Sep 21, 2009, 19:21:44

My best advice is always disconnect the router from the power, and then from the phone line, when you're away. That way, power blips & cuts or thunderstorms don't cause you any problems. Disconnecting in this way will not affect your profile, target margin etc.

The Netgear, depending on firmware, doesn't log losses of sync, so my best guess is that the router was unstable, DLM has cut in, and your target NM has been increased to 15db once more.

LAD · Sep 21, 2009, 19:57:37

Hi Rik

Thanks, good advice there.

I was thinking exactly the same, even though I had no bad experience with browsing etc when my connection was 1st amended.

Why it has gone so low this time though I don't know.

Really quite fed up of this ADSL2+ 'solution'

Rik · Sep 21, 2009, 19:59:27

It is a bit 'fragile' atm, isn't it. My line has been really weird over the past week, first dropping the target NM to 6db, now 3db - no way should it be that low. I get the impression that someone at BT is just punching keys to see what they do.

LAD · Sep 21, 2009, 20:22:35

Very much so. Not that it's likely to make much difference but I picked up a 2wire router on ebay last week for a tenner which arrived today so will get that rigged up to see if it makes any odds.

I've only had the v4 a couple of weeks because my v2 finally went pop. On the v2 my attenuation was 47dB and with the v4 it's now 50dB so I know I'm not going to be squeezing much more out of the line, even on a good day!

One thing I have been thinking is that I live in a flat that used to have the intercom to the building wired up via the phone lines. The intercom doesn't work that way anymore but I wonder if some bodged wiring trick might be adding noise to the line. Hmm...

Yes, BT... you get that impression don't you!

They are clueless at the best of times.

Simon · Sep 21, 2009, 20:46:07

Belated

Lad, and

LAD · Sep 21, 2009, 20:58:49

Cheer Simon

LAD · Sep 21, 2009, 21:12:52

Hmm... well I got the 2wire configured and have just been having a nosey around the settings etc to see what can be done and what I can tell from the router logs etc.

Seems my line is quite noisy to say the least. (This is with the router plugged into the test connector behind the faceplate!)

General Information
DSL Line (Wire Pair):    Line 1 (inner pair)
Downstream Rate Cap:    3072 kbps
Downstream Atten. at 300kHz:    46.4 dB
Uncancelled Echo:    18.2 dB    Suspicious - check phone filters and alarm
VCXO Frequency Offset:    7.9 ppm    Ok
Final Rx Gain:    27.5 dB    Ok
Impulse Noise Comp. Tones:    0    Ok
Excessive Impulse Noise:    0    Ok
Impulse noise protection:    4.00
Delay of latency path:    8.00 ms
Training History
   Downstream       Upstream
Time    Line       Rate    Max1    Max2    Max3    Mgn1    Mgn2    Attn    Pwr    CRCs    FECs    INP    DLY       Rate    Max    Mgn    Attn    Pwr    CRCs    FECs       Mode    Vendor    State    Exit Code    Echo    VCXO    Rx Gain    INC Tones
2009/09/21 20:31:53 BST    1       0    0    0    0    0.0    0.0    52.1    0.0    0    0    0.00    0.00       0    0    0.0    31.4    0.0    0    0       G.DMT2+ Annex A    Infineon    223/93    ERR_INCONSISTENT_SIGNAL    18.2    7.2    27.5    0
2009/09/21 21:00:45 BST    1       3059    5385    5561    5561    14.4    14.2    48.9    18.8    3    4468    4.00    8.00       696    724    6.5    31.4    3.4    2    13       G.DMT2 Annex A    Infineon    236/104    N/A    18.2    7.9    27.5    0