Why are all ADSL/2/2+ models such utter [censored]?

Does there even exist one single ADSL modem that, when the noise level increases a bit, doesn't either:
a) just sit there with no data at all able to get through doing nothing at all about it.
or
b) re sync every five minutes
??
Why are they all such totally useless utter [censored] [censored]?

Edited by bdg2 (Wed 09-Jul-14 01:47:48)

Yeah, there some which do what you want. An important consideration is matching the chipset in the modem with the DSLAM, this is often different across different ISP's.

You need to investigate further....good modems....bt business hub (2 wire 2701hgv)...the current openreach fibre modem (hg612) unlocked and on adsl is rock solid (on my connection).

IAn

If you are running a 3dB target noise margin the answer may be to raise target noise margin so modem has space to handle the noise spikes without being swamped with errors.

In reply to a post by ian007jen:

You need to investigate further....good modems....bt business hub (2 wire 2701hgv)...the current openreach fibre modem (hg612) unlocked and on adsl is rock solid (on my connection).

IAn

The 2700 was even better - I have seen them operating with a negative SNR and still achieve near full speeds without too many errors.

That would do, or if I could choose the maximum speed I want to connect at.
But for some reason this is something I can only hope to do if I have infinite patience and assertiveness and ability to understand people with ludicrously heavy accents who barely speak English.
Why doesn't nobody think to make it so this stuff can be controlled from the users end???

Yes my HG612 is usually fairly good, but after the rain yesterday it kept sticking with do data going through until I forced a resync.

I'm using unlocked firmware A2pv6C030b.d22g is that what you're using?

I found it seemed to be better than the newer firmware with, if I remember correctly 035m in it.

I'm a bit puzzled as to how long you have had this problem. You've been around a fair while, and I assume tried several modems. The connection behaviour you describe just isn't normal.

Are you sure the issue isn't the modems, but wiring or some serious noise issues arising either remotely or locally? From your opening post that is what I would be looking for.

People who connect at less than about 4Mbps download seem to be fine. Changes in the noise levels at those lower frequencies are presumably less. Everyone else has some problems, most commonly if you switch on and connect in the day you will lose connectivity as it changes to night time and the noise level rises. This isn't just me, many people with ADSL have this problem. I've been through the trying to get BT Openreach to fix thnigs once, a few years ago, when I KNEW correctly that the main problem was a fault at the exchange and frankly I never want to do it again. I just can't take the accusations, implications that I'm ignorant and know nothing, threats that I'll have to pay if the fault is in my equipment etc. My nerves simply can't take that again.

Fritzbox routers let you tweak settings to improve stability as do some other third party routers.

What routers have tried and what are the actual line stats

Fair enough. (I assume the "people that connect at less than about 4Mbps download seem to be fine" means people in your area).

That means the modems are not the problem. It lies elsewhere - you believe at the exchange. You may or may not be correct, but there is a fair chance it is remote from you.

Which ISP are you with? The sync-time noise margin is adjustable by most. Your modem stats might help us as well.

By modem, do you mean a stand-alone one, or the modem in a modem/router? Running RouterStats Lite for a few days with sampling interval 5 seconds, saving the graphs, and also enabling logging to a file would be a good idea if you haven't ever used it. If you haven't got anything in its preconfigured list then try the Full version. (I've always found that messy, but other people seem to have no trouble with it).

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 09-Jul-14 14:48:44)

That old problem that I'm pretty sure was at the exchange was eventually fixed.
(I was getting wildly fluctuating upstream attenuation figures (day to day), constant downstream attenuation figures and periods (days) of modem completely unable to see any signal at all).

Now I'm just frustrated by how easily I can end up with an evening where I can only stay connected for less than an hour before interruption.

I'm with Talktalk (if I haven't lost track, I was with Pipex then, if I remember correctly Tiscali acquired them, then IIRC Talktalk acquired Tiscali).

I usually get between 7.4 and 8.2Mbps down and 710-720kbps up.
Noise margin down seems to start off at around 6dB, up starts at 8 or 9dB.

Currently I'm using separate modem and router using an unlocked Huawei HG612 as the modem with a PPPoE connection from the router to LAN1 on the modem and LAN2 connected to my LAN as a way to get to the modems web interface and telnet in to get stats. FWIW router is a WNDR3700v2 running dd-wrt.

I know I can get stats using dslstats (http://www.s446074245.websitehome.co.uk/) if you like but I know nothing about routerstats.

I spent a long time getting my longish line to be stable - router choice (along with ensuring your internal wiring is optimised) has a lot to do with it. See the link in my sig for details...

But I agree with you - things could be a lot simpler.
ADSL is still very delicate!

As suggested earlier - get a 2wire 2700. Excellent on long lines and you can recover teh stats from just before the loss of sync as well as immediately afterwards.

The best time to connect is around 1 hour after sunrise.

I have one line I had to sort out and we now get around 1.5Mbps - up from about 600k and it retains sync for days or weeks with a 2700 attached.

Best time to connect in what sense?

You can choose to connect when noise is lowest to try and get a higher speed or, as I do, you can chose to connect when noise is highest to try and get a reliable (but slower) connection.

Also your line must be much longer than mine.

To get the line to sync and not loose sync whilst getting the highest possible speed that it can be achieved at..


The line I mentioned is not mine but one I "look after". It is around 9km.

And I know nothing about the relatively new DSLStats, but believe it is fine on FTTC so should be on ADSLx.

It doesn't matter which you use as far as I'm concerned. What matters is graphing/logging stats at very short intervals, as 20-30 seconds may not even see a reconnection, and seeing what happens over 24 hours, and either side of a disconnection.

RouterStats does continue running through a disconnection. That is important. The old DMT tool didn't.