Training

Dangerjunkie · Apr 11, 2008, 20:26:50

I'm at home but I'm on VM at the mo. Only my laptop in my office is on IDNet right now.

I'm going to change the house network over when I get the time. It's going to be a bit of a job tho as I'm overdue for changing the IP subnet and I need to reconfigure all the statics and rewrite my DNS zone files.

Rik · Apr 11, 2008, 20:27:50

You had me worried, I could see it was a VM connection and I was beginning to think something had gone wrong...

Simon · Apr 11, 2008, 22:44:34

Great news, DJ!

Dangerjunkie · Apr 12, 2008, 08:50:09

Nothing wrong here

*logs in from a real address*

I can't believe how much better "real" 2meg is than "pretend" 4meg. Syncing lower this morning at just about 5100. Should still end up with a heathly profile at the end

Cheers,
Paul.

Rik · Apr 12, 2008, 09:15:38

You seem to be looking at a 4000k profile, Paul, so may actually get what VM merely promised.

Sebby · Apr 12, 2008, 10:57:07

Yep, you'll probably find that the SNRM deteriorated too much at night so the router re-sync'd. A sync of ~5100k is good and will give you a 4000k (or if it improves a bit more a 4500k) profile.

Dangerjunkie · Apr 12, 2008, 17:58:20

Quote from: Rik on Apr 12, 2008, 09:15:38
You seem to be looking at a 4000k profile, Paul, so may actually get what VM merely promised.

Thanks guys

NTL were good, I used to max my modem out to 4meg with almost any download from a major site. Ever since VM took over things have got rapidly worse. My hypothesis is that they started upgrading everyone to higher speeds for no extra charge and offering the 20meg "fastest broadband in Britain" package. Unfortunately they didn't seem to have enough money from what the subscribers were paying to upgrade their network to cope with the traffic that the kind of people that buy a 20meg package will generate. Either that or the marketing people didn't bother to ask the engineers (no surprise there really) what the infrastructure could actually support.

The result... Yesterday my stats were down to 11kbps down and 64k up for a period and I don't think I've seen over 500k down in the last month. Everything is getting throttled and they still want to introduce Phorm to try and make enough money to stay afloat. Thank Mark Shuttleworth (or a deity of your choice) I'm out of there as soon as my IDNet training is done.

Cheers,
Paul.

Rik · Apr 12, 2008, 18:01:07

I think you're right, Paul, like the other big ISPs they sold capacity they didn't have and hoped no-one would notice.

Danni · Apr 13, 2008, 03:55:17

Quote from: Dangerjunkie on Apr 12, 2008, 17:58:20
Thank Mark Shuttleworth (or a deity of your choice) I'm out of there as soon as my IDNet training is done.

Ubuntu user as well? Or just liking African spacemen?

Dangerjunkie · Apr 13, 2008, 07:44:39

hehehe... Kubuntu Gutsy on my laptops and Debian Etch on my server.

I can't worship Steve Jobs but I don't own a Mac or an iPhone.

Tacitus · Apr 13, 2008, 10:27:26

Quote from: Dangerjunkie on Apr 13, 2008, 07:44:39
I can't worship Steve Jobs but I don't own a Mac or an iPhone.

I use Macs because they work (Unix underneath), not because I worship Steve Jobs.

That said I need to have a WinTel box for occasional work use. I was thinking of putting in another drive and having a play with either Kubuntu or Suse, which is the one the local LUG suggest. Suse (Novell) is a little bit tainted though by its association with the evil empire..

Dangerjunkie · Apr 13, 2008, 11:37:13

Hi,

I'd give Kubuntu a go. I've never been totally sure about the Kubuntu CD. I always install Ubuntu (comes with the Gnome window manager which is a little more like Mac than Windows) then install the package "kubuntu-desktop" in the package manager. (then select "kdm" as the login manager when it prompts you.) That way you'll have both Gnome and KDE (which looks a litle more like Windows and doesn't frighten converts) and you can try them both out and decide which you like more.

Training update: Just starting day 3 and my profile just lifted to 4000. Things are good

Good luck,
Paul.

Sebby · Apr 13, 2008, 11:38:10

Quote from: Dangerjunkie on Apr 13, 2008, 11:37:13
Training update: Just starting day 3 and my profile just lifted to 4000. Things are good

Danni · Apr 14, 2008, 00:47:23

I've never had problems with the Kubuntu CD. Installing Ubuntu then adding KDE just clutters up my menus and drive with programs I don't want. That's my personal experience though (used Kubuntu for a couple of years now).

Dangerjunkie · Apr 16, 2008, 03:05:03

Hi,

I think I'm seeing some instability. My download sync rate goes up to 5200, stays there for 48 hours then my profile goes up to 4500 to match. The next night the sync seems to drop down to low 4000s and my profile goes down to 3500.

Is there anything I can do to stabilise this? I'm using a Draytek Vigor 110 and a Netscreen firewall and I can't seem to work out how to get the stats out of the modem yet.

Thanks,
Paul.

Rik · Apr 16, 2008, 08:27:11

It sounds like a classic noisy line issue. How many phone sockets do you have and what's connected to them? Do you use any extension leads? Have you removed the ring wire from terminal 3 on all sockets (if you have more than 1)? I've not found the Drayteks to be the best modems for Max.

Sebby · Apr 16, 2008, 08:31:59

As Rik says really. Removal of the ring wire may help, or a filtered faceplate if feasible. A new router could also be the answer (the 2Wire 2700HGV is probably the best at the moment).

Dangerjunkie · Apr 16, 2008, 09:32:41

Hi,

I'm starting to wonder if the speedtester is telling me porkies. Last night it reported my profile was higher than my sync rate and today everything is back as it was with no hit on my profile due to the lower reported sync last night.

I have a brand new NTE5A socket with an ADSLNation XTE2005 faceplate and a modem cable made from CAT5. I haven't connected the extensions yet and there's a single (cr*ppy) phone plugged into the voice port on the master socket.

I chose the DrayTek because I needed a device that could be used as a modem rather than something that always did NAT internally.

Cheers,
Paul.

Rik · Apr 16, 2008, 09:38:45

It is possible to have a 'stuck high' profile, Paul. They're rare, but they do happen. The other possibility was that the lower speed didn't last long enough to trigger a change in profile.

Given the wiring you have, any noise issue should be external, so whether anything can be done about it will depend on what your FTR is set to.