Speed deteriorated - IDNET not interested. What can i do?

[Rik]

The problem is, Andy, that BT are only obliged to provide you with 28.8k speed. As far as they are concerned, your line is in spec, so a callout will have a 99%+ chance of incurring the fee.

[psp83]

I agree with Rik, My line has its times, more bad than good. Last time BT came out i got a £170 bill for a new faceplate! All he done was plug in his frog (little usb modem) tested the stats for 15mins and said everything was fine.

My friend across the road (albeit on a different pole) has full 8megs. I get just over 5megs.

Lately my line has decided to go from a 12db noise margin to a 15db noise margin for no reason (well one i cant see)

[quandam]

Andy 1967

I do agree with Supanova, having tried everything via IDNet go with BT and hopefully you will get the same result your immediate neighbour is getting.

Not totally satisfactory but probably the best way out of the situation whilst you contemplate the mobile option.

[Lance]

Although watch out as going with BT will lock you into a 12 month contract and won't change anything physically on the line. Any problem you have now you will have regardless of your ISP.

Have you tried an alternative router? Sometimes faulty routers can kick out random noise and interference.

[kinmel]

The problem can be caused by almost any electrical device nearby, read my post HERE.

You need to turn as much electrical stuff off as possible, including Sky and the fridge and reboot the router, see if there is any improvement then.

[D-Dan]

Simon,

I do not doubt there is interference that is causing the loss of speed, however i have done as you have asked me and plugged my router into the test socket thus eliminating any noise that could be being introduced by anything i've done within my house.  Therefore the only other source of noise should be between the exchange and my property.   As my neighbour has not had a decrease in speed then it is reasonable to further assume that no noise is being introduced on the bulk of the line length.  Maybe it is a loose wire or damp, or gremlins at my property junction box, i don't know, but what i do know is that if i tamper with anything outside the property then i am acting illegally.

Andy

Andy,

Whilst you may have reduced the incidence of noise, plugging into the master socket does not eliminate it. You still have a wire between the master socket and the router, and the router itself, which can all act like antenna to pick up noise. The trick is to identify the noise and then eliminate it. I spent 3 months a year and a half ago trying to identify the cause of random noise bursts on my line which eventually crippled my connection to 250k. I tracked the source of the noise to my monitor on my 2nd PC. I swapped the monitor out, contacted IDNet and reported my findings, and they reset my line. Problem went away.

There are tricks you can use, such as walking around with a detuned radio to listen for the noise, changing cables, buy the more expensive shielded cables, try a different router etc. I recommend trying all of these to identify the source of your problem, and eliminate it. Only then will you be able to recover your previous performance, or to be able to eliminate internal problems. Once you are confident that you have no internal issues, then BT have a responsibility to fix it.

Do you have a streetlight outside your home? These have been known to cause noise problems, too. Hell, I have a freeview box (now unused) which was sensitive to cars driving past. Noise can occur from a multitude of places and only time and perseverance will help you identify where.

Steve

[Andy1967]

Hi all,

Sorry to pump this to the top again...

I've managed to lay my hands on an old DLINK DSL604+ router... It old, and only supports wireless at 802.11b but worth a go..

Anyway i've got this up and running ant it shows the following stats.

Line Condition

   Auto Refresh

Protocol    ADSL State    Showtime
Data Path    Interleave
Operation Mode    G.DMT

                                              Downstream    Upstream
Line Status    ADSL Link Speed    1568   kbps    448   kbps
SNR                                              7.5 dB    8.0 dB
ATEN                                       52  dB    31  dB
Line Error    ADSL layer    FEC               29779    4
CRC                                                60    0
ATM layer    HEC                                45    0
Frame Counter                            13465    11681


I guess what is immediately striking is the upstream SNR at 8dB (compared to 18dB on my newer router) and
the ATEN at 52dB compared to 58dB on the new router.
Downstream SNR is comparable to readings on my newer router.

Firstly, what difference is the upstream SNR?  What is the significance of this?
Could the lower ATEN on the older router be a sign of something, or are newer router more accurate at measuring this?

thanks

Andy

[Steve]

The upstream margin is low its probably a reporting error,is it working any better though?