What has happened to my line?

I've been using a Speedtouch 585 v6 and, by using every trick in the book, eventually got my connection to 3.4Mbps, solid, reliable over many months. However, when I switch everything off to go on holiday it can take a week or two on my return before it settles down, and in the meantime it is seriously flaky.

So I tried a Netgear 3300Nv2. Disaster, Speed went down and down, then it started dropping wireless connections so it went back. The Speedtocuh was plugged back in for a few weeks, speed went up to 2.9Mbps, then I switched it off, went on holiday and when I came back it's really struggling, it's topped out at about 1.9Mbps. meantime I've ordered, received and plugged in a Billion 7800N. It's showing a downstream line attenuation of 61.0, where the Speedtouch shows 54.0. I've tried swapping the S back in and it still shows 54 so I think it's just a different measurement calculation BUT I just can't get any speed out of the line, with either router. If I drop the sn on the Speedtouch it's unstable to the point that it won't connect. The Billion is smarter, it keeps upping the sn until it works.

So what the heck is going on? I think my line is goosed and, short of moving house I'm stuck?

looks like you have a long line.
What about your neighbors. What are they getting. Is it just your line or the whole area. time to hold a barbecue and ask around. Could you borrow/swap a router from their service to check this out..

Have you tried a 2-Wire router ? V.good on getting the best from a long line AND hanging on to it. What are your full stats, and what are they like in the test socket ?

Thanks guys. Stats look like;

DSP Firmware Version A2pB025f.d22k
DMT Status No Defect
Operational Mode G.DMT
Upstream 448
Downstream 1600
SNR Margin(Upstream) 16.0
SNR Margin(Downstream) 10.7
Line Attenuation(Upstream) 31.5
Line Attenuation(Downstream) 61.0

Using master socket makes no difference.

Spending MORE money on another router, speculatively isn't going to go down well.

I was getting way better results than neighbours due to chopping bell wire and tweaking sn margin but now it's dire.

I'm hoping it's something that will sort itself out if I leave it alone. Experience says that exchange changes can take up to ten days, never mind the three that we're often told. Trouble is I didn't stand in the patience queue while I was waiting to be born!

I think I'm just looking for a shoulder to cry on really. It's just frustrating that something is wrong and I don't seem to be able to do anything about it. It's like the exchange has decided not to let my sn margin fall below about 10.

I will try very hard to be patient, leave it alone and let it settle down.

Thanks for you sympathy and suggestions.

John

Using master socket makes no difference.

Does it have a TEST socket and if so is that what you were using?

Best to connect to the TEST socket and get fresh router stats

I've never heard of a test socket. I took the faceplate off the master socket and used the one hidden behind. That's the test socket?

John

Yes.

I like answers like that! You could never be a politician (That's a compliment by the way).

John

Patience pays off. Plus a little help from Billion support who are proving to be excellent.

A factory reset and I'm now synced at 4352k, which is excellent for my line. And that's without tweaking the snr. I assume the snr tweak that I did got lost in the factory reset.

My BRAS profile is back to 3500. My IP profile is stuck on 2000 so my download rate is still limited but, once again, I guess I'll have to be patient.

Things are looking up. It certainly seems that I'll get a 3.5Mb download speed, which is what I was getting before, but without all of the drama and instability. Who knows, it might even get up to 4Mb, which is little short of miraclulous this far from the exchange.

Result! (Partial).

By BRAS profile I assume you mean the IP Profile reported by the BT speed test, and by IP Profile the copy held by your ISP and showing in your control panel.

If your ISP is Plusnet then this should update within a few hours. If it stays low for 24 hours then the notification system between BT and them has failed, which it sometimes does, and you need to contact them.

On AAISP I'm not quite sure when the update happens. I have a feeling a similar system also operates on Entanet, but I'm not sure.