ADSL; ADSL2 or ADSL2+ Connections - Surprise Results

I live in a rural village about 3.5km from the BT exchange and fibre is not yet available for my address so I opted to join Plusnet ADSL. My Netgear D6300 Modem/Router setup wizard allows ADSL settings to be set to Auto; ADSL; ADSL2 or ADSL2+

The D6300 also has a fibre connection for future use when the local street cabinet is upgraded.

Having read about copper line length, 3.5km appears to be on a crossover distance for best connection speeds with ADSL; ADSL2 and ADSL2+ so I decided to test each setting. Below are the results and surprisingly (to me) the humble ADSL comes out on top and with the lowest latency of 12ms. Is this a result of fewer users on this setting or is it because ADSL is best for my circumstances? My modem may be partly responsibe as I achieved faster connection speeds when swapping out the BT Home Hub before joining Plusnet.

With ADSL2+ connection

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4779 kbps 1011 kbps
Line Attenuation 50.0 db 27.0 db
Noise Margin 6.0 db 6.5 db

Down TBB Down HTTPx6 Upstream IP Address ISP
3.68 Mbps 3.59 Mbps 0.84 Mbps 46.208.***.*** Plusnet

With ADSL2 connection

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4499 kbps 1059 kbps
Line Attenuation 47.0 db 26.9 db
Noise Margin 6.1 db 6.3 db

Down TBB Down HTTPx6 Upstream IP Address ISP
3.87 Mbps 3.80 Mbps 0.88 Mbps 91.125.***.*** Plusnet

With ADSL connection

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4704 kbps 992 kbps
Line Attenuation 46.5 db 27.0 db
Noise Margin 5.9 db 7.0 db

Down TBB Down HTTPx6 Upstream IP Address ISP
3.97 Mbps 3.93 Mbps 0.83 Mbps 87.112.***.*** Plusnet

Might be best to set the router to auto/multi-mode if you can, like most Netgear routers I've seen it should have that option.

Then just let the router choose the best connection for you.

(Added) I would also leave things alone after changing that - Netgear routers have a nasty habit of rebooting when you change a setting. Too many reboots will get DLM involved - it will suspect a dropping connection and slow your line down to try and stabilise it.

Edited by Jaggies (Fri 17-Oct-14 06:59:48)

Slightly faster sync with adsl2+ but lower throughput but not enough tests to be sure. If line is stable just leave it in auto

Yes, ADSL would be fastest on your line, but all your tests are underperforming. You should expect 5.5 Meg Sync on ADSL or 5.1 Meg on ADSL2+.

I am aware of multiple reboots being misinterpreted as line faults so I usually take care to leave plenty of time for the line to stabilize between the required reboots.

Judging from the stats, "ADSL" modem setting appeared to be best for my 3.5km line length etc. However I have now changed the modem setting back to "Auto" and after the normal reboot got the following stats: -

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4975 kbps 1048 kbps
Line Attenuation 47.0 db 26.9 db
Noise Margin 6.0 db 6.3 db

The new connection speed of 4975 kbps is the quickest that my line has achieved for ages though current speedtest results are fluctuating!





I shall now wait a few days for the line training to stabilize.

Edited by deleted (Fri 17-Oct-14 14:00:59)

Every time you reconnect an ADSL2+/ADSL modem it will reconnect based on the current environment, which means you are not going to get differences.

If you were seeing a 20% difference then I'd be worried, but your changes are small and well within the possible range for just variations in noise for a variable connection speed service.

ALSO as its a BT Wholesale based service with PlusNet (if memory right) the IP Profile setting might limit speed even if you have reconnected at a higher speed for a short time.

Speed test results - what you want is a nice flat horizontal line as that shows no errors and no congestion from the ISP or any Wi-Fi/PC/Ethernet issues.

Don't forget the time of day you connect makes quite a difference. Well inside daylight hours for the highest sync, at night for the greatest stability.