Ever decreasing downstream sync rate.

[Wooloff]

Sometime around the middle of last year I moved to ADSL+2 and it was great. I had a sync rate in the 13xxx and a download speed in the high 11mb range.

Over the last few months my downstream sync rate has been getting lower and lower, the upload rate has never changed from 1195.  It's now down to 7103 and I barely manage to get 6mb download speed. Now I know this is still a lot more than others can get but I don't see why it's got so slow lately. I'm struggling to stream video at times. I live in an area where the ADSL speeds are good. A friend on the same road as me on Sky BB has had no problems.

I have had very little in the way of stability issues and there have been no hardware or equipment changes.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things I can try? I'd like to try a new router first but I don't want to go out and buy one if there is no need. I'm not massively tech savvy but I've learnt a few things from browsing this forums over the last few years.

Router stats:

ADSL Link    Downstream    Upstream
Connection Speed    7103 kbps    1195 kbps
Line Attenuation    22 db    3.5 db
Noise Margin    13 db    5 db

Thanks for any help.

[.Griff.]

It would appear the DS noise margin has increased resulting in a lower sync rate than you had before. It would normally do this to try and counter any noise or instability on the line.

Do you experience a loss of sync very often? Is it feasible to plug the router (if it's not already) into the test socket and see what the line stats are then?

[Wooloff]

Thanks for the reply.

I could count the amount of times I've lost sync in the last 6 months on 1 hand but then I don't know about the times when I'm not using the net.

I only have 1 socket in the house but at the moment the router is connected to this socket via an extension lead. It's always been this way. I will try it with the router connected directly to the main socket.

I was toying with the idea of getting FTTC as it is available in my area but I'm not sure it will be worth it if my connection is not up to it.

Thanks the suggestion.

[Steve]

As Griff suggested I think you need to connect to the test socket which is located behind the removable faceplate on the master socket. Once you've done this check your stats and please post them here.

[Wooloff]

As Griff suggested I think you need to connect to the test socket which is located behind the removable faceplate on the master socket. Once you've done this check your stats and please post them here.

I'll try and get this done tomorrow and post the stats.

Thanks for the help guys.

[Wooloff]

Just connected the router to the test socket and the stats are pretty much the same,

ADSL Link    Downstream    Upstream
Connection Speed    7103 kbps    1227 kbps
Line Attenuation    22 db    2 db
Noise Margin    13 db    5 db

Do I need to leave the router off for longer than 5 minutes it took to move it?

[Steve]

I was hoping to see a higher margin on the test socket but sadly it's exactly the same,just to check your removed the front faceplate and connected to the connector behind yes? Something has upped your downstream margin to 12 and what we're looking for is any noise sources we can eliminate your side of the BT master socket i.e. ring or bell wires , poorly constructed extension cables, faulty filters etc.

Your downstream attenuation is low at 22 which means your near to the exchange and your connection should be performing better in ideal conditions.  The Sky BB is likely connected to sky LLU at the exchange so he/she won't suffer the vagaries of BT line management.

BT can apply a banded or capped profile to adsl2+ connection which throttles the downstream sync but unless they've updated these your sync doesn't fit into that category.

[Wooloff]

Yes, those stats were from the test socket connection.

I've had some luck today though. Picked up a cheap Belkin router of a chap at work for a tenner and these are the new stats with that router through the extension lead as my old router always was:
   
Downstream       Upstream
11041            1216
      
Noise margin
8.6                    7.4
   
Output power    
16.1                   11.5

Attenuation    
24.5                   13.8

Not quite as good as when I first got the service but I guess an early morning reconnection might help with that a little and I'm not sure how good this Belkin router is supposed to be. So it looks like my old Netgear router is on the way out.

Now I can't make my mind up whether to get a new router ot give FTTC a try.

Thanks for the help.
   

[Steve]

Thanks.The margin is still elevated at probably 9 which is better than 12 and of course your sync is looking much better, if you didn't change the adsl line filter  as well I guess the Netgear is at fault or it's PSU.

I don't think a reconnection or resync will improve things currently, what you need is a stable connection for a few days and then the BT DLM should drop the margin to 6 which will allow you to gain downstream sync.

[Wooloff]

Thanks.The margin is still elevated at probably 9 which is better than 12 and of course your sync is looking much better, if you didn't change the adsl line filter  as well I guess the Netgear is at fault or it's PSU.

I don't think a reconnection or resync will improve things currently, what you need is a stable connection for a few days and then the BT DLM should drop the margin to 6 which will allow you to gain downstream sync.

Thanks again for the advice. I tried a different filter and I tried the Belkin PSU on the Netgear router as well but there were no improvements with either.

I'll stick with this router for a couple of weeks and see how things go.