In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by D_an_W:

if it was originally the intention of OpenReach to supply a Huawei modem if on a Huawei cabinet and vice versa which would have probably prevented these issues but it instead turned to a "whatever was in the van" approach.

I think it turned into "fit an ECI modem and put the Huawei on Ebay"

I don't think some Openreach Engineers knew the difference from a ECI Cab and Huawei Cab a lack of training i guess.

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-Apr-15 20:15:43)

They don't have to. They just look at the cardboard box with the modem in.

In reply to a post by MrDiode:

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by D_an_W:

if it was originally the intention of OpenReach to supply a Huawei modem if on a Huawei cabinet and vice versa which would have probably prevented these issues but it instead turned to a "whatever was in the van" approach.

I think it turned into "fit an ECI modem and put the Huawei on Ebay"

I don't think some Openreach Engineers knew the difference from a ECI Cab and Huawei Cab a lack of training i guess.

Quite possibly, or even/also that some Openreach Engineers did not realise that the modem was being manufactured by both ECI & Huawei and that it was 'pot luck' as to what was taken off the van/out of the box.

In my case, for 2 years, I thought I had a Huawei modem. At point of install, I recall the cardboard box that the engineer took the modem out of having the Huawei name/logo on the outside & being pleased that I was receiving a modem that matched the cabinet (being a 'geek', I had done my research ahead of install!). The modem was wall mounted by the engineer (behind my TV), so I've never bothered to take the modem off the wall....until this week. After stumbling across this thread, whilst trying to find out why my download speed had dropped & ping had increased, the evidence pointed towards me having an ECI modem...so I took the modem off the wall to take a closer look & yes, it was an ECI modem...despite being brought into my home in a Huawei box!

In reply to a post by MrDiode:

I don't think some Openreach Engineers knew the difference from a ECI Cab and Huawei Cab a lack of training i guess.

I expect they did/do. The Kelly's and Quinn's one almost certainly didn't.

In some cases of all three there is every chance they didn't even see the FTTC cabinet. It might not have been immediately and obviously visible.

In reply to a post by MrDiode:

I think you have hit the nail on the head and from my experience it was always better to have the same BCM chipset matched with the BCM Huawei cabinet.

I was wondering what broadcom chip on the dslam cabinet?

In reply to a post by tommy45:

In reply to a post by D_an_W:

Just to clear this up for me (Please!)...

In my case the HG612 modem restores full speed with G.INP now enabled, to get the ECI back to full speed I would need a DLM reset or does the ECI not yet fully support G.INP which is why I see "interleave" like symptoms on my connection with it in use?
If a DLM reset was done with the HG612 connected would that leave my ECI modem without it's update?

Sorry...I am trying to keep up!

You are in the same position as me and no doubt thousands of others, G.inp is active on my circuit , i am currently using a unlocked HG612 with a slightly older fw version that also works with BT's Gimp ,lol so we all will need a dlm reset so that the eci modem can function properly again, so enabling it (In theory ) to download/upgrade it's FW , followed by dlm re enabling it's gimp if it so desires

I say in theory because there as far as i know 2 versions of the ECI modem, and someone on the BT community forums is claiming to of had a dlm reset ,but the modem failed to dl & upgrade its fw, and dlm just re enabled it's gimp so that customer is no better off, so it raises questions ?? maybe the older version is not G.inp compatible or the fw they are pushing isn't with that version of eci modem this is the type of issue that can arise from BT supplying locked modems

I don't know if this is the best post to reply to, but here goes ...

Beware that most people are working from false information, and applying poor logic to it.

Firmware Upgrade Process
The DLM reset does not cause an upgrade to the firmware of any modem. ECI or Huawei. Full stop.

The firmware should get upgraded when the modem is synchronised, and when the BT agent realises that new firmware is available. It ought to happen overnight, any time that the modem has synchronisation.

If a modem has synchronised, that ought to be sufficient for firmware upgrades to happen. If the firmware upgrade does not happen, then the BT agent is not doing its job correctly.

Openreach-Expected behaviour
Openreach originally expected ECI modems (that had not been upgraded) to fail to synchronise at all - which would render the BT agent unable to ever pull down a new firmware version to upgrade.

The only reason that BT Openreach said a DLM reset was needed was to allow the ECI modems to synchronise. That is all.

Once the modem had synchronised, they expected normal behaviour from the BT agent - that it would upgrade the firmware.

Its is only under these precise circumstances, that the ECI modem fails to synchronise, that it is worth performing a DLM reset. And the only result to be expected from the DLM reset is to allow the synchronisation to complete properly.

Actual ECI Modem behaviour with G.INP
It looks like ECI modems actually synchronise when G.INP is activated, but with a reduced speed and increased latency.

Aside: ironically, this behaviour is exactly what Huawei modems do when they have incompatible firmware too. However, we have ways to manually fix the errant Huawei's.

Because the ECI modems synchronise, the BT agent should be able to work as normal, and upgrade the firmware if available. They should be able to do this whatever the cause of low speeds/high latency - whether the changes are because of old-style DLM intervention, or because of new-style G.INP activation.

Unfortunately, it looks like the ECI modems fail to upgrade themselves. This happens whether they are running on a fresh line, with a recent DLM reset, or a line that G.INP has been activated on.

Root Cause
The root cause of the problem is that the ECI modems have failed to upgrade automatically, whether they have been sitting in the back of a van, or have been connected perfectly for 6 months.

The failure for this must come down to the BT agent in some way, and BT must find out what this is.

In the meantime, a DLM reset is not a solution.

Options
BT need to figure out why the ECI modems are failing to upgrade automatically.

Until they do this, you have three choices:
a) Leave the ECI modem in place, and put up with lower speeds
b) Get a Huawei. If it doesn't immediately fix the issue, flash it with the newest firmware (B030SP08 at present)
c) Get a third-party modem> perhaps a combined modem/router, such as the Billion 8800NL.

I was telling folk exactly that in the zen section. Getting the ECI modem updated via BT Agent is all hopes and dreams to be honest.

I think you all missing the point here, most of the FTTC ECI cabinets have not been G.INP enabled and the ECI modem will not get the firmware updated until the ECI cabinet gets it's G.INP firmware/software installed, the ECI cabs are still in the very early stages of the G.INP rollout..

Thanks WWWombat!

MrDiode, that would suggest that it is only ECI cabinets that are capable of updating ECI modems. What about those people who are on Huawei cabinets and were supplied ECI modems?

The update doesn't come from the cabinet. BT apparently believe that modems were issued to match the cabinet.