Slow Speeds since I got the 8meg Max service

[Simon]

I think you're probably right there, Dave. 

[hairyman]

Hi

Have tried a router reboot today , well actually it was forced on us!! The mains electric supply went off in the whole district for 2hours!

The SNR remains the same at 16db approx with dips of 2 to 3 dB.

I guess we will see what happens after 15days ( next Monday)

Doesn't really matter as the 4 to 5 meg tputs are good enough and the general responsiveness is now much better than B4.

The trouble with BT was they only would only do a remote test and then said they could see no faults and refused to do more. The voice line noise only became bad this year and got much worse this summer.

Up until then there was only enough line problem to mess up the Iprofile with little  voice line noise. I had no problem on 2meg or 512K only the coming of 8meg MAX was the problem apparent.

Thank goodness for the better Openreach man they drafted in from another patch, as he had loads of experience in much more difficult patch way out in the small villages south of here.

Hairyman

[Lance]

Hairy, I you had a reboot, then your 15 days has been interupted and will be started again from day 1.

I think it would be a good idea to ask support, highlighting the fact a fault has been resolved.

[Sebby]

Yep, sometimes this is a good enough reason to get BT to reset it.

[davej99]

I get high line noise on the voice line this seems related to the broadband starting to struggle .......

I like to think BT would have found a voice fault then and waived any call out charges.

[hairyman]

Hairy, I you had a reboot, then your 15 days has been interupted and will be started again from day 1.

I think it would be a good idea to ask support, highlighting the fact a fault has been resolved.

I will see what happens next week. I remember someone saying on this forum saying the BT system can tell the difference between a straight modem reboot during a power cycle and sync loss causing a disconnect ( the time taken to resync difference maybe)? I guess we should really be turning our modems off overnight anyway as they do seem to take more than say several TVs on standby ( 5 to 10 watts is typical for routers) . I have been leaving mine on overnight since the line joint corrosion was found.

Ref the line noise this only became a real consistent problem during spring summer this year with a lot of calls being disrupted. BT were reluctant to do anything. Even Idnet suggested the only way to resolve the problem could be to order a new line and even that had no guarantee.  

I seem to remember when I first gotMAX that it synced at 8128k at 7 to 8 dB SNR in Fast mode but the drop outs caused it to go interleaved then Eclipse then Idnet got BT to lock my SNR at the max 15dB to try to stabilize the line.

Again thanks to all.

No drop outs due to line noise for two weeks is great. The IProfile seems stable at 5500K as well.

Hairyman

[Lance]

Ah, if your line was fixed at 15db there is no way it will come doWn on it's own.

[hairyman]

Hi Lance

We thats what I remember being told at the time both by Eclipse Internet then I am fairly sure by Idnet.

I will email support, its still at 16db SNR at just 15days after the line fault is cleared.

Regards

Hairy

[hairyman]

Hi All

The BT speedtester has been unavailable for a week now, it just fails on timeout or cant authenticate. Isn't it time BT gave up what they cannot do , ANYTHING USEFUL . they are in my opinion a group ( just like ROYAL MAIL? ) of mostly very good workers lead by donkeys. ( doesn't Royal Mail have a failed head of the Football Association in charge?).

The message I get is as below when I enter my correct phone number and username as issued by Idnet and as per the router login ( which obviously works) , isn't it typical of BT to blame me as a customer for inputting the wrong details rather than simply having the "balls" to pop up a message that their system is busy or in need of fixing!

Message below:---
Performance Tester is unable to run the speed test for your telephone number:*******. Please check that it is the correct telephone number for your service. Did you follow all the instructions given on the website, before initiating the speed test. If not, then please follow all the instructions carefully and try to run the test again. If you believe it is the correct number for your service and you have followed all the instructions then please ask your Service Provider whether yout can use Performance Tester to tesr your Broadband speed. If yes, then ask him for the Service ID of your broadband connection and try again with this Service ID along with your Telephone Number. If this problem persists, raise the issue with your service provider

Never mind BT poor customer interface SNAFU ( Situation Normal All F**ked Up ). Notice BT spelling mistakes highlighted ( I assume the BT website is Outsourced!!!).

Meanwhile my line remains noise free and the BT software grinds slowly to upgrade my line speed tput, its over 30days now and I am back to 7616Kbps at 12db SNR both downstream, download tests show up to 5.2meg down to 3meg at peak congested times. Thinkbroadband speedtests below. I dont know my Iprofile as BT wont oblige but I would guess it is 6500Kbps?

Much better than when I was syncing at 6500k and profiling at well below 2meg with multiple dropouts.

Downstream SNR still "jiggles" up down by up to 5db at times, I have noticed this figure  as reported by Router Stats every ten seconds varies much less when the the voice phone is in use ( filters etc changed again with no change) I suspect the line while much much better "likes"  the load of the old fashioned phone we use. Maybe this reduces broadband crosstalk to an from other phone lines on the same multicore?

Anyway getting max interleaved speed of 7616K at 12dB SNR is better than the previous  SNR of I think 7 or 8dB at the same speed ( but with loads of dropouts then the inevitable jacking up of the SNR by the BT customer annoyance system.)

Line atten downstream is 37db about the same as ever.

The internet now seems much more responsive as well , in fact its  back to the type of behavior that I got when I was one of the first few on the exchange with the then new 2meg internet which I upgraded from the 512K service I had. I remember the 512 service was £20 a month plus vat and going costs were about £150 !!

Hope you are all well and hope you were not tormented to much by Witchcraft/satanists over Halloween and lets hope it rains a bit over the ever so quaint "Lets celebrate burning a Catholic night" on the 5 Nov and over the weekend.

Best regards

Hairyman




Thinkbroadband
Speedtest Results
  Date Downstream Upstream IP Address Connection
04/11/09 20:10  4794.70 Kbps 372.81 Kbps IDnet 
04/11/09 19:59  4874.73 Kbps 373.57 Kbps IDnet 
04/11/09 19:55  4761.07 Kbps 373.59 Kbps IDnet 
04/11/09 19:50  4792.54 Kbps 373.85 Kbps IDnet 

[Lance]

Glad to hear your line is still fine, Hairy. Lets hope it stays that way for years to come!

[Rik]

Or even pray.  

[hairyman]

Hi Rik and Lance

Managed to get a speedtest out of BT it showed a profile of 6500kbps at 7616k sync ( interleaved) with a tput of 4550K.

Its been nearly 2months since they fixed the line so I guess its topped out, I assume interleaving is not turned off automatically by the BT profiling system??

I have had no disconnects in that time and the actual throughputs vary from 3meg at busy times to just over 5meg at best.

All this is great and much better than the often sub 1meg profiles and throughputs had earlier this year. The voice line is now quiet and stable.

The downstream SNR remains at 11 to 12 db , dropping a bit at night when I guess the MW/MF radio signals increase enough to be "seen" in the bb noise. Occasionally the SNR dips a bit but never more than 4db. Downstream attenuation is 37db.

Hope you are all well , again thanks for the advice.

Hairyman

[Lance]

Thanks fo the update, Hairy.

You assume correctly about interleaving. That can only be turned off by BT.

Any fluctuating speeds you het are most likely to be exchange congestion, as the new
hostlink has resolved the issues at Idnet's end.

Thanks
Lance

[Rik]

Thanks for the update, Hairy. Clearly your line is prone to noise pick up even now, or your target NM would have been reduced.

[hairyman]

Hi Rik

I haven't had a single disconnect since the end of September. I think the speed has reached 7616K the max interleaved 8megMAX supports ?  The SNR at 11/12db remains as this is what 7616K sync and line attn of 36/37Db equate to ? ?

Lance - I may ask Idnet if they can turn off interleaving , I am happy with the speed right now and think exchange congestion is now a slightly limiting factor and the "weakest link".  It would be interesting to see if Fast mode held though.

Hairyman

[Rik]

Yes, if interleaving is on, that's headroom, not a high target margin, Hairy. You should get good speeds when you can move to WBC.