ADSL2+ Reliability Problems

[spyro]

thanks - will probably run it through idnet support first but might try and log a fault with bt ( can you call openreach direct ? ) to see if i can get someone round to check out the wiring free of charge - unlikely I know but worth a shot...

[Rik]

You can't call Openreach direct. Give support a ring my all means, but I don't think you'll get anywhere as you've already proved that there appears to be an issue on your side of the demarcation point.

[JamesAllen]

thanks - will probably run it through idnet support first but might try and log a fault with bt ( can you call openreach direct ? ) to see if i can get someone round to check out the wiring free of charge - unlikely I know but worth a shot...

There are still some other things you can do - mainly to get some more information on your exchange.

Go here:
http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

Enter you telephone number to find out what exchange your on (unless you know it) and then use Google maps to find out where it is in relation to your home. The best connections are usually those where there is less than a mile between the home and the exchange. Worth finding out how far you are form the exchange to get an idea if that may be part of the issue - or at least a factor.

[spyro]

according to google earth, I'm about 1.9 miles from the telephone exchange....

[Rik]

That's straight line, of course. What's your downstream attenuation?

[spyro]

no idea ! How do i find out ?

going to run this

www.speedtester.bt.com

when i get home this evening and post the result.

[JamesAllen]

no idea ! How do i find out ?

going to run this

www.speedtester.bt.com

when i get home this evening and post the result.

Log into your router here:
http://192.168.0.1

Username: admin
Password: password

Then go to 'Router Status' and click on 'Show Statistics'.

Copy the details at the bottom showing ADSL Link, Connection Speed etc..

[spyro]

thanks - will do that this evening and will post.

[Rik]

 

Thanks, James.

[spyro]

Wife ran the bt speedtest and results below. Not sure if that is any good or not. Will do the download attenuation later on....

-------

Download speedachieved during the test was - 664 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 400-1000 Kbps.
IP Profile for your line is - 1000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 7.69:27.21:65.18 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes.

------

[Rik]

All I can say, without the download sync speed, is that the speed is a bit low for the profile.

[spyro]

Spoke to idnet support and they have reset the line so we'll see how that goes.

Either way I'll post the attenuation details this evening.

Thanks for the feedback.

Alex

[Rik]

 

[spyro]

As promised, download attenuation details from the modem are attached.

[JamesAllen]

As promised, download attenuation details from the modem are attached.

Very interesting. Your syncing at a rate that should really be giving you downloads of around 300k/sec or so.

Line attenuation is higher than mine (I hit 25db) but someone else will be able to advise on what that means.

Your BT profile could be the limiting factor here as with that of sync I'd expect a higher profile, however perhaps the line attenuation and line noise is causing BT to limit to a lower more stable rate.

Upstream is looking good though - in fact that looks as expected to me.

[Steve]

As promised, download attenuation details from the modem are attached.

Downstream att of 40db gives a possible max sync on adsl2+ of around 9000 in ideal conditions , although your downstream margin is showing as 3 . I guess on sync it was higher and has fallen since due to external noise. The low IP profile is due to a previous lower sync, I suspect looking at the current margin another resync is not far off?

[spyro]

Thanks James.

I think I'm a bit more confused than I was before although it does support my theory that I should be getting faster speeds than I am.

As mentioned in a previous post, i spoke to idnet support and they have reset my line, so I'm going to monitor that for a little bit and see how it goes....Not sure what more I can do for the moment.....?

[spyro]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the answer but not being techie, I have to admit I don't understand much of what you wrote !



Is a resync different to a line reset that idnet support did earlier today ?

Thanks

[Steve]

A resync occurs when your downstream margin falls to zero, the fall in margin is due to an increase in noise/ interference affecting your line. A reset on adsl2+ to me means removal of a banded profile,which is used by BT to restrict the sync of a line with high errors or repeated resyncs .I think Rik mentioned earlier that your internal wiring maybe suspect which fortunately is something that can be remedied , however if the noise is external to your property it's very difficult to get BT to do anything about it.

[JamesAllen]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to update you all on the issue I originally raised on this post which was to do with loss of routing that would usually happen within 48 hours of the router being connected. I would not lose sync but routing to the default IDNet router would just seem to fail. Re-applying the basic setting on the router would fix it or power cycling.

To look for a solution to this, I upgraded my Netgear D834Gv4 router to the custom firmware produced by DGTeam. These guys no longer produce this firmware or publish it but I was able to find the latest version:

V5.01.16 - DGTeam Rev. 1018

I am happy to say that since flashing my router, the connection has been rock solid and has been up for: 117:18:43.

I am also seeing a slightly higher sync rate.

A superb upgrade. The firmware also offers some really high-end functionality that a tech geek like me really appreciates. It's actually possible to lower the SNR % to potentially boost sync rate at the expense of some stability but I'm yet to experiment with this.

The important thing is that the loss of routing problems now appear solved. I'd like to see the router be up a little longer to be sure but so far the pattern has certainly been broken.

Worth bearing in mind if other users have loss of routing issues as there may be an problem with default firmware in some Netgears and the IDNet systems (potentially).

[Rik]

Thanks for that James.

[JamesAllen]

Thanks for that James.

No problem at all Rik. Hope this helps other's who might get this issue in future.

[Rik]

Me too.

[JamesAllen]

I think I may have spoken too soon.

Woke up today to find that I had lost routing again. Checking the logs though I see that I lost sync at 00:58 but the router immediately reconnected successfully.

However, while synced fine routing to the default router was not working. To fix I just applied the basic settings in the router control panel and it re-synced and is now working again.

So it appears that this issue is still a problem.

I'm now going to try this option in the custom router firmware:

"Force broadcast ARP on the wan link

It forces sending broadcast arp packets over the wan link. It should be activated only in case of frequent routing losses from ISP provider. Leave it disabled in the other cases."

This I believe was put into the firmware when O2 users were having similar loss of routing issues..

Will see how it goes.

[Rik]

  for you, James.