Rural connection problem

[zappaDPJ]

This is not an IDNet related problem yet but it might become one.

A friend of mine lives in a rural area where the only option for broadband is ADSL. Up until November of last year his downstream was around 7MB. Since then it's hovered at around 1MB but his biggest issue is his latency, which can be as high as 10,000ms. I got him to set up a BQM. At first I thought he hadn't opened up his router to receive ping requests as the monitor was solid red but eventually we found that wasn't the case. The majority of the time it does show 100% packet loss even though he does have some throughput. Occasionally he gets the odd hour or two where the monitor looks more normal (as attached).

His router stats are:

Link Rate 8128 Kbps 448 Kbps
Attenuation 11.0dB 6.5dB
Noise Margin 11.4 dB 23.0 dB

A recent BT speedtest:

Download speed[IMG]achieved during the test was - 1.04 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds[IMG] is 0.4 Mbps-2 Mbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :8.13 Mbps(DOWN-STREAM), 0.45 Mbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2 Mbps

His current ISP has led him up the garden path for the last two months. He'd like to switch to IDNet but can't get a MAC and it appears that OFCOM no longer accept individual MAC complains from broadband users?

So can anyone see anything obviously wrong from the stats posted and does anyone know what can be done when your current ISP refuses to supply a MAC?

[Steve]

I think I can see something wrong with the modem stats, it's a short line with an attenuation of 11 I would expect his down stream margin to be higher. It's similar to what mine was on adslmax with double the attenuation, don't forget with a short line they default  6db margin is not relevant when you have a full sync. My suspicion is that there is some noise on this line however why is the IP profile only 2MB it's either stuck and needs unsticking or there are multiple resyncs occurring. Routerstats may be a good move if it supports the router.

[andrue]

At the very least the profile is way lower than it needs to be. That suggests major noise events on the line. As Steve wrote with an attenuation of 11db they must be pretty close to the exchange and should be getting a solid 8Mb sync (24Mb if it was available). In most cases the culprit here is internal wiring.

Ask your friend to follow these steps:

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm
http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t181.html

Noise can be external but with a line as short as that seems to be there's not much scope for it. 11db is going to be about 800 metres of cable. Probably doesn't even go through a PCP so that's two less joints than most lines.

[zappaDPJ]

Thanks to you both, I've passed on the info

[Steve]

I think as Andrue pointed out it's likely to be his side of the master socket ie ring wire, filters and router. Test socket with a new filter and router swap would be a good place to start. I also suspect Interleave will have been added but that shouldn't affect throughput too much.

[zappaDPJ]

What a farce this turned out to be. My friend's connection was originally with Nildram which became Tiscali and then TalkTalk. He's chased the problem daily for months via their Durban call centre. Openreach engineers have been booked but never seen and he still hasn't received a MAC.

Out of frustration my friend searched the net for a UK point of contact, found one and from there the whole thing unravelled. To cut a very long story short it turns out that Nildram customers became TalkTalk Business customers who operate somewhat independently of the residential service. None of the calls made to the Duban call centre were logged, no Openreach engineers were booked and it explains why no MAC was received. In short the call centre made it all up to get rid of him because he wasn't technically their customer!

Now to the fault. Apparently the fault is a known issue affecting everyone on a Nildram login. It's been ongoing for a couple of months but recently escalated to senior BT management who have pledged to have it resolved by the close of business today. My friend also found out that he's been paying £27 + VAT per month for a capped ADSL service, the cost being hidden within his phone package.

All in all I found the whole thing rather amusing

[Simon]

A potential IDNet customer, perhaps? 

[zappaDPJ]

I think so, assuming he can get a MAC... !

[Simon]

I have wondered what would happen should an ISP suddenly disappear, and be uncontactable.  Are there other ways to get a line 'released' under those circumstances?

[nowster]

I have wondered what would happen should an ISP suddenly disappear, and be uncontactable.  Are there other ways to get a line 'released' under those circumstances?

One trick might be to make an account change on the BT line which BT's system considers a "cease and reprovide". That used to be a nightmare for me at Zetnet as the ADSL would be automatically ceased about a week later. If the ISP uses LLU that trick might not work. BT OpenReach may even have fixed this "bug" now. I've not been in the ISP game for nearly four years now.

[Simon]

I'd be suprised if it's not already happened, but there has to be some sort of 'emergency exit', one would have though.