BT Infinity Install

After over a year of delays, my FTTC is finally ready for service and a BT Engineer is coming around this coming Wednesday (13/06/2012).

According to the BT site, my estimated speeds are:

63.6Mb download
20.0Mb upload

Is there anything specific I should be asking the BT Engineer when he comes around? Would they be able to tell me approximately how far I'm away from the cabinet, when they carry out the install or can that measure only be done from the street cabinet?

My only other concern is whether I'll be able to get these estimated speeds, as I believe I have a mixture of copper/aluminium cable run to the local street cabinet.

Hopefully you won't be asking him why your appointment got cancelled, but you can ask him anything you like. He should be able to tell you the line length and the speeds he sees on his test gear, and he should leave you with one PC working and the phone working too.

Some of them test using a JDSU unit. That gives the connection speeds, average attenuation and noise margin, and approximate distance to the cabinet.

I'm not sure what the other tester(s) give(s). Not much I don't think.

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

Is there anything specific I should be asking the BT Engineer when he comes around?

You have to ask him if he wants coffee or tea, and what type of biccies he would like.

DrT

Do BT Engineers not get sick of drinking tea and putting on pounds because of all the biscuits they consume

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

According to the BT site, my estimated speeds are:

63.6Mb download
20.0Mb upload

Is there anything specific I should be asking the BT Engineer when he comes around? Would they be able to tell me approximately how far I'm away from the cabinet, when they carry out the install or can that measure only be done from the street cabinet?

At the end of the day you will either get those speeds or you will not. Most people seem to get get slightly more than their estimate.

As for the distance from the cabinet I have never quite understood the fascination with this. You cannot alter the distance whether you know it or not.

As I said in another thread. The open reach engineer i had ,was more than happy to discuss what he was doing. He had some device which showed lots of info, including max possible sync rate. It also bleeps and gives a fail reading if the line syncs lower than 15 meg.He commented that I had a good line.
Interstingly he said they can install below 15meg if the customer agrees. He told me about a customer who was on a long line who had could not get the internet but as his line now terminated at an FTTC box he was able to get 8meg and was apparently over the moon.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Some of them test using a JDSU unit. That gives the connection speeds, average attenuation and noise margin, and approximate distance to the cabinet.

I'm not sure what the other tester(s) give(s). Not much I don't think.

The engineer that did my FTTC (non-Infinity) upgrade didn't have any test gear at all!

Replaced master socket with new FTTC one, plugged in the modem and called up a number on his phone, which he said would do the test; and he got a text back saying that it was OK.

A little disappointed that I didn't get to find out my line length to the cab

Alan

In reply to a post by Squirrel:

As for the distance from the cabinet I have never quite understood the fascination with this. You cannot alter the distance whether you know it or not.

You can't alter it, but if for example you only achieve 30Mb for a distance of 400m, you know there will be a repairable "problem", despite the basic engineer tests possibly showing as LTOK.

OTOH, if you expect really high speeds, because you can see a cabinet from your window, but only get low speeds, knowing the actual distance COULD confirm you are actually connected to a different cabinet further away, therefore unfortunate, but not a reportable fault.

Hopefully all will go well and I get more than the estimated speeds. I will let you guys know how it went.

I was actually wondering whether I should try my luck and ask for a spare modem, so I can unlock one of them, but I will probably give it a go anyway.

Squirrel, I know you cannot change the distance from the local FTTC, but knowing how far you are away from it, can help to confirm any potential line problems with regards to broadband.

Knowing is always better than not knowing I say.

Just realised that Sky also do FTTC, maybe I should have signed up with them rather than BT Infinity...

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

Just realised that Sky also do FTTC, maybe I should have signed up with them rather than BT Infinity...

Or any number of other ISPs

I initially had my eyes on Zen Internet.. but I couldn't justify spending the extra £30 per month on the package I was after.

BT gave me a good deal, so lets see how it works out!

In reply to a post by Bald_Eagle1:

You can't alter it, but if for example you only achieve 30Mb for a distance of 400m, you know there will be a repairable "problem", despite the basic engineer tests possibly showing as LTOK.

How do you go about getting a fix when 38 to 41meg down 7 meg up and no further than 270 yards?
Reported to BT, fault logged and written off as sorted when not done. Only part of the story, lag is unreal.
Hope i aint got 17 1/2 months of this [censored] and was my worst nightmare holding out.

In reply to a post by hareng:

How do you go about getting a fix when 38 to 41meg down 7 meg up and no further than 270 yards?
Reported to BT, fault logged and written off as sorted when not done. Only part of the story, lag is unreal.
Hope i aint got 17 1/2 months of this [censored] and was my worst nightmare holding out.

What are your estimated speeds?

Are you on the 40/10 or 80/20 service?
If 40/10, it looks like you are more or less maxing out to the capped level anyway.

What are your Attainable Rate speeds?

What is your IP Profile as reported by BT's tester?

Are you speed testing wirelessly or wired?

Which Operating Sytsem are you using?

What was the fault that was supposedly sorted?

So the BT Engineer has finished up and got it up and running after spending more than 2hrs on the job (all extensions sockets wouldn't work properly after changing the faceplate).

I managed to get a screenshot of the JDSU:

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr278/icemansin/J...

So it looks like its syncing at the max speeds.

Am i right in assuming that 2.0 kt = 600 odd meters? I estimated the FTTC to be no more than 350m seeing as the FTTC is just at the top of my road! But anyway's as long as those speeds hold up!

I was trying to find the IP profile for the line, but i cant seem to get the BT Speedtester to work, it hangs at 96% on test 1 every time and then says its busy. Does anyone else have the same issue?

I have also logged into the BT Home Hub, but i didn't realise how useless that was! No sync information at all! I really need to unlock the modem, but I'm not sure how to do one of the steps mentioned in the PDF guide.

Just performed a speedtest, which seems to be maxing out my download speeds but not for uploads. I know its not an accurate measure of maximum speeds available, but its the only thing I've got to go on at the moment.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2006431955.png

The "speedtest hanging at 96%" thing happened to me when I forgot to turn of AVG.

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

I really need to unlock the modem, but I'm not sure how to do one of the steps mentioned in the PDF guide.

Which one?

You may fins that in a few days your speed will drop down to what it will hold steady at. Mine was the same at first then after a week it dropped to what it is constantly at now As for upload speed that is a BT FTTC joke as they do not as far as I am aware guarantee the upload speed at all according to my ISP.

Regards

Steve

PS Enjoy the new speed

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

I really need to unlock the modem, but I'm not sure how to do one of the steps mentioned in the PDF guide.

Which one?

Step 3 - Configure the ethernet NIC of your PC with IP Address 192.168.1.100

Hopefully that wont be the case for me. FTTC has only recently become available in my area and according to the BT engineer, there have so far been 10 FTTC connections made in the cabinet.

I must say I am pleasantly surprised by getting the full sync speeds, but lets see if it holds up.

P.S Thanks!

Yup that did the trick! Thanks AbiNormal. It would help if I actually read the instructions on the page!

Download speedachieved during the test was - 73.32 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 12 Mbps-77.43 Mbps .

Additional Information:
IP Profile for your line is - 77.43 Mbps

2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.

Upload Speed
13.05 Mbps

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 13.05Mbps

Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 20 Mbps

So it looks like I have got the highest IP profiles possible then. Seems as though i can't find anything to max out my upload bandwidth, or upload speeds are taking a hit (network congestion? throttling?)

Is the JDSU line length measure to FTTC accurate? Can i really be getting full speeds from a length of 2 k ft (600 odd meters?)

Edited by deleted (Wed 13-Jun-12 14:55:46)

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

I really need to unlock the modem, but I'm not sure how to do one of the steps mentioned in the PDF guide.

Which one?

Step 3 - Configure the ethernet NIC of your PC with IP Address 192.168.1.100

What operating system are you using?

Windows 7

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

I really need to unlock the modem, but I'm not sure how to do one of the steps mentioned in the PDF guide.

Which one?

Step 3 - Configure the ethernet NIC of your PC with IP Address 192.168.1.100

This is dependant on the version of Windows (or Linux etc).

Assuming a wired connection then find the network adapter in Network Connections and select properties.

Choose "Internet Protocol", ignore the "General Tab" (which will normally be set to "obtain an IP address automatically" and choose the "Alternate Configuration" tab.

Change from "Automatic private address" to "User Configured).

Put in the IP address 192.168.1.100, Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.5 and Default Gateway can (I think) be 192.168.1.1 (I dont think this value is used).

OK all these and away you go!

To undo this simply change the Automatic Configuration back to "Automatic private IP address".

This is based on Win XP as I an at work I have Win 7 at home - the tabs are very similar.

Yup, I was just in that screen just now

I was going to take a printscreen of that dialog just now to confirm if that was the correct place!

I didnt bother investigating it, until now

Thanks for the confirmation.

Looks like greenglide sorted you out

Apologies if I haven't read the instruction guide carefully (only skim read it so far), but can you backup the original firmware that came with the modem?

I noticed that the zip file that I downloaded also has the original firmware, but would all version of the Huawei modems ship with the same one?

Edited by deleted (Wed 13-Jun-12 16:10:18)

Promised speeds were 58 down/20 up on 80/20 service. I expected around 68 to 72meg considering distance to cab.

Ethernet only, BTSpeedtest after tweaks IP43meg
Throughput usually 39 to 41 meg.
WIN7 Firefox13 and Waterfox

Initially the map fault looked like a network to the exchange, hence poor routing and pages timing out.

I know theres aluminium cable to the cab at least 28 yrs old. There are spare copper available.

I know it dont count but so far never seen above 25/26meg download on speedtest.net. Used to attain 37.45meg rarely dropping below 32meg with another provider or sub 8meg.

Monday BT said line is fine i have a good connection, the 80/20 is offered to lift the 40meg cap. In other words tough, lump it.
I can understand it if i was 800 yards or more away.
Tried watching itv player the other day, it was ok didnt download an incresing buffer but not even HD.

No joke, that took close on 1 minute to post.

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

Apologies if I haven't read the instruction guide carefully (only skim read it so far), but can you backup the original firmware that came with the modem?

I noticed that the zip file that I downloaded also has the original firmware, but would all version of the Huawei modems ship with the same one?

The modems say what version of firmware they have on the back but the early SP06 ones should all have been replaced by now. You should be OK loading the SP10 firmware in any case.

In reply to a post by kasg:

but the early SP06 ones should all have been replaced by now.

Nope... but as it ain't broke I'm not going to remind anybody to fix it

Thanks, the modem had a long string of numbers followed by SP10, so you were right.

Anyway I have managed to unlock the modem, wasn't difficult in the end. I didn't really know what commands to use in telnet, but through some trial and error, I've managed to get the following:

xdslcmd: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime
Retrain Reason: 0
Max: Upstream rate = 26873 Kbps, Downstream rate = 87712 Kbps
Path: 0, Upstream rate = 20000 Kbps, Downstream rate = 79999 Kbps

Discovery Phase (Initial) Band Plan
US: (0,95) (868,1207) (1972,2783)
DS: (32,859) (1216,1963) (2792,3959)

Medley Phase (Final) Band Plan
US: (0,95) (868,1207) (1972,2783)
DS: (32,859) (1216,1963) (2792,3959)

VDSL Port Details Upstream Downstream
Attainable Net Data Rate: 26873 kbps 87712 kbps
Actual Aggregate Tx Power: 6.8 dBm 12.5 dBm
============================================================================
VDSL Band Status U0 U1 U2 U3 D1 D2 D3
Line Attenuation(dB): 4.4 22.8 34.1 N/A 11.6 28.1 43.7

Signal Attenuation(dB): 7.1 22.1 33.2 N/A 11.6 28.1 43.7

SNR Margin(dB): 15.1 15.1 15.1 N/A 8.0 8.0 8.3

TX Power(dBm): -4.1 -20.5 6.4 N/A 8.3 7.8 7.0

I noticed that some people have got some fancy graphs going. Not sure how to do that yet. From a quick look at the above stats, it seems there is some small leeway for further increases in downstream speeds and slightly more so on the upstream side.

I think the line is interleaved, when checking the web interface (FEC errors) but I think i read somewhere that I shouldn't be relying on the stats from the web interface is that correct?

Pings don't seem to be better on fibre from what i can see. Infact they were better when I was with BE! Maybe its a BT thing.

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

I think the line is interleaved, when checking the web interface (FEC errors) but I think i read somewhere that I shouldn't be relying on the stats from the web interface is that correct?

Your stats look good & you are in sync at the capped speeds of 80/20, so you won't get any increase until BT decide to increase the speed limits some time in the future.

Yes, the modem's GUI isn't to be relied on for acurate error reporting.
if you run xdslcmd info --stats, that will tell you all about various error types (& all the other relevant data).

Interleaving is shown as the D: values, a level of 1 being OFF.
Usually when interleaving is ON, INP: & delay: will be non-zero values too.

Thanks for the info Bald_Eagle

Do you know how to generate those graphs that people link to? I would like to get as much info on my line while it's in a good state, so that I can use it a reference point if my connection deteriorates at some point in the future.

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

Do you know how to generate those graphs that people link to? I would like to get as much info on my line while it's in a good state, so that I can use it a reference point if my connection deteriorates at some point in the future.

Yes. I wrote the scripts

Firstly download the scripts from the first link in the first post here:-

Graphing Scripts Message

Read through the instructions so that you will know what to expect, but they are really easy to set up & use.

In reply to a post by Bald_Eagle1:

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

Do you know how to generate those graphs that people link to? I would like to get as much info on my line while it's in a good state, so that I can use it a reference point if my connection deteriorates at some point in the future.

Yes. I wrote the scripts

Firstly download the scripts from the first link in the first post here:-

Graphing Scripts Message

Read through the instructions so that you will know what to expect, but they are really easy to set up & use.

Yup that was why I was asking you

I have had a quick read through the instructions and it seems simple enough. Will try it when I get home, but I assume I will need to ensure that I need to connect my PC to the LAN2 port on the modem and to make the relevant IP address changes as well (as was required to do to unlock the modem initially)? If that's the case I wont be able to use the Internet whilst the graphs are being generated unless I've got this wrong.

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

In reply to a post by Bald_Eagle1:

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

Do you know how to generate those graphs that people link to? I would like to get as much info on my line while it's in a good state, so that I can use it a reference point if my connection deteriorates at some point in the future.

Yes. I wrote the scripts

Firstly download the scripts from the first link in the first post here:-

Graphing Scripts Message

Read through the instructions so that you will know what to expect, but they are really easy to set up & use.

Yup that was why I was asking you

I have had a quick read through the instructions and it seems simple enough. Will try it when I get home, but I assume I will need to ensure that I need to connect my PC to the LAN2 port on the modem and to make the relevant IP address changes as well (as was required to do to unlock the modem initially)? If that's the case I wont be able to use the Internet whilst the graphs are being generated unless I've got this wrong.

From now on you simply need to connect LAN2 from the modem to the router and get the stats by going to the address that is allocated to the Huwai (192.168.1.1 by default?).

It is still acting as a modem on LAN1 but LAN2 lets you in from anywhere on the local network to get the stats. The direct connection to LAN2 is only required for the unlocking procedure.

You will have to ensure that there is no IP address clash when connecting LAN2 to the router - you can change the address of the LAN2 from the GUI to do this.

From now on you simply need to connect LAN2 from the modem to the router and get the stats by going to the address that is allocated to the Huwai (192.168.1.1 by default?).

It is still acting as a modem on LAN1 but LAN2 lets you in from anywhere on the local network to get the stats. The direct connection to LAN2 is only required for the unlocking procedure.

You will have to ensure that there is no IP address clash when connecting LAN2 to the router - you can change the address of the LAN2 from the GUI to do this.

Thanks greenglide, I will try that when I get home from work today.

Probably doing something wrong, but I tried connecting LAN2 from the modem to the red ethernet socket on the router and the PC connecting to the router and that didn't work and also tried connecting the PC directly to LAN1, which didn't seem to make any difference either.

Is this because of an IP address clash as you stated? Do you know how to change the address of LAN2 in the GUI? Didn't seem obvious to me, but will have another look now.

In reply to a post by Bald_Eagle1:

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

I think the line is interleaved, when checking the web interface (FEC errors) but I think i read somewhere that I shouldn't be relying on the stats from the web interface is that correct?

Your stats look good & you are in sync at the capped speeds of 80/20, so you won't get any increase until BT decide to increase the speed limits some time in the future.

Yes, the modem's GUI isn't to be relied on for acurate error reporting.
if you run xdslcmd info --stats, that will tell you all about various error types (& all the other relevant data).

Interleaving is shown as the D: values, a level of 1 being OFF.
Usually when interleaving is ON, INP: & delay: will be non-zero values too.

This is what i got when I ran that command:

# xdslcmd info --stats

xdslcmd: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime
Retrain Reason: 0
Max: Upstream rate = 25938 Kbps, Downstream ra
Path: 0, Upstream rate = 20000 Kbps, Downstream

Link Power State: L0
Mode: VDSL2 Annex B
VDSL2 Profile: Profile 17a
TPS-TC: PTM Mode
Trellis: U:ON /D:ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 7.7 14.5
Attn(dB): 0.0 0.0
Pwr(dBm): 12.5 6.8

VDSL2 framing
Path 0
B: 239 237
M: 1 1
T: 23 45
R: 0 16
S: 0.0955 0.3782
L: 20107 5373
D: 1 1
I: 240 127
N: 240 254

Counters
Path 0
OHF: 43435915 1109138
OHFErr: 1636 44
RS: 0 3728478
RSCorr: 0 12122
RSUnCorr: 0 0

Path 0
HEC: 1953 0
OCD: 0 0
LCD: 0 0
Total Cells: 2455247612 0
Data Cells: 14762950 0
Drop Cells: 0
Bit Errors: 0 0

ES: 580 30
SES: 2 0
UAS: 18 18
AS: 71829

Path 0
INP: 0.00 0.00
PER: 1.64 4.25
delay: 0.00 0.00
OR: 116.56 60.17

Bitswap: 8344 470

Total time = 19 hours 57 min 29 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 1636 0
ES: 580 30
SES: 2 0
UAS: 18 18
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
Latest 15 minutes time = 12 min 29 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 6 0
ES: 4 0
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
Previous 15 minutes time = 15 min 0 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 18 0
ES: 12 0
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
Latest 1 day time = 19 hours 57 min 29 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 1636 0
ES: 580 30
SES: 2 0
UAS: 18 18
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
Previous 1 day time = 0 sec
FEC: 0 0
CRC: 0 0
ES: 0 0
SES: 0 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0
Since Link time = 19 hours 57 min 7 sec
FEC: 0 12122
CRC: 1636 44
ES: 580 30
SES: 2 0
UAS: 0 0
LOS: 0 0
LOF: 0 0

So it looks like interleaving is OFF then? as D = 1. But it says that there are 12122 FEC errors on the upstream, which I thought was a sign of interleaving kicking in?

Do the error counts look good to you?

In reply to a post by Icemansin:

Probably doing something wrong, but I tried connecting LAN2 from the modem to the red ethernet socket on the router and the PC connecting to the router and that didn't work and also tried connecting the PC directly to LAN1, which didn't seem to make any difference either.

Is this because of an IP address clash as you stated? Do you know how to change the address of LAN2 in the GUI? Didn't seem obvious to me, but will have another look now.

You connect LAN1 to the red ethernet port on the HomeHub and LAN2 to one of the other ports on the HH.
If another device on your network has the IP address 192.168.1.1 the you'll need to change the IP of the LAN2 port on the modem. To do this log into the modem and from the left hand menu select 'Basic' and then 'LAN' at the top is now 'Lan Host Settings' the top box shows the current IP and you can change it, I have set mine to 192.168.1.2 as I know no device on my network has that IP.

Edited by TheHorseman (Thu 14-Jun-12 20:50:49)

Thanks TheHorseman!