ADSL contention rates

Just moved and I've taken my ADSL with me. I'm on Nildram's 1mbit
service and they very kindly moved me without extra charge which is
brilliant. At my old address, I would regularly get download speeds
pushing over 125kb a sec. Problem is, my new property gives me speeds
~90kb a sec (max) and this is a bit of a pain. I could be waiting 33%
less time for my files to download...

I've reported this to Nildram and they kindly got someone from BT to
call me. The long and short of this is that BT believe that it's a
contention issue and if I were to upgrade to the 2mbit service, I'd
most likely get a better contention ratio and so closer to what I'm
paying for. My problem is that I don't believe this is correct. BT's
testing was very brief (just using the speed checker on the ZDNet
website @ about 6pm). Speed testing has become an obsession for me and
I used the Nildram one regularly until they passworded it. I tried it
at a variety of times (2pm, 3am, 5pm, etc) and would always get around
840kpbs regardless of time. Surely this would be variable if it was
indeed a contention issue?

The house I've moved into is a Victorian property and some of the
wiring is 'DIY' from previous owners (inc. some of the extensions). I
can't get NTL @ the address because the road isn't wide enough for
their equipment. It'd cost me £35 to regrade to the 2mbit service,
plus the extra rental and £35 to downgrade to the 1mbit service if it
does turn out that 840kpbs is the best my property can do. What do you
think I should do?

James wrote:
> Just moved and I've taken my ADSL with me. I'm on Nildram's 1mbit
> service and they very kindly moved me without extra charge which is
> brilliant. At my old address, I would regularly get download speeds
> pushing over 125kb a sec. Problem is, my new property gives me
> speeds ~90kb a sec (max) and this is a bit of a pain. I could be
> waiting 33% less time for my files to download...
>
> I've reported this to Nildram and they kindly got someone from BT to
> call me. The long and short of this is that BT believe that it's a
> contention issue and if I were to upgrade to the 2mbit service, I'd
> most likely get a better contention ratio and so closer to what I'm
> paying for. My problem is that I don't believe this is correct. BT's
> testing was very brief (just using the speed checker on the ZDNet
> website @ about 6pm). Speed testing has become an obsession for me
> and I used the Nildram one regularly until they passworded it. I
> tried it at a variety of times (2pm, 3am, 5pm, etc) and would
> always get around 840kpbs regardless of time. Surely this would be
> variable if it was indeed a contention issue?
>
> The house I've moved into is a Victorian property and some of the
> wiring is 'DIY' from previous owners (inc. some of the extensions).
> I can't get NTL @ the address because the road isn't wide enough for
> their equipment. It'd cost me £35 to regrade to the 2mbit service,
> plus the extra rental and £35 to downgrade to the 1mbit service if
> it does turn out that 840kpbs is the best my property can do. What
> do you think I should do?


Find the main socket, disconnect your extensions & try from there & see if
it's any better (which I doubt).

Try & arrange for a engineer to visit to run tests (no not speed test but
line tests) as you may have a SNR problem, which may (or maynot) be curable
depending on where the problem is being caused....

"Kráftéé" <kraftee@spam_off_&_die_ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Mnenc.674$(E-Mail Removed)...

> Find the main socket, disconnect your extensions & try from there & see if
> it's any better (which I doubt).
>
> Try & arrange for a engineer to visit to run tests (no not speed test but
> line tests) as you may have a SNR problem, which may (or maynot) be
curable
> depending on where the problem is being caused....

Cheers for the tip Kráftéé - done as above and no improvement. Will go back
to Nildram and see if I get a line test from BT! Thx

On 6 May 2004 04:12:04 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (James) wrote:

>Just moved and I've taken my ADSL with me. I'm on Nildram's 1mbit
>service and they very kindly moved me without extra charge which is
>brilliant. At my old address, I would regularly get download speeds
>pushing over 125kb a sec. Problem is, my new property gives me speeds
>~90kb a sec (max) and this is a bit of a pain. I could be waiting 33%
>less time for my files to download...

did you change exchange as well, and what Nildram product are you
using ?

Perhaps you had IPstream1000 before and are now on a Datastream
circuit, or maybe the new exchange is a congested one
http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

Phil

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 6 May 2004 04:12:04 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (James) wrote:
>
> >Just moved and I've taken my ADSL with me. I'm on Nildram's 1mbit
> >service and they very kindly moved me without extra charge which is
> >brilliant. At my old address, I would regularly get download speeds
> >pushing over 125kb a sec. Problem is, my new property gives me speeds
> >~90kb a sec (max) and this is a bit of a pain. I could be waiting 33%
> >less time for my files to download...
>
> did you change exchange as well, and what Nildram product are you
> using ?
>
> Perhaps you had IPstream1000 before and are now on a Datastream
> circuit, or maybe the new exchange is a congested one
> http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

Don't think I changed exchange now you mention it. Hadn't considered that
before... pretty certain it's officially 'something else' that's causing my
speed problems. That site says my exchange is ok as far as they know.
Cheers, this is all going into my email to Nildram

Am on dsl1000 BTW (Home).

On Sun, 9 May 2004 20:48:43 +0100, "James" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>this is all going into my email to Nildram

does your modem / router report the link speed, attenuation, SNR,
errored seconds, CRC errors etc. These would tell you the quality of
the link, which isn't likely to be the problem but should be
eliminated from your enquiries.

BT's ADSL links are setup to negotiate the speed they are supposed to
run at or to fail. Line quality ought not to impact speed beyond
making it zero.

Phil

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 9 May 2004 20:48:43 +0100, "James" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >this is all going into my email to Nildram
>
> does your modem / router report the link speed, attenuation, SNR,
> errored seconds, CRC errors etc. These would tell you the quality of
> the link, which isn't likely to be the problem but should be
> eliminated from your enquiries.
>
> BT's ADSL links are setup to negotiate the speed they are supposed to
> run at or to fail. Line quality ought not to impact speed beyond
> making it zero.
>
> Phil

I have the Nildram Netgear 834G running the latest firmware.

Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 1152 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 288 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38

Is all it shows AFAIK.

James wrote:
> "Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On Sun, 9 May 2004 20:48:43 +0100, "James" <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> this is all going into my email to Nildram
>>
>> does your modem / router report the link speed, attenuation, SNR,
>> errored seconds, CRC errors etc. These would tell you the quality
>> of the link, which isn't likely to be the problem but should be
>> eliminated from your enquiries.
>>
>> BT's ADSL links are setup to negotiate the speed they are supposed
>> to run at or to fail. Line quality ought not to impact speed beyond
>> making it zero.
>>
>> Phil
>
> I have the Nildram Netgear 834G running the latest firmware.
>
> Modem Status Connected
> DownStream Connection Speed 1152 kbps
> UpStream Connection Speed 288 kbps
> VPI 0
> VCI 38
>
> Is all it shows AFAIK.

Be interesting to see if you can access line loss & SNR reading though, try
digging a bit deeper...