Can I retrain my connection?

For the past week until Friday when BT came and swapped out my modem I have seen a rapid speed decrease owing to the modem losing connection and then reconnecting. I now have the new modem running and not a single drop of connection, all well and good.

Before the original modem started playing up I was getting see link to test

http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n594/Stevie_Pres...

Now after the new modem I am stuck at see link to test

http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n594/Stevie_Pres...

So question is can I retrain or do I need to get on to my ISP and for them to get on to BT ?

Regards

Steve

BT don't seem very responsive to ISPs asking for this on FTTC lines. Instead, they seem to insist on it being ordered by the engineer as part of his visit to fix your line (or modem).

But I've also seen it go round in circles, where ISP and BT each say that it is the other's responsibility.

But my feel here is that the Openreach engineer should have phoned through to a support desk (within Openreach, and only responsive to Openreach engineers) to order the retrain.

The start of retraining then seems to be an instantaneous thing; DLM retraining then takes 2-3 days.

As WW says, did the engineer, after swapping out the modem, make a call to get the sync rate recalculated ?

This isn't the be-all and end-all, even after a recalc, I have seen that throughput is being 'capped' by 'something'. Though this usually isn't the case.

FWIW, my ISP (Plusnet) tell me that at the moment, an engineer's site visit is definitely required for FTTC connections as BT will NOT reset anything on an ISP's request.

However, they did also add that they have been informed by BT that this is likely to change in the not too distant future, with the very slight possibility that ISPs can actually press the reset button, somewhat similar to how they can reset ADSL connections at the moment.

However, not all visiting engineers will request a reset, some have even refused to do so.

One engineer tried his hardest to get my connection reset, but the remote centre where this is done refused, leaving me at that time with a capped 25Mb sync speed.

Following re-syncs / reboots, my attainable rate usually starts off at around 35Mb, but I cannot actually sync any higher than around 29.3Mb to 29.9Mb (at best).

This makes me think that if there are no longer any physical faults on my connection, it must be a cap controlled by BT's remote centre.

Although the latest engineer did improve matters by replacing a section of external drop wire, he also refused to request a reset.

My ISP can't tell me whether or not BT are currently capping my sync speeds as BT apparently REFUSE to tell them.

So, it all seems to be very much the luck of the draw in these matters

My ISP can & often does control throughput for FTTC connections (traffic management at peak periods, exceeded monthly download allowances etc.)

Edited by Bald_Eagle1 (Sun 29-Jan-12 11:18:54)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

This isn't the be-all and end-all, even after a recalc, I have seen that throughput is being 'capped' by 'something'. Though this usually isn't the case.

What is this "something"? I have an interesting situation where despite being on a 10Mbps upload profile, my upload is capped at the DSLAM at 7.2Mbps. This is a different matter from the sync rate, although it is clearly limiting the sync rate which is 6.6Mbps. This happened with the introduction of the 17a profile.

With FTTC people need to be clearer who they are talking about as the relationships are

ISP - BT Wholesale - Openreach

or if TalkTalk Fibre boost

TalkTalk - Openreach

even with BT Infinity it is

BT Retail - BT Wholesale - Openreach

The extended chinese whispers mean that things are lost in translation usually.

In reply to a post by smurf46:

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

This isn't the be-all and end-all, even after a recalc, I have seen that throughput is being 'capped' by 'something'. Though this usually isn't the case.

What is this "something"?

Probably means he can't find out.

I have an interesting situation where despite being on a 10Mbps upload profile, my upload is capped at the DSLAM at 7.2Mbps. This is a different matter from the sync rate, although it is clearly limiting the sync rate which is 6.6Mbps. This happened with the introduction of the 17a profile.

That doesn't make sense. Your upload IP profile cannot be 10Mbps as well as 7.2Mbps, so perhaps you mean the product you are on is the 10Mbps one. Just like ADSLx, it is "up to n".

Neither if you are getting a speed test upload of 7.2Mbps can the sync rate be 6.6Mbps.

You seem a bit confused about what the various terms mean. What does the BT Performance Tester say please, the text in the up and down boxes? (Use the FTTC button, not the beta one).

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 29-Jan-12 12:47:58)

Perhaps ISPs themselves could be clearer.

Plusnet only ever to refer to the BT lot as "Our Suppliers".

I only ever refer to BT:-
a) because it is less typing &
b) because They are all part of the BT group of companies &
c) because I don't/didn't really know who is responsible for what.

Clear communication (or lack of) is definitely a big problem in the equation.

One Openreach engineer actually told me that if he was having a chat about FTTC matters with another Openreach engineer in the shared canteen, they have been specifically instructed to cease the conversation if a non-Openreach engineer walks in for his bacon butty.

Probably means he can't find out.

Oh yea of little faith ! I believe it's cap at the ISP end of things, the sync rate is restored to it's maximum rate, but through put speed tests stay low.

That doesn't make sense. Your upload IP profile cannot be 10Mbps as well as 7.2Mbps, so perhaps you mean the product you are on is the 10Mbps one. Just like ADSLx, it is "up to n".

Neither if you are getting a speed test upload of 7.2Mbps can the sync rate be 6.6Mbps.

Yes, that doesn't make sense.

RE: That doesn't make sense. Your upload IP profile cannot be 10Mbps as well as 7.2Mbps, so perhaps you mean the product you are on is the 10Mbps one.


OK. I'm on a 40/10 service, which corresponds with the IP profiles reported by the BT speedtester, not the beta. However, I use a modem which gives stats, and separately reports the maximum DSLAM throughput which should equate to the profile; not the separately reported attainable figure (which is higher on the download) or actual sync rates (both lower, as expected).

The maximum DSLAM throughput is consistent with the IP profile as I would expect on the upload, but is significantly lower at 7.2Mbps on the upload. I'm not convinced the modem would just misreport on the upload (though I accept it is possible). But it's equally possible that there is some other restriction in force. I'd just like to find out for curiosity sake. I'm not suggesting there's anything underhand or wrong going on - there might well be a good reason or some other explanation.

Edited by smurf46 (Sun 29-Jan-12 13:55:16)