Fritzbox 7390 used with BT Infinity

Hi,

I have been using a Fritzbox 7390 on BT Infinity for a few weeks now and I am generally happy with it but I do have a few queries.

Firstly it should be noted that we have been redecorating the room that the master socket/router equipment is located in and this has meant that we have needed to manually disconnect the router a few times during that period and we have also been playing around with the Fritzbox 7390 setting which have meant that it has rebooted a few times while we tried a few things.

Kindly note;

(1). The present sync speeds of the 7390 are slightly lower than they were with the BT router and modem combination.
(2) Right now the 7390 is set to Annex A.
(3). I have tried using the 192.168.1.254 IP address for the 7390 but it makes no difference.

When I first switched it on it did not connect automatically and I used the settings, (supplied by a poster named toekneem on this link: http://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity/FRITZ-Box-Fon... ), to get the 7390 to connect;

toekneem's setting are;

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Connecting to a DSL Line should be checked
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Account Information
Is account information required?
Yes
Enter the Internet account information you received from your Internet Service Provider.
User name : [email protected]
Password
Password was either not needed or I used the spacebar once, cannot remember .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connection Settings
The connection settings are already set to the values used most often. You can change these values if needed.
Change connection settings
Internet Connection
Maintain permanently (recommended for flat rates) should be checked
VLAN Settings
Please note that a VLAN ID is required only in special cases. The required ID was supplied by your Internet Service Provider.
Use VLAN
VLAN ID 101
DSL ATM SettingsDetect automatically
Set manually VPI 1
VCI 32
Encapsulation
PPPoE should be Checked
The PPPoE check mark does dissapear, must be a bug after you hit Apply.
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Right now it all seems to be working OK but the speeds are a little lower and I am not sure if I am on the correct 80/20 profile because the 7390 reports that the max throughput is only 60/19 as follows;

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DSL Information
Overview
DSL
Spectrum
Statistics
Line Settings
Feedback
Receive Direction Send Direction
Max. DSLAM throughput kbit/s 60000 19000
Min. DSLAM throughput kbit/s 30000 10000
Attainable throughput kbit/s 48656 18963
Current throughput kbit/s 48656 15456

Latency 8 ms 8 ms
Bitswap on on
Impulse Noise Protection 3.0 4.0

Signal-to-noise ratio dB 6 6
Line attenuation dB 17 -
Carrier record A43 A43
Profile 17a

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BT say that my line profile is still set at 80/20 but the BT speed checker http://www.speedtester.bt.com/ indicated that the line is capped at 45mbps and BT have sent the query to BT second line support who have been looking into it for about a week.

The questions are:

(a). Does the above 7390 data indicate a 60,000/19,000 profile?
(b). Has messing about with the line affected the profile?
(c). Will the profile automatically reset/increase itself in the next few weeks?
(d). If BT visit the house to carry out checks could the fact that I am using a 7390 instead of their equipment create a bill?

Regards,
Fido

When you say the BT test indicates a 45Mbps cap, what do you mean? It's far better to post the contents of the results text boxes, or a link to a screenshot.

Those stats suggest an IP Profile of ~47Mbps should be shown. The 80/20 profile BT (Retail broadband support?) are telling you will simply be the product option you are on.

The Max and Min figures do point to a Banded Profile having been applied.

If DLM intervenes it will set a profile with a maximum rate and a minimum rate, where the minimum rate is set at approximately half of the maximum rate. The purpose of the minimum rate is to ensure that the line does not train at a rate which is significantly below the level the line should be able to achieve.

Note : It is the DLM system that sets the line profile, and this should not be interfered with by CPs/users setting rates, SNR margins etc. at the modem.

In my opinion the answers to your questions are:-

(a) Very probably.
(b) Almost certainly.
(c) I believe not. We haven't seen many banded profiles here recently, but the earlier ones we have seen required an engineer visit to test the line. Then they phone some control centre to request it, and a bit later it is removed. It isn't impossible however that the engineer visit is no longer needed. I don't know.
(d) Quite probably. I would certainly have the OR modem and the HH3 in place at the time, and no trace of the Fritz box.

There may be a fault. What happens if there is will depend on what it is.

If no fault is found, I would stick to "wondering if" messing about a lot with the connection when decorating could be the cause. Or play shtum. I think you stand a high chance of a callout fee.
_{Edit - ADSL2+ instead of VDSL2 IP Profile calc originally. 45Mbps still strange.}

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 16-Oct-12 19:44:17)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

If no fault is found, I would stick to "wondering if" messing about a lot with the connection when decorating could be the cause. Or play shtum. I think you stand a high chance of a callout fee.

I agree - I wonder if a visiting Openreach engineer would care if the Fritz was connected to the Openreach VDSL modem using its WAN port. Officially they shouldn't care as the Openreach active NTE is all they look at.

That's why I've not jumped for a Draytek 2850 or Fritz myself.

Yes, good point. The Fritz box connected to the OR modem by its WAN port would be fine, thus preserving any LAN/Wireless settings the OP has.

As I've been playing around with various settings and switching between the HG612 and FB7390 I can answer question (c).

DLM sets a maximum and minimum sync rate somewhat depending on your current sync rate, this 'banding' does increase, at least for me it has, if my current sync rate is near to the maximum sync rate, but does require patience I've found. As I recall it took somewhere between 3-5 days of constant connection uptime with a current sync rate nearer the maximum sync rate before DLM decided to increase my maximum and minimum sync rate. The quickest way is to get an engineer to reset it of course, provided you have a valid reason for them to do so.

That's great news .

It might explain mine slowly creeping up as well.

I had some strange stats when I upgraded from 40/10 to 80/20 with my FB7390. DSL was showing 80/20 but I was getting 76/9. I resolved the issue by carrying out a full factory re-set.

Hi Ixel,

Let's face it when a new router/modem arrives we all tend to try different settings and combinations of setting both to get it working as well as it can and to compare it with what was previously used and we can easily end up with a connection that has inferior headline speeds and needs to be reset.

In reply to a post by Ixel:

As I've been playing around with various settings and switching between the HG612 and FB7390 I can answer question (c).

DLM sets a maximum and minimum sync rate somewhat depending on your current sync rate, this 'banding' does increase, at least for me it has, if my current sync rate is near to the maximum sync rate, but does require patience I've found. As I recall it took somewhere between 3-5 days of constant connection uptime with a current sync rate nearer the maximum sync rate before DLM decided to increase my maximum and minimum sync rate.

Thank you for that information; it is what I was hoping for.

In reply to a post by Ixel:

The quickest way is to get an engineer to reset it of course, provided you have a valid reason for them to do so.

That is why I contacted BT and I asked BT to reset it and I pointed out that we had been disconnecting the router/modem while we were redecorating the room in which the master socket is located. (This is true, we have also been disconnecting the connection manually due to our redecorating the room).

BT eventually said that they would pass it to second line support but that was over a week ago and we have not heard any more from BT. (In the BT account it says that the call is still open and that they are checking it at the exchange).

I have decided to just keep using the Fritzbox 7390 connected as a stand alone unit as it operates much better than the equipment that BT supplied and for the benefit of those who are considering other router/modem alternatives to the BT stuff it may be worth noting that a new Fritzbox 7390 can be bought from France for less than £160 delivered and it comes with an additional UK power lead and a UK Y-wire in the box;

http://www.momilc.com/en/20-avm-fritzbox-fon-wlan-73...

There are only two things that I do no like about the Friztbox 7390 and these are;

(1). The lack of a factory reset button. - (When playing with the settings when trying it with the BT Huawei modem the IP address can change and it can then become difficult to log into the 7390 to reset it to factory settings).

(2). There is a bit of white noise when dect phones are used via the system and its not completely blocked by a double filter, however, using the dect phones via the original base station has eliminated it.

Regards,
Fido

Edited by Fido (Wed 17-Oct-12 21:44:51)

In reply to a post by Fido:

http://www.momilc.com/en/20-avm-fritzbox-fon-wlan-73...

Useful link - thanks - first one I've seen that says the WLAN is concurrent dual band. Hmm, tempting!

I didn't notice problem #1 until you mentioned it. I suppose I've had no use for a reset button, currently, hopefully won't for the forseeable future either.

Problem #2 is annoying. I tried my BT phones via the built-in DECT station but I was not satisfied with the performance and so abandoned that. I instead brought a Fritz!Fon MT-F for VOIP incoming calls. I did have VOIP outgoing calls but scrapped it temporarily given I'm still using the landline for calls.

One problem I'm having is for most VOIP calls when active after a small amount of time I'm unable to go to any website until I disconnect the VOIP call. It's as if my QoS is broken in some way, even though I've tried leaving it at the defaults provided and it still does it.