Help Interpreting ADSL2+ Results

[Ardua]

Thanks again for all the advice. I read somewhere that ADSL is more of an 'art' rather than a 'science'. Short of digging a 1Km trench to my exchange and putting in a new line, I think that I have now done everything possible to rule out line problems in my home. To complete my ADSL education, could any of the 'wise men' on this forum help me understand this page from my router log? Sadly, the only explanation that I can find is in German. I really should have tried harder at school.

This snapshot is taken with all DECT phones turned off and a single corded extension phone. With a DECT phone on, there is no noticeable difference in the analysis.

[Steve]

There's a better explanation than I can give.

http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/25732/25722/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#25722

[Polchraine]

Thanks again for all the advice. I read somewhere that ADSL is more of an 'art' rather than a 'science'. Short of digging a 1Km trench to my exchange and putting in a new line, I think that I have now done everything possible to rule out line problems in my home. To complete my ADSL education, could any of the 'wise men' on this forum help me understand this page from my router log? Sadly, the only explanation that I can find is in German. I really should have tried harder at school.

This snapshot is taken with all DECT phones turned off and a single corded extension phone. With a DECT phone on, there is no noticeable difference in the analysis.

That is quite a nice fairly clean plot.   It does not show any significant problems - an occasional Bin is missing but that happens and the dip around 900 -1100 kHz is common as there are a lot of MW radio stations in that area.

[Ardua]

Wow - I am learning a lot about something which a month ago was nothing more to me than 'plug and play'. My IP has just jumped from 7150 to 10000 - what a difference a day and filtered faceplate makes. With the higher connection speed I am seeing more router errors which I understand is normal. That said, I do not understand the difference between router and DSL exchange errors - the latter have increased significantly. Thanks again to everyone on this forum who gives up their time to help IT-challenged guys such as me.

[Ardua]

Me again - sorry guys. I now have a pretty stable connection rate of 11800/1078 - IP10000. That said, downstream CRC errors remain high. For convenience, I am still using a new Gigaset pair of DECT phones connected to an extension phone socket. As stated earlier, I now have a filtered NTE5 faceplate so I have removed all the dangly ADSL filters. Over the past week - with both a non-filtered and a filtered faceplate - I noticed that incoming PSTN calls were resulting in a short internet disconnect. One occurred 30 minutes ago when I was not at home. The only effect was a resync at a slightly increased rate. I imagine that the answer is that the incoming call is causing additional line noise which, in turn, is causing a higher CRC rate and a temporary loss of DSL sync or is there a more likely reason for what is happening. What, if anything, can I do about it?

[Glenn]

Get support & BT to take a look at the line, can the problem be reproduced by calling your number?

[Steve]

Have you discussed the problem with support as to me you've done all you can at your end. I wonder if a line fault is worth investigation?

[Ardua]

Thanks. I will give Support a call. My router logs all incoming calls as it is also a DECT base station. The timing of the incoming call and the DSL de-synch are exact match. I have also seen the DSL synch light flashing whilst the ring was ringing.

[Ardua]

I spoke to Support and they were keen for me to go through the whole Test Socket malarkey again. I thought about it some more and then I found some advice on Whirlpool.Au about noise on long and poor phone lines. The consensus seemed to be fit a 'double ADSL filter' to the phone line even where a filtered faceplate is already fitted. I did a 'before and after' test and it seems to be working. I post this in the hope that it might help others in a similar situation to me.

[Steve]

Thanks for the reply Ardua, Whirpool is a very good and active broadband forum.

[Rik]

They make good washing machines too.

[Ardua]

A long weekend and three disconnections later, IP is now down from 10K to 8K. No apparent reason for the disconnects. Different times of the day: no apparent loss of SNR, not related to incoming phone calls. A further disconnect this afternoon resulted in an increase in connection speed from 9942 to 12820 with a reduction in SNR from 17 to 11. The first time that downstream SNR has been below 15 in the 3 weeks that I have owned this particular router.

I contacted Support who proffered the view that I might have router/line incompatibility - a first for me (I am on my 3rd new router). I am about to run a Fritzbox router diagnostics test and send the results to AVM for review once I know what parameters the test records. I have disconnected just about everything short of the kitchen sink to rule out RF interference.

Grateful for any thoughts on what might be going on.

[Rik]

I think we've had a case of a Fritzbox problem before with ADSL2+, but I can't put my finger on the thread right now. Certainly, some routers are incompatible with some MSANs.

[Ardua]

It is time to close out this thread with an update which may be of help to others who experience similar issues in the future. Sixty Seven days on from my upgrade to ADSL2+, I now seem (tempting fate/fingers crossed) to have a stable connection with a static downstream SNR of 7 with a connection rate of 12/1.1Mbps IP 10000. I can now claim 9 days of solid connection with a very low CRC rate - both upstream and downstream: this is 3 times better than I could claim 10 days ago! Yesterday, Support connected me to say that they have done some further research and they could limit my upstream to 800 or 448. However, collectively we have decided that as my line appears to more stable it is probably best to leave things as they are even if the downstream is less than predicted. It will be interesting to see what happens after my Exchange's PEW next week. If I experience frequent losses of synchronization in the future, then I have 3 options: (1) Update my router with beta firmware which has quote an improved ADSL pump unquote; (2) wait for the planned firmware formal release in Jun/Jul or (3) ask IDNet to limit my upstream and then see what happens. Come what may, I grateful to Support for the time and effort that has gone into addressing my concerns.

If I have learnt one thing about an ADSL upgrade it is this. Treat it like gardening - prepare the ground first. Put in a filtered faceplate and find a way to connect to the Master socket. ADSL2+ is quick to respond to losses of synchronization and v...ery slow to catch up once line conditions change.

And finally, thanks to Rik et al for their patience and well-considered and knowledgeable advice.

[Rik]

Thanks for the update. Nice analogy that, I'm just off to water my router.

[pctech]

careful not to over do it though as it could just sync.

[Rik]

[pctech]