Massive ASDL Speed drop.

I have been with Orange / Wanadoo / Freeserve for many years and so far no complaints, unlike many it seems, but this has now changed.

Prior to May this year I was obtaining a download speed of around 6.5Mbps, and have been obtaining around this speed for a couple of years. In May this year, I received an email from Orange saying that there would be some work on my local exchange to improve my service, which I believe is related to the removal of LLU. After the end of May, my speed increased to around 10.5Mbps download, a speed I was very happy with.
However, around the 5th August the speed dropped to around 3Mbps and has remained at this ever since.
So far, I have made 4 call to �tech� support and seem to be getting nowhere.
I have done speedtests at they request on the BT speedtest web site, but that report my line profile has a maximum capacity of 4Mbps and Orange are saying I am now getting good speeds at 3Mbps. However my argument is I was getting much faster, so why is it so slow now and what has changed.
At one point they even told me I should contact BT myself, which as I rent my line from Orange I said they should do. When I threatened to cancel my contact the support guy went away only to return to say �Oh you line should run at 11Mbp but we are missing a speed test result so it can be passed to BT�. When I called back with the missing result the response then change back to I was getting a good speed and they could run another test at which point I had enough and have now written to the UK customer service department.

Anyway, one question for all you experts out there, I have checked on SamKnow the details for my exchange which are below

ADLS Status Enabled as of 31/03/2000
ADLS Max Status Enabled as of 31/03/2006
DLS Status Enabled as of 26/01/2005
21CN WBC Status Enabled
FTTC Status RFS date set : 01/12/2001


So could I have been switched at the exchange from ADSL max or 21CB to the older ADSL connection that I believe is much slower?

Any help that I can fling back at Orange would be appreciated.
Or should I just give up and switch suppliers?


Thanks
Dave

Ignorning speedtests, what speed is your ADSL modem connecting to the exchange at? What are the corresponding attenuation an noise margin figures too

I am at work at the moment, but will post these this evening.

Orange has got rid of its LLU and changed you to 21CN WBC, as they have done to the rest of us on 21CN exchanges. As they are both ADSL2+, you should be getting similar speeds, alto' on LLU it looks as if you were capped to 8 Meg..

What are your router stats and results from http://speedtester.bt.com/ ?

Thesr are the stats off my router

Connection mode : ADSL2+
Type : Fast
Noise margin (dB) : 3.1
Attenuation (dB) : 28.5
Attainable download rate (kbps) : 2675
ADSL status : Connected [0]

Downstream Upstream
Rate (kbps) 2675 403


I have also checked my distanct to the exchange via SamKnows

You are approximately 912 metres from the exchange. Note that this is the straight line distance - the actual cable length will be longer!

Edited by deleted (Thu 18-Aug-11 16:58:30)

This is the results from
http://www.speedtester.bt.com/

Test1 comprises of two tests

1. Best Effort Test: -provides background information.

Download Speed
2173 Kbps

0 Kbps 4000 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed

Download speedachieved during the test was - 2173 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1200-4000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :2675 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 402 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2359 Kbps

2. Upstream Test: -provides background information.

Upload Speed
0 Kbps

0 Kbps 402 Kbps
Max Achievable Speed

>Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0 Kbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 402 Kbps

You are definitely on ADSL2+, probably WBC, not ADSL Max. You should be getting 16 Meg. Your Up Sync is also low

But how come your NM is only 3 dB? Have you tweaked it?

These figures don;t make sense. It's as if you got a bad wiring problem, but you say you got much faster speeds before. What's change since you got them? Have you tried changing filters? Are all phones filtered? Do you have a Sky Box? Did you get this stats with the router plugged into test socket behind faceplate?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

But how come your NM is only 3 dB? Have you tweaked it?

The DLM will take it that low on 21CN 2+ lines should it perform OK.

Matt

Oh! It doesn't here on a line over 6 times faster, for similar attn,, that performs well. I always get a NM of 6 dB on Orange WBC.

It appears to be very selective, but as for the criteria for going to 3db, who knows with BT's DLM.

Matt

Can you be sure that the BT DLM applied to BT Retail BB (I'm not sure of the terminology) is the same as that used on BT Wholesale's White Label service, which Orange is on?

I doubt there is any different, such as with Max and Max Premium.

Matt

I have made no changes to any wiring, and the livebox box has not been changed for its standard default settings. To be honest I would not know what to tweet to alter the SNR
Nothing apart from the livebox and a normal phone, fitted with a filter,are plugged into the BT master socket. I have also tried with no phone plugged in, just the live box.
I have run speedtests and checked the state both with and without the faceplate on the BT socket and there is no differance.
I have also tried 3 differant filters and again no change in speed.

Orange support emailed to say they are sendig me a new livebox, but I have feeling this is just a fudge from them and this will not make a differance. Would love to the proved wrong.

Edited by deleted (Fri 19-Aug-11 06:36:45)

And if you connect to the test socket, which should result in that being the only phone socket that works in the property.

BT Retail has the standard WBC DLM, and while I've seen custom platform talked about by Orange, I doubt they are running a different DLM system.

What may be custom is that the support staff that control the settings actually may tweak a bit more by hand, i.e. systems built on top of the standard DLM

The 3dB margin may only be available on certain MSAN models. Just like the rapidly changing IP Profile.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

And if you connect to the test socket, which should result in that being the only phone socket that works in the property

He has:

In reply to a post by SCRATCHYDAVE:

checked the state both with and without the faceplate on the BT socket and there is no differance.

Have just the livebox and a single phone with filter plugged into the master BT socket, no extensions in the house.
Tried running on the test socket, after removeal of faceplate, with no phone connected, and still getting same slow results.

If the margin and other figures remained the same then ok, have to ask to see numbers as people often see the same speed, but do not understand the significance of changes to noise margin figures.

If this was DLM limiting your line speed, we would see a better noise margin.
Indication is of a fault, and changing the live box is a good move, consider borrowing a mates modem to see if it connects at the same speeds. (No need to change login details, only interested in the ADSL stats).

i was changed over from LLU a few months back, i had tweaked the SNR using the DGteam firmware but found after a few weeks the connection was dropping, i found that the tweaked SNR was now going too low 0.6db so i put the SNR back to default and the orange profile hovers around the 3db mark, this still gives me a good connection.
Orange equipment must be lowering the noise to give the max stable connection possible so not sure what is happening to the OP's line.


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/GR1M1/Orange...

Edited by deleted (Fri 19-Aug-11 13:44:49)

In reply to a post by vf12vf:

i was changed over from LLU a few months back, i had tweaked the SNR using the DGteam firmware but found after a few weeks the connection was dropping, i found that the tweaked SNR was now going too low 0.6db so i put the SNR back to default and the orange profile hovers around the 3db mark, this still gives me a good connection.
Orange equipment must be lowering the noise to give the max stable connection possible so not sure what is happening to the OP's line.


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/GR1M1/Orange...

Hi, funny you should say that, how�s about this then! Orange or BT must be WBC tweaking, my Noise Margin overnight has dropped from 9.0dB down to 0.8dB and it has increased my line profile by 1100 Kbps.

2Wire 2700HGV router stats.
View Broadband Link Details
DSL Connection Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol: G.DMT2+ Annex A
Downstream Rate: 12649 kbps
Upstream Rate: 1156 kbps
Channel: Fast
Current Noise Margin: 0.8 dB (Downstream), 6.6 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation: 30.8 dB (Downstream), 15.9 dB (Upstream)
Current Output Power: 20.0 dBm (Downstream), 11.7 dBm (Upstream)
DSLAM Vendor Information: Country: {0xB5} Vendor: {IFTN} Specific: {0xBE71}

BT Speed Test
Download speed achieved during the test was - 10203 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 4000-21000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :12648 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 1155 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 11159 Kbps

>Upload speed achieved during the test was - 957 Kbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 1155 Kbps

Edited by deleted (Fri 19-Aug-11 17:58:37)

New router turned up from Orange.
This time have a netgear instead of a Livebox.
Plugged it in and stright away got 10.5Mbps dowm load and 0.9Mbps on upload.
So seem it was the router after all.
Took 4 phone calls to Orange "Tech" support who seem hung up on the BT speedtest results and no action then whinging email before the router was sent.
Next time will cut out the phone call and jsut send an email!

Thanks to all all looked at my post and made suggestions.

Dave