Interleave or Fast?

Why am I on interleave, whats the difference between that and Fast?

I'm sure at one point I was on FAST.

Also, can someone tell me if these stats are good or bad?

ADSL firmware version : A2pBT009c1.d17d
Connection mode : G.DMT
Type : Interleave
Noise margin (dB) : 15.6
Attenuation (dB) : 57.0
Attainable download rate (kbps) : 1792
ADSL status : Connected [0]

Downstream Upstream
Rate (kbps) 1632 448

I should be on 2.5mb, and was until the beginning of April, then the speed dropped and I have never sync'd above 1.9mb!

Edited by deleted (Tue 22-May-07 23:47:50)

Can anyone tell me?

Pasted from a FAQ:

Interleave is a more robust, fault tolerant line shaping protocol. It has much more error checking than Fast and is packaged to be as impervious to noise as possible, at the cost of increased processing and latency. Fast is considered to be delay-sensative, yet noise tolerant. Fast data operates about 10 times faster than interleave data (2ms for fast, and 20ms for interleave), but will generate excessive CRC's if the line is even borderline in terms of "cleaness".

Clear?

I think it's saying interleave is [censored] for pings (gaming).

Edited by notawhizzkid (Sat 26-May-07 12:04:18)

Also I think your line stats are bad, especially the attenuation:

" Attenuation is the loss of signal strength over distance, and it is measured in db's. High attenuation will cause a connection to be intermittant (frequent disconnects), or down completely. This is usually an indication of a line length being too long, or bridge taps being on the line. Usually any attenuation over 50db on a DSL line will result in problems maintaining a reliable connection."

My attenuation is 15db and the noise 10.8db, I'm close to the exchange though (400metres) how far are you from the exchange, and also might want to check your phone wiring and connections. is your router plugged into the master (main) phone socket, if not might want to check it in there and still see if your attenuation is still so high.

Edited by notawhizzkid (Sat 26-May-07 12:19:49)

According to Samknows.com, i'm about 2.64km from the exchange (straight line method). The extension the livebox is on is wired directly into the BT Master Socket. I've never had a any problems, until the beginning of April when everything went downhill (literally!). Could it be loose wiring in the box? When I plug the livebox directly into the master socket the attentuation stays the same, and the noise fluctuates, but not by much, between 14.5 and 15.5!

Edit 1: Also, when I rang Orange the other day, they said there was a fault on the Exchange. Could that be the cause for the increase attentuation? I'm sure it was much lower than that before! It has not changed from 57.0 for a while now!

Edit 2: When I do a search for Exchange Capacity Info, it says that my exchange (Ferryhill) is fine and that no problems are currently reported.

Edited by deleted (Sat 26-May-07 13:44:01)

Got my dad to check the wires behind the face plate. After pulling them all out and reconnecting them, am now syncing at much higher speeds (around 2.1mb), but the actual speed when I run a speed test is still less than 1meg, so its definatley and Orange network problem.

My attenuation is still 57.0, but i'm thinkin thats due to my distance from the exchange.

EDIT: Could it be settings in Vista?

Edited by deleted (Sat 26-May-07 18:27:52)

Answering my own question, again!

Just ran a speed test from my dad's PC which has XP and the speeds are just about the same, so I can rule out any problems with my laptop and Vista.

To say: "Usually any attenuation over 50db on a DSL line will result in problems maintaining a reliable connection" is a little broad. That may be from some older documentation?

To get the more rural areas online with "broadband" access providers have been working on methods to extend the reach so lines with high values for attenuation aren't as problematic as they have been in the past.

On the set sync rate IPStream packages the last time BTWholesale updated their "hard and fast" rules for what speed you'd get installed, 63dB attenuation was the cut of point for an IPStream Home 2000 package. These packages didn't take SNR margin into account at all and this is the reason IPStream MAX was such a welcome update.

IPStream MAX will sync you at the highest rate that remains reasonably stable. The fact that your connection is sticking at around 15dB noise margin makes me thing there was some kind of hiccup where your modem was having trouble remaining synced. This can cause the "RAMBO" kit to up your target noise margin (bringing the sync rate down) and can also put you into Interleave mode, as this is more fault/noise tolerant.

If RAMBO/NCAS do thier job it should just be a case of leaving your modem/router synced for a good few days so it noitices your line is performing better, and it will knock your traget SNR margin down to something more reasonable like 7-9dB.