O2 LLU quoted speed vs actual

Moved over from BT and I've pretty happy thus far. However, the initial line check quoted around 10mbs, although looking at the router stats:

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,191 / 8,516

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 21.0 / 39.5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 10.0 / 8.5

-it's more around 8.5, is this likely to stay at this speed?

Are you on Standard or Premium ?

When did you first connect ?

To me your speed looks about right for the reported attenuation although you may squeeze a little more by optimising your internal wiring. For reference I currently get ~ 11Mbps with a reported 37dB attenuation.

As you have a noise margin of 8.5dB I'd hazard a guess that you originally synced up during the hours of darkness when AM radio interference was at its highest. If you resync it during the day it may go a bit faster but maybe won't hold sync overnight and you'd then be back where you started.

You would probably be better off trading down to standard unless there was a big cashback difference when you signed making that not worthwhile.

---

If you can't fix it with a hammer you've got an electrical problem.

In reply to a post by kwikbreaks:

To me your speed looks about right for the reported attenuation although you may squeeze a little more by optimising your internal wiring. For reference I currently get ~ 11Mbps with a reported 37dB attenuation.

As you have a noise margin of 8.5dB I'd hazard a guess that you originally synced up during the hours of darkness when AM radio interference was at its highest. If you resync it during the day it may go a bit faster but maybe won't hold sync overnight and you'd then be back where you started.

You would probably be better off trading down to standard unless there was a big cashback difference when you signed making that not worthwhile.

I agree with your thought about an original night-time connection and therefore a low sync. I think that is where wonderob was heading if he got a reply that confirmed it.

However given that the noise margin had only rised to 8.5dB I see no problem so far with a faster daytime sync holding.

Even my O2 box and Speeedtouch 585v6 held down to 3dB, and I see posts saying many do better. Netgears of course generally hold down to 0dB.

I think the OP needs to see how things go for a few days - with a daytime sync.

Bob's broadband help site:
www.robertos.me.uk
ISP history: Demon dialup >> Freeserve dialup >> BT Broadband >> Prodigynet >> Newnet >> O2 Standard.
Purple Cloud for domain, email and web space.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Even my O2 box and Speeedtouch 585v6 held down to 3dB, and I see posts saying many do better. Netgears of course generally hold down to 0dB.

It's odd that routers choose to re-synch before hitting 0 dB. I thought the noise margin was the amount of noise "buffer" left before synch cannot be held for the current speed. I suppose it's possible an unrecorded spike hits it and pushes it below 0 dB. My TG585 holds the line very well with a target margin of 3 dB, despite drifting to around 1.5 dB on occasion. I do have a good line though.

Oliver.
O2 Help

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

It's odd that routers choose to re-synch before hitting 0 dB. I thought the noise margin was the amount of noise "buffer" left before synch cannot be held for the current speed. I suppose it's possible an unrecorded spike hits it and pushes it below 0 dB. My TG585 holds the line very well with a target margin of 3 dB, despite drifting to around 1.5 dB on occasion. I do have a good line though.

Yes, you're right. It's apparently to do with the measurement and averaging of the margin on each tone at sync time, so I suppose it is something to do with the noise profile of each particular line. That would account for different people's experiences, as I'm fairly sure others have commented like me.

As I said, both my 585s were the same. All three 834s hold/held at 0dB. Some people swear by 585s holding on long lines. [shrug].

It's not a question of noise spikes, I had enough time with all my routers to notice anything like that.

Bob's broadband help site:
www.robertos.me.uk
ISP history: Demon dialup >> Freeserve dialup >> BT Broadband >> Prodigynet >> Newnet >> O2 Standard.
Purple Cloud for domain, email and web space.

Thanks for the reply guys. I'm on premium –my line was activated on the 14th around 5pm.
I'll try re-sync during the day tomorrow.

edit: Just checked now and then noise has dropped.

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,191 / 8,516

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 21.0 / 39.5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 6.0 / 4.5

Edited by blankets (Wed 23-Dec-09 22:49:16)

Try re-synching the router between 10am and 12 noon......it will probably get you at least 10,000kbps rather than 8500kbps

In reply to a post by wonderob:

Try re-synching the router between 10am and 12 noon......it will probably get you at least 10,000kbps rather than 8500kbps

Would you very kindly explain why you think that's the best time, please? I find I get the best results if I re-synch before 8am. If I leave it until after 10am I get a noticeably slower connection. I had the impression that it's better to re-synch at a time when fewer people in the UK are online. Many thanks.

SNRM, particularly during Winter, can decrease after sunset and increase after sunrise.

In general, the least interference is between 8am and 6pm but in Winter with street lighting etc switching on earlier the period of least interference is between 10am and 2pm.

If you run Routerstats or similar you will see the SNRM movement. For example mine was at 5.5dB at 0630h but now at 1030h it's at 8dB (on a Target SNR of 9dB).

To my knowledge the number of people online has little influence.