On Sat, 27 May 2006, Benje wrote:
> posted previously before I was moved to MaxDsl worrying about my current
> router info (Remember this was from before the upgrade to MaxDsl)
>
> Downstream Upstream
> SNR Margin 21.3 29.0 dB
> Line Attenuation 52.9 27.5 dB
[...]
> Data Rate 1152 288 kbps
> Latency FAST FAST
Strange that the attenuation there seems quite a bit higher than you
were more recently reporting, but, if we plug the above figures into
http://212.23.23.177/calc.asp then it does suggest that you might have
expected to get around 4M on Max.
Which indeed you say you've seen at some stage...
> So above is the data from my router before moving to maxdsl and the
> last 9 speed tests I did at this connection speed showed a solid
> 970Kbps d/l +/- 50 Kbps
OK...
> Well it was upgraded about 4 weeks ago, however as I work away a lot
> of the time I couldnt really put an exact time on when the speeds
> took a turn for the worse, it was only today when I checked my
> router.
At any rate you've had the first 10 days of initial tuning, and a
couple of weeks thereafter...
> > I've *never* seen a "rock solid" series of speed test results.
> > Every one is different, and they can vary over a factor of more
> > than 3 from one test to another.
>
> I've never had them differ by a factor of three before, see above
> the last 9 before the upgrade were all within approx 50Kbps of each
> other.
OK, fair do's - looking at my throughput tests at plusnet over the
past month or so, I see figures ranging from 1089.8 to 3979.3. Now,
admittedly the highest figures are from linux, which for me always
returns rather better results than win2k; but I've certainly got
figures around 3400 in there with win2k.
> > > and now plusnets speed test is reporting a mere 700Kbps :-(
> >
> > But first, what's your BRAS report saying?
> >
> > According to the handy table in http://www.aaisp.net.uk/maxatm.html
> > your line speed of 1760 should qualify you for a BRAS setting of
> > 1.5M. What does Plusnet say to you at
> > https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=stable_rate ?
>
> Didnt know that existed,
Unless they've screwed up your control panel, I reckon that on your
connection settings panel at
https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=myconnection , you should find
an inscrutable icon labelled "High-speed broadband" which takes you to
the URL which is confusingly called "stable_rate" - but in fact
displays the BRAS setting which Plusnet are notified by BT.
At first I thought it was the "max stable rate" (MSR), but that's
*not* so. Quite why Plusnet chose such a confusingly-named URL, and
made no mention of the term BRAS in their page, is left as an exercise
for the student...
> that reports 200Kbps.
Oops. Only two *hundred* k ? I didn't know that was possible.
The recommendation in /that/ case is to restart your line, at
least once a day, for three days. But this isn't your only problem!
This still doesn't explain why your actual ADSL line speed is so
low, based on your figures from earlier.
> doing another test just came in at around 100 Kbps
I'd say you're being throttled by that BRAS setting.
> > > When I was upgraded it was synching at 4mbps but now it has
> > > slowly got worse and worse!
> >
> > Well, that's quite a different story, isn't it? Can you really
> > not tell the difference between the ADSL line speed and the
> > speed-tester throughput? With the SNR margin of 10.9dB that you
> > reported above, there is *no way* you could get a working 4M line
> > speed.
>
> Obviously not, although it was showing it connecting at 4mbps,
Quite.
> stupid me hey for actually thinking the connection speed would = max
> download rates.
No, it definitely won't be "equal" - I've got a line speed of a bit
over 6,000, a BRAS setting of 5500, and on good days I get download
tester speeds of around 3,000, as I said.
But *do* stop obsessing about the throughput tester, until the more
fundamental problem with your line quality has been addressed.
That's my best advice.
I said before:
> > you need to be looking at least for any local line problems which
> > have developed.
- and I stand by that opinion, even though it now seems (on seeing
your BRAS rate) that you may have *two* problems.
You need to start at the right place, and work up. Your line speed,
as I say, is roughly what you would expect - just a bit low - for the
present line quality that you reported here, *but* it's much less than
your previous parameters suggested. So, I would say your own evidence
shows that something has definitely gone wrong in the weeks after you
were Max-ed, and *that* needs investigating: they will ask you to
troubleshoot that anyway before accepting that the line is failing.
If you can eliminate problems (faulty local wiring, faulty filters,
faulty ADSL router etc.) at your end then maybe there's a line
problem. Read up on other postings where folks have done
troubleshooting in their local wiring, filters, and other kit.
Until that's been looked into, it's not obvious what to do about your
BRAS setting; but if you've no objection, then restarting the line at
least once a day for a few days might help. It's not going to solve
the problem, but it might get you better throughput while you're
working on the primary problem. Read the advice already posted often
enough before by others.
The technology is the same as is described at
http://www.aaisp.net.uk/maxmagic.html , if you want some technical
background.
> However I dont see the problem with wanting to move back,
If you're developing a faulty line, or whatever reason there is that
you've lost such a massive amount of SNR margin, then it needs to be
fixed!
> I remember the line being alot more stable previoulsy,
Very likely; but hankering after changing back to a fixed rate isn't
going to repair whatever it is that's going defective. If you insist
on doing so, as I say, you'd only be wasting your own time, as well as
anyone else's who'd be involved, and you would be no nearer to solving
your fault. If you've got a fault, report the *fault*, with proper
details: don't try to pre-judge the *solution*.
Indeed you've said yourself that you -have- seen 4Mbit/s.
Get on with troubleshooting what you've got, is my advice. You could
try the Plusnet online "Broadband Fault Checker", if you want to get
started with reporting a fault. It'll start you off with much the
same local troubleshooting that I recommended, I think you're going to
find.
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