Speedtest

[Rik]

The speed is what I'd expect for the line, Lona - what are your router stats right now?

The profile will take up to five days to catch up, I'm afraid - BT rules.

[Sebby]

Well, something has changed significantly since the other day as you are now sync'ing at full speed as you should be. Unfortunately, the profile is still stuck at 135k, so it's going to be slow for a few days.

Keep an eye on the stats, Lona. If the sync drops again, there is an intermittent fault with your line I would think.

[Lona]

I'm thinking that myself, Sebby, as speed is fluctuating. It seems ok at the moment.

[Lona]

Latest speedtest............................

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 288 kbps(UP-STREAM)  3520 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 90 kbps

[Rik]

Your line is badly faulty, Lona - IDNet need to take a look. That profile will struggle to recover with that much variation in sync. What else is plugged in?

[Lona]

There is nothing plugged into the socket I'm using.

On main socket there is just the phone and sky.  I have pulled out the main phone connection but it makes no difference.

Here's my latest stats........................

ADSL Current Status Table     
Item    Value
ADSL Line Type    GDMT
ADSL Line Coding    INTERLEAVED
Line Attenuation    (Down):23  (Up):10
Noise Margin    (Down):6  (Up):6
Total Output Power    (Down):0  (Up):0
Current Rate    DownStr: 3776(K)  UpStr: 192(K)
ADSL Line Status    UP
FEC(FAST)    (Near):0  (Far):0
FEC(INTERL)    (Near):846200  (Far):122030
CRC(FAST)    (Near):0  (Far):0
CRC(INTERL)    (Near):287  (Far):0
HEC(FAST)    (Near):0  (Far):0
HEC(INTERL)    (Near):19516  (Far):0
Showtime last(sec)    286
ADSL_FW_Version    0.49
ADSL_Board_Type    Annex A

[Rik]

Do things improve if you disconnect the Sky box (for an extended period)? You only really need it plugged in if you have a multi-room contract.

These stats worry me though:

Noise Margin    (Down):6  (Up):6
Total Output Power    (Down):0  (Up):0
Current Rate    DownStr: 3776(K)  UpStr: 192(K)

[Sebby]

Yep, something is seriously, seriously wrong. You've got a good line in terms of attenuation, but sync is fluctuating wildly. Get onto IDNet tomorrow and let them raise this.

[Lona]

I've emailed them and asked them to look at this thread.

[Sebby]

[Lona]

Update

Phoned Idnet this morning and spoke to James. 

He confirmed that my line was dropping connection but knowing what tact BT use he advised me to have the router checked first as BT would charge me £150 if it turned out to be the router.

I'm going to a friends house later to test the router on her connection and if all is well then it is definitely a BT fault.

[Rik]

Sound advice from James, Lona - that price was plus VAT too!

[Sebby]

It is good advice. It could be the router, but I still suspect the line.

[LesD]

I don't have an NTE5 socket but have never had problems before.  I have all the necessary splitters in place and their is no background noise coming from my phone.

Yesterday I had to reboot the reuter to get a connection. I'm just wondering if it could be a faulty router I have.

Between faulty graphic cards and maybe a faulty router,

Thunder storms, switching surges on the mains electricity supply are among things that could explain one on two issues showing up together. A year or so ago after my mains supply cut in and out a number of times in relatively quick succession I had the LAN port on my motherboard give up. A PCI LAN card got me going again but the were also some software issue that made me consider an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) but I never did get one.

Maybe you do have a faulty router but maybe it could be a faulty ADSL Filter (Splitter) instead.

With all other telephony devices unplugged unplug all the filters too. Like this your router can plug into your Master Socket without a filter if you have an adapter. If not try connecting the router via different ADSL filters.

Since you do not have the split type NTE5 Master Socket it is unlikely but not impossible that any extension wiring has been run from the back of the socket this being illegal for anyone other than a BT engineer to do. That said I have been known to break the speed limit in my car on an odd occasion and that's illegal too so you never know.


So with the router plugged in as I have suggested above it eliminates as much as you can including the ADSL filters.

The quality of filters is variable and they do fail.

It is good that there is no hiss on your telephone but there is also BT's Quiet Line Test.

The quote below is from a post on The scream

Unplug any extention phones, extention cables, answer machines or fax (anything except the phone you will use to do the test!).

Plug a normal touch tone phone directly into the BT master socket BT's Quiet Line test too.

Dial 17070, press option 2 (quiet line test)

You should hear 'Quiet Line Test' and then silence, there should be no pops, clicks, whistles, buzzing etc. If there is noise on the line, make sure it's not your phones connection to the socket (wiggle it about a bit) and that you are using the master socket. If you are sure its the line making the noise then dial BT (or WorldOnline) and report the fault, they should be able to sort it out. Remember that 'mis-reporting' a fault (e.g. if it turns out to be your phone, extention cord etc.) may be charged a call-out fee by BT

[Lona]

I'm back from my friends house and router is well and truly knackered.

I'm using my old speedtouch modem to connect for now until I find another router.

What a carry on I had trying to find a driver for it but eventually got there in the end.

I'm so glad I didn't get BT involved.

I must do a speedcheck while using this modem and see what the results are.

[Sebby]

When you say it's knackered, was the situation the same on your friend's line?

[Lona]

Yes, Sebby.  I could get a lan connection but no internet connection.

[Sebby]

Did it sync, though?

[David]

Glad you saved the cost of a call out Lona.I have a spare and you are more than welcome 

[Sebby]

The reason I ask is because if it sync'd but there was no internet, it's probably just that your IDNet details wouldn't work on another line, and so the router may not be faulty, and it could well be the line still as originally suspected...

[Lona]

The reason I ask is because if it sync'd but there was no internet, it's probably just that your IDNet details wouldn't work on another line, and so the router may not be faulty, and it could well be the line still as originally suspected...

I put my friends username and password for her isp into my router, Sebby. I got the same connection as on my own.  Lan but no internet.

Reconnected her own router and there wasn't any problems whatsoever on her PC.

With the conditions I was getting at the week-end, it would appear that the router has finally given up the ghost.

If it was BT then this old modem I'm using just now would not be connecting either.

[Sebby]

Okay, good, that pretty much confirms it, then.

What are you sync'd at with the SpeedTouch, just out of interest? 8,128k, I hope.

[Simon]

You could look for a Speedtouch 585 v6 on eBay, Lona, or perhaps a 2700HGV?

[Sebby]

585v6 gets my vote.

[Lona]

  Out of curiosity, I connected up my router today as it was just possible I hadn't put the correct settings into my friends connection.

Router is working perfectly and I've just done a speedtest on BT.  Here is the results................



Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    Your DSL connection rate: 8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM),  448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
    IP profile for your line is - 6500 kbps
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 5919 kbps

Is it possible leaving the router overnight then connecting it back up again helped or was it a BT fault in the beginning.

Thing is I've ordered a new router from Amazon.