about to migrate - is this the speed I might get..?

[hbls00190]

Hi there,

I've been with Zen for a long time now and still on a 512mb service. They are about to "upgrade" all users on 512mb to the up-to 8mb service. But along the way my unlimited downloads becomes capped at a very low rate.

So I'm about to jump ship and idnet looks quite nice to me. I've got two questions and was wondering if anyone could help..?

1. My router is a netgear DG834v2. The latest firmware mentions adsl2+, so I'm assuming it should work okay with idnet..? My exchange is adsl max and wbc enabled ( linky ). Does anyone know if this router will be okay, or will I need to get a new router..? I've seen lots of mentions of DG834, but they always seem to be followed with v4 or v5..

2. I just did a quick telnet into the router and pulled out some stats. I found this:

Code Select Expand


[DSL Modem Stats]
        US Connection Rate:     288     DS Connection Rate:     576
        DS Line Attenuation:    53      DS Margin:              25
        US Line Attenuation:    31      US Margin:              27
...
        Showtime Count:         1       DS Max Attainable Bit Rate: 4352 kbps
...


Bt line checker tells me that I should get "around 2mb". kitz says I should get around 2 to 2.5mb, but when I put in my attenuation above, it says more likely around 4mb. idnet also suggests 2mb. So my question is, if my router says "max attanable bit rate = 4352" am I effectively already on an adsl2 connection that is just currently capped at 512mb? If I do go over to idnet, is that 4352 roughly the sort of speed i'll get (not including any overheads, of course)..?

Sorry for the fuzzy questions :-) Hope you guys can help!

[Rik]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

If the firmware refers to ADSL2+ you should be fine, but that is an old model of the router. Given your line attenuation, you might benefit from a 2-Wire 2700 from eBay, £10-15.

My guesstimate is that you would get about 3M on Max and 4M on WBC.

[Glenn]

 

[hbls00190]

Hi guys. Thanks for the replies. Yes, it is an old router, but it ain't broke, so i'm tryin not to bin it yet - we are in the end of a recession! I know when you first connect with rate adaptive you have about ten days of bedding-in before your profile gets sort of set. If I do come over to idnet with this router and it's a bit flaky, if I do get a new one, can I ring up support and get them to test my profile again? Or are those ten days my only shot and I should get a better router first? Thanks again, sorry for the mumbling questions..

[Rik]

The 10-day training period is a bit of an excuse by BT not to do anything. In fact, your line will always be 'learning' and the dynamic line management software will continue to monitor and adjust performance at all times. The only significance of the 10 days is that that's when the fault threshold rate is set, but BT will happily ignore that if it suits them.

With WBC (ADSL2+), BT have just been trialling a scheme where ISPs could override DLM, and tweak parameters to suit. I was on that trial and gained 500k from it. Another user I know is now running on a target NM of 1db! We don't have a date for when the service will roll out, but we live in hope.

[Steve]

 

[Simon]

[hbls00190]

Thanks for the replies, Rik - most helpful.

[Rik]

My pleasure.

[Ray]