End of tether fast approaching - poor voice/ADSL line

db298 · Jul 16, 2007, 22:17:59

I'm an IDNet customer who recently moved home across our village. In my last house I was about 700 meters away from our exchange in an early 1970's house. With IDNet I was getting superb speeds - often 750k/s download at full chat (sadly I didn't record my line stats). The new house is a mid-80s property which is only 281 meters from the exchange! However, when my line got activated I immediately noticed that speeds were no-where near as good. I tend to get 200-300k/s even though my router syncs at anything up to 5500kbps...

I've ripped out all of the extensions that were in the property and I'm plugged directly into the master socket. I've tried three different microfilters, and am currently on the highly acclaimed ADSL Nation XTE-2005.

The other problem we have which I'm sure is related is that we have unbearable whistling and crackling on the voice line - pretty much to the point of unusability.

When I remove the router from the socket the noise problems do get better, but don't go away completely. I reported the problem to BT who sent an engineer around, but as soon as he got reasonable results with just a voice line into the master socket he basically left it at that and told me to take things up with my ISP.

I took things back to IDNet and they said three weeks ago that my MBR had been set to 2MB and that they would "pass the case to BT wholesale", but despite prompting I've heard nothing since...

Entertainingly I can't even complete a BT speedtest because it reports an error and tells me to contact my provider!

I'm concerned that I'm going to drop 'between the cracks' between IDNet and BT

Frankly from the symptoms I'd say there seems to be issues with my ADSL hardware, as that's when the real problems start. However, how can that be possible?! It's the same router, and was the same microfilter. I expected everything to only be better, but it's soooo much worse.

For reference, my stats from the router are:

adslctl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime Channel: INTR, Upstream rate = 448 Kbps, Downstream rate = 534
4 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode: G.DMT
Channel: Interleave
Trellis: ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 6.6 18.0
Attn(dB): 21.5 10.0
Pwr(dBm): 19.8 12.5
Max(Kbps): 5920 1000
Rate (Kbps): 5344 448

Has anyone else had similar issues, can anyone suggest a course of action?!

Lance · Jul 16, 2007, 22:49:06

Do you notice the connection drop sync at all? It could be a low sync event causing you a low profile.

As you've done all the internal wiring, the only things i can think of are try new hardware (possibly borrow some if you can), try a new filter and take it up with support. If you are sure it's a problem with external wiring, which seems likely as you have noise on the phone in the master, support can get a adsl trained bt engineer to take a look at your line. Be warned though, if he finds no fault, you won't find much change from £200.

One last thought, i assume that as it is a old house, you don't have a NTE5 type master socket? Thats the type where the bottom third of the faceplate detaches.

One further last thought(!), have you tried removing the ring wire (normally orange/white) from terminal 3 in all pockets, including the master? Sometimes, removing that can work wonders!

Hope this helps!

db298 · Jul 16, 2007, 23:05:58

Lance,

Thanks for the quick response.

I think I'd find it hard to find a spare ADSL modem from anyone. I have borrowed a couple of filters and hence I've tried three different ones already - the one that came with my router, a second from a friend, and then the ADSL Nation :http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php which replaces the bottom half of the BT NTE-5 master socket.

Is a mid 80's house considered an 'old house'?! I thought it was quite new! We certainly do have an NTE5 as identified previously. I don't think I can remove any wires, because I just have the master socket and nothing else?

db298 · Jul 17, 2007, 00:12:28

PS. Have even tried 'double bagging' my microfilters tonight (!!) ie. putting a second filter on the phone that plugs into the XTE2005, but the noise is still there

DorsetBoy · Jul 17, 2007, 06:08:39

Is there any noise on the line with just a phone ,no adsl connected?

Looking at the stats you have interleaving on which suggests very strongly that there is a line problem.

db298 · Jul 17, 2007, 08:00:55

When I have just a phone the noise certainly improves, although doesn't seem to go away entirely.

I don't know what interleaving is?

Out of interest, the message I get from the BT Speedtest is:

QuoteUnexpected result received when querying the network to find your services connection details. Please try again shortly, but if this problem persists raise the issue with your service provider.

Lance · Jul 17, 2007, 08:09:18

Interleaving is a method used by BT to ensure data accuracy over lines which the equipment detects of being of a questionable quality. It typically adds 20-40ms onto your ping.

The message from the speedtester is, most likely, because it is busy. It seems to be getting harder and harder to find a time it's not busy, but generally early morning or very late night seem best.

db298 · Jul 17, 2007, 11:28:24

I've had a busy message as well, but that's a different message.

Rik · Jul 17, 2007, 11:30:15

Although there is a busy message from the BT tester, it's common to get another error instead, eg it can't validate your details.

db298 · Jul 23, 2007, 16:58:35

BT ADSL engineer coming on Wednesday, courtesy of arrangement by IDNet who got back to me at the end of last week.

I'm not just crossing my fingers, it's also toes and everything else...

Rik · Jul 23, 2007, 17:08:17

Let us know how you get on.

db298 · Jul 25, 2007, 13:08:07

Result! Yippee

Let this be a message of encouragement to anyone struggling to sort out line issues.

My wife let the BT ADSL engineer in today. He apparently went in and out of the house a number of times (after initially expressing concern because it wasn't the original NTE5 faceplate) then eventually told her that there were "scrimps" (her memory of what he said!) in the line down the road.

The voice line is excellent, and my line stats are already:

Quote
Status: Showtime Channel: INTR, Upstream rate = 448 Kbps, Downstream rate = 8096 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode: G.DMT
Channel: Interleave
Trellis: ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 12.6 24.0
Attn(dB): 20.0 8.5
Pwr(dBm): 19.8 12.4
Max(Kbps): 9856 1208
Rate (Kbps): 8096 448

That's connecting in over Remote Desktop, and I don't know whether the router has been power cycled yet. I imagine once the line settles, and perhaps if I get IDNet to review my MBR, things should get even better.

Once colleague has also pointed out that the rest of my street should also be pleased if any of them have ADSL

I can't say how chuffed I am, after being told by BT that the problem had to be my equipment...

Inactive · Jul 25, 2007, 13:12:33

Great news, well done.

db298 · Jul 25, 2007, 13:15:29

PS. Do you think I should NOT have interleave on now, and if now, how do I remove it?

Lance · Jul 25, 2007, 13:25:41

Excellent news!

To remove interleaving, simply email/phone support, explain you had a fault which BT have now fixed and ask for it to be turned off.

One thing to bear in mind is that it will take 3 full days for your profile (which limits your throughput speed) to realign to your new sync.

old Bill · Jul 26, 2007, 11:13:05

BT must be on a roll. I recently had some speed problems. BT came out and found at long last that a underground junction was a bit water logged. Now syn at over 5K.

Its only taken them a year and 3 ISPs to get it sorted.

Rik · Jul 26, 2007, 11:22:48

If it rains long enough, even BT will notice it's wet Bill.